Geoff's 125g build

Ok so this process has to speed up now since I sold 40g breeder setup. The guy gave me two weeks to get everything done and transferred over to him. So a couple of questions. I'm going to be putting about 75 lbs of live rock from the 40g breeder and then adding roughly 60 lbs of base rock from BRS. Also, will be adding about 150 lbs of live sand...brand has skipped town for the moment. If I use the water from my current system (60 gallons) and then fresh saltwater. What kind of cycle do you guys think I'll have?
 
Well got my plumbing in the mail last night and got most of it glued together. Have to make a final stop at HD for a stick of 3/4"...I was 2" short in my calculations. Oh well. If everything goes as planned, then I should have water test done tomorrow and then RO to follow. Still have to get my sand and some more salt so hoping that it is full of saltwater by next Wednesday. I'll post update pics later.
 
Ok big news for me...got the plumbing finished and 75g of water in the tank...it's all I had saved up. I should have enough to finish it up tomorrow. I'll post pics tomorrow.
 
Ok so I'm a bit behind with the pictures and I'm sorry. Got everything up and running with saltwater, which is great, but it was loud as hell and the wife wasn't having it AT ALL! So the task was to figure out how to quiet down the overflows. So research started on a durso standpipe. Figured it seemed easy enough and off to Home Depot I went.

Got everything I needed and headed home to put it together. Wound up being super easy to assemble everything and get it installed. HOWEVER, in the process I moved my digital thermo probe to my return chamber and without thinking about it I turned on the return pump...everything was good for about 3 minutes and then BAM, unplugged the pump and saw it.

I tried to pull it out but I couldn't. So I unhooked the pump and took off the cover and was able to get it out but the white ceramic "rod" was broken at the tip. I was super bummed and tried super gluing it back together...that didn't work so I decided to try it anyways. Low and behold it works. I'm not sure how long so I will be buying a new impeller...$50 out the window.

After I got it running I wound up drilling 6 to 8 1/16" holes in each cap to get the airflow/water right. Might need to adjust a little bit to get it perfect, but there is no noise and the wife is happy so I'm happy.

Also, picked up some bad *** lace rock today that is going to be the center piece of the tank...looks like a cliff/wall with caves and all kinds of other stuff. I'll get pics and post them ASAP because I'm looking for some ideas/thoughts of overall Aquascape.

I think that's it for now.
 
Seems like little stuff is always happening! However, even though it's little stuff, it seems to still be expensive in this hobby! :-/
 
So i know i still havent posted pics but i will. Im realizing that i should have done what a lot of people do on here by going through a lot of the initial build and then start their thread. My thread is pretty boring right now. Oh well.

Well got some time this weekend to do some work on the tank. Updates:

I got my two MP40s in the mail a couple days ago that i got from a reefer on RC. Dealing with a bit of a noisy wet side, but talking to Ecotech to figure it out. Definitely love the flow from these things. I'm really thinking about getting another to put on the back wall. What is everyones experience with this setup?

I added 130lbs of live sand to the tank. Super cloudy right now but clearing up after about 24 hours. Hopefully it will be all cleared up by tomorrow so I can get some more pictures to post. Not sure if it will be enough sand but will adjust accordingly...also it was all my LFS had in stock at the moment.

Also got my BRS dual reactor moved over from the 40g breeder. Got the JBJ ATO hooked up and dialed in. I'm just using a 5 gallon bucket right now but will be changing that to a 10g tank once I get to the store.

Got the underside of the tank cleaned up as well. Looks a lot better than it did.

I still need to order the backing for the tank. Anyone have any recommendations for places to order from? I chose not to paint because I wanted to be able to change it up down the road if I so desired.

Still need to add about 50lbs of live rock from my 40g. Had to mix up some saltwater yesterday before i could do that though so that rock move is on the agenda for today.

Oh yeah, I dropped in some frozen food about a week ago as well. I haven't tested the water yet but that is on the agenda for today as well. Hopefully I see a spike in something.

Ok I think that is it for now. Comments are always welcomed.
 
Ok so I made it to the store and got my 10g tank for the ATO. Got the 5g bucket switched out with that now.

I didn't get the live rock moved over from the 40g yesterday so that is on the agenda for this evening. Wife is getting ****ed that the 40g isn't broken down yet so I have to start moving a bit faster.

Also, didn't get the water parameters checked so that is also on the agenda for this evening.

The water has cleared up some more but is still super cloudy. I'm pretty surprised at how cloudy it still is. I must not have done a good enough job rinsing the sand prior to putting it in the tank.

Not sure how much of this is going to get done this evening as it is my wife's birthday and I have to cook filet for her.

I'll let everning know.
 
Well even though I haven't added pictures yet the build does continue. So on with the written update...

So I have moved over the 60+ lbs of live rock from my 40g tank that I'm going to be breaking down. I will say that my 3 fish were not very happy when I moved that out of their current home.

My foxface was darting around the tank for about ten minutes after I was done messing around with getting the rocks out and redoing the 25lbs or so of rock leftover into a couple of small caves.

