Cat lady moves to a 120g

[cat_fish_lady]

Wooo new thread for the new tank!

Including a link here to the old tank where I started my reef building, so that anyone interested can see things from the very beginning: Ye Olde 60g (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aquariumforum/showthread.php?t=88270)

Yesterday my bf and I cleaned the whole apartment and prepared the new tank space... we now have a little sitting area facing the tank with a futon and table... basically my new favorite place in the whole world. I fell asleep watching my fishies last night hehe.

I'll post shots of the tank and my new little "tank nook" as soon as everything is set up.

[Lady Hobbs]

:19: :19:

Wonderful. So fun setting up a new tank. The only problem I can see is that it's not in my living room!

[Cliff]

Your going to love the options you get with a 120 gallon tank. Lots of room for rock while still leaving a good amount of swimming space for the fish

[hockeyhead019]

120's might be the best mix between a realistically sized tank and something that's still be enough to not have a real limitation on your stocking :)

Can't wait for the build to start!!

[cat_fish_lady]

Yes I am super excited thumbs2:

We have decided that the first addition to the new tank (once everything has been moved over and had a chance to settle in and stabilize) will be a trigger, and I'm pretty set on this one:

Bursa Triggerfish (http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+44+240&pcatid=240)

(Rhinecanthus verrucosus, which is actually called "Blackbelly Triggerfish" by most sources). It's similar to the Humuhumu (in fact our LFS has it labeled incorrectly as a Humu Picasso trigger), but max size is 9" rather than 10". Plus there are some small ones at my LFS that I'm eyeing.

After that, possibly will add a yellow eye kole tang, but I'll figure that out when I get there.

[cat_fish_lady]

New tank was delivered last night! And I have my work cut out for me in terms of scrubbing it out :)

There are a lot of salt deposits on the inside (mostly on the back/overflows, not so much on the front and side glass), but I have a big bottle of white vinegar and I plan to get to scrubbing tonight with vinegar, hot water and, if it comes to it, a razor blade.

Once that is done and I get everything hooked up, I'll do a test fill with tap water for leaks, drain it, and start the process of the change over. Pics to come!

[ScottishFish]

Can't wait to see it thumbs2: hope you've got plenty of elbow grease to go with that vineager :hmm3grin2orange:

[Cermet]

Wow- that will be a very nice tank - give some details on both the support systems and ideas for stocking!

[ScottishFish]

Just as Cermet mentioned stocking; I was in a different lfs browsing SW for future ideas, ever seen Blue/green bird wrasse before?? oddest oddballs ive seen in a while :hmm3grin2orange: Im a sucker for oddballs :hmm3grin2orange:

[cat_fish_lady]

Can't wait to see it thumbs2: hope you've got plenty of elbow grease to go with that vineager :hmm3grin2orange:

Hah YES it will need plenty of that... I spent an hour last night just cleaning the wood stand as it was covered in dust/sawdust... clearly stored in this guy's basement for some time. But it looks awesome now!

I'll post some of the details on the sump when I get home (it came with it, it's a modified wet/dry setup but I don't know how large), and for the moment I'll be using my HOB skimmer that I got for the 60g even though it's only rated up to 120g, so it will barely manage until I can get something bigger.

In terms of stocking, here is what I have that is being moved over:
-Oscellaris clown pair, one orange and one mostly black
-Four stripe damsel and Domino damsel (I can't talk my bf into giving them away... sigh. Hopefully they won't wreak too much havoc with aggressive tank mates...)
-Valentini puffer
-Bicolor dottyback
-large anemone and LPS coral, and some mushrooms.

Here is what I plan to add:
-Blackbelly trigger (as small as I can get it)
-a tang, either Yellow-eye Kole Tang or Yellow Tang (of roughly the same size as the trigger)

Does that sound do-able in a 120? I know some of the more aggressive ones like the trigger will go after snails and hermit crabs, but as long as they leave corals alone I'm okay with that.

[cat_fish_lady]

Just as Cermet mentioned stocking; I was in a different lfs browsing SW for future ideas, ever seen Blue/green bird wrasse before?? oddest oddballs ive seen in a while :hmm3grin2orange: Im a sucker for oddballs :hmm3grin2orange:
Those are really cool looking... I like wrasses a lot in general actually, but I haven't seen any for sale locally (I could order online but am kind of reluctant to do that for some reason)

[cat_fish_lady]

Lots of scrubbing was done yesterday... but I am stoked because I've been searching for some cute comfy chairs or poufs for seating in my new aquarium "nook" and found these:
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/showphoto.php?photo=22096
SO CUTE... ordered two of them.

But real pics (of the aquarium not to poufs) are coming!

