My friends 120 gallon build

[Dekz]

I'll apologize in advance for the crappy cell phone pics. I thought we were just gonna pick up the tank today and maybe some wood. Had I known we were gonna go all out, I would have brought my camera.

Before:

Step 1, remove inner drywall:

Reinforce the wall and move that wiring down:

Build tank supports:

Put some plywood on top and test-fit the sump:

It fits!

After:

 

[Jagwa]

that is gonna look really good

 

[miniflea84]

Looks awesome! Definitely keep us updated with pics. I'd love to do this once I own my own place. A pox on renting.

 

[kangster]

cool...this is something that i would like to do one day
please keep us updated

 

[lightemup619]

Nice idea!!

Hey whats up man nice idea i did the same thing and i love it yours is gonna look awesome to!!! here are some pics of mine tell me what you think im gonna upgrade my sump to a 55g and do a refugium oh and if your tank is in an enclosed space you might need a exhaust fan i have mine in my closet and no where for the evapurated water to go so it gets humid so just bought a fan havent installed yet only had tank up for maybe 1.5 months so still cycling

 

[fishjosh]

Wow that looks really good! I'm jealous haha .

 

[Dekz]

UPDATE:

Building the sump:

Starting to come together:

Sump done:

Let's fill it up and test it:

Homemade overflow box is junk and can't keep up with the pump even at 50% so we gave up and ordered one online, should be here in a few days.

 

[Dekz]

New overflow box arrived yesterday. Works and looks awesome.

Everything is working perfectly, we're just waiting for the Eco Complete to arrive, should be Tuesday.

 

[WhiskeyD]

Looks very good! Cant wait to see pictures with fish in it.

 

[skye144]

so what is the plan for this tank, what is going to live in that setup?

 

[Dekz]

so what is the plan for this tank, what is going to live in that setup?

Fully planted with LOTS of small fish.

 

[Vikesfankevin]

nice thats what i want to do. I might go with a larger tank but do tetras with some larger fish to make them shaol.

 

[Dekz]

Ya it's tough to find larger fish that won't eat any of the small ones. There is going to be a group of tiger barbs, so hopefully that will help with the schooling.

 

[jeeptree]

nice set up. I got a question did you ever move the couch?

 

[Dekz]

nice set up. I got a question did you ever move the couch?

Ya we did because there was an electrical outlet behind it that we stole for the closet-side of the wall, and we cut the "window" in the drywall from that side as well.

Why do you ask Don't mean anything by that, just seems like an odd question to me.

 

[jeeptree]

Every picture you took has the couch in the same spot. I thought it was funny that's all

 

[skye144]

may I suggest a crowd of harlequins

 

[Dekz]

may I suggest a crowd of harlequins

I've suggested this but they do not appeal to my friend. We're still waiting on the Eco-Complete, hopefully this Tuesday there will be an update.

 

[Dekz]

Well the LFS finally got the Eco Complete in and then they told us that they wanted $37 per bag! Considering we bought the first bag from them for $27 a few weeks ago, we told them to forget it. Which actually worked out fine, because a few days ago we were chatting with a guy at a pet store and he told us that he just uses potting soil from Art Knapp and his plants grow like crazy.

So we decided to give it a try. Step one, unload the car:

The stuff in the middle is what the guy recommended, but we also saw they had some stuff that specifically said it was for ponds, so we bought some of each and mixed it together.

Drain the tank...

the lazy way

While we were waiting for the 120 to drain, it was time to tear down the 33 and steal everything. The plants, the fish, even the substrate!

Anybody know what this one is called? It grows like CRAZY!

Unfortunately we didn't get quite all of the water out and when we added the soil it turned into a watery, muddy mess. At this point we got a little bit worried but decided to keep going.

We got all of it in there and mixed it up a bit, it absorbed all the water and turned into thick mud with a kind of jello-like quality. Once we put the gravel on top, we knew it was going to be fine:

 

[Dekz]

Patented garbage bag filling technique:

While the tank was filling we finished the light setup:

And sorted out all the plants:

Throw in some driftwood. It's a little cloudy, but not too bad at all:

Putting the plants in was a funny experience. Brandon couldn't see what he was doing AT ALL, so I had to sit in the living room and yell LEFT, MORE, MORE, A LITTLE LESS, FURTHER BACK, THERE!

This isn't the final setup, we'll rearrange things tomorrow when it's light out so that hopefully we can see what we are doing without the tank lights on. This is how it sat when I left at midnight:

Current inhabitants:
20 Neon Tetras
10 Tiger Barbs
7 Zebra Danios
4 Peppered Cories
3 Guppies
2 Endlers
2 Plecostomus
2 Kribensis
2 Rummy Nose Tetras
1 Ghost Shrimp
1 Molly
1 Red tailed Black Shark

We didn't ever have to move the couch, but I did and took a picture just for jeeptree