My first SW tank. a 120g project.

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

I am now starting my first SW tank and its a 120g tank. i got it used for $170 and ill have pictures up momentarily. for now i have design pictures (google sketchup) of the stand and hood that are soon to come. i still need advice on powerheads and what to buy. The tank is 60"Lx24"Dx18"H.

 

my stock list consists of basically an coral that i like. i plan on getting great lighting that will support just about anything i hope. it will be a 2x250W MH and 2x150W VHOs retro installed into the DIY hood. it will have a 60-100g rubbermaid sump.

 

as far as fish go im looking at a blue tang and an imperor angel as my only large fish to house. The guy at my LFS has them together and he said they are fine so i believed him.

 

i want a pair of Percs.

 

a yellow watchman gobie at least one if not more.

 

i definitely want a bubbletip anemone and a blue maxima clam and maybe a gold.

 

ill have some peppermint shrimp i think and a couple sally lightfoot crabs. along with tons of hermit crabs and snails im sure as my CUC should be rather large. right?

 

im hoping for a red star and some serpents. also maybe a lettuce nuddebranch (spelling) slug.

 

any conflicts or problems? let me know please. also i would love some awesome suggestions.

i plan to also have 110-130 lbs. of live rock depending on what i get and 120-130 lbs. of live sand.

 

is there some sort of schooling fish that would be okay in here? i just think schools are neat.

 

well here is the stand frame design (basic)

 

 

The frame with a shell and the tank set on top.

 

The Stand completed and The hood completed with the tank.

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

i couldnt get my camera to load the pictures tonight so ill have the pictures of the actual aquarium up tomm. for anyone that is looking at this.

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

bump

[Choadmeyer]

Be sure to use 90 degree aluminum elbows to help support some of those load bearing joints in that stand. Better be safe then have your multi-thousand dollar investment crash all over the floor.

 

I dunno about the compatibility of the tang and the angel, all I know is that if you plan on having coral keep an eye on you that angel. They tend to be nibblers.

 

120g is a big investment for your first tank, but if you have the resources go for it. A bigger tank will make it easier to keep your water parameters stable. I might also go with even more LR. It's great natural filtration, so 110-130 lbs should be excellent for the main tank, but depending on the size of the sump you use I would add about 1 lb for every 2 gallons in your sump IMO (60 gal sump=30lbs LR). I have a 40g breeder with a 29g sump that has about 38lbs of LR in the display, plus an additional 12lbs in the sump.

 

As far as the sump goes, the bigger the better, but I bet you'll have a hard time finding a Rubbermaid container the size you want with the correct dimensions to fit inside the stand. I've also had a bad experience with plastic sumps (had one rupture on me once) so I've sworn them off and strictly use glass ones these days.

 

Also, have you looked into a skimmer?

 

Besides that everything looks good so far. Get those pics up asap!

[Withers]

Looks good but I wouldn't worry about getting live sand unless its from another reefer. That "live sand" you buy in a store is a joke.

 

I'd just get plain, aragonite sand (it'll be dry, not wet). Most fish stores carry it for about $1/lb.

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

alright. doesnt it take longer for the tank to cycle then?

what would you guys suggest for a CUC after cycling?

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

ok guys (and girls) here is the tank (with the stand that i wont be using). (substitute dog with fish)

 

i hope it looks good to you guys. i have some work on my hand with the drilling. i could just search but if someone could give me a quick answer on what to use to drill holes that would be great. and no not a dremell please lol.

[eddie29]

some diamond tipped drill bits will work. Someone should have the link handy for the place you can buy online otherwise some people get theirs off ebay and welcome!

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

well thank you. i noticed that since my title states that i have a tank i have been getting a lot faster replies. its nice.

still accepting suggestions. any neat starfish i could get after im stabalized? or even for clean up?

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

bump!

[Withers]

alright. doesnt it take longer for the tank to cycle then?

what would you guys suggest for a CUC after cycling?

 

No, it won't affect the cycle in any way. The only thing that will affect the length of your cycle is the amount of dead or dying material on your live rock.

 

Everybody has a different opinion on a good cleanup crew, and there are tons of options to choose from, so I'll just give you a few to stay away from:

 

Blue legged hermits - They work hard, but they are also opportunistic, ie they'll kill snails for food and not take their shell

Arrow crabs: They're great scavengers, but they'll kill any bristle worms they find and have a tendency to eat fish when they get big (and they get huge)

 

 

Good things to have:

Conch snails - these are really interesting snails and they're good for turning over your sandbed

Astrea snails - hard workers. On the downside they can't flip themselves over

Nassarius snails - Also great at turning the sandbed over. They don't do a lot of cleaning though, but they're really interesting.

