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

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]

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

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

(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 hope you've got plenty of elbow grease to go with that vineager

[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 Im a sucker for oddballs

[cat_fish_lady]

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

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.