My plan of a 125 gallon build

LOL... I agree. Having a 125g would leave me wanting more too, but again, that's really a personal preference on what makes you happy. I'm another person who likes depth to the tank, to the point that if I were to do another bigger tank it would probably be one of a more square design than length. At any rate, there is the considerations of cost, if that is a worry at all. Not just the cost of the tank, but the consideration that you have more volume to move, possibly needing a beefier skimmer for the larger volume, more rock... more fish, more corals. lol You just have to stay within your comfort zone with cost and upkeep. I probably should have just not said anything about the 180g and let you cruise forward as you were. :hammer:
 
Shooter, you were the one trying to talk me into a 180g and now you just talked me out of it. LOL... Comfort Zone is the key word!

Seriously, I have my reason to go with a 125g in the first place. As I said the tank is in my office which is a very small room about 10'x11'. I work from home and spend 8-10 hours a day in my office. A big tank like 180g will put out so much moisture, humidity, and noise into the room making it very uncomfortable to work.:( It will be like working in a fish room all day:thumbdown. Not to mention how the high humidity will affect all my computers and electronic equipment in the office. I do plan to put a small and quiet exhaust fan which I hope would help.

So I am going to stay with my original plan for the 125g build. I will be ordering my tank from a LFS tomorrow. BTW Marineland is having a huge sale on tanks till the end of this month.

Next step, start my build on the stand. More pics to come of my construction.
 
I'm glad that decision has been solved. How long will it take to get your tank. Are you ordering it from a LFS in Danville. I have not found anyone that has salt over there besides Premium Pet Supplies.
 
Yes, I am ordering it from Pet World. They have discontinued their saltwater section a while back but the owner said he could order the tank for me. I will place my order tomorrow and the tank will be delivered to the store Tuesday! I live two blocks away from the store. The only LFS in Danville still carries saltwater fish is Pet Supply Plus but the selection is very limited. However, you can order any fish that you want. I usually picked up my fish before they put it in their stock tanks.
 
I'd suggest you look into the bean animal overflow design for your tank. I just started a 40 breeder that is using it and it is by far the quietest overflow I've seen. Plus, the added bonus for you would be highrr flow rate and a failsafe so you don't have a flood. Just my opinion.
 
elmatth1 said:
I'd suggest you look into the bean animal overflow design for your tank. I just started a 40 breeder that is using it and it is by far the quietest overflow I've seen. Plus, the added bonus for you would be highrr flow rate and a failsafe so you don't have a flood. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

The bean animal overflow design uses 3 drain pipes, one primary regulated by a gate valve, the other two are for backup. The return line is separate.

My 125g tank will have two corner flows each with two 1" bulkheads. I will be using all 4 1" bulkhead for drain. Two will be primary regulated by gate valves and two backup. I think it will be the same or very similar to the bean animal design. See my earlier plumbing diagram.
 
Yeah, i saw on the huge bean animal thread where guys used three of the bulkheads for the bean animal overflow and the fourth for the return. Just a suggestion, that way you can run a full siphon and flow alot more than the 600-700gph. Of course, there are many different ways to accomplish what you are after.
 
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elmatth1, your comment and suggestion on bean animal system prompted me to rethink my plumbing configuration. The bean system runs on 3 drains and one return and I have two cornerflows with 4 bulkheads. So I am going to use two for primary drains controlled by gate valves to achieve full siphon, one bulkhead for backup drain and one bulkhead for return. This way all plumbing will be done and kept underneath the tank and much simpler.

Can you or someone tell me if this is going to work or will I run into major risk of flooding?:uhoh3:

125g24.jpg


Also I ordered my 125g and a 30g sump yesterday from our LFS and I should have them this evening!:bounce2:

Site prep continues as I removed the room door and repainting the room as this is the best time to do it than after the tank is in. I also ordered a room to room fan from Amazon and should be installing it soon. After I get the tank and know the exact meansurement, I will begin to build the stand.:bounce3:
 
Ya i know, I was thinking about you when i grabbed it. Im in the middle of putting up new buildings so i might make it a fuge out in my shed!
 
