It all started a couple years ago when I decided to get back into salt water after over a decade went by. I bought a BC29 and for the last 2 years I have had pretty good luck growing corals and learning about water care. Unfortunately I have corals that are out growing the tank. I want more fish and overall more space. Over the past 6-8 months I have keeping my eye on craigslist for the right deal to come along. Well it finally happened. Originally I was looking for a 48" 90-120g but as soon as I expanded my search, after talking to my then fiance, I found 3 tanks. I went on a road trip to Phoenix and looked at all three. One was too big. One was a little worse for wear and one seemed like a good fit.

What I spent was $1000. What I got was a massive amount of stuff. Coming across a person getting out of the hobby and not just upgrading was the hot ticket. On top of the tank, stand and canopy was...
Every Salifert test kit made
A bunch of Red Sea test kits
A refractometer
A pair of gloves
A Rio 1100
2 Koralia 2's
Koralia 3
Koralia 4
Loc-line pliers
3 Stealth 250w heaters
Hydrometer
Bag-o-floss
Bag-o-Lic-line
Bag-o-snail shells
2x18w PC Coralife 'fuge light
2 power strips
1 Coralife Day/Night timer

In the Canopy was 2 250w Illuminarc MH reflectors with Icecap Ballasts
4x65w PC Coralife Actinics
18 LED moon lights
2 Sets of 4-bank 12v fans.

In the sump was a skimmer. Don't know what kind. Big though.
The sump looks like 30g.
The return pump is a Little Giant 4.

Not bad for a grand. I also picked up some rock from a gal that needed some cash. I bought all the rock she had that didn't have coral on it. Right now its all in a bin with the protein skimmer and the Rio 1100.

Dr. Fosters and Smith has a great deal on shipping. $5.99 as much as you want. So I bought 5 20# bags of black sand, a bucket of Tropic Marin Pro salt, a bucket of 'fuge mud, and 2 squids. That's a heavy ass order for $5.99 shipped.

I might try to find a couple more cool looking show pieces but I'm going to work with the rock I have for now. I'm going to try to stack the rock using some drill bits and acrylic rods. I want a lot of floor space. I am also going to have some glass cut and I'm going to build my own sump. I'm going to have the main drain split into to two. One will go into Zone1. The skimmer, heaters and rubble will go here. I have had no trouble with rubble in my BC29 so I will just us it in this tank too. Zone 1 will exit and flow under Zone 2. Zone 2 will be the refugium and I will have a ball valve to slow the flow through there a bit. Zone 2 will pour over the top and merge with the Zone 1 water, go through a bubble trap and then through a media rack. The media rack will be home to any media I feel the tank might need. I'm going to build a removable rack that is stack able some what like a canister filter. The top of the rack will have the filter floss for easy access. If the floss gets clogged the water will flow off the end and into Zone 3. I'm going to run my Little Giant 4 and an Iwaki MD30.
Now you know why I wanted to divert some of the flow past the 'fuge. Each pump will have a 3/4" discharge line and go to a squid. Each arm of the squid will have 2 exits. Hopefully the 8 return ports will be enough flow without cluttering the display with powerheads.

I still need to get a few oneway valves and a couple bulk head fittings along with a little more Loc-Line and some random plumbing supplies but that's about it. I will post some pictures when I get a chance to take a few. It looks like a bomb went off in my garage at the moment but there is nothing to see really.

Took me a minute to figure out what you were talking about with the Squid thing, I forgot about SCWDs, and I have one!

Sounds like a pretty sweet setup for the money and you've got a good plan. You're going to love having a big tank, they're awesome.

Good luck and post pictures!

-Chris

Woohoo! Nice score!

Can't wait to see it up!! good deal

Over the past few days I have been buying parts to re-plumb the tank. Bulk heads, PVC fittings, ball valves, etc... I also spent some time and designed a new sump on Sketch It. I don't know how to save a screen shot on my PC and I can save the file in any other form than the one Sketch It uses or I would share it with you all. I was busy over the weekend with other things but I plan on spending some time plumbing today. I need a few more things to complete the build. I'm also going to go sump shopping today. If I have to build my own sump box I will but I am hoping that I can just find a glass tank to fit my needs.

im confused
can we have tank pic and stuff

I know it's hard to comprehend. I'm sorry. I don't have pictures because it's not built yet.

Here is a better description.

