My Dads First Saltwater Tank

hachadwick

hachadwick

Pilot
My dad is starting his first saltwater tank. He has had 4 or 5 fresh water tanks in the past though.
Today we purchased a 125 gallon tempered glass aquarium for the main display tank. Right now we are leak checking the tank for the 24 hours. Tonight I will be ordering the rock and sand.

I will be posting for him because he's not computer friendly:) So anyways, here we go!
 
little_fish said:
woot! Just make sure you use reef salt on this one ;) otherwise i think you will be a great teacher in helping him set up his tank
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Ha, yes, I will make sure that we ONLY use Instant Ocean salt. :grumble:
My Dad jokingly said he was waiting until I worked out the issue with my tank before starting his. We live so close that both our tanks will be a shared experience. He lives across the street from me.
The tank set all night and did not leak! Step 1 COMPLETE! :bounce:
I'm going to order his sand and rock today. The tank is 6 foot long, 2 foot deep, and 1.5 foot from front to back. It's listed at 125 gallon so I am going to order 125 pounds of base rock. We'll add some local live rock like I did to seed the base over time. Live rock is REALLY expensive! Man alive! :yikesu:
Anyways, with that, he is getting enough sand to create a 2 -3 inch sand bed. Then we'll start his cycle with some shrimp.
 
So, is a 20 gallon aquarium big enough for a sump/refugium on a 125 gallon potential reef tank? In building this stand, I am going to build supports for a 20 gallon tank underneath.
 
chichimom79 said:
You can use a 20 gallon if you want. With that much room under the tank, I would go bigger and make a nice refugium :D
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I told my Dad we should with the biggest that will fit under there. It all depends on what we find.
I finished the framing on the stand It pretty much looks EXACTLY like the one in the above link. I'll post picutres after we get it skinned and painted:)
 
Quick question:
In my Dads 125 gallon future reef tank, should I get 2 really powerful power heads, or, say, 4 less powerful to circulate the tank? Any thoughts? I'm about to order a BUTT load of stuff.:compute:
Rocks and sand should be here next week:^::bounce::boldblue:
 
I would go with more less powerful power heads - then you can really maximize flow in different areas of the tank. You might even need more than 4 powerheads. Which powerheads are you thinking of getting?
 
Well, I was thinking about getting 3 of the Hydor 750 gph fans. That comes out to 18 times the volume of the tank. This would be the starting and maybe get another when we start buying corals.
 
Well, we are almost done with the stand for the 125 gallon. Take a look!
We'll be adding doors this week and painting it black. Thats my son by the way:)
 

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Can't wait! It's funny how you're dad was waiting for you to stop screwing up LOL Cute kid...looks like he's practicing holding his breath for when he takes a swim in grampa's tank :D
 

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