Dave's 125g

[DaveMorris]

Here is my short story on my new living room tank. I had a 90g that I took down about six months ago. I have completely remodeled the living room and put a new 125g tank right in the middle of the wall. It has been up and running for about six weeks now. Here are some specs:

72"L x 18"W x 26"H 125g Leemar glass tank (diamond edge, black silicone/back)
(2) GenX PCX-40 return pumps
Euro Reef CS8 Skimmer
20g acrylic sump
(2) Hydro 400w heaters
Aquadyne Octopuss controller
(2) 400w 14K MH lites
1 65w actinic PC
1 65w 10K PC
(2) Maxijet 1200 with MJMods high flow mods
Auto top-off

180lbs live rock
105lbs araganite and oolitic sand (2" - 3" sand bed)

Please tell me what you think...

[[G]h0s'][']

The set up looks like it was nicely planned. Nice plumbing work. What types of coral do you plan on adding?

[Retzius]

I like the clean plumbing and wiring look. Hope to have that some day.

[lth03]

The lumping is behind the wall is that correct?They look very clean,nice work there Dave
Are you planning to run a separate refugium with cheato,live rock ,live sand to buffer the water or no?Look like you have plenty extra room there.

[roworld]

Nice & clean, good job. I like the switches too.:D

[DaChrisDude]

Looks very nice, gj! Going to look really nice w more live-stuff in there.

[DaveMorris]

I appreciate the comments in regards to my planning and plumbing. Believe me most of it comes from past mistakes and people like you guys with good ideas. I am planning on keeping a mixture of SPS, clams, and some softies as well. Due to noise limitations placed on me by the boss of the house, pumps have been placed in a shed in the back yard. It sits right next to the house. Somewhat unconventional, but it works great. I have attached some pics...

[nanoreefbro]

Nice setup.. Looking forward to seeing it when it's done..

[Ars3nal619]

its just terrible !!! i think you should go bigger.....and give me that one :P

[crstjohn]

Due to noise limitations placed on me by the boss of the house, pumps have been placed in a shed in the back yard.
At least the boss let you drill through the house. My boss won't even let me drill a 1/4" hole for an RO line! Setup looks good. You'll get twice the flow if you modify that SCWD!

[DaveMorris]

What would you recommend for the SCWD? I was thinking of some sort of valve setup that would alternate between the two outputs. I have been hearing more and more complaints about the reliability of SCWDs. I am VERY open to suggestions...

[brncsfns5621]

Drill through the house???? I mentioned that to my wife and she said I might as well cut out the wall and put the tank in the wall............. so I am! :D

[swissfish]

ocean motions are much better than scdw.

[Live Water Aquariums]

Wow, what a great start. Keep us updated.

[malachai629]

I'm even diggin the way you stacked the rocks. I just got a 125 myself, a few weeks ago. I've had salt tanks before but this'll be my first reef tank so I'm taking notes from you guys... wish me luck...

[DaveMorris]

Here are some photos of exactly how I stacked the rocks. The PVC supports have eggcrate on top and the rock is stacked on it. This gives me plenty of room under the rocks for fish to zoom in and out of. My yellow tang loves it. I also get excellant circulation all around the rock.

[DaveMorris]

Here are some of my newest additions. The corals are from Ron at Global and the Aquafuge is from PK. I have some serious hurdles to overcome in order to plumb a real refugium, so in the meantime the Aquafuge will have to do.

[Doorag]

what kind of sand did you use for the aquafuge?

[DaveMorris]

Oolite sugar sand. I will be getting a shipment from Indo Pacific Sea Farms next week that will have all sorts of worms and bugs that will quickly make the Aquafuge just like home.

[DaveMorris]

I just picked up a 60gal from the BR Fire sale that I will be setting up soon to use as a refugium. I helped moved that display tank...What a beast! I will post some more picks of the new fuge when I get it plumbed. Right now I need to calculate a way to get water to flow uphill.

