Last night I purchased a 125 gallon aquarium, wooden stand, sump (he used siphon overflows), glass lids, and some t12 strip lights from a guy for $300. The stand is in good shape, all wood, except for the bottom, which was particle board. I'm going to pull the particle board and replace it with good plywood and everything should be great. The tanks is in good shape, just needs cleaned up a little, I already wiped off one end pretty good. The tank is not drilled, but I ain't skeered. I ordered a glass-holes 2000 gph overflow kit, and already have 40 and 45 mm hole saws for drilling the 3/4" returns and any 1" backup drains I could want to drill. The strip lights will do for now, but I plan to build a canopy and will be going with t5ho retro kits when the time comes. There was also a big-@$$ red sea skimmer that I might see if I can get to work.

For now it'll just be FOWLR. I'm thinking 2 or 3 tangs, a butterfly or two, a dwarf angel, and a decent school of anthias. Then a diamond goby to keep the little bit of sand mixed up. You know, the stuff that we have "(insert fish name here)- Police" for in smaller tanks. My lawnmower blenny will probably get moved in here also. I've been interested in getting a hawkfish lately, too.

I've got around 85 lbs of LR that won't be taken up by my pending nano upgrade, so that will all go in here. I've had great success with marco rocks, so I'll go to him for some dry stuff to add to what I have.

The camera batteries are charging, so I'll be sure to post up pictures before I leave for my grandmother's house for the holiday.

Comments, questions, ideas, etc are appreciated.

-Chris

They're all kind of funny angles because the house isn't very big and the tank is sitting in the middle of the dining room, so I can't get far enough away from it to take a good picture.

(I'm also buying a 75 to move the cichlids into and put that tank in one of the bedrooms. This FOWLR will replace the cichlids in the dining room. Then the 55 can go to my mom's house as an upgrade for the 37 lightly planted tank. That will free up the 37 gallon's stand to be used by my 20 long as an upgrade for the 10 gallon nano-reef. Then I'm not buying another tank until I own my own house and do an in-wall tank.)



the sump:


the cabinet doors:


the crap inside:

(in the background you can see the top of the 55 against the wall, that is where this tank will sit once the above aquarium transfers take place)

thats a huuuge tank good luck keep us posted

Wow, sounds like quite a plan.....this tank will go there where that one is now, then that one will go where the other one is now and the the other one will...... whew, I'm worn out already! Sounds like you've got you're work cut out for you. Good luck, I'm sure it will be worth it when you get it done.

Very nice- good luck with it!

My 2000 GPH overflow from glass-holes.com arrived on Saturday. Along with the "Glass-Holes.com, Dope Aquarium Stuff" t-shirt. I've been out of town most of last week so I haven't done much cleaning on the tank, but once it's clean we'll drill this puppy and start plumbing. I can't wait!

updates?

Bump

okay, so I forgot I even started this thread...so here are some updates:

My housing plans changed and this tank sat in storage for awhile, listed for sale on some local websites. I got tired of staring at it and had way too much rock for the tanks I had setup. So early summer last year I said screw it and drug this thing out of storage.

A little sandpaper, elbow grease, and spray paint later, the tank looked like this:




a little drilling:


a little PVC:


It's been up and running ever since.

FTS:


Ignore the mix-matched lights, it really doesn't look bad in person, the camera just really picks up the difference, especially in the dark. It's a 2x96 watt corallife on the left, and a 24" 20watt t8 on the right. It's all I've got right now. I intend to put some Nova Extremes over it sometime, hopefully sometime soon.

It doesn't look like much, but I love it, and it's pretty much maintenance free. I've been extremely lucky with this tank and had zero problems whatsoever. No pests, no algae, no nothing. I just feed the fish, scrape the glass, and change some water. Easy as that.

Speaking of fish, you're probably wondering what's in it.

4 blue/green chromis
coral beauty angel
2 occy clowns
sixline wrasse
purple-stripe dottyback
fiji blue devil damsel
yellow tang
sailfin tang
powder blue tang

also a few inverts:
tiger pistol shrimp
skunk cleaner shrimp

corals:
some mushrooms, some ricordea, a few zoa frags, a favia brain, and a little frag of gorgonia.
more coral will come with better lights...

I want one more tang, and either more chromis or some anthias. Might get a watchman goby to go with the pistol. The Hi-Fin goby didn't make it.

The tank was cloudy from scraping the glass, and I was too lazy to shutoff the pumps, but here ya go:

any updates??

