Going from 65 to 120 gallon

[DocNos]

Hello! 2 years ago this month I started my first ever saltwater tank. Really, my first ever anything tank. I wanted to do a reef tank for a long time after seeing a friend of mines anemone tank over 12 years ago. Finally, I got to a place where I could start.

I bought the tank second hand, and it came with a skimmer, MP40, Gen 1 Radion XR30, eshopps sump, about 60 lbs of rock, and some other misc. things. I built the stand and did all the plumbing myself. Sold the sump, and built a new one out of a 29 gallon tank with baffles made from cutting a 20 gallon tank apart. I bleached the rocks and stacked them the best I could, then it was finally ready for water.

I made some mistakes with this build, the aquascape especially, but I have learned a great deal. Now, 2 years later, I'm starting a build for a 120 gallon. So far, I have a new to me Icecap 2 skimmer, 40 gallon breeder with premade baffles, Neptune Apex system, and a Reefbrite X series hybrid light. Going to build a new stand hopefully this month, then plumbing will follow. Hoping to have water in it and cycling by the end of September. I'm making a new aquascape which should be done next week, so I'll be posting more pics next week! Here's what I have so far.

 

[DocNos]

Pics!

 

[Cook]

I think all of us learn something along the way making each system build better than the last, I'm looking forward to your progress. Looks like you did a good job on the sump baffle install in the 40B, very clean.

 

[DocNos]

I think all of us learn something along the way making each system build better than the last, I'm looking forward to your progress. Looks like you did a good job on the sump baffle install in the 40B, very clean.

Thanks! I'm very excited to have a bigger sump

 

[DocNos]

Got most of the new aquascape made. This is about 70 pounds that I broke up to smaller pieces then superglued and cemented them together

 

[york1]

Looks good tho I would ditch the bucket and spray bottle

 

[DocNos]

Looks good tho I would ditch the bucket and spray bottle

I'm going to be putting the large conch shell from my current tank in the spot of the bucket haha

 

[myvwrock]

make sure to take the cardboard off the bottom before, putting it in the oven...

 

[DocNos]

make sure to take the cardboard off the bottom before, putting it in the oven...

The cardboard is the size of the tank haha

 

[hzheng33]

Got most of the new aquascape made. This is about 70 pounds that I broke up to smaller pieces then superglued and cemented them together View attachment 46351

Awesome aquascape

 

[DocNos]

Well, woke up this morning to find that the rock that the large green hammer colony was on had fallen on the goniopora. I put in an extra frag I had and temporarily put the hammer on it along with some other frags. What's cool is that the monitora spongode is actually holding up the top rock so there is a gap underneath it now.

This is what I was worried about. The aquascape is just a bunch of rock I had just stacked on top of each other. Guess it's time to finish the new build. I'm buying all the wood needed to build the stand tomorrow!

 

[DocNos]

So I forgot to post my stand update, but screw it, here it is! Still needs some sanding and painting/staining. I wanted to burn it down atleast a few times, but I finally finished the construction part.

 

[Cook]

Looking good! You'll be happy you took the time and effort once it's done.

 

[ak10up]

Tank stand is really nice….
Possible to make 1 more?