125 Build

[USNreefer]

Hello everyone, I checked in on the New To the Hobby thread about two and half months ago but really never got around to posting up pics of my build. Had a kid in between there, been lurking on here just researching my butt off on anything and everything and just been spending lots of monies getting this tank up and going. Well My tank has been up and running a lil over a month now and everything is doing extremely well. Here is a list of all the equipment I am currently running:

Used 125G tank and stand 72", purchased on valentines day this year.
About 120 lbs of LR and about 140 lb of LS
40 Long sump, 3 partitions- skimmer, return, fuge
ASM G3+ skimmer
Triton 5 return pump
2 Koralia 3's, 1 aqueon 1650, 1 Marineland pump 1200'ish gph pump (temp until i get another powerhead)
2 Coralvue 250W MH pendants with 2 Coralvue 400W adjustable ballasts
1 48" ATI 4 bulb t-5 fixture Running from front to back: Fiji Purple, Blue plus, Aquablue special, Blue plus
Finnix 800W heater with controller
26G bow front quarantine tank with bare essentials

Live stock so far:
Blue Mille
Green Slimer
Open Brain
Frogspawn
Trumpets
Orange Crush Acan (found out its not really a true orange crush so the actual species is unk at this time)
Filamented Flasher Wrasse (quarantined)
Hoeven's (Melanurus) Wrasse (quarantined)
Male/Female pair of yellow watchman gobies (quarantined)
Clean up crew consisting of hermits, astrea, trochus and cerith snails with a cleaner shrimp and 2 emerald crabs

So far everything is doing quite well and thriving. Now on to the good stuff, pictures!

The day I brought home the tank:

Cleaning the tank:

Skimmer:

Return area:

Fill up with saltwater 4-4-11:

Full tank shot:

Frogspawn:

Blue Milli the day I got it:

 

[USNreefer]

Blue Milli now:

Acan:

Green Slimer:

Open Brain:

Zoa's (I was told they were PPE's):

Trumpets:

Hoeven's Wrasse:

Female Watchman:

Male Watchman:

Filamented Flasher Wrasse:

 

[USNreefer]

FTS as of saturday:

Sorry if the quality of some of these pics are poor, most were taken with my iPhone. Also if anything is mis-identified please correct me, I by no means am an expert at this. All names were provided to me by my LFS's. This is my first SW tank and I'm open to any criticism be it good or bad. This is just my journey that many before me have taken and I would like to share my experiences with everyone that I myself have gone through thus far.

 

[frankpayne32]

Looking good. I love the 125 dimensions. A good way to get into "big" tanks. Good luck!

 

[USNreefer]

Looking good. I love the 125 dimensions. A good way to get into "big" tanks. Good luck!

Thanks, I like the dimensions also, however I'm already itching for a bigger tank lol. Sadly the wife said this is the biggest I can get until we buy a bigger house.

 

[Lynnmw1208]

did you use RO/DI water to fill it up? if not you will have algae issues and your corals may not do as well. I would suggest getting your own unit. I have a 4 stage system from bulk reef supply and I like it.

 

[USNreefer]

did you use RO/DI water to fill it up? if not you will have algae issues and your corals may not do as well. I would suggest getting your own unit. I have a 4 stage system from bulk reef supply and I like it.

Yeah I forgot to put that in here, I have a 4 stage 90gpd RO/DI unit that I'm using and I like it a lot. I've been told that the hair algae is just a natural progression for new tanks. I had my diatom outbreak already that lasted for 2 weeks then went away so I figure the algae will break in a month or so. Not too worried about it unless it starts to affect my corals, but at this time it isnt.

 

[ericauch]

nice

 

[USNreefer]

nice

Thanks

 

[USNreefer]

Update...all fish made it through quarantine and are now enjoying their new home in the DT.

 

[justin_g]

Good start. Now the fun of livestock. Really like the rock work.

 

[USNreefer]

Good start. Now the fun of livestock. Really like the rock work.

Thanks man, took me a few tries to get it to that way lol. Like your signature made me laugh.

 

[USNreefer]

New additions acclimating.

Vlamingii Tang and Japanese Red Pistol