[DaveMorris]

Well I now have two 4" pipes going between my living room and my shed out back. I needed more room for the plumbing for my new refugium. I should have it plumbed this weekend and up and running. I am planning on using the rock and sand from my 75gal and getting more algae for it. Anyone hiding any calearpa from the seaweed police that they can part with? I'll put up some pics when I get it operating.

[DaChrisDude]

sweet! I really like your PVC racks - excellent idea. Tank's looking very nice. Keep us updated with pics!

[DaveMorris]

Well I finally finished plumbing my refugium. It is a 60gal tank that I got from BR with 45gals of water in it. I still need to hang the light fixture and put the sand in it from my 75gal tank. I wasted a lot of PVC on this one due to poor planning and the simple fact that water does not like flowing uphill on its own. Finally got it though. I'll post some pics on Sunday.

Livestock update: I picked up a very nice looking Scopas Tang yesterday from the new shop in Oceanside. Had to go up to Custom Aquatic to pick up new Octopus probes and thought I would check out the new store. I also moved a Royal Gramma and Pajama Cardinal from my 75 gal tank to the 125.

Current occupants:

Scopas tang
Yellow Tang
(2) Royal Grammas
Pajama cardinal
(2) Queen Conchs
(3) Nassarius snails
tons-O-hermits
Astrea snails
Turbo snails

I also picked up a leather coral from Jared the other day and it is getting huge. You weren't kidding Jared...He's big. Seems to be very happy under my halides with polyps extended and expanding every day. Thanks.

I am now running ozone directly into my skimmer. Thanks Justin. Ozone sure makes the water clear. I didn't think it would be this apparent. It is crystal clear! I'll post pics tomorrow.

[DaveMorris]

It's about time for a tank update. I have added the following:

Another 5" hole in the wall
60g refuguim
Enough PVC to do it twice
Ozone

Scopas Tang
Coral Beauty (based on suggestions here, Thanks!)
Red shrooms
Orange Zoos
Green Zoos
Green Monti frag

Finally starting to see some Coralline on the return fittings. All tank parameters are doing great. That Coral Beauty is great. $17 at Goldfish World and he was eating and swimming all over the place 5 minutes after I put him in the tank.My Yellow Tang has finally realized that the Scopas tang is OK and is here to stay. My two Royal Grammas are either mating or playing with each other like long lost brothers.

Now I just need to stabilize the temp a little better. It swings from 73 to 79 during these very cold nights we have been having. Gotta work on that.

Some pics:

[SECTER1]

Very nice.......Cant wait to see that stocked.

[rollinghead]

Seems U pcked the best equip! Euro Reef etc... I have a feeling it will not be long before it's totally full! :D Congratulations Dave on an outstanding tank :cool:

[DaveMorris]

Thanks...I am slowly but surely getting things in there. It's hard to be patient, but since everything costs $$$$ budget constraints help with stocking it too fast.

[DaveMorris]

I just added two 24w T5 actinics to my tank. I can't believe how bright these bulbs are. Now I just have to figure out where all of the tiny bubbles have come from. I haven't changed anything, but seem to have a bit of a micro bubble problem. hmmmmmm

[DaChrisDude]

Awesome job! Very nice looking tank.

[deckmanx]

I'm glad to see that Scopas went to a good home. I liked that guy. Tank looks great!

[DaveMorris]

Thanks Declan. My Yellow Tang gave him a hard time for a few days, but they are getting along nicely now. I like him alot.

[DaveMorris]

These Zoos are crazy! I got 'em from Som1else and I have never seen them extended like these. I love the way they look. Thanks Ryan.

[DaveMorris]

I just finished plumbing my water replacement system. It allows me to consolidate my trips to Scripps as well as cut down on makeup water fill ups. I used two of the 55g drums from Justin. The makeup water (bottom barrel) is pumped automatically via a Rio800 triggered by a Spectrapure auto topoff device. The Scripps water is plumbed into my sump where I open a valve to fill the sump. To do a water change I just turn off the pumps and let the water siphon into the sump. It will fill the sump to about 1" from the top. I have a drain to the outside plumbed into the sump. I just open the drain valve, let the sump drain all the way, close the drain valve, open the Scripps water valve, fill the sump back up, restart the pumps, and VIOLA! I'm done with a 20g water change.