HST1 said:
Ya i know, I was thinking about you when i grabbed it. Im in the middle of putting up new buildings so i might make it a fuge out in my shed!
Click to expand...

Thanks for thinking about me:). 180g as a fuge! It must be some tank you are building.
 
I am curious as to why you have decided at this point on just one return. My tank has the same amount of holes and I use two return and two drain.
 
Trademark said:
Go for it! I know u miss having a bigger tank .
Click to expand...

Stop! Keep it away... the large sucker-upper of money! :uzi:

Seriously, I have nowhere to put one right now, and I'm about to embark upon building a new house. My wife, while constantly bugging me to get more fish and such for my little tank, I think would crucify me if I tried to start a 180g and explained to her the costs of starting it from scratch. lol

*but I would so like to have one..." :facepalm:

Sorry to invade ur thread, SimonSKL. cheers :beer:
 
Trademark said:
I am curious as to why you have decided at this point on just one return. My tank has the same amount of holes and I use two return and two drain.
Click to expand...

A couple reasons I guess. One is to keep the plumbing as simple as possible yet gives me the most quiet drain system. Bean Animal system uses a gate valve to control flow to give it full siphon yet without any air mixed in with the water. It also have a backup drain without any kind of valve or restriction in case a snail or something clogging up the primary drain. The backup is absolutely essential for this system. This system is the quietest system that I have found so far.

As far as deciding on only one return instead of two. I have read it is not necessary to have more than 5-7X volume through your sump. In other words a lot of gph thru the return pump is not needed. Since my return line will be one inch and pushed by an external pump (Blowhole 1450 at this time) that can be adjusted with 1 of 3 gph settings, I think I can fine tune it to the optimal flow rate using only 1 return line.

I hope this makes sense to you. I am glad I can keep changing my mind at this point. Once I start building, I hope everything will go smoothly.:smokin:

Shooter, no problem at all. Glad you can chime in.
 
When I set my 120g up, I had many, many long nights eyeballing build threads here on RC. Asking questions of the locals, as well as diving into the equipment threads. So many different ways to accomplish the same thing. I had never touched plumbing before, had never had a sump before. Debated on skimmers and everything else. It was one year, to the day, from when I bought the tank til I had it set up and filled with water and switched on the power to start the thing running. That was how long it took me to plan, debate, re-plan, save money, buy equipment, etc. I wanted everything to be just perfect and, of course, it wasn't. But it worked pretty good right out of the gate with no leaks, no floods, no failures, so that was pretty good. I haven't been on here a bunch in the past couple of years, just occasionally, and it's amazing how things change. Some of the stuff you're talking about I've never even heard of. I ran just regular ol' dursos in the dual overflows of my 120g with a Mag 12 return and I had no noise whatsoever from my overflows. None. So I just kinda get cross eyes when I look at all these diagrams. My lines came down, together in the middle, and out the back of the stand (my sump was in the room behind the tank), and back up the same way. Whether that was the best way or most efficient or whatever, I don't know, but it worked. Don't over think things, pick a way to go and work that direction. Be prepared in case something doesn't work right and you need to change things. Test whatever you can before putting stock in.
 
I agree. Sometimes I just way over think about things. There were times I woke up in the middle of night trying to figure out certain part of the build and change things here and there. Once I start, I pretty much follow the plan until I come across some major obstacles.
 
Simon, I was just offering up a suggestion that you may or may not have thought of before. The bean animal design works great for me, but I don't have corner overflows. I'd ask about it in the bean animal thread and see what kind of feedback you get about how to plumb the corner overflows with that system. I do know though you only want a ball or gate valve on the siphon pipe and not the others. Hope it works out, whichever method you choose.
 
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