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carriej's 125 gallon reef
Hi folks,
Did high tech planted tanks for years and bought a big tank this past summer... It sat in my basement for awhile and I pondered what to do. I didn't want another planted tank.. I had enough of those. There wasn't really any freshwater fish I wanted to keep that I didn't already at some point keep or have, that would fit in a 125. So.. I decided to go reef when I got sick, and said what the heck... It took me months to collect the parts (I got diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, spent time in the hospital, yadda yadda.. long story short it took awhile to get going) anyway It's been up and running for a few weeks now. Absolutely cannot wait to get my paws on some fish and corals! The stand Hubs built (doors yet to go on, waiting for sump) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...l22/photo2.jpg Up with ATI Sunpower t5hox6 installed http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...2/photo1-2.jpg Filling.. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...22/photo-2.jpg MILKSHAKE http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...2/photo1-3.jpg That's better... :) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...2/photo6-1.jpg Scape has changed a bit. Added live rock after this, will have to get some pics... I'm finding life and very excited about it.. Some featherdusters, wurmy things etc.. :) |
Looking good so far, keep the pictures coming. :biggrin:
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Looking really good! Just remember that in saltwater, patience will make that tank really work out for you...don't get fish or coral too soon.
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Looking very good!
But most importantly how are you feeling? |
How are you going to add the sump? Tank looks like it's not drilled for an overflow?
VeI like your choice of light. Looks good! |
I'm going with a hang on the back reeflife overflow, was going to drill when the tank was empty but didn't trust anyone to do it, and I was too nervous to do it myself. I live in the middle of nowhere and tanks are expensive + have to be ordered in... If I had of known that I was going to be doing a reef I would have paid the extra and bought a reef ready tank...Ohwell :)
I bought some tank monitoring software and have been keeping track of my levels for the past few days.. It seems to be going good. There is a bit of life in there now. Some featherdusters, I seen a crab, and whatever else came in on the rock. I'm feeling alright - I doubt I will never feel "normal" again, but I'm alive and can't complain... :) I'm more upset that I can't work as much anymore, and now less extra money for fish.. LOL |
Moved some rock around today.
I still don't like the right side as much as the left. Have some more live rock kicking around in there.. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...22/photo10.jpg |
Update! New Bulbs!
Gonna take some getting used to.. So blue. I might move the white light to the front. Right now it's in the middle.. One of the new bulbs was defective, so have to wait for the replacement.. BEFORE: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...76075503_n.jpg AFTER: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...70920475_n.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...36665106_n.jpg I am a bit concerned about color washing out. For example, before the new lights I had green algae and all sorts of colors.. Now everything is.. Well.. Blue LOL I have in this order.. Blue+ Blue+ Purple+ Coral+ Blue+ Blue+ Wondering if I should move the purple and coral lights around for a different look... |
Better representation.. Changed the white balance to show a truer color, but still not easy. Those lights do funny things to a camera
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...2/DSC02556.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...2/DSC02557.jpg |
Very nice, I like the idea of a little valley in the centre of the tank, super handsome colour on the stand.
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Quote:
I used to have ATI bulbs, but now run KZ as I can get them locally I have an 8bulb and didn't like the look of a bunch of Blue+ and Aquablue Specials, so I went with the following and really like it ... but that's my eyes Super Blue Coral Light II / New Generation Coral Light Fiji Purple Coral Light II / New Generation Coral Light Coral Light II / New Generation Super Blue |
Well I have had my overflow and sump running for a few days but I was so angry with it I didn't post until now.
It was a nightmare. Don't ever do it... LOL.. Drill the (expletive) thing. I know, I know, I didn't want to put holes in my tank, either. However I will never, ever do that again. I almost, ALMOST made a hole in it anyway. With a SLEDGEHAMMER... lol I don't know how feasible it is to drill a tank once it's set up, but if it can be done I am going to have someone do it for me. I know I can't do it myself, I don't know how to drill things nor do I have the patience.. lol I ran into a few problems, some my fault, some my husbands fault, some design flaws. Issue one : Not enough power from my pump - My overflow box came with two utubes, but I can only use one. I'm going to try ordering two smaller utubes (as these ones are 1 1/4" utubes) and see if that makes a difference. There are bubbles from the action of the water overflowing over the teeth and with one utube the pump is strong enough to push the bubbles through, but with both on the pump can't. One utube will stay perfectly primed but the other will develop a bubble which I am assuming would eventually break the siphon. This isn't really anyones fault other than mine as it's pumping up like 5.5 feet. I did not have my stand built when I ordered it and didn't realize I was going to have so much head loss, but oh well. I just thought it might be nice to have two utubes incase one does fail. Issue two : Heater did not fit into my sump, so it has to remain an eyesore in the tank. It's a monster heater, I only had so much room for a sump... I guess Im pinning this one on my husband since he built my stand which could only fit a 30 gallon sump...lol Issue three : HOSES. OMG. We literally gave up for a week. Practically have to set the darn hoses on fire to make them flexible. I used flexible hose rather than plastic pipe because I heard it was quieter and I thought it would be easier. It's definitely quiet, and it's nice that I can see in them to see if there might be something blocking them. Issue four : Skimmer was put together incorrectly at factory. I knew something was up with this thing when I looked at it. I have never seen a skimmer up close before; but it just looked weird and things didn't line up right. The instructions were