Finally my 125g build thread

[stingeragent]

Ok, tank was purchased used. I modified the drains so each one goes to its own filter sock. Re rinsed the sand for the 3rd time today and got it put in. Now here comes the water. Only have 75gpd unit so it's gonna be a few days before its full. Also ordered some new slimline filter sock holders because I didn't like how bulky the one he had was. Those will be in tues. The rubbermaid container on the right is what I think I'm planning on using for my ATO reserve. Bad thing is it doesn't leave me any room to put my doser in if and when I need it. That's still up in the air. My return section is fairly large so I'm going to put a 2nd pump in that I will use for water changes, hookup to possible future reactors of some sorts. Will allow me to keep the overall plumbing fairly simple. All the live rock I pulled from my 55 is in that tub to the left just waiting for a water height to go in. ( yes I will be moving the sand around when I start the scape.
Edit: Forgot to add, will be using 2 RW-8's with JBwave controller on this one, which actually just showed up. Woohoo. Skimmer is an aquamaxx em-200, heat will be from a colbalt aquatics, and a 2nd backup one. Return is a mag 9.5, and the jury is still out on the lighting. Soon as this tank gets settled, I'll be moving everything over from the 40B, so the beginning lighting will be from the 2 160 we's I'm running on that. 10 gallons in, only 140ish left to go. I did check nitrates and it looks like I rinsed the used sand good enough as its sitting at 0.

 

[stingeragent]

Tank volume as it relates to a cycle. Lets say I get the tank full tomorrow and move over all the live rock in that tub. I then move over the 40B rock/fish. Will I get any sort of cycle? All the water going into the 125 is ro/di , and all the water in the 40B is ro/di. I'm not trying to rush things and won't be moving everything tomorrow, but just curious. Does the volume of water matter if the fish load doesn't change.

Edit: On another note, tank is just under half way filled. Completely emptied my rodi can, and will let the rodi unit run overnight so I'll have a full 32g container in the morning to start adding more water.I'm projecting it will be sometime monday before I get the tank/sump completely filled. Threw in one of my newly arrived RW-8's into the tank to get the water circulating.

Edit 2: Also curious on the dead coralline algae on the back glass. If I leave it, will it start to regrow, or should I just scrape it all off? It's been out of the water about 4-5 days now.

 

[ZeeSparrow]

Hard to say if you'll get a cycle or not, but I'd suspect you would see a little one at least. One of the LFS here relocated earlier this year; they had a small diatom bloom for a while but nothing major. With all live rock, I'd expect the same (if anything), as it won't be very long between setups.

I got pieces of coralline from a local reefer that she'd scraped off an old tank... dried as dried could be. After crushing it into almost dust, I put it in the tank with the pumps off for about half an hour, if I remember correctly. It's starting to spread.

 

[stingeragent]

Ok cool. Yea the rock went straight from my 55 to that tub and its got a heater and pump in there so shouldnt have any die off on the rock it self.

 

[stingeragent]

Well, 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. I have hit a wall. So this morning before I started adding anymore water, I walked around the tank with the flash light just to check for leaks, since I'm paranoid. No leaks but found something I didn't notice before. The front bottom trim had a gap between it and the stand. Gap starts at about 1.5 ft in on either side and gets bigger towards the middle. Hard to measure that small with a tape measure but I'd guess it was about 1/16th or so right in the middle. The backside of the tank however has no gap. Was hard to reach and see with it up close to the wall so I slid an envelope along the whole back side and its good. The sides are also good. Is just the front. So did some research and most of the suggestions said to put a piece of plywood between the tank and the stand, so after going to buy that, getting it cut, finnally got it under the tank after some lifting help showed up, and now the gap is even bigger in the middle. The gap now though is between the stand and the plywood. Which has me perplexed at how the gap is there. Is it possible the horizontal 2x4 is bowed in the middle, and if so I can't figure out how that would happen over time with all the wood in the front that is supporting it. There are 4 vertical 2x4's in the front, in addition to all the 1/2 trim. Any ideas?

Edit: It also sucks cause I had to completely drain the tank to get that plywood under there. Sigh.

 

[stingeragent]

Well. We are in an official holding pattern now. After doing a lot of deliberation I've decided to sell the tank and stand as not safe for water. My reasoning was, the tank was with the previous owner up and running for a year. He didn't have plywood under the bottom or shims or anything, so the gap existed for at least that whole year. He said he got it used from someone else, who I'd guess built the stand. The tank is obviously over 10 years old with the fake wood trim, so its been up and running for quite a while now with that unsupported gap in place. Also measured the crap out of the stand and the right side at least in the front is 1/8 in lower than the left side, and the droop in the middle is about 1/16 added on to that 1/8. Only way to fix would be to tear down the entire stand, but with its age I'd be better off just building a new stand . I'd have to redo the whole front and right side, so it just seems pointless to me. Highly dissapointed at the moment although I'm glad I caught it when I did. I've decided to just buy a new tank, and depending on the manufacturer warranty, I'll either build the stand myself or buy there's if the warranty requires it. Not a complete loss though as between the skimmer, sump tank, return pump, doser, and corals I got still equal out to higher than what I paid for everything plus whatever I can sell this for. This may be an extreme take on it, and I sure could just shim between the plywood and the stand, but it's been run as is for the last who knows how many years, and I realy don't want 125 gallons of saltwater on the hardwood floors.

