Yet another 120 gal build thread...

[sn4265]

Well, last night was the big test. I finally got everything put together and filled the tank with tap water for the wet test. Everything looked good last night and this morning. Someone suggested that I start up yet another build thread, so here I go.

This first pic is of my "Herbie" drain standpipe. This was very easy and is running with a nice and stable level in the overflow. The second pic is my helper doing his job with the filling of the tank. The last pic here is the sump in action.

I'll get a few more pics of the stand and plumbing in the next couple of days. So far I'm really excited. We are planning on draining it again and bringing it into the house later this week, and then filling it with water on Friday. Probably put in the LR and sand on Friday or Saturday and then let it run for a week or two before dropping in the first inhabitants, depending on chemistry. I'm not sure if the "live sand" will create much of a cycle, but I have been curing the LR out in the garage for about a month so I don't expect any cycle from that.

It's been a fun ride so far. Now that we have water in the tank it seems so much more real. I'm looking forward to sharing more of this journey with you guys and gals.

[mike_cmu04]

Looks good keep us posted on the progress!!

[Dustin1300]

Following along...Love watching builds from ground up

[The_Chad]

Looks good will definitely be tagging along for the ride.

[muttley000]

What is the plan for the tank?

[sn4265]

The plan for the foreseeable future is hopefully to get a pair of clowns, cuc, lawnmower blenny, and a watchman goby/pistol shrimp combo. The real question is what is a safe rate to introduce these into the tank? I'm absolutely fine with taking it slow, so I don't have a problem introducing these only one or two at a time. I'm figuring on the clowns to be the first residents other than some cuc members.

I intend to stick with this as FOWLR for at least 6 months before trying to move on to corals. I'm going to be doing a lot of research over the coming months to figure out what else is going to occupy the tank, but once again there is no big hurry there.

[sn4265]

Time for another build related question... The LFS that I got my tank from had offered me a no delivery charge tank fill for $1/gal. I intend to do that this Friday. The plan is to move the tank inside either Wednesday or Thursday night this week. The question is in regards to aquascaping. I have 100 lbs of LR cured out in a tub in the garage. I plan to layout the rock on the garage floor and epoxy at least the larger sections together there. What should I be looking for in the way of the epoxy? How long does it need to cure before putting it in the water since I'll be doing the aquascaping most likely either Friday evening or Saturday? Any special hints/tips/tricks for aquascaping? Anything special about putting in the live sand with the tank full?

Thanks again for the support.

P.S. The reason for the tank fill on Friday is that the LFS has a service customer out here by me on Fridays and that's why they are willing to fill the tank without a delivery charge.

[Dustin1300]

I cannot speak a lot about the aquascaping but you can find plenty of threads on RC about that....IME with the sand...I'd wait until you have the rocks in place and then add the sand so you don't have to worry about settling of the rocks in the sand and them toppling into glass and scratching it. Epoxy should cure rather quickly. My little experience is with plumbing epoxy and I can place that in aquarium right after adhering frags with it. I've seen some use this same epoxy for connecting rocks but think that could get a bit expensive

[sn4265]

Well... Tonight I'll be tearing down the wet test out in the garage. I've let it run for about 5 days and everything looks great. I'll empty everything out tonight and wipe it all down inside and out. I also have to pack up the dive gear and Halloween decorations to get the rest of the garage mostly cleared out.

Tomorrow night I'll be heading up to HD to find a masonry drill bit for the aquascaping. What size bit should I be getting for doing the fiberglass rod thing, and where do I get the rods?

Saturday will be the big day with moving the tank inside, doing the aquascaping, and filling the tank with water. I have a couple of ideas on the aquascaping, but I'll just have to see how this goes when I pull the rock out of the curing vat and start laying it all out on the garage floor.

Unfortunately, it's going to take at least 3 trips to the LFS to haul 120 gal of water home to fill the tank. Speaking of that, would it matter if I got water from 2 different LFS? The reason I ask is that the closest one said they don't like to sell 120 gal to a single customer on the weekend because it really depletes their stock to sell to other customers. I figure I can hit 2 stores and have plenty.

[sn4265]

Well, tonight we picked up the first 40 gal of saltwater from one of the local fish stores. Unfortunately they are remiss to let me come back tomorrow and hit them up for another 80 gal to finish filling the tank as they don't stock that much saltwater and don't want me to deplete them completely. The problem I have is that none of the other LFS use the same salt (Instant Ocean) so I will be mixing salts here at the start.

I've been told this is a problem, and I've also been told this is no big deal since I'm just starting up. The second opinion was followed up with the caution that I should do another large water change using the predominant salt mix prior to adding the first fish and to stick with that from here out.

