Nicks 120 tank build/fish room upgrade (diy)
 

To start i guess i will say my name is nick and i have been in the hobby for about 6 years and have had this tank for about 3 years. Long story short i bought an existing set up and some contents from a fellow reefer and didnt know enough to keep everything alive/bought a bblue face angel that ate all coral.

After letting the tank turn green and getting rid of the blue face/learning how to properly take care of a salt tank i tried an alge turf scrubber (which helped clean it up alot but was a pita to maintain). Here is a look at how it was...


http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...l/IMG00084.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...l/IMG00082.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...l/IMG00086.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...l/IMG00028.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...l/IMG00081.jpg

here is a fts at that time

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...l/IMG00091.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...l/IMG00067.jpg

fast forwarding to april of this year here is what was going on. (i finally mustered up the courage to add a toadstool after a very long period of being coral free).

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...4-29132804.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...4-29132757.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...4-28190637.jpg

this is about the time that i decided i wanted a fuge and a little more room to work on things (and noticed i had a storage room on the other side of the wall that the tank is against).

Here is the sump as it was under the tank

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-16191100.jpg

and the other side, with the acrylic great little box that formerly housed the ATS and also inspired some of the handy work that is to come in this thread.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-16191051.jpg

a pic of the (very messy) soon to be fish room

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-21170039.jpg

That Vlamingi displaces more water than all your live rock.

yes, that fish was quite something... i got it as a baby and had it for a good 4-5 years. He was about 15" when he stopped eating and was floating the next day... not sure what got him and was very surprised as it was a very resilient fish especially early on when i was not properly caring for then environment he was in. The wife took it pretty hard... but it is known to happen in the hobby... not much can be done to stop it.

since i am kinda cheap and i have used one of these boxes before with success i decided to make my sump/fuge/skimmer compartment out of them

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-16191031.jpg

just take off the handles and drill a couple holes and here is the new sump

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-19165221.jpg

and a new fuge

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-16191016.jpg

and a dry fit and cut to size to see how my intakes were going to look and if i needed to change plans.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-19151836.jpg

here is what i was planning initially.. to have the sump under and the other parts draining straight down into it.. but i decided not to do so due to the fact that i would like easy access to vac out sump and do pump maintenance.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-16200750.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-16192139.jpg

You might want to make sure those plastic boxes are food safe. I was using a back plastic garbage can for an ATO resevoir. It held only fresh water with a clear hose that ran to my sump. After 3 years I noticed the inside of the hose turning black. Which makes me believe that it started to break down and leach in to the water.

here is the room all cleaned out. i fastened the plywood to the walls so that i would have something to screw into when mounting electrical ect. Without having to hammer drill everything.

as you can see, the stands are facing out so that the sump will be in front of them and the fuge/skimmer tanks will be sitting above and draining right into it.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-21191719.jpg

here is where i am mounting a couple 15amp plugs each on separate breakers. Also am running the 1/4" water line for the ATO

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-23191204.jpg

i have had a clear one running alongside my sump for a couple years and have nots had any issues yet... the only one that i am relatively new with is the black one... but as far as i can tell they are just acrylic.... it has been running a few months now and i have not had any issues so far(knock on wood).

then arrived my long awaited order of filter socks/sediment pre filters/a couple empty cartriges for my rowaphos

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-18163658.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-18163707.jpg

here are the nice new cartriges flushed and ready to go in (sediment pre filers are changed every 10 days on average but can go up to a month before clogging).

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-18165210.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...5-18165333.jpg