120 Gallon Plexi-Glass Tank Build.

[felixpaws]

Doing a Freshwater Test.

I wrote all this stuff, and then internet explorer had to close it down, due to a problem, so, here I go, again.:swear: Anyway, I filled it with freshwater, hooked up the plumbing, and turned it all on, and had a small leak, at an elbow, but I replaced an old clamp, and no more. These are pictures of the wires holding the tank steady, the sump running, the tank half full, and then full. I had a picture of the bowing of the front glass, but it's really unclear, so, I left it out. How much is too much bowing? Also, I expected the return to have a higher flow, than it does, but I gues that's why people use powerheads, and closed loop systems, huh? I plan to let it run, overnight, then if there are no leaks, I'll add salt, then let it run for a couple of days, with powerheads, and water pupms in it, to mix the salt. Then, after a day or two, I'll empty some water into one of my barrels, transfer the rock to it, then empty the water from the barrel that had live rock, which has the sand in the bottom, and add it to the tank, then add the rock. Top off the tank, put the light on, add some curtains to the front, and sides of the tank, made of black polyester, and wait. Do water changes, normally, for a month, and then add snails, and see if they survive, then, add the fish from the quarantine, and go from there. Yea! I hope the tank isn't too bowed:lipssealedsmilie: I'd hate to have bought a lemon. I probably could have done the plumbing better, but it's my first sump, and that was the only way I could see to get it all to fit right. Any suggestions or comments? All feedback is appreciated, thanks!:tropicalfish::dive::goldfish::dive2:

 

[felixpaws]

So here are pictures of the tank with rock & sand in it. I would have posted them sooner, but it's been crazy at our house, because it just started getting warm, around here, and we had to get some work done on the house. The water level is slightly slanted to the left, and it drives me crazy. Is that much of a difference a big deal? I, now, am seeing every little spider line, and crasing in the seams, and I can't remember if any of them are old or new. I seem to remember the front being devoid of crasing, but now, I see a bunch of it. Is it unusual to see new crasing when you re-fill a tank, and can they hide or seem to be fine, but they appear under pressure? I see some crasing that's almost hidden, and am wondering if that's what happened. It drives me nuts, worrying! I ordered two 1200 maxi-jet pros, from petsolutions.com, along with some more reef crystals, a 300watt heater, and an acrylic algae scraper pad. I have one 300watt heater, but I want to go a little over what I have in my 75, as far as recommended wattage goes, because all winter the tank has been colder than I like. I went at the top of the recommended rate, at 600watts, by getting another 300watt heater. There's hardly any life left on the live rock. I'm way dissapointed! I had a big chunk of live rock in my frag tank, and it's good, but the other rock doesn't have much alive on it. At least, it doesn't show it, yet. I took some pictures of the crasing, and will keep an eye on it, but don't know what I could do to solve the problem, anyway. The tank is mine, now. The whole thing is going great, otherwise. I have solved all the problems I thought were impossible, and that stressed me out, completely at the time. I took a picture of the lights, so, you could see the leds in action. I'm not sure of the brand. I need to check on that. If I can add more leds to it, that would be ideal. It's pretty bright, though. Not enough to grow coral by, but in addition to the compacts, maybe I can keep some cool stuff. The skimmer is pulling out some stuff, but not a lot, yet. I was advised by a fellow reefer to adjust the water level it's sitting in, but I don't know which way to adjust. Higher or lower. I've never used a sump, before, and I didn't even know to adjust the skimmers level down, you pull the overflow tube up, not down! Lol! You learn something new, everyday. I'll start to test for Alk., and Calcium, after the first couple of weeks. Thank goodness for you guys! If I hadn't read on here that I could dissolve crystalized alk. 2-part, I might have thrown the stuff away! Thanks. I'm still torn on what to add to the tank, as far as fish goes. Any suggestions would be welcome. Enjoy the pictures!

 

[felixpaws]

4th of July Weekend Update!