I also picked up a second powerhead today. My first powerhead is a Koralia 750 gph, and the new one is a Koralia 1050 gph. I also saw a pump controller that you can plug these into that alternates the flow. I'm thinking that will be a bit down the road for me as I definitely have other priorities for that particular $100.

I'll be posting some progress pics tomorrow.

[streak]

RO/DI get a good one and mix your own saltwater buck a gal.... high dollar for me...

[sn4265]

That's definitely in the plan. Too many other expenses right now to spare that $300. I should have the RO/DI setup before Christmas though.

[sn4265]

And the tank is IN!!!

We are really excited. Today was a BIG day as we got the tank moved into the house, the aquascaping done, and got everything filled. It's still quite cloudy at the moment, and I don't have the lights on it as of yet but other than that things are looking really good. I'm really happy with how much the tank has cleared up just in the past 4 hours or so. I'm hoping that it's going to be a big difference in the morning.

Now for a few pics...
rocks laid out.jpg

empty with rocks.jpg

filling the tank.jpg

a full tank.jpg

I wish that my photo attachments would work right. Unfortunately only seemingly random photos want to display properly on here.

[Dustin1300]

Tank is looking good

[sn4265]

Thanks. This has been a really exciting and stressful day. It has been productive though. In addition to getting the fish tank in, we also installed a new toilet. Suffice to say that 30 minutes or so of help from the neighbor made short work of the toilet whereas the tank was pretty much an all day project.

[sn4265]

We reached another milestone last night. We ordered our first set of critters online. This is a bunch of snails, hermits, a couple emerald crabs, a couple peppermint shrimp, and a coral banded shrimp. This should be delivered on Friday and I think the tank is good to go. My only concern is that my pH might be a bit low at about 7.9. I'm planning on picking up some pH buffer this afternoon to try and bump this up by a bit.

We also ordered a pair of dual bulb T5 fixtures last night also. These will be the only lighting on the tank for a few months when we intend to pickup a new Marineland Reef LED fixture. We are taking it slow, so no corals of any kind for at least 6 months and this will give us a couple of months to get used to the new LEDs.

I'll try and get some new pictures posted this weekend once the critters are in.

[sn4265]

Well, the first batch of critters is now at home in the tank. Several of the snails haven't moved at all in the past several hours, and I've only been able to locate one of the 3 peppermint shrimp. Other than this, everything looks good.

I'm resisting the urge to go pickup the first fish for the tank tomorrow from the LFS. I think I would be OK to add some fish now, but I want to be as safe as possible. The plan is for a pair of clowns and either a watchman goby/pistol shrimp combo or a lawnmower blenny. Would either of these be a better choice for a first fish add to a new tank?

[streak]

I am not one to critisize but you might have bought some raw table shrimp.. and cycled your tank for a full month.. before even thinking about buying your clean up crew.. Just 1 piece would have done it.. you needed to provide a amonia source and slowly test for it about a week later to see if it was rising and then falling.. but according to your sig you say your tank was setup 11/6 and alread put the inverts in on the 12th i doubt any will survive the cycle the will come.. 6 days is not long enough to cycle a tank..

[scubasteve06]

I don't want to be a party pooper, but I really think you are rushing things with the inhabitants. I think your hermits and crabs will survive, but the snails, and shrimp might not be so lucky. Snails and shrimp such as cleaners, peppermint, CB's etc. are very sensitve to the slightest changes in chemistry and this happens a lot with new tanks. Slow it down a bit and resist the urge. If not your going to end up wasting a lot of money.

[sn4265]

Well, things are looking good so far. Unfortunately we had a bad match on fish and lost a pair of Firefish to our Pistol Shrimp. That was a real bummer since the LFS was quite proud of those Firefish to the tune of $50.

Now that I've started on a regular water change schedule the NO3 seems to be holding steady around 10-15 ppm. We currently have a diatom bloom going, but we are also getting a LOT of coraline growth on the rocks too. The corals are all looking good, especially the Toadstool Leather and Platies. I can't tell if our Frogspawn might be trying to sprout a new head or not, but I'm definitely hopeful on that. About the only coral not doing great is our mushroom, and that seems to mostly be an attachment issue. I'm planning on gluing him to a rock frag and then putting him in a covered bowl for a week or two in hopes of getting good attachment.

The short term plan for the tank is to add a couple of Fighting Conchs this week. Next we'll be looking at another fish, most likely a Coral Beauty or Flame Angel the week before Xmas. That's going to be it for the rest of this year I think. Probably be doing some more research on other fish and corals beyond that.

I'm hoping to find the time to post some updated pics soon. I'll probably borrow the mother-in-law's camera Xmas Eve to get some good tank pics and post those after Xmas. Later all.