120 Long Tank! (Build Thread)

[navaljonf]

I use the JBJ as well. I use a dosing pump with the intake tube in a 5 gal jug of RO/DI water and the output tube into my sump. Works great.

 

[baron1282]

Thanks!

What's a good UV Light Sterilizer to use that would work for a 120 gallon, and would I just put it in my sump?

 

[Str8edgejedi]

Looking good bro.. Can't wait to see what it looks like in the end..

 

[baron1282]

Here it is! Just sitting there begging to be filled with Saltwater!ATTACH]228952[/ATTACH]

It's only been four or five months. Just two more weeks to go and I can get started.

 

[baron1282]

Update!

I am in the process of making my water right now. I was going to buy it, but she wanted $80 dollars for 100 gallons. At my local Kroger I can get it for a dollar per 5 gallons, but I can't take my barrels in my Kroger. LOL So now I am using my RO/DI unit which I was trying to not use for 100 gallons because it will take a few days, plus my well likes to run out. LOL

Anyway, this is the last of the SWAG I got for my tank. I also got a 10 gallon tank for the water and pump, and a box of Salt that does 200 gallons. I already got enough Salt to do my tank, the box is for my water changes from now on. So It's coming together, all I need is the water made and a day off to get it done.

 

[baron1282]

It is time!

The time has come, and I am about to get this tank started! I am putting in 50 gallons for now, and letting it settle for the course of a few days, so the sand is not all that cloudy. I will be putting more sand in, I got about 60 pounds more to add from my old tank (That is live).

I am ready to finish this, and get it done! I am tired of waiting. LOL

 

[Grizz]

Happy day

 

[baron1282]

Almost there, just a few more hours!

I am finished with the whole set up.

I am waiting for it to clear up some more before I put my fish in. I have them all in 5 gallon foam coolers right now. Each fish has their own cooler. I hope that I have not harmed them, they all seem ok, but getting them out was not so hard, but they kept bumping hard into the glass like idiots.

As of last check my wrasse is the one that scares me. He is on his side not moving a inch, even when I touch him. I know he is not dead because his eye's follow my hand and when I picked him up a bit he moved his fins. So a little worried.

All my fish has lost their color, but that's to be expected being they are stressed right now. I am always scared of moving fish! It's never a fun thing to do.

Anyway, everything is in place. The water is at the same temp as the old tank and the salinity a perfect match! I really do not know how I managed that! I have always ran my tank at 1.26 for a while now, so I didn't want to change it right now. I want to get it to 1.24, but being 1.26 has never hurt anything I am not worried.


It's been a long road and I am hopping to still win the race! I bought a BIG bottle of Bio Bactria just for a little insurance!

 

[baron1282]

I am not waiting any longer, the fish have been in their coolers for about 3 hours.

I am acclimating them now with using the pour a little and take a little out method. Don't want to rush it, but it's clear enough for the fish to go in now.

Wish me luck!

 

[baron1282]

Welp, I am done for the night. I hope all my fish are alive after tonight. I am sure they will be.

I can't believe it, but I still have 5 hermit crabs! 5 of them! I thought they would have been all eating by now. So that's cool. 5 out of the 6 I started with.

I only found one bristle worm! Thought I would have more.

Tank is clearing up, hope to be clear tomorrow.

 

[Grizz]

If you have an old HOB fill it with poly-fill it will remove most of the fines from the water. Tank looks good you've brought it a long ways, Great job!

Remember take things SLOWLY

 

[baron1282]

I went in and removed the BIG power head. The return pump is so powerful that it keeps a ton of flow in my tank without it, and the fish did not seem to like it.

When I turned off the big pump, they got out of the one corner they were all in and started exploring their new home! I took out all but one nano power head which I put on the back side just to get something behind the rocks for a tiny bit of flow.

Here it is, it's all cleared up! I am running the sump, fluval canister, and the fluval C4 HOB filter. I also have the HOB Skimmer.

The only other hard choice I have, is what fish to add to it. I am going to wait a few weeks to let the bio filter get caught up. I am wanting the Singapore Angel first, just got to find it.

 

[Aquadan]

Looks great. I really like the rock work.

 

[baron1282]

This is the completed tank, nothing left but to turn the skimmer on after I let the bacteria from the bottle establish their thing!

The only hard part left, cleaning up my mess. LOL

 

[baron1282]

Thank you! The only injury I had to my fish was my Coral Beauty's tail is nipped off in the middle (you can see it in the picture). I don't know how that happened, all the way down to the base. I know it will grow back, but I am still wondering how that happened.

I was worried about my Wrasse for a while! He played dead so well it freaked me out! I even was able to touch him and pick him up in my hand. That's how freaked out I was. He didn't move! The only reason I didn't flush him was because I saw his eyes move and watch my every move. Scared the heck out of me! LOL

 

[baron1282]

My fish be like!

 

[Grizz]

^ LMAO

 

[Oscarr19]

LMAO ^^ +1

But seriously, your tank looks great and I'm sure it feels great to finally have it up and running. Congrats!

 

[baron1282]

It is great! I am just worried when it comes time to move! LOL

I am hopping that it will be in a few months time (I am graduating with my Masters in May), and MY HOPE would be to get a good job, and save enough money to buy a new tank (Bigger of course) . So I can just transfer all the live stock to an already established tank.

I would turn this current one into an easy freshwater setup. I only want three tanks MAX! I am wanting my BIG tank to be a FOWLR tank and only do a 75 gallon reef tank some day. I want one freshwater. I love tanks, but 3 tanks will be a chore and I wouldn't want to add anymore. LOL The biggest I would really consider going is 500. But that's if I want to do cat sharks and bamboo sharks only, the only issue would be with that it would be a really sparse tank because I would only keep three sharks at the most. Maybe throw a Big lion fish in there, I don't know! That's far off.

I had to take out the Big power head I bought, plus one of the nano's. I only got the return pump and one nano for movement and it's still a ton of flow. That return pump is huge and puts out a lot of water movement. The fish hated all that flow, now with the Big power head out, they are swimming around without issue. With it, they stayed to the corner.

I lied about my fish being the only injury with the move. My Long Spine Sea Urchin was dropped from 3 feet high. :-( I feel so guilty about it! I am praying he is ok, He is moving around the tank at night, but has not come down to the rocks yet. Just the back of the glass. He looks fine, but his eye (anus) looks deflated than normal. I am just watching him and praying he will pull though and heal. I really like my Long spine and he is one of the reason I bought the tank. So I could keep him! So the fish would have a Tone of swim space even when he is bigger. He is already HUGE! He is past soft ball size and I would say he is 9in long from the longest tip of his spine. That's why I hope he is ok! I bought the guy when he was tiny and now he is huge!

So besides the urchin, everything is checking out! I turned my skimmer back on! So now I am 90% done! I hope to add another fish this Friday! I am going to get the One Spot Fox Face or the Singapore Angel (I am going to get both eventually, just don't know which one this week!)! I just hope my Wrasse will be ok with it! He never harmed any fish! He has tormented my puffer, but that's only after I moved the rock around and it only lasted for 30mins. Happened 3 times! Now they all swim together. LOL

 

[Grizz]

Add the Angel as the last fish in the tank Pretty fish but a bit hard to care for will do better if added to a mature tank.