My Build Thread

Jas9609 · Apr 10, 2019

After months and months of planning and cycling my build is finally done, tank is up and running and looks great, the fish are happy and healthy and all is good in the hobby. A few minor things to finish like doors on the stand and a couple of other things, but it's great and I love it.

I bought my tank on Craigslist, 120 gallons and had never had water in it for a really good deal.

I then went to work on building a stand for it. The wife was paranoid about a stand being strong enough to hold it so I made the stand to where the tank would fit down in it and sit on top of 5 4x4's and made 2x6 skirts around the top and bottom with 2x4 bracing all throughout.

Then it was time for a dry fit to see how everything came out and it was perfect.

Time for plumbing.

and to add the sump. I went with an Eshopps R-200 3rd Gen with Refugium. So far I like it does it's job so it will last for now.

I ordered an RODI system from BRS, it's great and has already paid for itself.

Then on to scaping while making the water then filling up.

Jas9609 · Apr 10, 2019

After she was full I added a few large pieces of live rock and added some bacteria and watched it cycle for 38 days doing daily water checks. When it was all said and done I was like a kid in a candy store lol. During the cycle I picked up a couple of clowns and had them in QT until the cycle was done and the tank was ready for them and added some cleanup crew and a diamond goby and put some Chaeto in the fuge. I must say, I could spend all day just staring at it. I added a light under the cabinet as well.