"Phil's 125 Semi-Aggressive Reef"

[Duke4life]

As a reward for quitting smoking cigarettes I get to set up a 125 gallon tank, this was given to me by a friend and is in the beginning stages of being resetup (meaning stand reinforced, tank cleaned with no chemicals). I've been away from the hobby for 11 years and while some things remain the same others have changed. Not to mention my research this go around, which has brought me to this site countless times.

What I have already: the tank and stand, 2-2.5 gallon bio balls which sit on a 20 gallon sump.
Any suggestions on a return pump and size?

Want to get:
80lbs live rock, 50lbs dry rock
160 lbs live sand - want bed 2.5 - 3 inches deep
2 inch clear PVC to place under for eel hideaways
RO unit

Fish in order of preference:

Cephlalopholis argus/ peacock hind grouper
(Miniatus grouper is the back up)

A chainlink eel
A snowflake eel
After doing research and reading what I could find on here I settled on these guys as they seem to do better with fish (was more a viper moray fan at first)

Queen angel, emperor, or blue face: wife's preference

Picasso trigger

Some type of wrasse? Upper level swimmers? Mid level swimmers?
I don't want just bottom dwellers, but realize my options are limited, and I do intend to get all fish as juveniles/small.

I would also like to set up a crab tank for feeders for the eels. A ghost shrimp tank for those that will eat them.

If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. I intend on setting this fully up over the next 3 months.

Thanks for your time.

 

[Dmorty217]

Congrats on quitting smoking! Be sure and have something to keep the eels in the tank. Out of the 3 angels you mentioned the blue face is the least aggressive

 

[44santababy]

forget a boring snowflake or chain-link, get a skeletor eel. Excellent with fish these eels, totally docile.

 

[Prosurfer413]

forget a boring snowflake or chain-link, get a skeletor eel. Excellent with fish these eels, totally docile.

I agree. Skeletor eels are the way to go. My buddy had a small one in his 150g tank. Only saw it one time in 6 months. Now the things the size of a horse and very active at all times

 

[Kyuss]

FWIW I have a chainlink I got small and is currently around 14" and he's been extremely active since I got him. In and out of the rock work and even does quite a bit of open water swimming. Also learned to come up to the spot I feet at to grab food at feeding time.

I had a snowflake in a past tank and him I'd rarely see other than a head poking out. This chainlink is quite the opposite. Not taking away from the skeletor eel at all, I was actually looking for one of those first, but they can be hard to come by and are quite a bit more expensive than the chainlink. I've had no regrets with the chainlink. Just throwing my experience out there.

 

[alton]

FWIW a friend of mine got a brand new 2014 Corvette for quitting smoking from his wife, I would push for a 250 gallon.

 

[Duke4life]

FWIW I have a chainlink I got small and is currently around 14" and he's been extremely active since I got him. In and out of the rock work and even does quite a bit of open water swimming. Also learned to come up to the spot I feet at to grab food at feeding time.

Ever feed live crabs? If so do you have a separate setup for them? Time frame to get 14in? Any other advice?

Is the clear PVC a good idea?

Any ideas for any fish that would fit that are mid to upper level swimmers?

Thanks for your time ya"ll

 

[Duke4life]

The skeletors look very interesting but I'd rather put the $$$ into my setup.

 

[Duke4life]

FWIW a friend of mine got a brand new 2014 Corvette for quitting smoking from his wife, I would push for a 250 gallon.

Lol I wish, not together that long. The 125 and sump and bio ball containers were free is why. My best friend had a bunch of fresh tanks he tore down and for helping that what I got, just needed a good cleaning and stand reinforcement. No complaints here.

 

[Duke4life]

Any advice on making feeder tanks for these guys? Thinking a few 5 or 10 gallons with each having a different dinner item.

 

[Kyuss]

Ever feed live crabs? If so do you have a separate setup for them? Time frame to get 14in? Any other advice?

Is the clear PVC a good idea?

Any ideas for any fish that would fit that are mid to upper level swimmers?

Thanks for your time ya"ll

Nope never fed him live crabs since I've never found a place near me that sells any at a decent price. I've read they eat fiddler crabs in the wild, going so far as to chase them onto shore out of the water, but the few times I've seen fiddler crabs for sale around here they're like $10 a piece. He eats prepared shrimp, scallops, and squid along with the niger trigger.

I got him last April while he was about 7" long, and quite a bit thinner. In fact when I put him in my tank he made it literally 5 seconds before finding the overflow and taking a ride down to the filter sock in the sump. Didn't take him long to get too fat to fit between the overflow teeth though, and I have a cover on the top of it - definitely recommend you have one or they'll likely find their way in there quite often. Also, if you have any powerheads he can fit into, watch those if you stop them for feeding time. When he was smaller he stuck his head quite far in there when I had them stopped for feeding. I just switched to turning the speed down on them instead and he never did it again, although again he's too fat to fit now.

The PVC isn't a bad idea, I know many people have gone that route, usually burying PVC in the substrate. I didn't however. I placed the rock in the tank before I put the sand so it's all resting on the glass. I have a 2-3" of substrate and the eel carved a bunch of passages down in the gravel between the rocks.

