Ginu's 120gallon journey

[Ginu]

Hello,

With the move at the beginning of the month, I've decided there is no better time to upgrade, so here it goes...

I had a 75g tank which seems to hate SPS (gave this away to a friend and hes starting fresh as well)... hopefully this will change with the addition of a new tank/ and with the zeo system which I've never tried before.

Tank is from Concept Aquatics rimless custom made with three starphire sides (front, left and right panes), single external overflow and drilled(drilled for herbie with 2 x 1.5" drains) and two returns 3/4"(one on each side of the overflow)
12mm glass will be used all around with polished edges and black silicone.
Back will be black with vinyl and one piece black acrylic covering the overflow.

Measurements of the tank will be a 120g 48"x24"x24" height

Equipment I'll be using from my previous 75g tank and new equipment for the zeovit system:

Decided to discard all my old rock and start fresh, so I went with 51lb pukani and 7lb shelf rock from Eli@fijirock. This is the rock formation I have which is currently curing for the past 3 months until I move and get the new tank in place.

For return I'll be using my old Eheim 1262

I've decided to go with a Avast Marine Vibe reactor and pay the little extra so I don't have to shake stones everyday.
Zeo reactor will be fed by a Eheim compact 3000+ and controlled by Apex

Tank circulation will be provided by two MP40W ES controlled by Apex and backed up with a Ecotech battery backup
ATO - I will use my Tunze Osmolator 3155

I haven't decided on the lights but I have two options, currently I'm running two Ecotech Radions Gen 1 with TIR (I'd have to most likely upgrade those if I want to keep using LED's) and option two is my old ATI 6*54w... Not sure which would be a better combo and would the 6bulb fixture have enough coverage for a 24" wide tank? I had that running on my 75 and it was perfect... Will i be better off using the ATI 6bublb T5 or should I upgrade the LED's?? Whats better with Zeo?

I will reuse my skimmer form the 75g which is a Vertex Omega 150.

I also have a BRS deluxe reactor which I was planning to use, but I've read its better to place carbon passively in a bag rather than use a rector which can be too aggressive with Zeo.

For sump I will use my Triger systems Ruby 36 but would like to upgrade to the new Trigger systems Emarald 39

Currently I have a Neptune Apex controller along with the WXM and ALD module and I plan to use it on this system

Dosing will be done using the BRS two part Ca/Alk along with BRS magnesium mix when needed in conjunction with the BRS dosing pumps controlled by Apex.
I've also ordered the new Apex Dos and automatize my water changes as I hate hauling buckets from room to room and it so happens that in my new place I have a shed right behind the fishtank which will serve as maintenance water mixing and thinking about setting up a quarantine tank in there as well.


Now the fun part... I've setup a 150g stock Rubbermaid tank at my friends and moved all the livestock in there so I can focus on setting the system up slowly and not in a rush... I am very attached to my fishy friends and would like to try and make sure they have a safe and sound move with as little stress as possible.

My current stock list consists of two black clownfish, 4" kole tang, 5-6" purple tang, female dragonet, red head fairy wrasse, cleaner wrasse, starry blenny, pinkbar goby residing with a tiger pistol shrimp, cleaner shrimp, blood shrimp, tuxedo urchin, second tiger pistol shrimp residing in the sump.
I did however lose my Kole Tang, I'm thinking he got scratched against a rock which gave him a nice bacterial infection...

I'm not going to go into the selection of corals as I mostly have mushrooms, zoas, toadstool, acans, anemones and some random sps etc... and would like to focus more on SPS/LPS with zoas in the new tank (scrap all the softies)

Now for the Zeo ecosystem I purchased about 250$ worth of zeoproducts when the zeosale was on at BRS so I think I'm set for quite some time (hopefully)

For sand I went with two bags Tropic Eden Reef flakes 2mm and one bag of Tropic Eden Reef flakesfor a total of lbof sand

For salt I got a bucket of Red Sea Blue bucket and plan to use that since Zeo wants low parameters.



Cheers,

[Ginu]

Here is my new rock curing for about 3-4 months now with a skimmer, GFO reactor and flow pump
Its 49lb pukani and 7lb shelf rock I also have another 30lb of BRS drysaver rock in a different container, but not sure if I will use that.

I did a couple of 100% waterchanges on this this rock and it will stay like that until the tank arrives 1-2 weeks.

I'm hoping the pukani leached most of the phosphates during this period

[Ginu]

My current holding tub surrownded by bikes and some other junk...
I barely have enough space to squeese to the edge and feed the tank every day:

[Ginu]

Well, the tank is ready this weekend (assuming it will be shipped out next week) and i figured it would be a good time to start working on the stand.

I was contemplating going with 80/20 aluminum but that fell through and went with a stand made out of 2"x4".
Started the construction a couple of days ago.
30$ worth of 2x4's cut from Rona and 2.5" deck screws 5$




I've never worked with wood or 2x4's so this was quite the experience, made some errors but it all worked out in the end:


I constructed the stand to 30" wide even though the tank is 24". The tank is 24" wide + 5" due to the external overflow, so I decided to make the stand wider so I can push the sump all the way to the end and have the pipes going straight down and I think having extra room in the stand will be beneficial.

The height of the stand is 40", so the total height will be around 65" for the tank and stand as I really hated the 28" tall stand on my previous 75gallon tank... always had to bend down to look inside not to mention working on the sump/skimmer was a painful chore. I really like the RMS S series and loved the height on the stand and the viewing height of their tanks so I figured why not go the same and have some extra shelving behind the tank to use if needed

The part which I'm going to have issues with will be the dressing of the stand. Does anyone have any easy ideas how to dress a stand? I'm looking to have 4 doors and I'd like a very minimalistic euro look... I don't like busy stands with lots of carvings, edges etc... and decided to add a shelf at around 5" below the top of the frame which will house all my electronics as i want everything inside and would prefer to have a clean look of the sump.

The middle shelf is 6" shorter than the width of the stand and the cables will be routed through this opening.

[Ginu]

Some more stand construction pics

[Ginu]

I've never made a stand or worked with wood, but I have to say this didn't turn out bad at all(besides the weight), quite impressed and it looks like the stand is level, based on my cellphone.

I'm caulkinig the inside and paining it white with a Kilz latex paint.

[Wildechild_01]

Nicely done. I always get a bit of a kick out of how solid we all build our stands. It is good that we do but pretty much every DIY stand we see is over built. Anyway, ignoring that little bit there, looks good and cant wait to see it come together.

[Ginu]

And some pics of the aquarium before it leaves Concept Aquariums

[NIVLEM09]

Originally Posted by Ginu

And some pics of the aquarium before it leaves Concept Aquariums

That's a sweet lookin tank.cant wait to see this thing up and running.

[Ginu]

I feel like I've ran into a wall... Anyone have any ideas on how to skin this stand? I'm no good when it comes to wood trims and finishing .

I'd like two front doors along with two removable side doors attached with magnets.