AquaKnight
Active member
Hey all,
Just wanted to put together a thread for my 125gal tank. I got the tank and stand for a song (some coral frags and $20). They both needed a lot of work. The tank was pretty scratched, though they were just light ones from years of service. Any guesses on the tank's age? Hehe, it still has the original build decal, "July 7, 1987". With 1/2" glass, this thing is built like a tank. The tank came with a glass buffing kit which took most of those away. The stand however wasn't of the same guild, it needed major help. I pretty much removed everything behind the door and added larger supports, 2"x6"'s with 1"x2" sub-supports, and corner braces whereever I could. I also added a 1/2" plywood base, with trim moldings. Sanded everything down and re-stained it.
There was no canopy, and I wanted a tall one for halides and front doors for easy access. I became really disappointed with what LFS's had and paying $750 for a custom one wasn't an option. My Dad and I ended up building it, after a couple different design ideas. Basically it's a couple strips that form the front panel, the sides attach, and the top falls on. The inside strips not only hold the front together, but keep the canopy up. We used 5/8" furniture grade plywood from Home Depot. It's a super strong design, very pleased with it. We added crown molding and side molding strips to keep everything classy and hide the joints. We router'ed the door ourselves.
Finished before staining:
Now that the tank was ready, I had to decide what I wanted to do. I have always thought about doing a predator reef. I researched and researched and seemed like this concept could be done. I would have to make some sacrifices here and there, but it could work. The tank/stand/canopy was down in Ft. Lauderdale and needed to be brought up to Orlando. We stained the tank here and found where in the house were going to put it. By that time I had already picked up a critical piece, lighting. It's an old 4' fixture, with 2 175watt MH's and 2 110watt VHO's. What's perfect, is that on this one the halides are right on the ends of the fixture, it lights my 6' tank perfect, no shadows or too dim spots. And it's not too much that it heats up the tank and the room.
Next big issue was if I was going to drill the tank. I really wanted to drill it because of the frequent Florida power outages, but my 29gal has a HOB overflow and its proven flawless. I didn't what to chance it, on since an old tank. Next was conjuring up a sump. What to do? I had only about 15.5" of width to play with and most standard tanks won't fit. A 55gal would, but way too long. I had seen stand-alone rubbermaid sumps work, so why couldn't I find something to fit underneath? Well, one day I Wal-Mart, I did! I used 2 containers, one large and one small, the small would be the return section. I abandoned the idea of a refugium in that small section, way too much flow. The return section would have a slit cut out for the water to overflow in and would be held down with pvc tube from the top of the stand.
Next was rocks and sand. Again, the cost of 200lbs of live rock probably wasn't going to happen. After realizing my location, I thought about using local, long dead rock. Much to my surprise, I found a couple beautiful pieces, including an almost 40lb shelf rock. The other 60% of the rocks were old live rock at had been dried from a friend's dismantled tank. Sand would be Lowe's silica, I'm already trying out some many myths, lets try some more! :rollface:
Couple of the collected pieces:
Last, was the parts I knew I should not skimp on, circulation and filtration. I happen to hear from the guy I got the tank from, he was selling off some more stuff, one thing being a center Wave2k wavemaker, I quickly scooped it up. I bought a 1200gph overflow from ebay and needed a return pump. I found a Mag 18 locally and jump on that, as well as a UV steralizer from one of my Dad's old tanks (I bought a new bulb and new o-rings) and a AquaC XP+ phosban reactor running chemi-pure and carbon.
It became time for the last, and most expensive piece, the skimmer. As I learned, the whole concept of a 'predator reef' would be possible if filtration was high enough. Well, the main hitch was that I only had 23" of max height under my stand to play with. I originally tried contacting ORCA about building a custom skimmer. We shot emails back and forth and all of sudden he stopped communicating. I then really wanted a BubbleMaster 250, but the used market is small to say the least. Then I found my skimmer in the classified section here, an AquaC EV-240 with Mag18 pump. It was too tall, but thanks to the tidy dimensions, I could tuck it in-behind my stand. It's not the easiest spot to work with, but it's getting the job done with about a liter every 2 days of very dry skimmate.