Brown is water from overflow into Zone 1 and the 'Fuge. Water into the fuge is slowed to reduce sand stirring and to help promote a DSB grow.
Water from Zone 1 (RED) flows over the baffle, under the Fuge and meets with the Fuge overflow (BLUE). The water goes through a bubble trap and overflows into the Media Tray. The picture doesn't show a media tray but imagine a multi-tier tray with floss on top and different media in the middle. The wtaer will contimue out the bottom of the media tray and flow under the baffles and into the return zone. There will be 2 returns because I'm running 2 pumps.

I hope this helps.

i get it now
nice work
but can we see actuall tank and the stuff u got for 1 grand

Well here are some pictures. Since building the sump is going to be a pretty time intensive project I have decided to temporarily use the sump that I got with the tank. This will allow me to set the heaters and check for leaks and such. I still have a lot of wiring to do too. A lot of the timers, ATO, and lighting from my BC29 are going to be used to in this project but I can't steal anything until I get the new tank stable and every thing switched over.

So it's been an interesting 2 weeks. I set the tank up and tested for leaks. I fixed a few leaks and then adjusted the heaters, lights, fans, and timers. All was ok. I drained the tank and then added 90 gallons of RODI, 50 or so gallons of tap, some IO salt that I got with the tank purchase. I let is run for a day. Next I took the LR I bought and drilled some holes, added some 1/2" rods and stacked them. I added the rock to the tank, put all the left overs in the sump, added the sand and then went on vacation to Australia for 2 weeks. I came back to some algae on the glass and rocks but nothing too bad. I checked all the parameters and everything was perfect. I tested again and everything was perfect. Sweet. So I tore down my BC29. Added the coral and fish a few of the rocks to the display and put the rest in the sump. While I was cleaning the BC29 I found a few things in the sand after I removed the rock. This is a huge mess BTW. I found a PomPom crab, a emerald, 2 nassarius, 3 hermits, and a LOAD of bristle worms. I have had the same fish for quite some time but about 6 weeks ago my six Line went missing. I don't get too concerned about losing a fish anymore they seem to die mysteriously every once in a blue moon. So I was poring the remaining water out of the tank and into the gravel on the side of my house when out flops my six line. So I scoop him up and he jumps out of my hand like 3 times. I managed to get him inside and I tossed him in the 125. I figured him to be a goner. So far so good though. He looks a little worse for wear but he ate and is doing what six lines do so I think he will make it.

Here are a few pictures.
FTS


Right side


Left side


Right


Left


Sump

Looks great! Crazy 6 line lol. Will be following thread..

I am completely envious, and based on the success you had with your 29g I have no doubt that you will create an awesome environment for all your sealife to flourish :-)

Thanks!

My GBTA split tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Picture from my iPhone.

Just a random question real quick, how did you get your mandarin to eat pellets? Did you ween it? Hmm i need to try this pellet thing, im sick of frozen!

It took quite awhile. But mixing the foods in a FW breeder basket is what I did.

I have a quick question for you. Do you like those inline wave makers? I have been looking into them for some time and cant decide if its worth it or not.

They seem to be working ok so far. A lot cheaper than most other options.

What do you mean by using a FW breeding basket to mix? How does this help the weening process?

Basically it is a net with a box frame or a box with a net around it, however you want to look at it. It is used to keep baby fish from getting eaten. Put mandarin in the box and feed it once everyday. Start with some frozen. If it eats frozen then start to slowly mix in the pellets. At the end of a month or 2 the mandarin should be eating pellets and pellets alone. That's what I did anyways.

nice tip! thank you

As a few more weeks have gone by a few things have been changing and some not for the best. I had zoa pox a while back and I treated it with Furan 2. Well I'm sad to say that it's back but this time I was prepared. Today was the first day of treatments. I have also been battling a strange proplem with my Euphillia. A few of them have had heads just fall off. One loose head was in the tank for a full week before finally dieing. So my huge frogspawn was doing good then I saw a head die. Then another died. So I had to break apart my 30 head frogspawn. Sad really. It was one of my very first corals that I got over two years ago.

I have added a few tank mates over the last couple of weeks. I added a bi color angel. An orange spot goby. A yellow clown goby and 5 chromis. I have decided to stay with smaller fish. I can hve more of them and they tend to be a bit less aggressive. I also added a bunch of snails, hermits, shrimp and a few corals. I did lose my orange monti but I will get some from a swap at some point. I also picked un awesome sps. I will have to take picture soon. I also added the 150w HQI that was in my Sunpod. I put a new 14k Phoenix bulb in it and although it is 6" off the water it seems like the light is a little tough on the palysthat happen to be on top of the rock that is underthe rock. I don't really care about the palys because they grow like weeds and I have a huge amount of them. I also noticed that a frag of my frogspawn was having a hard time dealing with this bright light so I had to move it. I also had to move the hammer. It is strange because this same light worked perfect in the old tank and the old bulb. If my sps likes the light then I will concentrate the corals that need high light in this area.