So, here's an update on the 120 build. I bought some reefrock from Petsolutions.com(gotta love free shipping!), added two pink anthias, a canary blenny, two engineer gobies, 2 peppermint shrimp, a coral banded shrimp, and a bunch of snails(astrea, and cerith). I'm having a bout of cyano., and several other types of algae, but I ordered a dual media reactor from bulkreefsupply.com last night. They have a sitewide 10% off sale this weekend, I couldn't pass up.(I'm not an employee of any of the places I mention, I just love a deal) Have not been running any carbon or gfo, just water changes of a little over 15 gallons a week, with reefcrystals. I tested the water, last night, and got readings of 12dKh, and 450ppm calcium with an API test kit. I added two flasher wrasses to the tank, on Thursday night, and added all the coral from my frag tank, as well. I ordered a 4 bulb T5HO 48" light fixture, from aquatraders.com, last night, also. They, probably, won't ship my stuff, until Tuesday, with the holiday, and all. I vacuum the sand, with water changes, clean the glass, clean the skimmer cup, rinse out the filter floss, fill the top-off bucket, and that's about it. I want to switch out the sump, for a 30 breeder, and silicone it into a sump/refugium, but my LFS can't order one, and they're the only game in town. I added some pictures of my 75, for excitement. Changed the rock structure on it, and lost my 6 line wrasse. He just dissappeared. I moved rock around, to look for him, and he's just not there. It's been two weeks, so, I assume he's dead. My tank temp. on my 120 is 80F, at the moment, and if it gets any hotter I'll put frozen water bottles in there. Well, there it is. Enjoy the pictures. I'll try to post more, when I get the fish I want, and more coral in there. I plan to get a reef safe wrasse of some kind, a mandarin goby, two more anthias, a kole yellow eye tang, and a powder brown tang. I tried a royal gramma, but two died in quarantine, so, i figure it isn't meant to be. Oh, and a full tank shot of my 20H frag tank. All these tanks are run on well water(which is probably dirtier than tap water, with all the run-off of fertilizers around here), and topped off with well water. No RO/DI, but I plan to get the DI unit form petsolutions.com, because it doesn't create waste water, as a by-product. Enjoy!

 

[felixpaws]

So, got my light, form Aquatraders.com, and I should get my reactor on Monday. I bought an exsquisite wrasse, form Petco, and a fish at my lfs that wasn't labeled, but I think is a psuedochromis. It has a purple stripe starting at it's nose, and reacheing down it's back, with a background color of yellow. The wrasse I bought from them died, so, I did a 4 gallon water chenge on my frag/quarantine tank, and sucked out as much mulm as I could, in hopes that I won't kill my other two fish. I've been doing ten percent water changes, on my frag tank, and it seems that's not enough, since I lost an anthias, two royal grammas, and another fish, through quarantine, and had two fish come up with popeye. Bought two hairy green shrooms, and one dissappeared in my 120, and the other seems to be adjusting poorly, ugh! My other coral additions are faring well, with the new light, and have expanded more fully Fish are doing well, but I added two flasher wrasses, a week or two ago, and one dissappeared Will try to post pictures, when I add the wrasse, and if I get an more coral. So far, so good. Only a few drawbacks lol! Nobody said this hobby was always easy or problem free. Added a ton of ice to my top off bucket, and moved my fan, and lowered the temp. to 78F, in the morning, but it crept back up, during the day. Added more ice. It must work, since I added 4 more bulbs of T5 lighting, hmmm?

 

[felixpaws]

Added the reactor to the tank, but I'm still dealing with cyano. Added an exsquisite wrasse, and a purpleback psuedochromis. Switched my long tentacle toadstool over to the 120. It's opened up nicely. I'm getting a lot of new crazing on the seams, and the joints seem to be separating! I'm getting crazing in the actual walls of the tank, now. It's not horrible, but it seems to be getting worse. I can't get the tank perfectly level. I tried, when I set it up, but it rather quickly, settled uneven. How perfectly does it have to be leveled, to avoid it suddenly blowing to pieces, and killing me, and the fish, spreading disaster, and mayhem,(not to mention fire, and flooding the entire house) and causing me to have to be homeless, shaking a can for hooch, and stale fritos!!!??? Just kidding. I am worried, though. It is getting worse, but I'm not sure how to fix the problem. Any suggestions? To empty the tank, and re-level it would be extremely difficult, next to impossible at this point. I'll try to get pictures taken, but I'm on my dad's computer, so, it might be difficult. Other than the crazing, the tank is doing great, at this stage of it's developement. I need ideas on how to, either jack up the tank or something to put metal washers under it, to level it. I'm worried about jacking the stand up, because it's welded, and it could break the welds. Cruuuuddd!!! Other than that, it's an awesome tank. Urgh.

