My 120 Gallon Reef

[Cliff]

Thanks guys

I'm still working on my stocking list for this tank. I really getting excite about having a second SW set-up

[Northernguy]

Looking forward this one too! lol

[HeXoM]

Can't wait to see the build Cliff

[Cliff]

Here’s a pic of the 120 gallon tank I found a great deal on, which really started the process for me.





The first thing we did was to decide what type of reef that we wanted. After my wife and I talked it over, we want to set-up a LPS and soft coral tank with a very light stocking of fish,

The 120 gallon tank that I bought is a 4’ X 2’ X 2’ tank. It’s euro braced across the top so there is no center brace to get in the way and I wanted a open top tank to begin with so I don’t need the brace to hold a lid. It also has internal overflow in the corner and the bottom of it is drilled for a 1.5” bulkhead flange. I needed a 1.5” drain line to get around 1500 to 1600 gph for the drain line. The back glass is also drilled for a 1” bulkhead flange which I also needed for the correctly sized return line. The tank also had a pc of black acrylic glue to it and the internal overflow box which I like better than trying to attach a background or using paint.

The first thing I did was get all of my equipment together, or at least decide on the equipment I was going to use if I could not afford to buy it right away. The equipment choices were based on the type of set-up the wife and I wanted. That was easy for me as we figured we wanted set-up with a sump

The equipment I decided on was:
Vertex IN180 skimmer
Tunze and Korilla power heads
Aquatic life 4 bulb T5HO fixture
Hagan 2 bulb T5HO fixture (I had both fixtures in the closet so I used them)
Quite one 6000 return pump (or my aquaglobe 9000)
Vertex UF-20 reactor
Two Aquatherm 300 watt titanium heaters

Once I had all the equipment decided upon the next step was to build the sump. Based on all of my equipment, I felt the best option for a sump would be to use a standard 55 gallon tank. I thought that would be the biggest sized tank I could use and still fit it under the main tank.

Below is the link to my sump build

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=76636

[Cliff]

I also spent some time looking at tank pics with my wife so we knew what type of look that we wanted. With that in mind, I picked out the rock. We wanted some really flat pcs for shelf structures for corals. The SW LFS got in a few shipments of rock during the time I was looking so I was able to go through a lot of rock to find pcs that would go with the look we wanted. I did this over a 2 month period while working on the set-up.







Now that I’ve got everything I’ll need, I’ve started building the stand. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it this weekend

[hockeyhead019]

Very cool man! Just can't wait to see this one come alive again!

[Surfdog]

Wow Cliff, looking good so far... I had a heck of a time finding flat rock, those pieces look great! Lookin forward to your endeavors...

[Cliff]

Thanks guys

Hopefully we will get good weather so I can finish the stand build this weekend. Right now its the only thing holding my back from setting up the tank and sump and starting to cycle it.

[Cliff]

As we had really nice weather today I decided to finish building my stand

I framed it with 2 X 4”, gluing and screwing it together. I then used oak vainer boards to finish the outside of the stand and build the cabinet doors. I added a third door on one end of the stand so I can add or remove the sump easily should I ever need to do that.

Now I just have to apply a several coats of urethane, mount the doors, and I’m ready to set-up everything

[Strider199]

I'm able to take delivery any weekend Cliff.

Seriously, nice work on that stand and your tank is making me want to spend some money. Keep the pic's coming.