My 125g Diary

drdingo21

drdingo21

Member
Well, I'll start by saying I am totally new to saltwater aquariums. I've kept a more than a few fresh water, but never salt.
We are planning a FOWLR. The stock list so far:
Australian Harlequin tusk
Lion Fish
Snowflake Eel
regal tang
I'm open for suggestions also. Looking for color.
I spent some time awhile ago looking for a tank but never pulled the trigger. The fiance and I moved into our condo in October and figured now was as good of a time as any to get one going.
I ended up finding a used 125 on an ad site and pulled the trigger. I go and look at the tank and talk to Brian (the guy selling it) for a little while. It turns out, we ended knowing each other and had met a few times before! Brian offers to deliver the next day and throws in some rock, skimmer, and a sump. Sold.
Next day rolls around and Brian delivers.
He made promise to at least clean it before I put pictures up here... But I had my fingers crossed

As we got it:


Sump and skimmer

I was happy with it the way it was. But Hannah (the fiance) didn't like the color of the wood, "It didn't match anything"...
She pointed out it was my project and it need to go with the rest of the house. So I agreed to strip off the outer wood and add some new with a different stain.
Stripped:



While we were at Home Depot looking for new wood, Hannah decided she didn't like the blue on the back of the tank and wanted a different color.... I sneered and bought her a scraper - figuring manual labor would get her to hush up about it live with the current color.
Well, I was wrong she scraped the back of the tank:

While we are at Home Depot, we found some Cabinet grade Pine that looked really nice.

The down side was that it was 1/2 inch thick and heavy. So I decided to rebuild the hood with 1x3 to be able to support the weight of the new wood. I cheated and just used all of Brian's measurements.
 
drdingo21

drdingo21

Member
Worked like a champ.
Old next to the new:


Next up was to cut and stain the pine:
I think this was after 1 coat

Augie (our toy poodle) getting in on it. He just got neutered two days prior. It hurts like hell when he runs into the back of your leg with that dam cone.

And after the 3 coats of stain (courtesy of Hannah) the assembled hood:

We also took a drive out to a large online retailer that is located in Indy and poked around a bit....We ended up leaving with 150# of live sand, a bucket of salt, and a MAG 950.
I explained to the guy my sump would have two 1.5 inch bulkheads and after he used an online calculator, he decided 950 would be sufficient.

For the sump, I decided to drill the tank. My logic was, I didn't want to spend the money/time on a back mount sump if what I really wanted was it drilled. So I bit the bullet and ordered a sump and two return kits from glass-holes.
My hope is to have the bottom stand completed and the tank drilled this weekend - and maybe get the tank cycling....
One thing I did notice was a tiny crack in the upper right corner.

The pic makes it look worse than it is. It's only on 1 side (ie I can't feel it on the inside). I'm not worried about it as its all the way on the top and it doesn't go all the way through... Thoughts?
 
drdingo21

drdingo21

Member
Made a little bit of progress....
I got my order from glass-holes.com (great service btw) so I could drill the back of the tank. I went with the 1500 kit and ordered 2 return kits. Being this was my first sw tank I really had no idea what I was doing... I measured down where I thought I would like the water and started drilling.
The kit came with a template to ensure you get the holes straight. You can see where I started the second hole and I clayed off the first hole and started.

During

First hole done, starting the second:

I apparently didn't take any pics of the return drilling. But it all looks the same.. drilling the tank wasn't bad at all. Just time consuming.
Finished product (needs a little cleaning...)



I have all the piping for the plumbing on the back and all I have left to do is stain the panels for the bottom of the stand - then water!
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
looking good so far dingo! im super happy i came across this build. i have a 125 up and running, but once the weather gets nicer i'm going to break it down to drill it and paint it. you say you didnt have much trouble drilling those holes? just the thought of drilling mine makes my heart race. also, what kind of paint did you use? it looks like you got a nice, even coat on there. are you sure that it's a crack in the corner there, or could it be a string of silicone? keep up the good work.
 
E

eric b 125

Guest
on second thought: i can see the crack now. i dont think it will be a problem, especially since it's at the top of the glass, but i'd keep an eye on it for a while, maybe take a measurement and see if it gets any bigger during your maintenance.
 
drdingo21

drdingo21

Member
Thanks!
Don't worry about drilling the tank - It really is a piece of cake. Just take your time.
The paint is Valspar from the deopt.
As for the crack, like you said, I'm not too worried about it. It doesn't go all the way through and they tank is still under warranty...
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Cool thread. I like watching people build. It inspires me.
Did you just guess where you wanted the holes? I'm just gonna take the width of my bulkhead and drill no closer than the diameter of it, to the edge of my glass.
 
