125 Gallon Goldfish Tank Journal

**mooveebuff** · 01-31-2013, 10:35 AM

Well, to give some backstory here, I used to keep goldfish years and years ago. I ended up moving to a small apartment where I didn't have room for my then 55 gallon tank, so I sold all of it and got out of fishkeeping completely. Recently I moved into a house where I have tons of room, so one of the first things I did was set up a 29 gallon tank just to have some neons. Well, that lasted all of a couple of months. I ended up upgrading to a 60 gallon tank in which I now have a dozen each neon tetras and black tetras, along with ten glowlight tetras. I'll keep adding here and there until I think I have enough in there.

AT that point, you'd figure I'd be done, right? Nope! I cleaned up the 29 gallon and was going to try and sell it either on here or on Craigslist, but then I took a look at one of the local fish stores here that buys and sells used equipment. They had a 125 gallon tank with an oak stand and canopy for just over $400.00. I talked to the guy and showed him what I had to trade in, and I ended up getting it with delivery for just over $300.00. Here she is:

That's all I have in the way of photos....I figured I'd start this while I was at the very beginning. Since I now have the biggest tank I've ever owned, I decided to go back to my original love - goldfish. As far as lighting goes, I have two Marineland Aquatic Plant LED 24-36" lights. I had one from the 29 gallon that I couldn't get myself to trade in for pennies on the dollar, so I kept it and added another. I'm a big fan of these lights.

Filtration - Fluval FX5 that I just set up before I started this post....very impressed with it at the moment.

I'm expecting my second filter tomorrow - an Aquatop CF-500UV canister. I got a good deal on it, so I went with it over an HOB. I've become a big fan of canisters since I started up with the hobby again.

Substrate - I'm going to go with sand...a mix of black and white. I'll have some live plants, nothing fancy, and a couple of decorations, but for the most part, it's going to be very open with lots of room for them to swim.

I'll also have several bubblers, as the goldfish I had in the past always loved playing in the bubbles!

I have a background coming....well two actually. A photo/film type that attaches to the outside of the tank, and I also have a sample coming of a 3D background that would go inside the tank. Once I get those, I'll figure out what I want to do.

Ultimately, I'd like to have 6 goldfish in there, three pairs. One pair each of Orandas, Lionheads, and Black Moors. I don't know how long it's going to take me to get this all set up, cycled and stocked, but all I know is that I'm having a blast with it and I thought I'd share for those that were interested. Thanks for looking!

**Cliff** · 01-31-2013, 11:47 AM

Looks like you god a great deal.

I like the look of the set-up with the canopy.

I will be following your journal with interest

**Gogi** · 01-31-2013, 01:48 PM

This is going to be very interestig. I want to have a golfish tank in the future and Im sure his will become a great source of info. Thanks for sharing and good luck.

**mooveebuff** · 02-01-2013, 06:15 PM

Thanks guys..now that I know there are no leaks and I know the filters are working, I have to do some major modifications to the stand. Me being me...I picked two filters that fit under the tank, but don't fit through the doors pre-cut in the front of the stand. I knew this going in, so it wasn't a surprise, but I had my mind made up on those filters. If I don't injure myself during these modifications (I'm not the most handy person), I'll post some photos of what I did. If it turns out like I have it in my head, it'll be pretty cool.

**mooveebuff** · 02-05-2013, 06:48 AM

Well, now this has turned into a bigger project. I've had the aquarium filled with water for over a week now with the FX5 running for a few days. I went to drain the aquarium last night so I could start cleaning off all of the hard water stains....and then I saw it...water inbetween the bottom molding and the glass. I have a leak somewhere, but I don't see where it's coming from. Of course, gravity works against me here...no matter where it's coming from, it could end up there. I couldn't find any wet spots on the sides/edges of the tank, so I'm assuming it's along the bottom somewhere. The silicone all looks good, although it seems hard, so maybe it's just getting old. Anyhow, rather than stress over trying to find/fix the leak, I'm going to take all of the silicone out and re-seal the whole thing or else I'm just going to worry about new leaks popping up. I guess this is the upside of taking my time as I don't have any fish in there yet. If it wasn't such a big tank, I'd consider getting a new tank, but I'd be looking at $400.00 give or take which is more than I already paid for the whole setup I had. Oh well...gives me something to do I guess.