125 build on a long and bumpy road

Squeaky McMurdo · Jun 18, 2018

Hi everyone! I’m in the process of upgrading to a 125 gallon. I got the tank several months ago but it has been sitting outside being used as my kids’ swimming pool. For one thing, it didn’t come with a stand. My husband finally got around to building me a stand for my birthday earlier this month but then I had to go and fall off a horse, breaking my tushie. Yep, I really did. I broke my coccyx and my sacrum in 3 places, and on top of that also sprained a muscle there. *sigh* so I haven’t been able to get it up on the stand because it’s too heavy for one person to lift.

Squeaky McMurdo · Jun 18, 2018

Here is the stand. Kind of inspired by some plans on GARF but my husband didn’t think it was sturdy enough. I have removed that bottom center board so my 29 gallon sump can sit on the floor where it’s low enough to get my arm into it.

Squeaky McMurdo · Jun 18, 2018

I still need to attach the baffles, but the fit is perfect.

NY_Caveman · Jun 18, 2018

Squeaky McMurdo said:
Hi everyone! I’m in the process of upgrading to a 125 gallon. I got the tank several months ago but it has been sitting outside being used as my kids’ swimming pool. For one thing, it didn’t come with a stand. My husband finally got around to building me a stand for my birthday earlier this month but then I had to go and fall off a horse, breaking my tushie. Yep, I really did. I broke my coccyx and my sacrum in 3 places, and on top of that also sprained a muscle there. *sigh* so I haven’t been able to get it up on the stand because it’s too heavy for one person to lift.

Love this. Cannot wait to see it with something other than humans in it.

EDIT: And, welcome to R2R!!

Squeaky McMurdo · Jun 18, 2018

Thanks! Here’s my current tank. Excuse the algae, I can’t do much right now, but I finally caught the last “fake nassarius” (don’t buy the black ones from eBay!) on Friday and restocked my clean-up crew with plenty of ceriths, nerites, and actual nassarius. They’ve made some progress since this picture was taken.

Flippers4pups · Jun 18, 2018

Welcome to reef2reef!

Squeaky McMurdo · Jun 19, 2018

I have a bunch of new rock “coooking” in this smaller tank so it will be ready when the big one is set up. It’s almost done cycling. The nitrates and nitrites spiked but have gone down significantly. I’m just using the test strips to check daily, but I’ll use my good test kit to double check when it says 0.

Squeaky McMurdo · Jun 21, 2018

I got my sump put together. I also blacked out the back.

I wanted a nice big refugium to grow some macro algae in. This is a lot bigger than my current prefabricated sump and hopefully a better functioning design. The old one drains the refugium from the bottom so the return can and has dried it out before.

I also feel. A lot better with the amount of room I will have for water in case of a power outage.

Squeaky McMurdo · Jun 24, 2018

I used some rustoleum spray rubber to black out the back.

Squeaky McMurdo · Jun 24, 2018

And just for kicks and giggles, look what a good job the new snails are doing on my current tank. The nerites laid eggs everywhere.

Squeaky McMurdo · Jul 1, 2018

Touched up the spray rubber some more. I’m loving it! I usually just tape some black paper or leave it clear. Husband still too busy to bring it inside and put it on the stand for me.

Squeaky McMurdo · Aug 22, 2018

At last! My husband got someone to help him lift this behemoth into the house. I tried my darnedest but just can’t lift much yet (though I am healing pretty well) I’m doing things the easy way and mixed 50 gallons right in the tank. Dumped a whole bag of salt in and borrowed a powerhead from my existing tank. I’ve waited this long, I can wait a little longer to move fish and stuff. I think I will put the new sand and extra live rock I have ready in the tank tonight to let it start cycling. Then I will put in the rest of my live rock and all the water so moving will hopefully work like a big water change.

Flippers4pups · Aug 22, 2018

Squeaky McMurdo said:
At last! My husband got someone to help him lift this behemoth into the house. I tried my darnedest but just can’t lift much yet (though I am healing pretty well) I’m doing things the easy way and mixed 50 gallons right in the tank. Dumped a whole bag of salt in and borrowed a powerhead from my existing tank. I’ve waited this long, I can wait a little longer to move fish and stuff. I think I will put the new sand and extra live rock I have ready in the tank tonight to let it start cycling. Then I will put in the rest of my live rock and all the water so moving will hopefully work like a big water change.

Looking good so far!

Squeaky McMurdo · Aug 23, 2018

I caught the fish, and few snails, and our big hermit crab and put them in a 10 gallon temporarily. I can’t find my yellowfin blue damsel anywhere. Darn it. All the live rock is in, but not in any semblance of order. The sand milkshake is too much to see through.

Nan3182 · Aug 23, 2018

Woot! You got yourself a working tank there! Congrats! You make me envious, still waiting on our sump to leak test ours.

Squeaky McMurdo · Aug 23, 2018

I have it running! Hopefully filtering it will help settle the sand storm. My fish and snails await ther new digs. Haven’t found little damsel yet. I’m hoping she got scooped up while I was moving water from the old tank to this one. Cheap fish, but I still feel bad.