I have realized that I have way too much rock leftover...probably in the neighboorhood of 65lbs. Oh well, looks like I will have something to sell locally.

I think the tank looks very nice with all of the rock work done. I'm a little flustered though because the new tank has still not cleared up all of the way. I need to clean out the fine sand that has settled in the sump and I'm hoping that helps clear it up.

Started skinning the stand today and I am definitely in over my head. However, I'm pushing forward. I'm trying to make the wife happy and am trying to make it look like a piece of furniture vs. a big rectangle box. I doing base board trim on the bottom along with crown moulding up top. I'm making the doors myself so I can make them as big as possible to give me as much room underneath the tank.

Started testing my water a couple of days ago and here are my results from today.

Ph 8.2
Temp 79.9
Ammonia .25
Nitrites Greater than 1
Nitrates 20

Looking for everything to start coming down more over the next week. Looking to get the stand done over the next week as I'm going out of town next weekend.

I have decided to pull the trigger and get a Reef Octopus BR110 bio pellet reactor. Will let everyone know when I get it up and running.

Also, had to get a new heater today because one of my other ones took a crap. However, I don't think I'm actually going to need it because I ran my lights for a full cycle today and the tank got up to 80.7. I'm going to see what it's at in the morning and see if it will stay warm enough all night without the heaters.

And finally, I do promise I will get pics up to get everyone up to date on where I'm at.
 
Sounds good!! Be sure to take it slow with the biopellets

Was your 125 reef ready (predrilled)?

I'm curious because mine isn't so I use a hob with siphon for overflow...
 
Yeah it was predrilled...dual back wall overflows. Are you interested in drilling your tank? I drilled my 40g breeder. I used the glass holes overflow kit and it was a piece of cake.
 
Ok so a couple of updates. Some tank related and some not...

Non tank related update...I attended Reef Stock today in Denver. I was surprised by the amount of people that attended. I will say that they absolutely need to find a bigger venue for next year. I had to wait in line for approximately 30 minutes before I could even get in the door. This was due to being at max capacity. It was absolutely packed wall to wall. I had to wait way too long just to be able to get up to a table to check out what the vendor had available. I had to wait till it was about half over before I was able to make a purchase. I bought my first three SPS corals, which I'm happy about. They are currently in my RSM waiting to be transferred to the 125g.

With that said, it was very enjoyable. I learned about a few things in the process and would definitely attend again...if they go to a new venue. And it was a good day with my son who enjoyed seeing all the corals.

Tank related update...so I tested my params today.

Ph - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - .2
Nitrates - 5

Is it time for my first water change? You guys/girls think that doing the water change will lower the trites/trates the rest of the way?

Only asking because I need to get the fish from my 40 breeder into there because I'm going out of town and my mother-in-law is watching the tanks and I'm hoping to get the number down to four from five.

Thanks
 
Ok so a good update...without pictures. Did a 30g water change today since the cycle was complete. Then went out and enjoyed the beautiful weather today and then tonight I got all of my livestock moved over from the 40 breeder tonight. What a chore that was...I wasn't expecting it to take as long as it did; however, everything is moved and everything is eating and seems to like the 6' of swimming.

I have never done this so I'm a bit concerned that everything will survive the night...not particular reason since all the params were good and I drip acclimated everything prior to putting them into their new homes. Please tell me that I'm not the only one that has these feelings when moving livestock to new homes.

I also got my biopellet reactor hooked up and running. I'm having a bit of trouble getting all the pellets to tumble and that is with a Mag5. I put the required amount based on my water volume so I'm not sure if this is what I should expect or not. I'll see how it goes over the next couple of days. Any ideas?

So looks like it is time to start breaking down the 40...still trying to keep it and move it downstairs for a frag tank but the wife is fighting me tooth and nail. I'll let everyone know how that fight ends up.

Thinking about doing another 30g water change tomorrow on the 125g after moving the livestock over. Is this necessary or not?

Thanks
 
Well it's been a bit since I updated so here we go.

I have been able to keep the 40 breeder so far...not set up but in my fish room in the basement. I think I'm going to use it as a frag tank and a QT tank for larger specimen.

Everything has been doing great in the tank. Params have been spot on for the last few weeks.

I made a couple of purchases from BRS over the last couple of weeks. I bought some 2 part. I will start dosing in the next week or so as I add more coral.

I also decided to make the switch to LED...I just wasn't getting the colors that I wanted out of the corals and fish. So I bought 3 AI Sols and the controller. I just got them yesterday and was playing around with them.

I have to finish my canopy and then figure out how to DIY a mount since the AI one orientates them the opposite way that I want them orientated. Does anyone have any ideas or plans that they have done that you can share with me?

I also have an issue with the controller not really working with my AI Nano. Can someone help me out with this. Each time I set the controller to the AI Nano it changes itself to the AI Sol Royal Blue...also it doesn't seem to control the lights at all. Can't start a thunderstorm or even get the controller to turn off the lights.

Thanks
 
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