Mexican red legged hermits - Hard workers, not opportunistic. Just give them a lot of shells.

Scarlet hermits - Kind of lazy but really pretty. Also not opportunistic.

Tangs - Since your tank is so large you could definitely have 1 or 2 tangs. They're great at keeping algae in check.

[mattyice]

hmmm i would change a few things around from what you said Vic

 

Scarlet hermits - good scavengers, not too good at algae control and they will kill snails and take their shells

 

tangs - way too small for two tangs i would say any of the kole tangs would be a good choice, anything else gets to mean or too large for a 120, kole tangs are amazing at taking algae off of the rocks

 

with a big tank like that i recommend at least 4 turbo snails, they are the lawnmowers of the marine world and do a great job on some stubborn hair algae that is small

 

you might run into some bubble algae in your tank...emerald crabs are perfect i would put 2 or 3 smaller ones in there just to keep it in check before it goes out of control, they are also pretty good with hair algae

[Withers]

hmmm i would change a few things around from what you said Vic

 

Scarlet hermits - good scavengers, not too good at algae control and they will kill snails and take their shells

 

Ha how could we have exact opposite experiences with them? You're talking about the bright red hermits with white spots on their heads, right? I've never seen mine go after a snail and they don't even react when I put food in the tank, lol!

 

tangs - way too small for two tangs i would say any of the kole tangs would be a good choice, anything else gets to mean or too large for a 120, kole tangs are amazing at taking algae off of the rocks

 

Thats certainly debatable, but with a 60" long tank I would think that more than just a Kole tang would be ok in there.

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

well my LFS houses a blue tang and an emporer angel in a custom 100 and something i just know its 60" and they are fully grown. (its a display tank they arent for sale.) but they look amazing his tank isnt any deeper than mine either just taller. also my rock work wont be very high up. so they will have a lot of swimming room since i recently found that the tank is actually 24" tall and 18" deep. i thought it was vice versa before. so now i have to redesign the whole tank stand! it wont take long though. sketchup is easy stuff.

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

okay here is the new design. everything else is basically the same though. i had a little different dimensions. i had the height and depth switched. here is the new frame size\

 

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

alright any ideas for stocking what other fish that are active swimmers would be good in here? would i be able to house a six line wrasse w/o a problem? what other smaller fish should i check out?

[eddie29]

I can't see why a sixline would be an issue, mine is by far the most active between the tomatos and foxface. My mom is in love with it and so if you need to buy points with the gf/wifey it should work.

 

liveaquaria.com is a good source to find out what size tanks and the characteristics of each fish

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

thanks would you suggest actually buying anything from them?

[mattyice]

liveaquaria.com is a very good place to buy from, they offer an arrive alive guarentee as well as a 14 day guarentee on most of their live stock

 

as for your stand, you are going to have a pretty hard time finding a sump to fit under therei would suggest just using 2x4's for the stand and placing them as the bottom would be 4" high by 2" wide and then from there switch the other 2x4's around to open up more space inside the sump, i have a 125G stand and i know that the biggest sump i could use was only 29G which is way too small in my opinion for a sump for a tank of your size i would try and fit a standard 55G tank under there and use that for the sump

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

yea thats what i was hoping to get under there. hopefully it wont be a huge problem redesigning to make it fit.

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

i redesigned the stand and now will fit a 55g sump underneath. i am moving ahead since i found the tank im going to get. im then going to DIY the baffles inside using acrylic pieces. should take about ONE day. then im going to buy the wood and make the stand and hood. suggestions for livestock still please. any sort of active fish would be great.

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

any help at all finding good fish and active swimmers for when my tank is established?

[mattyice]

here are some of my suggestions for a tank that size and dimensions

 

-small school (5-6) of threadfin cardinals or similar...something like these

they actually school and make the tank look different then other tanks

 

-maybe a pair of anthias like scribbled anthias...they are an anthias that wont be as finiky when it comes to eating and will be pretty active and a colorful addition to your tank

 

-if you want a tang i would go with a small mimic tang or a kole tang (any other tang will grow too large and will not be happy in your tank, tangs grow fast...very fast, my vlamingii has grown 3 inches in three months) my sohal has grown an inch in the past two months

 

-i would say a really really nice pygmy/dwarf angel will really bring the tank together something like a flame angel or fisher's or coral beauty...despite what most people say about them eating corals if you keep them fat and happy with sponges they wont tough corals (i had a flame angel for 4-5 years and it didnt touch any corals in the tank)

[farewelltofriday_mailbox]

great i was looking at cardinal fish. thanks. and is there any unusual fish that are reef safe...that you dont see in a lot of aquariums?

[mattyice]

hmm i will have to think for a bit and let you know...yes actually there is, for that size tank i would look at a bluethroat trigger pair