My 120g SPS upgrade

Pseudo69

Pseudo69

Member
I have been working on setting up my dream tank for a year now. Getting ready to retire and all took a lot of time away from the hobby but I still planned for an upgrade. I started out the year with a 60g cube since space and time was an issue. I really liked the cube but ran out of space rather quickly. So the 120g upgrade couldn't come quick enough.

I have parquet floors that buckle if you cry on them. So when I set up the 60g, I wanted to be able to move the tank in case some spill or other mishap occurred. So I thought "Wheels"!



The tank moved but was awkward and difficult but it did do what it was supposed to once emptied half way. So the tank went from this...



To this in 8 months...

 
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I started out with the tank. I went with a local builder that made me a Starfire 3 sided 120g 4x2x4 tank.


Then I had another reef board member/stand builder design and make my stand for me. I explained to him what I wanted to do and he was kinda thrown back as he never heard of a tank on wheels before. But he agreed to build my stand to my specs and it came out looking nice.




He beefed up the stand so it was built like a dolly with a 4" thick base bolted together and a 3/4" ply sheep on top. Then he made a skirt around the base that would cover the new caster wheels so there would only be a 2" gap from floor to stand. You never see the wheels.




The wheels are low profile, industrial casters that can hold and work with 2000 lbs of weight. Worth every penny.

I hate the look of Styrofoam under tanks and wanted something that would work and was waterproof. I went with and anti-microbial yoga mat 1" thick in black. I used it for the top of the stand and under for noise reduction from the sump.



Tank and stand

 
The Equipment list was something I debated about for a while. I travel for periods of time and wanted to make sure this tank had everything needed to run without my for a period of time up to a month.

Lighting I wanted halide and T5's. I needed consistent parameters and run a low nutrient tank. I wanted larger fish than I had with the 60G cube (tangs and small angels). Monitoring with remote access and control with warning capabilities (email and such) And I also wanted to play around with a few things I haven't used in many years.

2 x 24" Geismann 400w Spectra fixtures
Apex with 2 x PM1 modules, WXM, 2 x Breakout boxes, PM2, 3 EB8's and a EB4
3 Vortech MP40's and 1 MP10 for the frag tank (Going for a 4th Vortech)
Jebao DC9000 and a backup DC9000 (just in case)
SKimz DC SM163 skimmer with Avast swabbie (enroute)
Custom King Sump 39 x 16x 16
GEO carbon Reactor, GAC reactor, Pellet reactor, Ozone reactor, collection cup with auto shut off, Nano calcium reactor, Air drier and carbon reactor. Not to mention odds and ends I needed that Geo's Reef provided.
 
I broke down 60g as I was setting up the 120g in one day. Not the easiest thing to do It was a mess. I started with the rock work as water was being made. I had Manando LR from the old tank and I had cured some Marco rock as well but wanted an open aquascape.




The sump and support equipment went online as soon as possible. I had to make a manifold for the equipment.



Placed in the tank I liked how it came out. So I added the rest of the rock and started placing corals in the tank.
 
I started out with Tunzes and Vortech's. Not a good match so went with 3 Vortech's instead and easier to control with the Apex.. I got the Apex up and running and alot of the stuff I needed going in one day. And I laid out the plan for the rest.






The tank was clear and running and everything made it.
 
After cord management, cleanup and general maintenance, I only have a few things left to do. Final setup pic.









Starting to grow out in only 2 months.

 
looks clean and thought out. nice job. whats that sps in the pic after the green cap? looks tan with little green polyps.
 
Thanks everyone. That was a browned out scripps acro. It is lightening up and has neon green polyps. I need to get a better camera.

NZXTGUY, my friends think so too. But everything has a purpose and not just thrown on. The pellet reactor has about 250ml of pellets in it. I don't have a lot of rock so this was to make up for the difference. I started with a little bit and it worked well so I never added any more. I had high nitrates in the old tank.

The carbon and GAC I always use. I went with a calcium reactor that you cant see because it is in the sump. The ozone is just an extra for if the water quality starts to go a little off it can bring it back and offset water changes if I am not around and water clarity.

My tank parameters are stable right now. I had a mild outbreak of cyano because po4 levels were a little high. Once the bio pellets took off the nitrates and po4 dropped in a few days.

Calcium 430ppm
Alk 9.7-10 dkh
Mag 1400
Nitrates undetectable
po4 undetectable
 
Lots of knowledge in this tank to get all of those reactors working together and In sync. Not over doing one another. Does make sence to have a buffer since u don't have enough rock to have a bacteria build up to do it for u.
 
Looks great and I am a fan of automating things. Have you thought about a self cleaning head for the skimmer? I am sometimes away for months at a time and it helps tremendously.
 
Tek,

I purchased and extra skimmer lid and sent it to Avast for custom fit for the swabbie. It should be done in a week.

I have only one other thing to do which is most important for me. The ATO... I ordered a hi/lo auto top off from Spectrapure to fill a reservoir that feeds the main DT and the frag tank with dual Litermeter pumps.. The ro/di will be fed from the kitchen plumbing to a equipment cabinet in my room so I never have to refill the ATO box. The reservoir is 25 gallons but I will be programming the Apex to only allow top off to any tank of no more than 2 gallons in any given 12 hours. Also secondary float switches will be installed in every tank and top off box. The hi/low switch will allow the water in the holding tank to be fully used before refilling eliminating stale water.

Thanks for the compliments.
 
You have as much stuff as me Jackson. I want to give you half of this Avengers in a month or so. I already got a few branches on it. I want to see if you can get the same colors out of it. Color that PM up too.

Send me a link to the po4 tester. I want one now.

Thanks Travis. :)
 
This is a fantastic upgrade! Congratz on a job well done.

I love seeing this kind of attention to detail. And its the only tank Ive seen that is mobile! LOL Just unplug and roll!
 
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