terrible, sounded like they came from google translate. It was all pictures and maybe 5-6 words under the pictures. So I took the bugger all apart and had little pieces of plastic everywhere. Anyway, I got it together after looking at reference pictures from other peoples skimmers online and on youtube. It hasn't really made any foam yet but it looks like it's starting to do something today.. I guess sometimes it takes awhile to break in. This is the factory in Chinas fault.. I could actually give you the guys (girls?) name as they signed a sheet that said it was approved.. Well they were wrong.. lol, anyway it is a very attractive looking skimmer and aside from the issues with the bottom plate being on backwards it's very quiet and I think it's kind of pretty. Issue five : It was actually kind of funny when it happened.. My husband and I were literally downstairs until like 2am new years eve trying to figure this out. Everytime we turned the power off to test both the siphon and how much the sump would fill; the overflow would stop pumping water in and we would hear this SCREAMING noise and magically the sump would keep filling... Anyway my husband investigated and he said to me (rather loudly) "The return line is hum-sucking all the water out of the display tank!" and I said WHAT? And then laughed hysterically. We have been together over 8 years and I never heard him (or anyone else) say the word hum-sucking (if it's a word). I'm sure it's not that funny to you but at 2am when you should have gone to bed hours ago it was pretty hilarious. Anyway a friend rescued me here and said we needed to drill a hole in the return to break the siphon (makes sense). Thanks friend for rescuing me from the hum-sucking return line. I'm not sure how I missed that step in my many research escapades of sumps and returns and overflows and all that. Issue six : Leaking bulkhead. Yep. The bulkhead that comes out of the bottom of the overflow on one side leaked. My husband was splashing a lot of water around in his manbeast ways as he is like a bull in a china shop. So we both thought the water was coming from him (some of it was) but after I kicked him out of there, it was still leaking. This is my husbands fault since he put them on.. lol. Anyway he tightened them and all is well now. Issue seven : Priming the utube. I am too cheap to buy one of those lame aqualifter pumps. So I had my husband do it the old fashioned way and suck the air out with an air hose. That is all fine, but trying to get the air hose out of the u tube without breaking siphon is another story. Took I dont know HOW many tries. If you pull on it too hard it kinks around the edge of the utube and your doomed. Pull too easy and nothing happens. Anyway... We solved this eventually. Issue eight : Hoses pushing against "decorative" edge on stand which caused the overflow to sit funny on the aquarium. My husband just wanted to cut notches in the wood, but I texted a friend first to make sure it could handle the "vibration" and once again to the rescue he suggested the use of a hole saw. So... Thats what my husband did. Hoses fit down through the back of the stand and no ugliness to be found. I am sure a normal human being with an ounce of handiness would have a much easier time than I did. However - I am not handy nor am I a normal human being.. lol... It also did not help that my aquarium is as tall as I am. I couldn't SEE up where I needed to be so I was fiddling around and guessing and mussing with it. Also would have been much easier to do if the tank wasn't up and running as the full tank of water definitely created some issues.. lol ... So for those of you who are going to do this in the future, maybe you all learned a little something.. LOL I do have to say though, that the siphon is VERY HARD to break once established. Like you can haul it out of there and it's quite impressive. It's not that I don't like the products I used or anything like that... I just don't like this part of the hobby, period. I just want to keep my pretty fishies, not mess around with all this crap.. However now that all is said and done I have a running sump, even if I am a little cranky and sensitive about it.. I also overreact (DRAMA QUEEN) so I'm sure most people would have just dealt with this stuff... Not me lol, I expect everything to always go together perfectly.. And Im sure you all know that rarely happens in this hobby. ANYWAY.. what you're all waiting for is pics! Overflow with one lonely Utube http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...22/photo32.jpg Sump, need to get some stuff for it yet. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...22/photo33.jpg Tank http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...22/photo34.jpg |
A few start up problems, good to hear you have solved them.
You should use a small pump like a maxijet. Attach the hose to the U tube and it will always suck out all the bubbles. Especially if the power goes out, the maxijet will clear the air out. The pump could even be put in the sump out of sight is so desired, and the hose will go all the way up. What type of heater that its too long for the sump? Is it submersible? You could put the heater at an angle in the sump. If its way too long, maybe the store will take it back and exchange it for two shorter ones. Research herbie overflow for a quiet suction |
I have an overflow box too. the U tube can be gently lifted up and down to shake the air bubble out. open your wallet and buy an aqualifter, I leave mine running constantly, it ensures that incase of a power outage, I will get a siphon when the power comes back on. also try to get a fitting on your return line that you can have the tip of it sticking above the water, this will prevent any "hum sucking". rubber hoses although great at noise reduction arent as reliable as pvc and threaded fittings but again thats all a matter of personal preference. a really great reliable, powerful and inexpensive pump is a rio HP series the only con is its noisy. try 2 smaller heaters instead. good luck.
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We ended up drilling a "siphon break" hole into the return. However it is a temp 7$ cheapy return but it's all they had at the time. Even looking online I can't seem to find a nice one. I want to find one shaped like a Y.
I avoided the aqualifter because in my mind it was just another thing plugged in using power. However I may pick one up just so I dont have to suck on airhoses. |
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Ahh, your fishes look so teeny :biggrin: good looking set up!
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Haha they ARE teeny.. Little booger clowns, LOL... Also a goby in there somewhere and a scopas tang.. But they run when the camera comes out :)
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