New 125 Gallon Reef :) :) :)

[djnichols12]

I recently purchased a 125 drilled to upgrade from my 55 gallon. Before we do anything else, we are going to build a wall-sized cabinet for the tank and sump, with bookshelves and cabinets on both sides. That said, this may be slow-going in terms of pictures, but we'll get there eventually. My 55-gallon is way overstocked (I know, shocker, right?). Currently it has:

Fish

2 Sebae Clowns (male + female)
1 Blue Tang (3-4")
1 Sailfin Tang (4-5" she and my blue tang leave each other alone for the most part, but no nipped fins)
1 Copperband Butterflyfish
1 lawnmower blenny
1 volitan lionfish (4-5")
1 snowflake eel (~8")

Coral
Kenya Tree(s) (was one little one that is now one big one and 4 or 5 little ones)
A birds nest
Green star polyps
Hammer coral
And various polyps

I know that it's crazy full. I don't know what happened - my eyes were bigger than my tank.

Anyway, the empty, reef-ready 125 is sitting on my floor. It has two back overflows. We are building the stand tall enough to hold a 55-gallon sump with refugium (skimmer (Reef Octopus 6"), carbon and phosban reactors on the left (Two Little Fishies 150), fuge on the right, return in the middle). We're also going to incorporate an auto-top off and a kalk reactor (Two Little Fishies KW 300).

The lights we are going to use are two Lumentek Pro 240s (LUMENTEK PRO 240 - Reef Radiance).

We are also thinking a shallow sand bed (probably 120 live sand + 40 pounds crushed coral) and there is 120ish pounds of live rock in the 55 now. We're going to stack that on some dead rock to have around 200 pounds, eventually.

I'm going to have two Hydor pumps and a controller initially, but I want to upgrade to something nicer, eventually. I'd like to splurge for an Apex controller, but I'm not sure what value it would really bring.

Please give me your opinion on everything Thanks for your help!

 

[rdevoe11]

wow thats a lot in a 55g...good to know youre upgrading to the 125g..im assuming its 6ft long? if so, you wont catch as much grief from the tang police lol, though that blue tang will eventually need a larger tank IMO..also the volitan can not only exceed 12" in length but easily be that wide as well so it may eventually be difficult for it to move around a relatively narrow (in terms of horizontal depth) tank..

otherwise, youre equipment list looks good. if it were me, though, i would probably bump up to the reef octopus 8" as the 6" is only rated for 125-150g and your total volume is actually going to be 180.

good luck with the upgrade! would love to see pics of the progression!

 

[djnichols12]

Ha, thanks for the comments. It is 6 feet - 6 feet seemed a lot smaller in the LFS than it does at home. Ha.

I'm hoping, naively probably, that the blue tang won't grow to his max size. As of now, the sailfin tang is bigger. As far as the volitan goes, I'm not as attached as I thought I would be. If he gets too big, that'll be an easy trade, but he's small enough now that it will be a year or two before I have to think about that.

I read that the skimmer should be rated for the total system volume, but the guy at the LFS said the thinking on that had changed and it should only be rated for the display size. I'm not sure why that would be true, though.

I'll get pics going as soon as there is something worth showing. Like I said, the stand will be first. It's going to be a monster because we want to give the tank a built-in feel. Then I'm going to have all kinds of plumbing questions, so be ready.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Keep us updated with photos as well!

 

[djnichols12]

Will do. Any opinions on ReefKeeper v. Apex? I also don't want to spend the money for the VorTechs - has anyone used the Hydor pump controller or the wavemaker?

 

[djnichols12]

I'm having something like this built. Any ideas that I didn't think of?

 

[Bow]

Lol looks pretty much like the plan I have in my head for the bookcases and storage. Thanks for the sketch. Only part I was trying to figure out is if it's drilled in back how to get to it. But that's an issue for layer

 

[djnichols12]

Yeah, my tank is drilled in the bottom, so it makes life a little easier. I just like that it has enough clearance to hang the lights in the canopy and stay easily accessible.

 

[djnichols12]

So it has been a while since anything has happened. School and work got in the way of fun stuff. Here are some pics of the stand. The guy building it said it is finished and is coming to install it on Tuesday. I'll post more pics then. Next I just need to put together a sump. Any tips? I'm thinking the skimmer and fuge on the ends and the return in the middle. Thoughts?

 

[djnichols12]

The tank finally has a place to go so we can get started. Exactly what I wanted even if I might be just a little big... Lol

 

[TJ's Reef]

Congrats, that is a really nice looking setup. Looking forward to seeing your progression.

Cheers, Todd

 

[jkirk]

Wow your cabinetry guy did beautiful work!

 

[djnichols12]

Yeah we are pretty happy with it. Now to get all everything else in place and add water. My poor 55 just looks pathetic next to this tank. Lol

 

[saltyphish]

Very nice looking cabinetry.

 

[djnichols12]

Ok. After months of delay, I'm starting to accumulate all the different pieces for the tank. Looking for a used 55 gallon to use as a dump. Going to have a skimmer section on the left, a dsb fuge on the right, and a return in the middle. I'm also going to run a phosphate reactor and a carbon reactor from the skimmer section.

Are the plumbing kits worth buying at $60/each or am I better off just going to Home Depot and rigging it up myself?

I think we are going with a 6 inch marine octopus and I'm going to use a 500 gph mag for the return.

We have 100+ lbs of live rock in a 55 gallon now that we will move over, and we will be getting about 100 lbs of sand for the display. Is it worth the money to buy all live sand?

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[Zero Nitrates]

Wow! That is awesome. I like the look of sand. Just a little more work when it gets dirty.

 

[djnichols12]

Ok. Starting to come together and get wet! I have three evergrow 55s over the display and one over the fuge. I'm going to run a 6 inch reef octopus 150 int and two 300 w eheim jagers. Mag 9 for the return. Slowly but surely making RO and mixing salt. Starting to get exciting

 

[djnichols12]

It's {finally} full of water and there are no leaks in the plumbing. I ended up putting a filter sock on the outlet to the skimmer section to catch all of the dust from the sand. I don't know if I'll keep it on. Thoughts?

Also, I tried running the skimmer, but it overflows. It's a reef octopus 150. It's on a stand, so only in 6 inches of water. I've tried everything. Is the tank just too new for the skimmer to run?

 

[scason]

Absolutely gorgeous build. Now come convince my wife lol

 

[djnichols12]

So I figured out that the skimmer overflows if I run a filter sock? Weird.

I took the water to my LFS and they gave me the green light to transfer my fish. Everything in the tank is happy, but the water is cloudy. Ammonia, nitrates, and phosphates are at 0. The skimmer is working great. Help?