Mota's 125 Tank build thread(custom)

[Michael Mota]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9263480#post9263480 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bergovoy
Ok, Teh water fill button is momentary switch, no way to leave it on.

And good thinking for the return pump outlet. I think I can hook that into my Aquacontroller to take care of that, I am thinking of jsut running the high level sensor wires to both my top off device for the light to warn you, and also to the AC equipment to shut off pump1

I will have to look into that though, as I am new with teh AC equipment.

Bill.

And damn, pink,, why didnt I think of pink..

now thats a good idea with the switch, i always tend to forget things thats why i mentioned it.
i thought the return pump shut off in case a tank overflows was a good thing to have so i added it to the ato. i will not be using one of those aqua controllers so i had to improvise.

i have the frag tank together and it is drying. still need to add an overflow to it but i need to get some glass to make it. i will order the glass pre cut for it. i was thinking of painting the sides of the tank white for better light reflection. what do you folks think of that idea?

 

[Michael Mota]

i have the frag tank together and it is drying. still need to add an overflow to it but i need to get some glass to make it. i will order the glass pre cut for it. i was thinking of painting the sides of the tank white for better light reflection. what do you folks think of that idea?

no one has any idea on the painting of the sides of the frag tank??

 

[Hopeful Reefer]

Mike,

If you are gonna do white, paint the inside of the cabinet instead...just rough it up a little bit (so the paint will adhere on top of the poly coat...

Now, what I would actually do would be to paint the sides of the frag tank with a nice blue or black Krylon Fusion...adhears GREAT to glass...personal preference with the blue vs. black...in some applications I like blue and others I like black...in your case, inside the cabinet it may look better being black...

Any pics for us yet on ohw the whole setup looks together...We've gotten plenty of great pics of difference pieces of your setup...and it all looks great...any wider shots of the entire setup to date?

Great work my friend...I'm slowly working on my stand for my new build...I should have taken pics along the way but forgot to...so I'll just take pics prior to stain/poly and after...I'll be sure to post ya a link...

 

[Michael Mota]

Hopeful Reefer-
I think painting the inside of the cabinet white would just look weird especially since this will be open to view. Maybe I will go ahead and paint the tank the same blue color I did on the main tank, not sure yet.

Here is an update!

I installed the overflow float switch for the refugium. this will hook up to the ATO control box. If the tank begins to overflow it will shut down the return pump and sound a buzzer with a red light. That how they all will work

I got sand in the tank. It arrived the other day so now I can run the r/o full blast. I did not rinse the sand, I just put it in. Of course the aragonite sand made a mess and you could not see into it but the diatom filter cleaned it all up really quickly and the water is crystal clear again. The sand bed is about 1.5" deep

Here is the frame that I have been talking about. It is completed and installed on the cabinet. This shows the section around the tank

Here in this pic I tried to get a shot of the whole frame

This is a shot of the whole cabinet as it is today as you can see I still need to build the left side cabinet and all the doors but That will take a while. If I can fill the tank I will let it cycle. I was going to just transfer all the stuff over but with this thumb the way it is that is impossible right now. so I figure cycle the tank while i do the other stuff. Kinda like starting over.

sorry for the quality of the pics but that the best I can do with this old camera.

 

[Hopeful Reefer]

Mike,

The tank looks good...I never thought you would have it filled that far yet with as slow as you described your RO/DI unit was running...

If I remember correctly you said there will be a cabinet section on the left as well? What do you plan on having in this section...considering your frag tank and refugium are in the right side...

From what I see now though, everything looks great...I just had one question about the hood...it looks like it is awfully tall above the tank...do you plan on putting the lights on some sort of raising mechanism so you can work inside the tank?

Looks great...hope my measly little stand can turn out half as good... :thumbsup:

 

[Michael Mota]

"The tank looks good...I never thought you would have it filled that far yet with as slow as you described your RO/DI unit was running..."

It is running slow considering it is a 100 gpd R/o unit. I did however fix the very cold water problem and it is now putting out a small steady stream. Once I get the new r/o membrane it should be at normal production.

"If I remember correctly you said there will be a cabinet section on the left as well? What do you plan on having in this section...considering your frag tank and refugium are in the right side..."

On the top section of the left cabinet will be the r/o water tank for the ato and the center section will be the book shelfs that i wanted. The bottom will be the electrical stuff like timers, plugs and back up system.

"From what I see now though, everything looks great...I just had one question about the hood...it looks like it is awfully tall above the tank...do you plan on putting the lights on some sort of raising mechanism so you can work inside the tank?"