Also my black oscellaris clown (the female) has discovered the anemone... she spends all her time rolling around in it now :)

[cat_fish_lady]

I just need to say that I did ALL the plumbing on my tank last night... if you knew me personally you would know that that is a big deal lol. I'm not very good at things like that. It took a lot of reading/watching youtube/studying how to do it, but I did all my plumbing!

GO ME! :19:

[Cliff]

That's how we all learn. Good job

I'm looking forward to seeing some pics of this set-up (hint.. hint... ) :shappy:

[hockeyhead019]

Congrats on the plumbing, you'll have to post pictures so we can see your set up... notice the HAVE TO... not SHOULD ;)

Doing something by yourself is always fun especially when you research it and then do it and it comes out well!

[cat_fish_lady]

I know I've been slacking on the pics... but there have been a few setbacks lately, aside from the fact that I dropped my laptop on the floor and completely busted the LED screen, so I can now only log in at work....

1- plumbing is leaking :scry: working on this issue. Cliff has made some excellent suggestions for ways I might fix it, which I will be trying tonight. But I am happy to say that we filled the tank with freshwater for a test run and there were no leaks from the tank itself, so no need to re-silicone or any of that... just need to tweak the overflow plumbing setup and I'll be good to go.

I've also had a heck of a time getting all the salt/mineral deposits off of the overflow boxes. I was able to scrape it all off the glass with vinegar, a scrubber and a razor paint scraper, but its harder to get off the black plastic. For the last 2 days I left it full of hot freshwater with half a bottle of vinegar dumped in there, and the water is now pretty cloudy so I guess some of the salt has dissolved. Tonight I'll drain it and give scrubbing another go.

My goal is to have it set up for this coming weekend as my parents will be coming down to visit... not sure if that is do-able or not, but I'm gonna try!

Here is a pic to hold you guys over... this is the tank in my living room after I scraped most of the deposits off the glass (but as you can see this was before I worked on the overflow boxes):
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/data/500/thumbs/newtank.jpg (http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fishpictures/showphoto.php?photo=22152)
There are also some pics of the plumbing specifics in my member gallery as I uploaded them to ask Cliff some questions.

[Hpimichael02]

nice, i will be setting up my remaining 3 tanks in the next weeks- i also have a 150 Tall, looks about the same footprint. great tanks but a pain to scrape algae off cause they are so deep. looks great.. keep the pics comming.

[cat_fish_lady]

All my fish are doing well but still in the small tank... I am fighting my usual self that wants instant gratification and not moving them over before I'm done plumbing the sump (I could in theory and just not fill the tank all the way to the top of the overflows, but I'm trying to cultivate patience)!

But I got an in-sump skimmer (AquaC EV-180) so I'm another step closer to a fully functional 120g!

[cat_fish_lady]

My nem split!! :linedance: woohoo!

Other than that... the big news is... I'm moving. So the actual set up of the 120 is going to wait until I have it set up at the new place, and then I'll be transferring the livestock from the 60g in which they are still chillin'.

Question... and this may be a very stupid one... a split anemone will never sting its counterpart because they are of the same DNA, correct? Or will they begin chemical warfare now that they are two separate entities and located very close to one another?

[Cliff]

You won't have to worry about chemical warfare. My ever splitting RTBAs never did sting each other after splitting.

Just keep an eye on them as in a few weeks, one of them will likely start to move to find a new spot

[cat_fish_lady]

*slinks back in looking ashamed*

Yeahhh so I know I have been totally neglecting this build thread... sorry guys! Turns out that moving was a lot more of a pain than I remember it being (that's probably why I lived in my old apartment so long... it's like, as long as I REMEMBER how terrible moving is, I stick to one place, but then the memory fades and I think, why not...)

Hehe, anyway! A long-overdue update on the tank situation! The good news is, they're out of the 60g and it's gone! The bad news is, they're in the 120g, but I have yet to get the plumbing water-tight because I never was able to accomplish this 100% before the move.

SO the water level in the tank is just low enough that it does not reach the built-in overflows, and running the (admittedly underpowered for this size tank) AquaC Remora Pro until I get my act together. I used MUCH less sand this time around and just used a few cups from the old tank to seed it. New tank is cycled and has been up and running for about a month now... bought some new Koralia powerheads that will be coming soon, so the flow is about to get SERIOUS in there.

And everything is doing well! I added a yellow tang since my last visit. The damsels were given away on craigslist, and replaced with blue green chromis (much more agreeable temperament). I had to give the acan coral away as well since it wasn't doing well in the old tank... I know, terrible since it was expensive, but best for it in the long run.

And last but not least: added my first new coral in FOREVER just yesterday: a very small Zoa frag (TCN's Miami Hurricane Zoanthids), as well as 2 lil purple ORA mushrooms.

GOOD TO BE BACK!

[cat_fish_lady]

Oh, and before anyone asks for them: pics coming soon, hehe :hmm3grin2orange:

[Cliff]

I'm looking forward to some pics