125g - 3rd Times a Charm

[welsher7]

I have been in and out of the saltwalter world for around 10yrs now. I stared with a 40g breeder stuffed full of liverock and 2 clown fish and a royal gramma. This tank was up for about a year before a BTA wandered in to powerhead.



I had the bug and decided I would use this as a reason to upgrade. I upgraded to a 125g RR tank from AGA.



The 1st setup was an overstocked FOWLR that had a coulple leathers in it. The tank was up for about 5yrs, it was an awesome tank with great fish. It had a Russells lionfish, Aussie Tusk, Mag foxface, 36” zebra eel, sargassum trigger, yellow tang and blue hippo tang. I had to take it down when I met a girl and moved. It sat empty for a few years in my parent’s basement before the previously mentioned girl, now wife, and I bought a house.



I set it back up a 2nd time with the intention of going full reef, but it ended up as FOWLR again. This tank ran for about 18 months before a bicolor angel brought velvet in to my tank and wiped out all the livestock. My wife and I were having our 1st child so I thought it was best to go back to a simple freshwater tank and focus on family.



After having two kids and a 3rd on the way. We needed another family space in the house, so I recently finished half of my basement and took this time to also get moving on setting the 125g a third time and hopefully the last. The 125g is centered on a 14’ wall with 48” cabinet/bookshelf on either side of it. I’m still finishing up this part of the build. The rockwork is in the tank and it is filling with ro/di now, such a slow process…. I hope to get the tank plumbed and the canopy built this week. Below is a picture of where I stand today.




So that is enough babbling and brings up to present day... Sorry for the long post.

 

[RyanCSGO]

Awesome! enjoyed the story
look forward to seeing this come along

 

[ngoodermuth]

Looks good! Are you planning a reef this time or sticking with FOWLR?

 

[welsher7]

Looks good! Are you planning a reef this time or sticking with FOWLR?

I'm planning a full reef. I guess now would be a good time to share my equipment list. Some of the equipment may be older but it all still works.


Light: 4x54 tek fixture with two C+ and two B+, and three kessil a360we. I think I should have plenty light
Flow: two tunze 6101s and a MP40
Skimmer: H&S A150 recirculating skimmer
Retturn pump: Laguna maxflo 1200
Sump: 40g long or 40g
Refugium: 15g tall or a 30g cube with hydroponics led light

This was how the filtration was setup before: 40g long sump and 15g tall fuge, H&S skimmer, and eheim 1262 return pump.



I'm on the fence for sump setup and fuge right now. In the past I always used a 40g long tank without baffles, because the sump only held skimmer, heater, and the return pump. I'm thinking about switching to a 40g breeder to gain some space in the stand. For the fuge I used a 15g tall tank and had no issues. If I switch to a 40g breeder sump I think I can fit my old 30g oceanic cube tank down as a fuge. Do you guys think the extra 15g in the fuge will make a big difference? I'm not sure how the 40 breeder and 30 cube line up plumbing wise, so I'll have to get some measurements.

 

[welsher7]

I didn't get much work done on the plumbing this weekend, but I did get the surrounding bookshelves built and the outsides were primed/sealed with a couple coats of KILZ. I also was able to get the shelves sanded. I should get them in place after work today and start painting.



After the shelves are in place I'll finalize my canopy design. I have the 1x2 cut for the frame, I just have to figure out how I am going to skin the canopy and figure out access points.


As of now I think I'm leaning towards using the same sump/fuge setup, pictured in the post above, as I did last time the tank setup.

 

[HeulittSalmi]

Its crazy how life works! Congrats on the family bud. I am here to tag along and see the process!

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Following!

 

[welsher7]

Its crazy how life works! Congrats on the family bud. I am here to tag along and see the process!

Life is crazy, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Following!

Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I get the tank plumbed and running. I still need to rinse/add the sand and then add salt.

 

[HeulittSalmi]

Life is crazy, but I wouldn't want it any other way.



Hopefully it won't be too much longer before I get the tank plumbed and running. I still need to rinse/add the sand and then add salt.

It has to stay interesting some how haha. What are your goals for this tank? I know you said mixed reef, but what type of corals and fish and inverts, etc.

 

[welsher7]

I'm still working on my fish list but this is what I'm think now.
Yellow tang, White cheek tang, 4 x lyretail anthias, osc/perc clownfish pair, yellow tail damsel (my wife loves them and shouldn't cause to much grief in a 125g) and a blenny of some sorts.

Below is what I'm thinking for corals.

 

[welsher7]

Does anyone have an opinion on running a160s instead of A360s along with the T5s? 95% of the rock work is directly under the 4 ati t5 bulbs.

 

[welsher7]

I haven't got a lot done recently. My wife had our 3rd child on 5/27. Mom and baby are both doing great, and our other two kids love their little baby.

For build updates all I can update on is that the display is filled with rock, water, and sand so now I can start the cycle. I added two of the tunze 6101s yesterday I forgot how much water these things can move. One is on the left side pane and blowing towards the right overflow and the other one is on the right pane aimed directly across the tank. The tunze on right blowing across the tank caused all the sand on left pane to form a dune. That is 6ft across the tank. These guys may be old and look like bricks but they move some serious water.


I also started working on the sump/fuge layout.