What I wanted was a lot of room above the tank to work in the tank without restrictions and this will give me that. The lights will be on an aluminum rack that I have to make. I was going to rig something that would raise the light automatically but I think I will make something to do it manually. Really depends on how heavy it is once built. Cost is going to be a factor but I will deal with it when i get to it

"Looks great...hope my measly little stand can turn out half as good... :thumbsup:"

I am sure your stand will be better than mine cause I have made all the mistakes and you have both thumbs Can't wait for the link so I can check it out!

 

[Westy82]

i am currently in the process of setting up a 125 gallon tank as well. i was curuious how many pounds of sand you used and how many pounds of live rock?

 

[Michael Mota]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9275482#post9275482 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Westy82
i am currently in the process of setting up a 125 gallon tank as well. i was curious how many pounds of sand you used and how many pounds of live rock?

I used about 120 lbs of aragonite sand. I have no idea on the rock cause I did not weigh it but I would say there maybe about 130 lbs if I was to guess. The rock I made was very light and so was the stuff I bought.

 

[Hopeful Reefer]

How soon till ya seed it with actual Live Rock?

 

[Westy82]

sounds good thanks. your tank/stand is looking great. wish i mine was a setup like that.

 

[Michael Mota]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9275805#post9275805 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Hopeful Reefer
How soon till ya seed it with actual Live Rock?

Not sure, once filled with water I will have to put salt in it and get levels up to par then I will seed it with live sand and a bit of rock.

 

[Michael Mota]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9275913#post9275913 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Westy82
sounds good thanks. your tank/stand is looking great. wish i mine was a setup like that.

you welcome and thanks for the comment.

 

[T-T-Trigger]

thanks for this thread, it is really been a pleasure to follow along.

 

[Hopeful Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9277065#post9277065 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Michael Mota
Not sure, once filled with water I will have to put salt in it and get levels up to par then I will seed it with live sand and a bit of rock.

Are you getting live rock locally or are you ordering from the net?

Are you getting something like GARF Grunge to seed your sand with or are you gonna sand from other locals also...(sorry, getting you ahead of the story!! :lol:

 

[draleigh]

Has anyone used Garf Grunge? I have read good and bad. Bad being it is big chunks and would be better in a fuge. I am looking to see my new tank and like the way the sand looks and don't want to add something "ugle". Oops - don't want to steal the thread.

BTW Mota i tried your DIY plumbing "contraption" and they worked out pretty good.

 

[Michael Mota]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9277408#post9277408 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by T-T-Trigger
thanks for this thread, it is really been a pleasure to follow along.

No problem, I am having fun doing this

 

[Michael Mota]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9278086#post9278086 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Hopeful Reefer
Are you getting live rock locally or are you ordering from the net?

Are you getting something like GARF Grunge to seed your sand with or are you gonna sand from other locals also...(sorry, getting you ahead of the story!! :lol:

No!
I am getting the rock and sand from my 90 reef, its been runnning for over five years.

 

[Michael Mota]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9278243#post9278243 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by draleigh
Has anyone used Garf Grunge? I have read good and bad. Bad being it is big chunks and would be better in a fuge. I am looking to see my new tank and like the way the sand looks and don't want to add something "ugle". Oops - don't want to steal the thread.

BTW Mota i tried your DIY plumbing "contraption" and they worked out pretty good.

Yes I tried it a few years back and I really could care less for it. Just get yourself a cup or two of sand from a local reefer in your area and use that to seed your sand bed. I don't think the grunge is worth the money. Just my opinion.

Yes that idea was a pretty good one if I say so myself. Surprised no one has come up with that before or at least i never seen anything like it before. works well for flow. Send me a pic of your if you can. michael_mota@msn.com

Hey guys and gals I ordered my new digital camera today!! Can't wait to get it and start to learn how to use it.

 

[Michael Mota]

Yippee!! I got the R/o membrane today. Now were making some water! Maybe tomorrow I will have it full and running.
I installed the bulk head on the frag tank and actually started to build the left cabinet. Need more wood for the shelves and need to get paint for the frag tank. Maybe tomorrow I'll go shopping.

 

[Hopeful Reefer]

You could always dump it behind your rock work...hidden from sight, yet you still get the beneficial "junk" from the mixture in to your system (if you don't have a fuge that is)...Mike does have a fuge, so he can always put it in the fuge and it will still benefit the system because the filtration will still occur, just in the refugium initially till some of the bacteria migrates from the fuge to the show tank...and, from the live rock in the show tank down to the sand...