bschaible

bschaible

Member
you may have said this already, but where did you get the tank??
and would it have been possible for you to drill the holes in the bottom or the tank??
thanks!!!
bobby
 
drdingo21

drdingo21

Member
Originally Posted by BSchaible
http:///forum/post/2944209
you may have said this already, but where did you get the tank??
and would it have been possible for you to drill the holes in the bottom or the tank??
thanks!!!
bobby
Hey bobby. I got the tank from craigslist. You cannot drill the bottom of most tanks as they are tempered. If you tried to drill it the entire piece would shatter.
Cool thread. I like watching people build. It inspires me.
Did you just guess where you wanted the holes? I'm just gonna take the width of my bulkhead and drill no closer than the diameter of it, to the edge of my glass.
I placed the overflow box about where I wanted it and then lined up the wood template that came with it and away I went.
 
briand7878

briand7878

Member
Wait a minute!!!!!!! You buy my tank, ruin my paint job, and then re paint it the same color?? I dont get it. J/K Project looks great. You need to come to my house and drill my tank for me. I wanted to do it but chickened out. You bought that thing about 2 months ago whats the hold up? I wish i was back home so I could mess with mine. Oh well i guess ill just live vicariously through you.
 
briand7878

briand7878

Member
By the way, I think you should ask the mods to move this thread to the DIY or fish discussion forum. It will get alot more views and feedback.
 
drdingo21

drdingo21

Member
Originally Posted by BRIAND7878
http:///forum/post/2946450
Wait a minute!!!!!!! You buy my tank, ruin my paint job, and then re paint it the same color?? I dont get it. J/K Project looks great. You need to come to my house and drill my tank for me. I wanted to do it but chickened out. You bought that thing about 2 months ago whats the hold up? I wish i was back home so I could mess with mine. Oh well i guess ill just live vicariously through you.
HA! I said the exact same thing! But she insisted it was a "prettier" blue. Thats why I made her scrape it.
Like two days after you dropped it off I caught what I swear was the plague. I was sick for about a week and half.
I have slacked off on the pics and updates... I'll grab some tonight and update in a bit. Right now its just sitting there full water that is half salty.
I'm kinda holding off as we are leaving for vacation (Florida for a few days then a cruise) so we will be gone for about a week and half. After we get back, I'm gonna go with pc lights and throw in the live sand and live rock to start the cycle.
 
small triggers

small triggers

Active Member
Its tonight,,, where are the pics HUH?? Awesome job so far. Much more fearless than me, I would taken it to a glass shop to have it drilled, lol
 
drdingo21

drdingo21

Member
Originally Posted by small triggers
http:///forum/post/2954482
Its tonight,,, where are the pics HUH?? Awesome job so far. Much more fearless than me, I would taken it to a glass shop to have it drilled, lol

I know, I suck

It didn't occur to me to get pics while I was doing the plumbing so sorry, I have none of those and the best I can do is below..
Here it is with just the salt added (the white stuff at the bottom)

Side (I have no idea why I grabed this shot...)

Shot of the overflow (quality built overflow, btw)

Side shot of the back of the overflow drains. You'll notice that the elbows changed... I had an issue with 1 of them leaking around where you screw it in. I'm thinking its an issue with the actual bulkhead as it was still leaking after I put in that new elbow. I ended up having to use another elbow and siliconed the hell out of the threaded part -which fixed the issue.

Shot of one of the returns

Shot of the sump (after the dead sand was added and clouded it up)

Whole tank shot (sanded added and clouded)

The last shot is just a surface shot of the returns.
 
drdingo21

drdingo21

Member
Originally Posted by small triggers
http:///forum/post/2954482
Its tonight,,, where are the pics HUH?? Awesome job so far. Much more fearless than me, I would taken it to a glass shop to have it drilled, lol

Thanks!
Drilling really was painless. It killed the battery on my drill a few times but other than that, nothing too it.
Brian did almost scare me out of drilling the tank but I figured if I just added the hanging overflow, in a few months I would be wishing I had drilled it. So I just took the plunge it got it done.
 
small triggers

small triggers

Active Member
looks great, the only thing i didnt notice was a backflow regulator on your return lines (though the valves are fairly good) just a thought, and if you are unable to add them you may want to turn off your power to see how full your sump gets ( or how much it overflows?)
 
drdingo21

drdingo21

Member
Originally Posted by BRIAND7878
http:///forum/post/2956501
That overflow is B/A where did you get it and was it easy to hook up. You have done a good job on that tank.
Thanks man. I got the whole kit from glassholes.com. I'm sure they have a prefect kit for a 220

looks great, the only thing i didnt notice was a backflow regulator on your return lines (though the valves are fairly good) just a thought, and if you are unable to add them you may want to turn off your power to see how full your sump gets ( or how much it overflows?)
It over flows :) - but only by a couple of gallons. If I keep the water level low then it doesn't overflow at all.
That's only a 15 gal tank.. I just inherited a 55 gal tank that I think is going to become my sump. I listed it for sale on craigslist but got nothing so far. If it doesn't sell by the time I get back from vacation - I'm gonna drill it and make it my sump.
Once it clears up so I can see where the dead spots are - and go from there.
 
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