Just wanted to put together a thread for my 125gal tank. I got the tank and stand for a song (some coral frags and $20). They both needed a lot of work. The tank was pretty scratched, though they were just light ones from years of service. Any guesses on the tank's age? Hehe, it still has the original build decal, "July 7, 1987". With 1/2" glass, this thing is built like a tank. The tank came with a glass buffing kit which took most of those away. The stand however wasn't of the same guild, it needed major help. I pretty much removed everything behind the door and added larger supports, 2"x6"'s with 1"x2" sub-supports, and corner braces whereever I could. I also added a 1/2" plywood base, with trim moldings. Sanded everything down and re-stained it.
There was no canopy, and I wanted a tall one for halides and front doors for easy access. I became really disappointed with what LFS's had and paying $750 for a custom one wasn't an option. My Dad and I ended up building it, after a couple different design ideas. Basically it's a couple strips that form the front panel, the sides attach, and the top falls on. The inside strips not only hold the front together, but keep the canopy up. We used 5/8" furniture grade plywood from Home Depot. It's a super strong design, very pleased with it. We added crown molding and side molding strips to keep everything classy and hide the joints. We router'ed the door ourselves.
Finished before staining:
Now that the tank was ready, I had to decide what I wanted to do. I have always thought about doing a predator reef. I researched and researched and seemed like this concept could be done. I would have to make some sacrifices here and there, but it could work. The tank/stand/canopy was down in Ft. Lauderdale and needed to be brought up to Orlando. We stained the tank here and found where in the house were going to put it. By that time I had already picked up a critical piece, lighting. It's an old 4' fixture, with 2 175watt MH's and 2 110watt VHO's. What's perfect, is that on this one the halides are right on the ends of the fixture, it lights my 6' tank perfect, no shadows or too dim spots. And it's not too much that it heats up the tank and the room.
Next big issue was if I was going to drill the tank. I really wanted to drill it because of the frequent Florida power outages, but my 29gal has a HOB overflow and its proven flawless. I didn't what to chance it, on since an old tank. Next was conjuring up a sump. What to do? I had only about 15.5" of width to play with and most standard tanks won't fit. A 55gal would, but way too long. I had seen stand-alone rubbermaid sumps work, so why couldn't I find something to fit underneath? Well, one day I Wal-Mart, I did! I used 2 containers, one large and one small, the small would be the return section. I abandoned the idea of a refugium in that small section, way too much flow. The return section would have a slit cut out for the water to overflow in and would be held down with pvc tube from the top of the stand.
Next was rocks and sand. Again, the cost of 200lbs of live rock probably wasn't going to happen. After realizing my location, I thought about using local, long dead rock. Much to my surprise, I found a couple beautiful pieces, including an almost 40lb shelf rock. The other 60% of the rocks were old live rock at had been dried from a friend's dismantled tank. Sand would be Lowe's silica, I'm already trying out some many myths, lets try some more! :rollface:
Couple of the collected pieces:
Last, was the parts I knew I should not skimp on, circulation and filtration. I happen to hear from the guy I got the tank from, he was selling off some more stuff, one thing being a center Wave2k wavemaker, I quickly scooped it up. I bought a 1200gph overflow from ebay and needed a return pump. I found a Mag 18 locally and jump on that, as well as a UV steralizer from one of my Dad's old tanks (I bought a new bulb and new o-rings) and a AquaC XP+ phosban reactor running chemi-pure and carbon.
It became time for the last, and most expensive piece, the skimmer. As I learned, the whole concept of a 'predator reef' would be possible if filtration was high enough. Well, the main hitch was that I only had 23" of max height under my stand to play with. I originally tried contacting ORCA about building a custom skimmer. We shot emails back and forth and all of sudden he stopped communicating. I then really wanted a BubbleMaster 250, but the used market is small to say the least. Then I found my skimmer in the classified section here, an AquaC EV-240 with Mag18 pump. It was too tall, but thanks to the tidy dimensions, I could tuck it in-behind my stand. It's not the easiest spot to work with, but it's getting the job done with about a liter every 2 days of very dry skimmate.
Everything was done and time for it to cycle. I closely watched the parameters rise and fall. Now that part you've been waiting for, pics!
(Sorry for the glass, antzy to take pics)