Not really, not since that big update on March 6.

The Powder Blue (who was very new at that update) is doing well. He eats well and fits right in with everyone else. He bosses the sailfin around and the yellow seems to have accepted him. They seem to all be buddies.

Thats looks like an awesome tank, Im looking forward to seeing the progression.

More pichers.

Thanks. I think it's a pretty awesome tank. It keeps me occupied. My fish have a ton of personality. I can't wait to get better lights so I can get some awesome coral to match my fish.


I will turn off the koralias and try to get some decent ones tomorrow. The warranty on my S2 is about up, so I think it's time for 'oops' and a new camera.

Thats the plan as always, this will look even better with some nice coral. Any ideas on what youll do? Mixed, SPS Only?

Mixed. I could never dedicate this much water to just one thing. I set this tank up because I want it all! I want an anemone too, I haven't had one since I got rid of my old condy and clarkii clown. I'm thinking green bubble tip so that the occy's contrast with it. Also an open brain or two, and maybe even a clam. Plus I love ricordeas and zoas.

I'll be moving this tank in a few weeks, when I re-stack the rocks I'm going with more columns for the right side instead of the rock pile that it is now. This will help to keep the assorted future corals seperate so I can control the competition and make sure nothing will kill or out-compete other corals.

The new rock idea will look really good. A full blown reef would be awesome. Green bta and the clowns is going to look insane. Good luck with it I cant wait to see it.

My friends and I think my Sailfin is a Desjardinii. Which would be sweet because I paid regular sailfin money for him. Anyone seen a juvenile desjardinii at around 3 inches?

Either way its a beautiful fish. Glad you started this thread back up. Kinda funny how you lost it for over a year.

Yeah, I really did forget I made this thread. The tank sat for a long time because my landlord was planning to sell that house, so I figured it'd be dumb to set it up just to move it months later. Since it just sat I never had reason to update this thread, I found it when I was searching for another old thread I'd started.

He is a pretty fish either way, but desjardinii adults are much prettier than regular sailfin adults.

They can be quite a tad aggressive or so I've heard. Maybe its just better that you have a beautiful regular sailfin

I'm not too worried about aggressiveness. The tamest fish I have is a Coral Beauty Angel. Other than that it's all damsels, dottybacks, and tangs! Now that you mention it, my sailfin is very feisty. He's the smallest of the 3 tangs, and a month later he's still trying to stand up to the PBT, who's a good inch bigger than he is. When both of them flash, the PBT is still bigger than the sailfin, but the sailfin doesn't give up. Interesting...

I added a horseshoe crab to this tank. I was waiting to order more cleanup crew until I could afford to order some corals at the same time, to save on shipping. My sandbed gets quite static and coraline was actually growing on some of the larger pieces of sand and crushed coral. I was in Petco Saturday because there are only 2 LFS' in my town, so when I'm close I stop in incase something needs rescuing. The girlfriend spotted a few horseshoes and they were only $6. I'd researched them before after I saw them on sealifeinc sometime last year so I knew one would be fine in the 125. So we brought the smallest one home. He's about the size of a quarter and bulldozes all day long. The fish have no idea what to think of it. The sixline follows him around. It's pretty funny.

pic of said crabbeh!

updates?

Working on getting some matching lights for this thing. The decision making process will begin this weekend on which ones to get.

I really want Metal Halide, but I think it will be impractical because it'll need some supplementation. If this tank had two center braces, then that would be the easy decision, three 150s, done. Being a Perfecto with just a single center brace makes the decision a little more difficult. I've even tossed around the idea of doing (4) 70w MH retros. I would love to do a DIY LED fixture, but I can't spare 800 bucks. I'll probably just wind up with some T5 retrofits.

Livestock is all fine. I've been working on getting pictures of the horseshoe crab, but he's never in a good spot for long enough for me to get a decent shot. I've got the camera sitting by the tank now, so hopefully I'll get one of him soon.

I almost got a Sunpod for mine, then I ran across the Catalina Fixtures and well I love T-5's and didn't want to worry about the heat...I am really happy with the fixture I got and it was alot cheaper than the Sunpod would have been. fixture I got was 6x 80w $479 free shipping and then I upgraded the bulbs which was another $180...not too bad IMO

Post up some pix

Not until I have lights! I hate how bad it looks in pictures, it's really not that bad in person. Soon, I hope.