After the holidays I plan on buying the parts to build my new sump. I'm looking forward to refining the efficiancy of the tank. I really want to get some white sand going so the pH is a little more stable. I also want to get a drip doser so I can add mall to my ATO water. All in due time.

Thanks for reading my rambling.

Well it's a rainy day outside so I thought I would test my water.

Nitrate 20
pH 8.1
kH 9 I need to get that up.
Ca 480
Mag 1300
Phos 0
NO2. 0
Amm 0
temp 80.2
SG. 1.025

I lost my cleaner shrimp yesterday. I had it for well over a year. I also lost the new blenny yesterday. All the other fish seem fine. The other shrimp seem fine. The anemones seem fine. The corals are all great. I just don't get it.

I also learned a tidbit of info. Apparently HQI MH lamps need a UV filter. That would explain why the palys that are closest to the HQI. Are having a tough time. I installed the glass sheild from my Sunpod back under the HQI. Hopefully that helps.

On a good note my goby dug a hole near the jawfish. Jawfish doesn't seem to care. I think I might give the goby a pistol shrimp soon.

Just a few pictures. I will get more when I get the chance to set up the tripod.

Wow Dude, that is a beautiful tank. The whole thing is awesome. Love that last FTS.

Tank is looking great! Your rock work is awesome.

I'm surprised the jawfish is okay with being neighbors with a goby. I thought I had the only passive jawfish in the world.

Well I guess he is ok right now. I'm sure once their tunnels connect there might be trouble. I really need to get some more rock but I have not been able to find some rock that I like for the price. $2 a pound sounds about right and the only place to find that is on craigslist. I actually had to move a few things yesterday so maybe I will post some pictures later.

Thank you both for the compliment!

Wow looks great Dood!!
looks like all the Biocube old timers are upgrading hahaha


Just finished setting up my 75g upgrade late last night. hope it turns out as beautiful as yours has so far!

Ahh, life in the tank. It still seems to be in turmoil. There are battles raging all over the place. I was going to add a new pair of designer clowns but after long thought I decided against it. I wanted to pick up some clowns that would host my GBTA's. I bought a apir of Tomato Clowns. The biggest reason is because I knew they would host the nem and I had seen them in AUS when I was diving the GBR and thought they were cool. I acclimated them and then placed them one by one, via plastic cup, right near the 2 nems. They took to the nems and held strong. Sweet! Now this is where the battle begins. My 2 percs, Romeo and Juliet, don't seem to like their new cousins. These are the same clowns that could care less about anything that happens in the tank. Unless there is food around of course. So since the Tomatos have been added the percs have been traveling across the tank to give the newbies a world of crap. The new male just ducks and hides in a cave near his nem and the female actually defends the fort.

The next battle is between the goby and the dart fish. The goby made a burrow very near where the purple firefish sleeps. The firefish has never been one to go very far from it's home. The goby doesn't go more than about a foot in either direction but it never leaves the sand. The only confrontation happens when the firefish swims too low. Here is the ringer though. I have seen the firefish go into the goby's hole and come out the top hole. I have also seen the firefish go in the top and come out with the goby. I guess when it's time for flight they don't worry about the fight.

On the other side of the rock bridge a 4 way battle is taking place. The BSJ moved. I guess it was too close to the goby. It built a nice burrow. While it was close to the yellow tail Damsel they seem to be ok. That was until the brittle star kicked the jawfish out. Now the jawfish is in the damsel's hole and not happy about it. So I need to find a way to get the brittle star out of that hole. Now that the damsel is homeless it has been badgered by the percs because it is getting to close to their host frogspawn.

The only things in the tank that seem to be happy is the Chromis and the Pygmy. Well... Al the corals and invertebrates seem happy too.

haha, wow. Life is tough on the Dude's reef. Would be cool to see video of all of these fisticuffs.

I managed to catch the brittle star out of the hole last night. I snagged it and tossed it in the fuge. The BSJ moved back during feeding time. At least one battle is over.

I took some photos yesterday but I didn't see one that looked like it was worth keeping. I am going to order some new bulbs pretty soon too. The HQi is fine but the 250w MHs are due for a change. I was going to accent the MHs with some PC actinics but I don't really have the room. I plan on ordering some 20k Radium Bulbs Should add the blue back I'm missing from my BC29 days.

Very nice setup! Your FTS is awesome and your stand and canopy are so pretty- much nicer than any of mine, lol.

Oh, and I have jawfish envy!