 

[felixpaws]

Another update.

Here's the 120, and 75 gallon, from today. Battling cyano. in my 120, and have a little bit in my 75, from putting a piece of live rock from the 120 in there. I re-tuned my asm g2 to skim a little bit heavier, and did a water change, yesterday, cleaning up as much cyano. as possible. I bought a mandarin, who seems to be happy, and healthy. I bought some coral, from a local reefer, so, have some to look at. I change the GFO, and carbon, every two weeks, clean the filter floss, vacuum the sand, and clean out the skimmer weekly, with my water changes, which are, about 15% I'd say. I, still plan to get a DI unit, but I have to wait, until I pay off the tank. I want to switch over to led's, but don't know whether I should try to build my own or buy a unit. Any advice? Costs? I want to build a new acrylic sump, also. This one is too small, and crowded. I thought about using a bio-pellet reactor, but I don't have space in my sump, for another powerhead, and I'd have to use two, since it's a 120, and the one I'm looking at is only good for a 75 gallon. Questions are welcomed! Enjoy!

 

[greech]

Good job, they look good.

My advice would be to buy the RO/DI unit before you bye LEDs. Save you time and money on maintaining the tank and the tank will be healthier.

Don't use biopellets unless you think your skimmer is up to it. No expert on them but I have read that several times.

 

[Sihota]

looks good

 

[felixpaws]

Thanks! I might not be getting the DI unit, at all. It's only a DI unit, not RO/DI. The thing is, a friend is getting into the retail side of the hobby, and soon he plans to sell RO/DI water, so, I can just get the good stuff from him. Yeah, my skimmer is only so so. It's an ASM G2, and works okay, but not great. I think I'll pass on the bio-pellets. At least, for now. I don't know if my tank has finished all it's bubbling in the seams, but I'm preparing for the worst. I've checked around on prices, for a replacement tank(and possibly an upgrade, in size), and have created a plan of action, should the tank start to leak. Except for the livestock, the switch over should be pretty easy. Live rock into a tub, coral moved into my 75, and 20H, and most of the fish into the 75, except the mandarin, and bi-color psuedochromis traded into my lfs. Tank emptied, then moved, the new tank put in place, and set up. Mix some saltwater in the tank itself(after I check for leaks), then move the sand, and live rock to the new tank. Hopefully, it won't need to cycle, since it would be a quick move, but I'd wait a little, to make sure. I'm waiting on the leds, until I pay off this tank, and for Christmas to see if anyone has any big sales or if people are going to sell they're units to pay for Christmas presents. The Marineland reef ready's have already come down, significantly, in price, since they came out, this year. I'm hoping the price comes down some on led's in general. Can't decide if I want to try to build my own unit. It's supposed to be cheaper, but I don't know what all I'd need to get the job done, and all that. :help: Any advice, andyone?

 

[Ace25]

With LEDs as of today.. the longer you sit and ponder switching, the cheaper it will be. Prices took a big drop in the beginning of the year but leveled off.. but now there are a TON of new LED lights coming out (MACNA is going on this weekend), some at a reasonable price, which to me says the DIY crowd is about to see another price drop in the next few months. For a standard 75G, 36 3w LEDs will be good for 95% of corals out there.. if you want to make sure you have enough light for 100% of corals (mainly Acropora Tortuosa) then 48 LEDs would be the answer and give you more control over the look of the light via being able to dim independent channels.

Check out [B][U]www.reefbuilders.com[/U][/B] and look at the first 5 pages and see how many different LED lights just came out this weekend.