Chris' 125 Gallon Tank!

[Chris]

Ok, I have started assembling my 125 and its refuge... PICTURES! PICTURES! PICTURES! Any comments are welcome. :helm2:

This setup is completely self contained, no external refuges or canopy, anyone can do this setup easily.

The 125 Gallon Tank!

The Stand!

30 Gallon Refuge DYI

Painted the back black with Enamel, thank god its it back side so no one can see my messy paint job.

The paint I used.

Plexi Glass from Lowes cut to fit the refuge as chamber dividers.
3 Chambers - 1. Protein Skimmers, 2. Refuge, 3. Return Pumps.

Glue and caulking tool from Lowes to make it pretty.

First small beading of glue on edge to help hold plexi glass in place.

Egg Crate used on dividers.

Egg Crate sized down to refuges width to be used for allowing water to flow between chambers but stopping snails and algea from moving acrosss chambers and clogging pumps.​

Thats it for now, more work later....

 

[minireefer]

nice,great start, looks like your having fun

 

[Chris]

A few more things done...

Tank assembled

All Tank Mega Overflow over head shot.

Filling for leaks.​

 

[jhnrb]

looking good chris. glad to see you are making progress. good idea to check for leaks. havent checked mine yet. probably ok checked out seals real good.

 

[Chris]

I was mainly checking for leaks with the overflow holes, making sure the seals were on good. Also I am trying to rinse the tank out, lots of dust from painting and sanding. Moving the old tanks contants to it will be fun, 15 minute drive between both places. Any suggestions on how to do this smoothly would be appreciated.

 

[minireefer]

I would guess the the coral you would what to bag separately.The rock you could pack in trash bag lined garbage can.The rest of the live stock you could do the same.Or bag those separately to for extra protection.Have not relocated a tank yet so I say good luck to you.I hope you can get it done with little stress to you and your tanks inhabitants

 

[jhnrb]

set up a moving priority and schedule. then move all to new location. the syrafoam boxes are good containers and you can usually get them from the lfs at no charge they are glad to get rid of them. bag coral, bag fish, bag all remaining live stuff. put in boxes, remove reef and substrait. reset up reef and substrait. run filters 24 hours then add animals back in. you may need to add air to the fish bags but that is easy enough to do. only one way to do it. there are plenty others. all animals can go 5 days without food no problem, but the temp and oxegen must be maintained, and also extra water for water change in bags. do 50% new salt mix with old aquarium water once all settled and clear in new tank add animals as you would if from the lfs, acclimate etc. it is not uncommon to experiance some losses during a move, so do not be dissapointed if something does not make it. just the way it goes, hopefully you will be 100% successful. hope something here helps.

 

[Chris]

Thanks for the tip John, I do have several spare 10 gallon tanks that I can use to hold the fish so they have a bit of room. Here are a few more pictures...

Here is the tank filled with fresh water, tested the system overnight, worked perfect.

This is a APC 3000 UPS wired into all the plugs for backup power to the tanks, also will stop lighting and surges. Plugs also have a GFI inline to keep me from getting killed.
​

More soon... :bounce:

 

[Chris]

Todays stuff...

Foggy Tank, Sand added, settling down...

Temporary Filter to help clean water while the dust settles.

I slapped a Seaclone Skimmer on to also help airate water and to clean.

Ammonia Alert Badge attached to see when I get hit with Ammonia.​

 

[Chris]

Oh, and I am using coralife's Marine Tank Clarifier to hopefully clear the tank up some.

----

Jhnrb,

I won't be able to transport any of the old water with me to the new location, way to dificult.

 

[jhnrb]

ok then just do as if bringing home from the lfs. when you schedule put in with low lights and bring up your full lights over couple days to protect against shock. just my thought

 

[bkv1997]

Chris i have moved my 55 tank twice and was lucky enough not to have loses either time.

I used 5 gallon buckets with lids from homedepot.

All fish where put in bags, then placed the bags in a styrofoam cooler.

All corals where placed in bags, then placed in a styrofoam cooler.

I put all the live rock in 5 gallon buckets then submerged it in my old tank water.

I then took 5 buckets full (25 gallons) of the water and put 50/50 old water to new water in the tank once it was set backup.

I added the rocks.. gave it an hour in the system with all systems going, then started the acclimation process and everything was free within the next hour/half.

I used the above process when moving from the grand view to steeple chase and then again from steeple chase to windridge..

Let us know how it goes, and if you need any local help let me know.

Brandon

 

[Chris]

ugg, just moved the 55 into the 125 gal the morning, set the 55 gal back up and am going to bring its fish tomorrow. Dang it is alot of work moving one of the pups.

 

[jhnrb]

glad to hear you made the move. let us know if all goes well. a real chore but worth it when all is done and settled you will feel a lot better about it.

 

[Pterois]

Looking good! I can't wait to see it Saturday! Yippy!

Angela

 

[Chris]

WOW!!! What a ton of work, I haven't been on my own forum in 3 days!! I moved 3 tanks, a 55, a 125 and a 26. I have one more 26 to go, my fresh water tank. I should finally be done painting tomorrow, after 3 weeks, ugggggg. Then im going to work on a live tank cam.

Angela,

Im going to warn you that I have no idea how pretty the tanks will look when you see them, im still setting them up. I did get the projector ready for saturday. See you then.

 

[minireefer]

Its good to hear theat eveything went well

 

[Chris]

Here is another round of pictures, these are the tanks just after I got them up and running, ignore the mess. These tanks are definitely not completely setup but they have been moved... thank god!

26 Gallon Quarantine Tank

125 with crap everywhere, now you don't have to feel like your the only slob. Will clean up this week.

55 Gal FOWLR, not much live rock yet, still a mess.​

 

[jhnrb]

honerable mention is in order. looks like you have moved without breaking anything. congrats. all is looking great for now. keep us posted.

 

[Chris]

I never realized how much work moving reef tanks were till I did it. I hope not to do that for along time again. My job today and tommorrow is to clean up since the local reef club is going to meet in the office where my tanks are.