Sweet tank and set up man!

wow! nice fuge!

Glad you found your pom-pom and your six-line. You found an awesome tank for a great price with stand and canopy -- they are just gorgeous. And looks like you've got lots of room to put in more corals. Looking forward to see how everything progresses! I think it'll be pretty amazing. Oh wanted to know: do your chromis shoal in your tank? They looked like they might be doing that in one of the pics. And are they pretty active? I'm thinking about getting a Vanderbilt Chromis eventually too. (Just one though so I won't be able to see shoaling unfortunately.)

for earlier . . . I think I may have been a little harsh and since you owned up to your mistake, I figured I should own up to mine too. I did enjoy reading your BC29 log, I could tell you were doing lots of research as you went along. I also liked the FTS picture history you did in it - it was cool to see the coral growth and changes over time. I hope you do that also for this tank too. I felt badly when I read about the part where you QT'd everything and your heater failed on the QT. That was just a reefer nightmare, an awful thing to have happen.

Nice tank. Forgive me for asking a question without reading the whole thread to see if it was covered but what do you do about the plumbing if you need to take the canopy off?

The Chromis, they do to an extent. They run towards each other and hide in a group if they get spooked. They stick together for the most part. The thing about Chromis is they are very sensitive. I had to buy about 12 of them to get the 3 I have. Really weird.


I have some quick disconnects in line on the PVC. I don't see a reason to take the canopy off. I can do everything through the doors in the front.

It's been a little while since I shared any updates about my tank. I added a little more rock to the tank. I also added a couple of frags and some duncans. I am growing tired of picking up corals off the sand so I think I might go get some marine epoxy and glue most of them in place.


The BSJ is getting a little more bold. I catch it half way out of it's hole now and it now has a long strike to get food. I was worried I might have to spot feed him. Even though it is still shy I really do love watching it constantly build it's burrow and defend it's hole.



I am worried about my Flame Angel. It doesn't seem to eat at feeding time. It doesn't look skinny so it must be eating something. I have bought some "Pygmy Angel Food" but it doesn't go right after it.


The orange spot goby is a great hunter. Nothing escapes him. I have caught him eating amphipods 3 times now, oh, and a hermit crab!



My 6-Line is growing like a weed. It must get a lot more food with all this new rock. I had about 30 pounds in the BC29. I have about 130 in the 125g and I still want to add a touch more. Some of it is in the sump though.


The 2 Tomato Clownfish have taken hold. I can't imagine how aggressive the Maroon Clownfish might be. The female Tomato is vicious. She will readily bite me and the Mag-Float. The little male is so passive. As soon as she starts to flair and strike he hides in the BTA.



The 2 Percula Clownfish, Romeo & Juliet, has calmed down quite a bit. They don't badger the Tomato Clownfish as often. They have begun to do their mating dance quite often again but I have not seen them cleaning a roost yet. They sure do get fat when it's time to eat!



I have 9 or 10 hermit crabs. All different kinds. Blue Legs, Zebra, Halloween, Yellow-tip, Scarlet and a Blue-knuckle. He is by far my favorite.


I replaced my lights with some 14,000k Phoenix MH. I had some old Coral Vue 12,000k that were very yellow. The 150W HQI I have in the center is a 14,000K Phoenix so I decided to match it. What a difference. Pictures really do it no justice.



I also replaced my skimmer. I bought a Reef-Octopus 150NWB. So far it has been working fine. I think I might modify it with a gate valve. My old skimmer worked fine but it was very hard to adjust and a pain in the butt to clean.


I took out the SQWDs because the restict the flow so much. I have also been adding some Sodium Carbonate to my ATO with awesome results. My dkH has been 10-11 ever since.


Here is a shot of the whole tank. It's not a great picture but you get the point.


I have been working on a new sump design for a while now. I don't know if I'm ready to commit but it's close. I am going to see if a 40g Long will fit first. If it does then I will go that route. So much cheaper. This is the Acrylic design. The walls of the refugium are black to reduce algae growth in the skimmer and return zones. The skimmer zone has a bubble box. I can fill this box with large chunks of rock as well as a baffle tube. Running the drain using the "Herbie Method" will nearly eliminate the bubbles and keep the tank dead silent. Any splashing will be muffled by the box. The refugium will drain into this box as well. If the refugium drain gets clogged there are teeth on the opposite side as a back up. Hopefully this huge Refugium will leave me with enough room to grow some frags too. I plan on adding a T5 VHO fixture with 6,000k-10,000k bulbs.



Here are some random shots from the other day.

Sweet....

Nice update! The tank looks great. The new rock makes a pretty good difference.