Phillybean's 75 to 125 Upgrade
 

With my corals and fish quickly outgrowing my current tank, I've had my eyes open for a 125 or 180 gallon for awhile. After getting a sweet deal on a Rimless Hagen the project is now on the go.

Currently I just have the tank (125 Gallon Hagen, 1/2" Glass, Rimless, Black Silicone, Corner Overflows). There was some black trim on the tank which I removed to make it truly rimless. The tank is drilled for a closed loop (2 x 2" bulkheads, 4 x 1/2" Bulkheads.

Most of the Hardware I will be using from my 75 Gallon:
Skimmer - ASM G3 (Will be modded with Gate valve, Recirc and Meshwheel before being moved over). Will be fed by one of the overflows.
Lights - 2 x 250 Watt MH, 2 x 48" T5's will most likely add a 3rd 250 watt, however may just use a 175 Watt for the time being.
Pumps - Dart for Closed Loop, Mag 7 for the Return. Will use a Rio 2100 for a Manifold.
Controller - ACJr
Sump - 40 Gallon with build in 20 Gallon Fuge

Livestock will be the same from my 75 gallon. Again, I am just running out of room for fish and corals with-out everything looking cluttered. I plan on going with a much more open look. Mostly SPS with a healthy amount of LPS and Zoas.

To Do List:
1 - Finalize Plans for the Stand
2 - Come up with a plan for the plumbing
3 - Build everything
4 - Decide how the heck I'm gonna pull this off with-out killing everything.

Sounds great. I'm looking forward to the pictures of this thread.

Well.....at least you have a plan:razz: Im sure your critters are gonna love the new digs.

Not a lot to update, decided on a single 175 watt with my 250 watt.

Going to make DIY Lumenarc's, two SPS islands and a LPS/BTA/Zoa valley. Bulbs will be [250] [175] [250]. All will be the same bulb (10k XM's). Going to use 4 48" T5's for Actinic.

Going to strictly use a mag 7 as the return and a Rio 2100 for a manifold.

Everything will be enclosed in the stand, with the exception of the top off, which will be in a storage closest behind the tank.

Hope to have the scratches buffed out by the end of November. Going to be a long project that I will likely stretch over a few weekends.

Here are a few shots of what will be transferring:

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...lybean/1-2.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...lybean/2-2.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...lybean/4-2.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...lybean/5-2.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...lybean/6-2.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...lybean/7-2.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...lybean/3-2.jpg

Finalized a few plans today, also did a bit of work on the 75.

Debating on ordering some stuff from J&L, trying to decide what 175 watt ballast to go with (PFO, Vertex or Used)

Spoke to a co-worker who has is a Goldsmith by hobby. He has some Jeweler's Rouge which I will be using to remove the scratches from the glass. I figure it will take me about a month to remove all of them, obviously just spending a couple hours here and there.

There is also some Silicone that I want to scrap off, any ideas on the best way for this? I've scraped it off but there is a little residue left.

Current params are:

Calcium - 500 (Too High)
Mag - 1400 (About right)
dHK - 8 (Little low, I want 9)
ph - 8.22
sg - 1.026 (Little high, will bring back to 1.025 with next water change)
Nitrate - 10 (Went up a bit, need to dose more Vodka + a water change next week)m

Your tangs will enjoy the new upgrade! Nice looking corals. :)

your tank looks great man. good luck on the move

I performed the Meshwheel mod on my G3 today, to early to review but the bubbles look smaller and I had to raise my drain tube on it quite a bit, which I think means there is more air. Still need to do the Gate Valve and I'm on the fence about Recirc Mod.

I still need to remove the paint from the back of the 125, and I hope to start removing scratches from the tank on Sunday.

Scraping paint?......have fun:lol:....I did it on a 25g and it took a while...never mind on a tank that big.....just make sure you have lots of new blades.

Luckily the paint is a roll on paint, so I can use a Paint Thinner, just want to avoid getting any on the silicone.

Well the paint is now all scraped off the back.

I also picked up a Gate Valve and MB7 from Ocean Aquatics. I am currently dosing Vodka, so am starting with 10 drops of MB7 Daily this week and will up it to 15 next week, and then 20 the next. I'm really looking forward to the Gate Valve mod for a couple reasons, one is I have always had a pain with the stock set up and two, the sponge on the output is a nasty, nitrate factory but with-out it it's too loud to bear.

I'm also going to try and source out a dealer for reflective material tomorrow.

Also, since I don't have any on here, I'm going to take a few shots of the tank tomorrow...

What's MB7?

How are you removing the scratches from a glass tank?

MB7 is Brightwekk Aquatics MicroBacter 7. Basically dosing good Bacteria in the tank that will feed on Vodka, as opposed to whatever Bacteria is already in the tank. Quite a few on RC are using it with great results.

A co-worker is a hobbyist jeweler and has some jeweler's rouge and buffer that I'm going to use to remove the scratches.

So where did you get this stuff? The MB7 that is.

MB7 from Ocean Aquatics

Yup, Ocean Aquatics is the only place I was able to find it.

Exciting day today, I found a local source for my reflector material AND a local source for Sch. 80 plumbing. I picked up all that I need for my Gate Valve mod that I will do this afternoon.

Okay, spill the beans on a local source for the Schedule 80 stuff...I will need to know when I start my next build.

Corix Water Products‎ :D

So here are a few shots from today,

New Gate Valve Mod
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1.../gatevalve.jpg

Pic of the 125
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...an/newtank.jpg

And a few tank shots:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...bean/zoas2.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...ybean/red1.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...lybean/red.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...orangezoas.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...bean/arco1.jpg

Maybe I missed it but why do you need sch80 pipe? that's pretty thick for aquarium plumbing, wouldn't standard wall be thick enough?

For my Gate Valve mod, it was a strictly cosmetic reason.

I think the extra thickness helps reduce vibration which would make everything quieter. I could be wrong on this though. Based on the price I paid, I'll be using sch. 40 for the 125.

Bulk Reef Supply has great prices on Sch80 plumbing. We have a local source here in Saskatoon with great prices too...there is no "Beautiful British Columbia" tax here. :D

Not a whole lot on the new tank front. Moved a few corals around in the 75, starting to grow into each other.

I'm also thinking of trying to do a Bonsai Style Aquascape, however I'm not sure how the logistics of it would work since I want to use my existing rock. Anyone know where I can get Acrylic Rods?

Attempt 1 at removing scratches = Failure. DIY Kit at Princess Auto did nothing.

I'm on the fence about trying Jeweler's Rouge or just living with it. As long as I keep it clean it shouldn't be that bad. This tank will also only be set up for a max of 2 years, so I may just live with them.

I busted out the Camera and my snorkel mask for a couple tank down shots tonight.

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...ean/redcap.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...n/topdown1.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...n/topdown2.jpg

This coral was always brown, until about 3 weeks ago. Starting to show some promise.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...oldbrownie.jpg

Green Slimer is growing fast
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...reenslimer.jpg

A Feather Duster and Acro living happily together?
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1...dusteracro.jpg

My Xenia Fuge
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i1.../xeniafuge.jpg

pmed

I think the featherduster is actually a barnacle? Not positive tho.

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/barnacle.html

Good catch Lastlight, that is exactly it. Good to hear it is reef safe as well.