[rballi]

We just bought a house and we now have a perfect spot for a 125. I would love to bigger, but I don't want to have to reinforce our floor....

I sold my 75 and found a good deal for a 125 on Craigslist. I will still need to make a stand for it, so it won't be up and running or a while, but I wanted to plan it out careful ad slowly since I have never done a tank this large.

I have plans of doing a sump but wanted some direction as I want to use an overflow box as the tank is not drilled. I am planning on using a system similar to mr. Barr, running pressurized into the sump and a needle wheel back into the tank for high level of misting.

I am wanting this more of a medium tech set up, using some elements of EI dosing, medium light, pressurized co2, but avoiding lots of stems as I want to minimize the amount of maintenance.

Thinking about a very large school of cardinals with a nice group of apistos.

Another possibility would be a big group of Roseline barbs.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I want to do this the right way the first time.

 

[rballi]

New 125!

Craigslist score!

Next, put plan together for stand..

 

[UDGags]

I just set up a 125g (cycling now) and my advice would be to take your time and put a complete plan together before you start. I took a few months researching and it was worth it in the end.

 

[rballi]

New 125!

I have been thinking about it for some time. I have never run a sump before so I was hoping to get some advise here. The other possibility was running an Rena X5....

Did you start a journal that I could check out?

 

[UDGags]

Re: New 125!

The journal is in my signature.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[stevenjohn21]

I have been thinking about it for some time. I have never run a sump before so I was hoping to get some advise here. The other possibility was running an Rena X5....

Is that a cross breed between a rena XP-4 and fluval FX5 ;-)

 

[rballi]

New 125!

Is that a cross breed between a rena XP-4 and fluval FX5 ;-)

Ha ha, been a super long day removing wall paper from a room with a vaulted ceiling...

 

[rballi]

New 125!

Any good resources out there for a first time sump user?

 

[UDGags]

I found this video/post helpful when setting mine up.

 

[thelub]

There are also some good youtube videos explaining sump setups. I'm on a similar journey. I just picked up a 200g and I'm guessing it will be several months before its filled with water.

 

[rballi]

New 125!

The wife is also showing concern after she saw how big the tank is. From what I have researched, on paper I have an ideal spot for the tank next to a load bearing wall and perpendicular to the floor joists. I want to reinforce the floor to add some piece of mind. My preliminary plan is to double up the 2x8s and use concrete to support a retaining wall held up with floor jacks. Any experience on this would be helpful also....

 

[rballi]

New 125!

After poking at the crawl space again, the joists are sitting directly on the foundation of the house right where the tank is going so if anything else I am going to build a small load bearing wall from concrete blocks, then shimmed with lumber for extra support and to keep the floor from bouncing when you walk.

I am struggling to come up with a plan for the tank. I think my sump and overflow plan is quite simple, my lighting will be lower/medium starting out... And I am thinking about dirting the tank but have never done this before. It seems like the amount of maintenance I am looking for, and seems that it is fairly inexpensive. (Not wanting to shell out $35 per 20 lbs of substrate this go around.) I am going to do some research on dirt tanks but anyone with some helpful pointers on doing it with this size of tank would be helpful.

Fish I am thinking of right now.

30 panda cories
20 otocinclis
5-7 bristle nose plecos
~100 cardinals
8-10 apistogramma cacatuoides
40 lemons tetras (not sure about this yet)

Going to be finding some nice manzanita and putting a lot if hard scape in this guy...

I also think it will be pretty easy to put in a drain and taps for easy draining and refill...lots of fun stuff to do with this tank!

 

[rballi]

New 125!

So I decided I am going to drill the tank and use an overflow kit from glass-holes.com. I really just don't want to mess with a siphon overflow system. Seems much simpler and easier to maintain this way. I am scared about drilling the tank without any experience before, but from the reading I have done, as long as you have the proper tools and plan, it really shouldn't be a problem.

I also started putting together my stand in sketchup and will post what I am going to do with that. We still have a couple projects to do with the house before I will get the green light so at least the planning keeps me going in the mean time.

 

[Dx3Bash]

So I decided I am going to drill the tank

EEK !!! Good luck, you only get one shot at this so make it count.

 

[rballi]

New 125!

Update with the stand....still have much work to do. I am taking my time working on my woodworking skills , so I have acquired some tools and such, want to do it the right way this time

 

[thelub]

Drilling glass is much easier than it seems. Just be patient so you don't get ugly exits on your holes. And get more than 1 hole cutter in case you wear 1 out you have a backup. Flush the cut generously with water to keep things cool and you'll be OK.

If you need more help on glass cutting and other DIY parts of your tank, DIYFishkeepers.com has a lot of good resources for that stuff.

 

[rballi]

New 125!

The canopy is basically done, just needs some sanding, stain and poly.

Curious to know what makes more sense: coat the inside of the canopy with poly? Or put a couple of coats of white paint on the inside?

I got my glass-holes.com overflow kit that I will try to get done this weekend. Also bought a used eheim 1262 pump for the sump return of eBay. I am anxious to get all this crap out of my garage!

 

[rballi]

New 125!



Unfinished...



Walnut stain and coat I poly...

 

[rballi]

New 125!

I finally got around to drilling the tank. Not as scary as I thought it was going to be. Just have the right tools and enough time to do it patiently.

I got the back if the tank painted and my poor wife helped me get it into place so I could at least see what it is going to look like in there. Wife thinks the canopy is too tall...I think it just looks majestic....

Haven't put the hardware on yet, but all in all I am pretty pleased how it all turned out. Don know how many hours I actually put in, but more than I would like to admit.



Now the fun stuff really begins!

 

[ChadRamsey]

thats a great looking stand and canopy