romies 125g log

well if 40g + 46g doesn't add up to 125g then I'm just crazy!

a very nice user on my local fish forum let me get a steal on his 125g tank

the end goal is to combined my 46g bow front that's been up for almost 2 years and my new 40 g into one 125 + sump and I'm excited

what I got in the purchase:
125 gallon tank
30 gallon tank for sump
stand
canopy (two pc fans built in)
mag 9 return pump
HOB overflow
and all the plumbing

the plan is to convert the 2 chamber sump to a 3 chamber fuge
and run it bare w/no skimmer for a while

lighting i will probably mount up my 4 bulb t5 and my 2 bulb t5 for now but will be lookin for a good buy on maybe a t5 MH combo or something not sure yet

the stand will be striped cleaned and probably painted white to match the house but debating on re-staining it

lots and lots of cleaning needed you will see by the pics

this build will go slower than my others but slow to me is not very slow

I'm so excited! the biggest tank i've ever had (which is still up and running) is my 55g so this will be a great experience (and expense)

anyway thanks you guys for the support and comments on my other threads and hopefully this one will go good too.. I plan on documenting and photo/video as much progress as I can.

comments suggestions and criticism is always welcome!

~romie

 

DAY 1
Last night my buddy helped me pick up this 125g, sump, mag 9, and plumbing and man it needs a cleaning.. I know I've seen worse but I'm going to do my best to make this think like new again...

The funny story is that my friend with a pick up agreed to help me for nothing if I would help him during the journey. So of course agreed. What I didn't know is that we were picking up a 4x4x8 deer stand first, and the 6 foot tank and stand and canopy were going in after in a truck with an 8 foot bed. YAY.

After getting the stand and heading to the tank we made it fit with only 1-2" of the tank hanging out of course the stand was hanging out more and believe me I was nervous. Not only about that but the drive to my house from where I picked it up was only 50 miles (1 hour 15 minutes normal driving..) it took us almost 2 hours driving 45-50mph in a 70mph highway..

you can tell by the pix we made it even tho I probably lost a year or two off my life stressing out the whole way. But all in all we're good..

here's the pix!


Leak test... so far so good:



HOB overflow needs a cleaning but doing it's job:



Sump before, gross but working:



Leak test passed (so far) added 4 gallons of white vinegar to help breakdown all nasty-ness:

 

Congrats on getting it home. Subscribed.

 

Looks like a nice set up!! Looking forward to seeing it set up and how you make it your own. I just saw a 180 gallon on craigslist in my area forsale but no price so we will see what they want for it and I may also be joining the 100+ club soon myself! Good luck

 

thanks as always elwolfe!

thanks ryan and good luck to you too!!

obviously lots of cleaning will be needed but I can't wait to get in the house...

hopefully I can find a great deal on a refugium now, mean while I will be trying to modify the 30 gallon under it now to get it going but first CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN + a little paint

 

Congrats on your buy and your getting it home safely! I can feel your excitement in your posts! So, to be perfectly nosy, what did you get the setup for?

For my 2 cents, I think white may be a little hard to maintain over time....I'd go for a light stain or natural stain....with all the maneuvering we do in and around the tank, it may be hard to keep white clean looking whereas the wood naturally hides little spills and nasties we inevitably have when working on our tanks...

I'm definitely subscribing (since I learned how LOL) and look forward to your progress!

 

yeah i hear ya on the paint vs. stain.. i'm in the flooring biz and the canopy and stand are different types off wood so i know they will take stains different so painting seems to be the way i'm leaning however i love the look of wood so i'll probably do some tests on it before anything and see what happens...

but i've never owned a white stand so thanks for the input there i didn't think about it that i way, i actually thought it would work the opposite... since calcium build up dries white it would hide it better... plus my black car i need to wash every day and my white car i never wash

 

i did something very similar but I would suggest drilling the tank.

 

Nice

 

thanks sbv

ingtar... i know i should bite the bullet and drill but i don't want to ruin the tank just in case i don't even run a sump or refugium for now i could easily just throw on the hob when i'm ready... but thanks for the suggestion..

the next time we move i will be buying a reef ready one +/- same gallons so it just gives me an excuse to upgrade later if i don't drill ;D;D