Here's a pic of him from about 5 months ago. I'll try getting a better pic of him when he's more out. I had a harlequin tusk in my tank that photobombed everything before but he's on a time out in the sump right now so I should be able to get a better pic of the eel.

 

[Kyuss]

Too late to edit the last post, but I was able to snap a bit better pic of him while I was feeding a bit ago.

 

[Duke4life]

The PVC isn't a bad idea, I know many people have gone that route, usually burying PVC in the substrate. I didn't however. I placed the rock in the tank before I put the sand so it's all resting on the glass. I have a 2-3" of substrate and the eel carved a bunch of passages down in the gravel between the rocks.

I was already planning on laying underneath, running the length and width, with a few cool entry/exit ways. Empty tank = blank canvas. Thanks for the pics and insight. This is 1 that's a lock for the tank.

 

[Duke4life]

You mentioned the teeth at your overflow, that is another problem I'm going to have. There is a secure lid but the gaps between the teeth I could very easily see a small eel slipping through. Any suggestions on a way to modify this area?

In doing research and small purchases, a question I have is when doing my pvc under the sand, if I were to use traditional white pvc for the elbows and t"s ( clear are way more $$$ than the white) will this freak them out and cause them not to enter?

 

[anbosu]

I had all white PVC in my FOWLR tank a few years back and the eels, when small enough, loved them. I doubt they will care about the color - in fact they would probably prefer an opaque to see through PVC.

 

[Kyuss]

Maybe try attaching some mesh screen like what's used for screen tank covers. I never did bother putting anything over mine, he did it one other time and I found him in the filter sock in the morning. After that one he stayed out, and wasn't long before he was too fat to fit.

I would think regular PVC would be just fine. They'll climb out of the water given the chance, I don't think the color of the PVC will make any difference to them.

 

[Duke4life]

Good to know. Stopped by another LFS and was told to drop back from 160 to 100 lbs live sand and slope it down and around my pvc maze, and to drop the bio balls. Any advice, I will be adding a skimmer, just haven't decided on one yet.

 

[Duke4life]

I've never fully stated why I'm doing this besides it being my reward for stopping cigarettes. Always had a fascination for great whites, which led me to when I was growing up wanting to be a marine biologist.I've had this tank and sump for over a year and could have very easily set it up way back when. But my wife decided she had other plans. I've talked about redoing a tank for years to my buddy's and to her (2gther 5) just never have. I never felt like I could take and make the time and make the commitment that these living creatures need.

About 15 years ago I lived in FL and got into the hobby, thought I knew what I was doing. While for the first 2 years were a great, then disaster struck. While away my fish were being feed, yes this was ok, but the different water was also poured in. Donate the fish, tear down the tanks, and restart were my only options. But life has many waves and the rebuilt never happened.

That takes us to the present, not only do I have the time but I'm also willing to make the commitment to provide the best home for any living creature that resides in my house. Yes I have 2 huskys and a basset/lab mix, with a few step kids that come over for a play from time to time. I've done and continue to do research on various things that I come across, I'm an outside the box kinda thinker. This will be the center piece of my living room. But most importantly I love marine fish and the oceans and that underwater community.

I just feel like the best knowledge is firsthand knowledge. Over the last several months my research on various things have brought me to this site. While some of the post I'll admit are a little out there, or I even go what are you thinking.. Lol. There's are others that would really like the first hand knowledge of someone that has what they may be looking at getting, advice or tips on what they experienced. Some people are coral fans and others are fish. That's why I'm on this site.

 

[Kyuss]

Yeah I'd drop the bio-balls as well. They can work, but it's a lot of work on your part keeping em clean. Run a good skimmer and just watch your nitrates. I do run mesh filter socks which require regular maintenance, but for a tank with messy eaters they're worth it IMO. I just rinse & soak in regular water from the tap w/bleach before hanging em out to dry so it only takes a few minutes every few days.

For keeping nitrates in check I dose vinegar & up until recently had chaeto in my fuge - had to put someone in there on time out and I scraped the chaeto for now since they were making a mess of it. I have softies that prefer the water a bit dirty so I keep my nitrates in the 10-20ppm range, but if needed I shouldn't have a problem bumping up my vinegar dose and to drop the nitrates - a beefy skimmer is key for this IMO. If you're just going to have fish you can leave it go higher, but that may lead to algae outbreaks since triggers & eels don't leave much for a CUC, but otherwise I wouldn't worry <80ppm as far as the fish are concerned.

 

[Duke4life]

Adding the vinegar is interesting, had never heard of this til now. Going to read up more on it, will also check into the socks.

Anyone with a miniatus or a cephalopholis argus that would be willing to give on input on what they've experienced or done in a similar setup?

Is there any green vegetation that I could add that doesn't take the reef needed lights, 12 in plus in height? Mangrove caulerpa? Or is this a bit much? Just an idea I've had about having the cave area with the openness having like a grass floor.