Getting back into the hobby

Hello everybody. My name is Grant and my wife Kim and I decided to get back into the hobby.

A neighbor of ours recently moved and donated their 125 gal tall glass tank and stand. It was a fresh water tank and so it has no accommodations for marine or reef set up.

We have had marine tanks in the past. We started with a 20 gal fish only about 20 years ago and had that tank for about 1 year and moved up to a 55 gal all glass. This tank and all the inhabitants were eventually given away when we moved from Scottsdale to Western NY about 9 years later. While in NY, we still wanted to be in the hobby and so we purchased a 12 gal nanocube. This tank was modified by adding a larger stand and a sump in to increase the water volume and filtration. We had good success with this tank and we eventually upgraded the lighting with a DIY LED setup. Unfortunately about a year ago the tank started leaking severely and was accidentally refilled with plain fresh water by one of our children. Needless to say, it was the end of the road for that setup .

So, here we are today with a 125 gal all glass tank. Because funds for this project will be devoted over a period of time, The plan is....

Start off with fish only but we will do a few things in advance that will not be used until later on in the project. We plan to drill the tank and install glass-holes overflow and return before the tank is filled but these will be closed off until later date. A 30 gal sump will be placed in the base before the base is in its final position but it wont be used until a later date (access doors are too small on the front of the stand to fit the sumo so the sump will have to placed into the stand through the back. All filtration will be in the DT using live rock and powerheads. We will also be installing a RO/DI filter for tank water. Lighting will be LED - unsure of specifics yet - DIY or Manufactured?

As funds allow, the sump will be finished with all plumbing, return pump, skimmer, and any other equipment necessary.

Once the sump is fully established, we will begin adding corals. We estimate it will take close to a year to get to this stage but our overall goal is to take our time and do it right the first time.

As far as corals go, we plan to start with LPS and if successful, try adding some SPS.

Let the fun begin!

 

Welcome to 3reef, Grant and Kim! (and welcome back to the hobby)

I love the dimension of 125gal! Since you are gonna drill it, you should REALLY look into going BeanAnimal with coast to coast overflow box. Id suggest to anyone but especially with 75 and up~ gallon setup. Ive been running my 90 with Bean with C2C for over a year now, couldnt be happier!

If you have time, please post some pics. We love pics!

 

Welcome to the reef. Good to have you both. =)

 

Welcome to 3reef.

 

Thanks for the advice; its looks like an econimical option. I've been going through your build thread (up to about page 20) and its looking very nice. I like the overflow but i'm not sure how the box is designed. Will I find some more pics of it further on in the thread?

Sorry, no pics yet, unless you want to see the tank sitting in the garage next to the Miata. Haha

The floor in the house will need to be reinforeced before the tank is moved inside. The house was built in 2005 but I dont trust this much weight without extra bracing under the structure.

Thanks for the kind words everybody.

 

Overflow is just a long box consist of three glass panes that is attached to the back wall. Here is the BeanAnimal site. There is some good info about it.

Thanks for reading my looong journal

 

Welcome to the addiction and welcome to 3reef! I also plan on doing the bean overflow w/ c2c, it's by far the most silent option I've found.

 

Welcome to 3reef and the addiction! Good luck

 

Howdy folks. I had to re-regester under a new user name. For some reasone the old one stoped working and no emails were returned to reset, oh, well...

I've put together a 29 gal sump with 3 chambers. One for drain lines and skimmer, one for refuge and one for return pump. I have a 650gal pump that Imwill use initially but will be upgraded at soem point to 1100 gph.

I drilled the tank with 2 drains and 2 returns and them plumbed it all to the sump. It looks good but performance will be tbd. As far as overflow, I went the simple method and used (2) 1" drains with 1" cone shapped strainer in a 1" elbow fitted to the 1" bulhead.

Next will be an RO/DI water system and then on to creating the lights. I am thinking of a diy kit from Aquastyleoneline.com. They have a nice LED kit with 108 LED's that I think will work well.

Once the lights are finished, it will be time to fill the tank and get rock and live rock.

 

Sounds good!