Here is a pic:


I have a third 55g barrel that I pick up the Scripps water with. I drop a Aqua Globe 6000 pump in the barrel while it is still in my truck. Hook up a garden hose to the pump and the inlet to the storage tank, and pump away. It takes about 10 minutes.

[DaveMorris]

Here is a cool side shot of my tank and five of my fishies.

[onad75]

really cool setup, i like how you did your rock work.

[DaveMorris]

Well...The gurgle of my tank draining into my sump has been deemed "too noisy" by the boss-lady. She brought up a valid point that she let me drill two big holes in the wall to plumb everything outside so we couldn't hear the noise. This brings me to my project for Tuesday...move the sump into the shed and completely re-plumb the entire system. I'll post some before and after pictures and some notes of how it went.

[DaveMorris]

Very interesting concept. My only problem going that route is I only have one hole drilled in my tank. (My biggest mistake on this current setup so far. And I bought this tank new!) I have one 2" hole in the overflow and the overflow is too small for a Durso. I was trying to figure out a way to make a really compact Durso or perhaps making the modified version that I have seen that uses a cap type setup instead of a tee and street elbow.

[DaveMorris]

It is actually a 2" ID bulkhead. Right now my overflow drain pipe is 2" pvc. I could get real crazy and come up with a way to put a 3/4" pipe inside the 2" pipe. Now that would be something to see!

BTW.. I really appreciate your input on this. Multiple brains figuring something out always works better than one. Thanks

[crstjohn]

I could get real crazy and come up with a way to put a 3/4" pipe inside the 2" pipe. Now that would be something to see!

I actually made a fitting that would do this on accident. I got a 2" X 3/4" (SXS) reducer. I wanted the fitting to be shorter so I cut the end off of it. I cut it too far and cut through the casting that makes it water tight but the webbing was still intact so it would work to hold the 3/4" pipe but still let water through the 2" pipe. I post a pic when I get home. Cost of fitting is under $2.

[DaveMorris]

Oh yea...Go ahead and fill my head with ideas for making a two-in-one, Durso, Stockman, Morris, Overflow, super quiet, ultra-clean, drain pipe. You know, I'm just dumb enough to spend countless hours with a Dremel and $100 worth of PVC from HD to make it work. I hate you guys!:rolleyes: :eek: :D

[crstjohn]

Here ya go, have fun!16929

16930

I was mistaken , it's a 2" S X 3/4" FIPT but I'm sure it's available in S x S if that's what you need. You can dremel out the rest of the material for max flow in the 2". Make sure to take lots of pics and document your work so the rest of us can copy your designs:)

[DaveMorris]

Well, it took way longer than I had hoped, but I have successfully moved my sump into the "shed" with the pumps. I now have one two inch drain pipe, three return pipes, and my Octopus 3000 under my tank...and that's it. I will post pics tomorrow if I get off work on time. My list of changes is still very long, but I am making progress. Stay tuned...

[nanoreefbro]

Man Dave I see that must have been alot of work.. I like the aquascaping job for sure.. How was the order from Indio Pacific Farms??

[DaveMorris]

Well here is a pic of the new sump setup in the shed. It is a little cramped, but seems to be working OK. Feel free to post questions or observations. The overflow drain from the tank is the 2" pipe. The overflow from the refugium is the 1" pipe going into the sock. One of the GenX pumps feeds my modified SCWD returning back to the tank. The other GenX pump feeds two robo fittings in the tank and also the fuge. I will be hooking up the chiller to the 1/2" ball valve that sits in front of the pumps. The white barrels are for auto topoff water (bottom) and new seawater (top). I have the styrofoam around the sump and fuge to deal with the bitter cold we have been having. It works well to keep the temp stable. Tell me what you think.....