# Woot! Woot!!!! New 125G (Soil/light/plumbing selection)!!!



## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

While searching craigslist, I ran across a 125 AGA for $150 (Tank, stand and two, 2x90 Coralife CPF fixtures, 1/2 bucket of salt).

How do you spell s-t-e-a-l...??? (I could almost get $100 for the lights alone...)

I love the size and depth of this thing. I've never been able to keep Amazon swords because they just get too big for my 55, but there'll be a whole corner of this baby dedicated to them. Although it'll probably be before Christmas before it's filled and planted(wife hates the pine stand - going to rebuild in hickory or cherry), I'm starting to think the tank through.

Planning on:

Background - Black
Substrate - Soilmaster select charcoal over a layer of peat/laterite
Lighting - I can use the 4x90 CPFs, but might sell them and upgrade to 4x70W (DIY) MH - I love the way metal halide shimmers.
Circulation - thinking this one through... debating on whether to drill the back wall (done this on many of my tanks before and have the tools) or not. But I think I want water flowing L-R (and R-L, on timers/solenoids) instead of F-B...which will require different plumbing options (anyone know any good diy solenoid valves?). May combine this with a sump/overflow set-up...
 Pump - looking for something inexpensive to operate (watts) but with good flow (that I can adjust) - suggestions welcome.
 Filter - Looking around for a used, small swimming-poll/jacuzzi DE/pleated filter to use as a cannister filter.
 CO2 - Of course - inject it into the filter

Oh- and all of this needs to be done for as little money as possible (so the wife won't see the small and slow (but constant) drain from the checking account...

- Jeff


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## oblongshrimp (Aug 8, 2006)

Get some black flat latex based paint and paint the glass. You will need probably 3-5 coats as the paint doesn't want to stick onto the glass much but it looks really nice and should come off easily if you need it to in the future. The cost of a can of paint is cheaper then buying a background and you wont have to deal with it falling off or otherwise getting in the way.


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## sthomas (Feb 8, 2006)

I will probably never do another cherry stand. It's gorgeous, but it's so soft and easily dented or gouged. I don't know if you've used cherry for a stand before, but my experience will lead me to use harder woods in the future (previous stands have been pine, oak, and mahogany). A dropped plastic test container that fell less than 18" was enough to gouge the surface and expose the wood under the stain.

I had a large glass tank I wanted to put a black background on, and got Tap plastics to cut a thin piece of plastic to size and put it on the back. Had to clean the back glass thoroughly, then blow it with compressed air to make sure it was absolutely dry and dust free, and the plastic was pressed to the glass carefully to avoid air bubbles. Gave a perfectly clean background, was very light, and easy to remove when necessary. Just a suggestion if you are likewise inclined.


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

Thanks for the tip on the Cherry - Nice wood, lots of effort - to get dinged so easily makes me think something harder. I'll check out southern lumber this week and see what they've got in specialty ply (for the sides and top).

For the black background, I've used the paint before - but its a mess if you ever want to take it off. Fortunately for me, I have a 32" Vinyl cutter and a roll of black 30" Vinyl (used for making window signs) just the right size that should work well (and I know how to put it on  ).

- Jeff


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

*Re: Woot! Woot!!!! New 125G/Build Thread (Soil/light/plumbing selection)!!!*

Starting on the stand.

Problem statement: The wife hates Pine...









So - 8:00 PM Friday Night...we start with this (Went with Birch):









And by noon Sunday, we get:









And by late Sunday Evening, we have this ( I wanted walnut, but walnut was $8/lf, the birch was $2.50/lf...):









During the week, we'll put on Verathane (semi-gloss).

Next weekend, we'll do the hood.

Thanks for looking,

- Jeff


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

whew -

Long time to get back to this thread, but the 125 is now in-place and I just finished moving most of my plants from my 55g to the 125G.










and the center-piece (off-center-piece)










Stats:
125G AGA - Drilled the back near the top and put in an overflow/surface skimmer
10G sump (need something bigger, just can't get it through the doors on the under-tank cabinet)
Quiet-one 3K for circulation and C02 injection via a SCWD that feeds inputs on the far-left-and-right of the tank in the back via 3/4" tubing

Substrate: 
Underlayer: ~1.5" of cactus mix (mostly peat with some humus, sand and worm castings), 10 lbs of laterite, 10lbs of oil-dri and a 1 gallon bag of pumice.
Overlayer: ~1.5-2" of #m Color-quartz, T-Grade Black.

