Uh-oh... Building my biggest tank yet...

[Dom]

June of this year, I had a 125 gallon delivered to my home. It sat on the floor for a few months, untouched, as life presented other needs of higher priority. But now, things have relaxed a bit and I have been able to focus on getting this tank up and running.

But this isn't a build thread (maybe later).

As I am building this tank, I'm beginning to ask some questions... questions I should have asked before starting:

- 20% of 125 gallons is 25 gallons. I've relied on faithful weekly water changes in the years I've been in the hobby. But 25 gallons weekly is a lot of water to change! What do owners of big tanks do instead of water changes?

- Stocking the tank. I purchased this tank because I want to condense all of my smaller tanks into one large tank. But over the years, I've had to stick with smaller fish (think Clowns, Damsels, Blennys), because my tanks have always been in the 15-40 gallon range. But this is a big tank and I want to add more interesting fish (think Puffer, Tang, Fox Face). When I place them together, I'm guessing there will be some territorial issues. Should I place them together and hope for the best or just stock this tank fresh?

 

[Floyd-]

I have a tank and sump setup thats 175 gallons total and do biweekly changes of 20-30 gallons. You have to pay to play with the big tanks unfortunately.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

June of this year, I had a 125 gallon delivered to my home. It sat on the floor for a few months, untouched, as life presented other needs of higher priority. But now, things have relaxed a bit and I have been able to focus on getting this tank up and running.

But this isn't a build thread (maybe later).

As I am building this tank, I'm beginning to ask some questions... questions I should have asked before starting:

- 20% of 125 gallons is 25 gallons. I've relied on faithful weekly water changes in the years I've been in the hobby. But 25 gallons weekly is a lot of water to change! What do owners of big tanks do instead of water changes?

- Stocking the tank. I purchased this tank because I want to condense all of my smaller tanks into one large tank. But over the years, I've had to stick with smaller fish (think Clowns, Damsels, Blennys), because my tanks have always been in the 15-40 gallon range. But this is a big tank and I want to add more interesting fish (think Puffer, Tang, Fox Face). When I place them together, I'm guessing there will be some territorial issues. Should I place them together and hope for the best or just stock this tank fresh?

Extract from my build thread... NOTE: that Brute trash can on wheels where I mix saltwater then roll into other room holds ~30g when I fill to top internal edge - no to TOP edge because water sloshes and would splash out

Water Change Plans
RODI Setup in Laundry Room

As soon as the tank went in, my next priority was water changes plan. We also bought his RO system. We bought a large plywood board from local home improvement store, found wall studs, and mounted plywood to wall. This is my RO system:

100GPD 5-Stage RO/DI system | Melev's Reef​

If you are looking to buy an RO/DI system, this is the 5-stage Reverse Osmosis De-Ionizing filtration system you want. It can produce 100 gallons per day when optimum conditions are met. (60-70 psi, 76° F, TDS

www.melevsreef.com

We plumbed RO system into washing machines plumbing, then patched up drywall behind washing machine. We bought a stand to hold water tank from local home improvement store. We added a hot water heater pan with a water sensor alarm. There are better/fancier alarms than mine, but it gets the job done.

Basement Watchdog Battery-Operated Water Alarm BWD-HWA - The Home Depot​

Use the Basement Watchdog Battery-Operated Water Alarm to detect leaks before costly water damage occurs. This alarm can detect as little as 1/32 in. of water and produces a loud 110 dB alarm that can
www.homedepot.com

Ashamed to admit my water alarm 'water dog' Watchdog Water Alarm goes off most weeks so I've got to begin turning off water making when I have "enough" and not try to get as much cleaned water as I can.



Having changed our RODI filters as TDS meter climbed to 3, in hindsight we should not have mounted the plywood and canisters over the dryer 240w plug......

We used care and bucket when disconnecting those canisters from lids, but need to give this more thought by time of next filter change (roughly 6 months)... If we were to shift the whole RODI board with canisters all to the left over washing machine (only bit of washing machine edge shows in photo) and swap in longer blue tube from final canister to storage tank, that may be the simplest and safest solution.

Water and electricity do not mix well. 240w is even worse... Laundry room hasn't been remodeled yet, but even if it had been, just some spackle and paint would patch wall holes we'll leave behind shifting from one side of room to other, but if someone drops water and gets a 240w shock - that can be life threatening.

 

[JNalley]

I think it's important to note here, most people will tell you to do water changes. However, you should consider that water changes are a means of Nutrient Export more than anything else. IF you can manage your Nitrates and Phosphates without water changes, you can simply dose the elements back into the water that get consumed by your tanks inhabitants/corals (Calcium, Magnesium, Strontium, Iodine, Iron, etc.) Reef Moonshiners is one method that plenty of people on this site seem to live by. I only change my water if there's something off with the tank, and it's usually a good first step, so I keep a Brute of mixed water on hand for such an occasion...

 

[mdb_talon]

I have a 250g system. I have changed the water once in the past six months or so and don't plan to do another change anytime soon. I would suggest water changes can be great tools for quickly reducing nutrients(or supplying elements of course).

In my opinion though the larger the tank the more dosing the needed things make sense in conjunction with an export system that is adequate to manage the nutrients vs regular water changes. I do still think occasional large percentage water changes make sense to just help "reset" things you aren't/can't test for. It's a hassle to do large percentage change on a big system, but personally would rather spend more time doing that a couple times a year than biweekly or monthly small changes.

 

[Dom]

Yes, I understand that water changes are important for nutrient export. But water changes also replenish elements too.

Dutch Synthetic Reefing may be something to consider.

 

[piranhaman00]

I do a 44 gallon water change 3 times a month, big tanks are expensive

 

[StatelineReefer]

20% of 125 gallons is 25 gallons. I've relied on faithful weekly water changes in the years I've been in the hobby. But 25 gallons weekly is a lot of water to change! What do owners of big tanks do instead of water changes?

Best decision I ever made was to set up and properly maintain an auto water change. On my tideflat I can do a 50% water change over the course of a week filling one 55 gallon drum with salt and rodi.