 

[Bogue Chitto]

I hate to see you have this problem but if you can afford a new one, the peace of mind is worth it. You may could build a stand that would solve the problem. Set the tank on something you know is plumb and flat and see if the gap is still there. It may just be the old stand has sagged a little. Wish you the best...

 

[stingeragent]

Thanks. Ive had good luck with the 2 stands ive built so far. No trim gaps. I contemplated just building a new stand and using this tank, but the i remember the tank has had stress points for years now so idk. Building a stand would for sure fix the issue but i dont know how much damage the tank has had until then.

 

[Duke4life]

+1 I'd double check on a flat surface before giving up on the tank. The wood should give before the glass, unless the seams are bad. After looking at your pictures the stand you have is similar to mine, 1 of my best friends had it before and over time the wood just breathed. I made a few adjustments with extra wood braces and replaced any bad wood and used shims to help finish leveling as every floor isn't perfect.

 

[stingeragent]

Yea my floor isnt perfectly level either.When I took my measurements to see that the right side is lower than the left, i measured from the bottom of the wood to the top, not from floor to top. When I picked the tank up , it was full of water, and I had it half filled up until a few hours ago, and so far it's not leaking. I'm just paranoid about a catastrophic failure. I'll try and get a pic of the gap.
Edit: I think somehow adding the plywood made it even worse , but that dark space below is all gap.
Edit 2: I'm guessing the plywood didn't make it worse. When I noticed the gap, tank was half full of water, so it probably sunk in a bit, although i can't see that being a good sign on a glass tank. I know acrylic is somewhat flexible but on this tank, if somethings settling under pressure its probably the silicone.

Here they are

 

[Duke4life]

Hmmm.... Only other easy suggestion would be to take a square all over the inside of the tank to see if it's outta wack anywhere, then I'd be measuring everyway inside and out as you'll be able to see if anything is off, 5-10 mins. I had to put shims under 1 side to get mine level and braced in corners and added screws to those upper wood pieces that the tank sits on. I actually noticed this when I went to add some extra support pieces as the openness at the top made me a little uneasy with the weight.

 

[Shawn O]

I could be way off here, but bear with me....

1) the glass should not have 'stretched' or 'warped' as it is nowhere old enough to have done so. It's not "wavy" like windows in houses that are over 70-80 years old, correct?

2) if the glass is held together with silicone, which is elastic, once the tank is on a perfectly flat surface, won't the silicone just go back to it's original position? If the silicone had moved in any way, shouldn't it be leaking already?

Just some things that came to mind, I could be wrong (likely) and would love some info from others who've been in this situation.

The only way to tell is to test it. I'd move the tank and stand outside, set it up, shim the stand and refill it with tap. If it doesn't leak after a week would you consider it safe enough?

 

[Duke4life]

2) if the glass is held together with silicone, which is elastic, once the tank is on a perfectly flat surface, won't the silicone just go back to it's original position? If the silicone had moved in any way, shouldn't it be leaking already?

Just some things that came to mind, I could be wrong (likely) and would love some info from others who've been in this situation.

The only way to tell is to test it. I'd move the tank and stand outside, set it up, shim the stand and refill it with tap. If it doesn't leak after a week would you consider it safe enough?

If there is a leak you should know pretty quickly, now a small leak where 2 pipes come together/joints, those can go unnoticed for a while.

 

[stingeragent]

So the consensus seems to be fix the stand to get rid of that gap and go ahead and use the tank.

 

[stingeragent]

Well after more deliberation, im just gonna scrap the stand and build a new one and use the existing tank

 

[Duke4life]

Any ideas of what fish you're putting in?

 

[stingeragent]

LOL. Well, not sure if its gonna be this tank or a new one , but 2 clowns, six line wrasse, one spot foxface, hippo tang, (fish I already have), but past that I'm still working it out. Kinda put that on hiatus until I get this tank sorted out. Most likely a goby, and either a couple anthias, or PJ cardinals, and probably a lawn mower blenny.

 

[stingeragent]

Picked up the wood today. Going with 2x6 rails and 2x4's for the rest. Will be using the template by rocket engineer. I haven't skinned the other 2 stands I built, and I'm undecided if I will skin this one or not. If I decide to it will be just the front and sides, so I can always tackle that later down the road. Will get pics up soon as I get this stand built.

 

[Bogue Chitto]

That sounds good, I think you are making the right decision. I have a tank with 1 inch thick front glass and I put the level across it, and guess what...It has bowed a little bit. Its been set up for over 20 years though and never had a leak. The glass and silicone plus the rim around it will ride over some imperfections in stands.

 

[stingeragent]

I think so too. I saw the tank full when I bought it, and right before I got it, he had to sell off his rock,fish, etc, so I can only assume it wasn't leaking all over the place. The stand itself looks fine, but I'm not a huge fan of the design of it. I think going with the new stand, I can get it right, and also design it so that I can put in/remove the sump without having to pull the tank off the top to slide it in from above. The wood/screws for the basic stand without a skin only set me back 50 so not a huge loss. Planning to get it all cut/ built tomorrow and will get some pics up.