Good to know on the Catalina fixtures, I've looked at a few. Maybe I can find a used one. A few months ago there was a guy here in town selling an Aquactinics Constellation (the 14 bulb, 72" one), I might try to get up with him to see if he still has it. He would probably come off the price considering how long it's been and the way the economy is now. I'm really not that picky when it comes to brands, I'll build my own retrofits if I have to. It'd probably be more fun that way.

I've also been considering a slight aquascape change. I'm thinking of making the reef wall on the right a little shorter, and more sporadic, give it more of a multi-tower look. Then use the rocks that I pull out of the wall to build up (as in taller) my center island so that it truely is the focal point of the tank.

Spoke too soon I guess. PBT died yesterday. No warning signs at all. He's been doing great for months. I'm sad, he was my favorite.

The tank looks so empty now, even with 8 other fish, 2 of which are tangs, it's still missing something.

I can't decide if I should try another one or not. I can't stand the thought of such a beautiful species of fish dieing in my care. I might just get a hippo, at least they're still blue.

Awwww

I've been considering getting a Niger trigger, or some Butterflies. What should I replace the PBT with?

another PBT, a hippo, trigger, butterflies, emperor angel, lots of anthias? Ideas?

Current inhabitants:
1 chromis, 1 coral beauty, 1 yellow tang, 1 sailfin, 2 occy clowns, 1 fiji blue devil, 1 sixline

Poll: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=203216

Yay! I voted Purple Tang

Going to look at a new house tonight. If we like it I could be moving this tank, again, in as little as 6 weeks.

That sux but in a way it is great haha I would offer my help if I could...will work for beerz and pizza lol
I offer my moral support

Detail your move please with photos! I'm dreading the day I have to move the tank.

Check out StevieTs tank move thread in the general section. It's really good. I posted a few things in there. I may try to document moving the 20 gallon, but I'll be busy enough moving the 125. I stay too wet to operate a camera anyways. Last time we moved the 125 it was 13 hours start to finish (only about 20 minutes drive time).

The house was awesome, just needs a little cosmetic stuff. We're meeting with the owner on Saturday to haggle. If we get it we'll be moving in early October. The good news is we will probably stay there for a few years if not ultimately buy it from the guy and stay there for a lot of years.

Owning a house was the best thing to happen to me and the hubby...before that we moved around aaaalot.

I eventually have to redo the flooring in my master bedroom where the AP24 is...I am not looking forward to that.

good luck on the haggling

Yeah. We're not quite ready to buy, but this is a place we would probably like to purchase, so hopefully we can get it and stay put for many years. It's for rent, rent-to-own, for sale, whatever, they just need an occupant, so we figure we can buy it in a few years when we're ready. Plus this way we get to try out the house and the neighborhood without committing to anything besides a little time there.

I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Sweet a 125. I cant wait till mine has water!

PS dont mind me in the lounge lol.

The 125 is an awesome intermediate sized tank, big enough to hold some large things and be very creative with, but small enough to be manageable. You will love it.

I don't mind anyone in the lounge. I've been doing the forum thing for too long to get worked up over anything on the internet.

Good luck with your tank!

It's official. We're moving!


The Miata get's a house too! Garage FTW!

Cozy. Now clean your CR-V's wheels. Or stop breaking so hard!

'grats and best of luck in the new house.

That's the girlfriend's car. It hasn't been washed in years. I might do it for her at the new house since we'll finally have a real driveway. The drivers side is all banged up, she drug the entire length of the car across a drive-thru bollard like 4 years ago. We keep the car in good mechanical shape, but could really care less what it looks like. It's got enough miles on it that it isn't worth jack anyways. In fact I'll probably try to turn it into a drag racing project rather than selling it anyways. We'll see how much that auto tranny and awd drivetrain can handle!

We went over and cleaned for 4 hours today. Another good cleaning session and then we can start sanding and painting then we can start moving the fish tanks and the rest of the furniture. It's going to be alot of work!

Congrats!

My sister owns a CR-V '99 The auto and realtime 4wd do not like to be anywhere close to max GVW limits. She and her friends loaded it up for a week long camping trip. Not the skinniest girls either. Man she bottomed out the shocks for 7 hours drive each way. Now when she visits I hear her car coming a mile away.

Thanks! I'm trying to decide where the fish tanks are going to go. The only one I'm sure of is the 125.

Went by last night and trimmed all of the bushes, swept the porch, sidewalks and some of the siding (I dont think I need a pressure washer to clean the rest, just a long handled brush with the regular hose will do!), and vacuumed all of the cob webs from the vaulted ceilings. It's coming along nicely.