Bud's 120G

[budsreef]

Three years ago I sold my 120G at the recommendation of our realtor before we listed our house in Georgia for sale and only had a 40G to keep some of my favorite corals. It took two years to sell the house and after moving to Florida, it took another 5 months to build our current house. We've been in the new house for seven months now and over Christmas I went to Georgia and brought back the 40G that a friend was keeping for me. I was really satisfied with the 40G here in Florida and since I was going to Georgia last week for a grandson's graduation, I decided to post my old external pump that I thought I would never use for sale up there. While in the Atlanta "For Sale" forums I noticed the guy I sold my 120G to had it for sale and contacted him to see if it was still available. I was actually hoping the answer would be "NO" but alas he said it was. Saturday morning, I rented a Uhaul trailer and with the help of several friends we put the stand and canopy in the trailer and the tank in the back of my SUV. John had drilled multiple holes in the back of the stand so he could run the plumbing to his basement so yesterday, Sunday, I went to Home Depot and bought a piece of plywood for the back and replaced it and the center back brace which also had to be drilled. Three of my neighbors helped get the tank out of my SUV and put it on the stand. I bought some suction cups from Harbor Freight that really helped moving the tank out of the SUV and onto the stand.

Here is how the tank looks now in it's new home:

[Chip]

I'm glad you got your 120 back. Where did you put it in your house?

[budsreef]

Right now it is in the hall, but it will go in my office once I move the 40G to the corner. I'll run them side by side until the 120G is ready to accept what is in the 40G and then I'll use the 40G as a QT until the 120G is stocked.

[philip_r5]

Cool, will be happy to see this progress.

[budsreef]

Today, I filled the tank with vinegar water and gave it a good cleaning.

[philip_r5]

rub a dub dub

[Chip]

Bud it was nice to see you again at World Wide Corals today. I hope the 40B treats you well! Good luck with your 120G. Your office will be pretty full now.

[budsreef]

I finally got some time to work on the 120G. I moved the 40G into the corner of my office to make room for the 120G. I reinforced the bottom of the stand to better support the sump, put on a new back, and applied two coats of stain and two coats of polyurethane to the inside to at least make it water resistant to the inevitable spills. Today I plumbed the dual return to the Quiet One 6000, but need to go to Lowes to get parts for the overflows. I have no idea yet on how to do the overflows so I think I'm going to do a temporary overflow plumbing until I get it all cycled and ready to move things over from the 40G.

[budsreef]

I finally got the overflow plumbed. I ran both 1" overflows into a 1.5" pipe that goes to the overflow section of the sump. Hopefully the 1.5" will be able handle it. Next step is to figure out the electrical runs so I can cut the holes in the back cover before moving the tank back against the wall. I also need to figure out a container that will fit next to the sump to use for my ATO.

[budsreef]

I can't believe it is taking so long to get this tank going again. I finally built the rock-work for the right side of the tank. I'm sort of leaving the left side bare so once it is done cycling I will put the boulders from my 40B on that side. The rock on the left in the picture is all my extra that I am cycling just in case I want to use some of it. I rinsed 100lbs of sand and added it and then filled the tank with saltwater. Unfortunately the tank or stand must have settled with all the weight and it was a little out of level. I drained all the water, added a couple of shims and refilled it. Here is how it looks at the moment.

[Nitr8]

I can't believe it is taking so long to get this tank going again. I finally built the rock-work for the right side of the tank. I'm sort of leaving the left side bare so once it is done cycling I will put the boulders from my 40B on that side. The rock on the left in the picture is all my extra that I am cycling just in case I want to use some of it. I rinsed 100lbs of sand and added it and then filled the tank with saltwater. Unfortunately the tank or stand must have settled with all the weight and it was a little out of level. I drained all the water, added a couple of shims and refilled it. Here is how it looks at the moment.

If you didn't already, I highly recommend heavily rinsing your sand and giving that rock an acid bath. Two things I didn't do and regret now.

[Jim28fl]

i soaked mine "Rocks" in rodi for a month with circulation after a light acid rinse after i glued the structure together with mortar. tons of stuff released from the marco rock not as much as dead rock would but more than i thought.

[lilmatty5dimes]

awesome looking tank. pretty sweet you were able to buy your old tank back. funny how that worked out.

[budsreef]

If you didn't already, I highly recommend heavily rinsing your sand and giving that rock an acid bath. Two things I didn't do and regret now.

i soaked mine "Rocks" in rodi for a month with circulation after a light acid rinse after i glued the structure together with mortar. tons of stuff released from the marco rock not as much as dead rock would but more than i thought.

It took forever but I rinsed the sand very well, although it still clouded the tank when I added the water. I used Marco Rocks before and I soaked it a lot the first time. This time I just glued it together and put it in the tank. I rinsed it well but of course if it was actually live rock from a reef there will be dead stuff inside that will need to decompose.

I now have the sump filled as well and have water cycling from the tank to the sump. I added one light for now and will put the other two on when I move everything over. I've ordered an ATO and a new skimmer (Reef Octopus 160). I was going to move the existing one over but I think it is too small for 120G.

[budsreef]

awesome looking tank. pretty sweet you were able to buy your old tank back. funny how that worked out.

Thanks! After all this time I can't wait to get it running again.

[budsreef]

ATO is now running. Test of water parameters shows zero ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. My new skimmer is on back-order so I'll wait until it comes in and I get it running a few days before moving any livestock to the new tank. Because of the large boulders I'm moving from the current tank to the new, I don't have an obvious easy way to acclimate things so when I'm ready I'm going to disconnect the overflow from the current sump and run it over to the new tank's sump. Then I'll run a pump from the new tank to the current one and slowly let the waters mingle until they are virtually the same.

[budsreef]

Move day is here! I just did a water change on the existing tank and a large water change on the 120G. Refilling the 120G now to the top. Then I'll take more water out of the 40B and will start acclimating the whole thing by running a slow siphon from the 120G to the 40B. Once the whole tank is acclimated I will move everything from the 40B to the 120G. Hopefully everything will survive the disruption.

[Chip]

Not only did he get his old tank back; he also got his old sump back.

Good luck on your tank move!

[budsreef]

Not only did he get his old tank back; he also got his old sump back.

Good luck on your tank move!

Thanks!

[budsreef]

Everything has been moved into the 120G. I don't like the way the rock on the left side ended up but there isn't much I can do about it now. I figured it would be a problem for me since I had two rocks, about 40lbs each with encrusted corals and several RBTAs. After acclimating the 40B I didn't have enough fresh saltwater made up to completely refill the 120G so the sump is turned off for tonight. Saltwater will be mixing overnight so I'll get the sump running tomorrow. Lights are off for the night as well.