Lighting: 2x175W MH 6500K...


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## ZooKeeper (Oct 16, 2007)

u suck! (j/k) What a find. I was trolling craiglist, and ran across a good deal - a 75g glass with stand, lights, canister filter, protein skimmer, wet/dry filter and inhabitants for $200.00. Have a buddy with a quarantine tank so the fish will go to him and so will all the live rock/corals. I'll be selling that stuff as I don't want saltwater. However, the rest of the stuff will come in handy for moving some small Oscars - they get big fast. That will bring my total up to 2 75gal and 1 55 gal. Now, where to put it all!.

Ed


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

A lesson I learned with the 125 gallon tank I had for a few years: Big sword plants are BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST! They easily outgrow even that size tank. Beautiful plants, but not really suitable for an aquarium.


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## ValorG (Dec 23, 2007)

To be honest I'm not liking the stain on that new stand, stain it a more cherry color or just paint it black imo.


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

ValorG said:


> To be honest I'm not liking the stain on that new stand, stain it a more cherry color or just paint it black imo.


I _*BEGGED*_ the wife to let me go with a reddish cherry and she shot me down. I panicked when I started the dark stain, but the pictures don't do it justice.

It looks _tres magnifque_ in real life.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

Very nice!

Kleiner-Bar swords don't get as large as Amazons & Melons...


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

You wouldn't happen to have a few that you want to get rid of, would you?


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## lwinpet (Jan 28, 2008)

saw that you are in gilroy, ca. about to start my own planted tank and was wondering where you bought your plants? i know of some places in san francisco but could not find any in the garlic capital of the world.

peter


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

PM me in a couple of weeks when I get ready to do another trim - I just threw a boatload of plants away yesterday (didn't have time to post/advertise/ship). I'll take care of ya.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

So let's see a new px. Things must be growing pretty good by now. How are things coming?


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

Things are rocking. Plants are growing like crazy and going to do a massive trim tonight or tomorrow night. I may list, or I may flush (septic) the cuttings depending on my available time.

On the down-side, I've got a little thread algae forming - I just can't seem to get enough CO2 into the tank (most likely, because of the overflow/sump - but hey, the surface is always clean) - I'm dumping a rapid uncountable number of bubbles per second and its going through a pretty long closed-loop... I maybe putting in too much traces as well, so I cut back on that and increased Glut dosing.

Switched on the 6700K lights (way too yellow) and put in 14K lights (2x175MHs I had laying around) and like the color a lot more - but now not enough red... and I don't get as good of coverage that I want because the hood is low and the reflector is crappy for my set-up (it was cheap at the time and funds were low). It's a nice hamilton for a 5' tank with fixed bulb locations, but mine's 6' so right now the ends are a little shaded and that's reflected in the leggy growth on the plants "in the shade".

I have three low-profile 150WDE reflectors on order from hellolights, 3 150W ballasts from ballastwise, and 3 10K 150W DEs on the way (I've always preferred the 10K I get with PCs, hope this is visually similar).

I figure I'll have much better/even light spread with the 3x150 than I got with the 2x175... it's a 100 more watts I have to pay for over 8 hours a day, but it should be worth it.

One major drawback is I'm not getting much red in my R. Mac, R. Col and my A. Reneckii - I'm hoping it's just the way it appears under the 14K light. I basically have an "NPT" (ducking) substrate with lots of peat, sand pumice and laterite so I need to be real careful with the dosing (I didn't have any algae issues until I started a weak dosing regiment).

I'll try and get some picture updates this week...

- Jeff


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

OK - here's the first "filled out" Picture Tex Gal...










Over the weekend I'm going to be replacing the 2x175 W MH lamps with 3 x 150W MHs so I get a wider dispersion of light. It also needs a desperate trimming...

- Jeff


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

WOW! What a tremendous amount of growth! Wish I could see it up close. You have certainly worked hard! Don't you just love your progress?!  I can sure see why you need to do some trimming. 

I don't see your fish in there. Are they there. How about a link to a bigger photo so we can zoom it?


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

lets see if this works:










There are fish in there - I have about a dozen rams and a few tetras (had 100s of tetras, but had a "CO2 accident" in my 55 1-day before I moved everything over to this tank...  ).


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

That's better. That tiger lotus is really pretty! Really like the anubias on the log. That must be the petite variety. I just bought a petite - gold. I really like it alot. I think your new lights will make it looks so much better. Have you seen the thread about the 9325K lights? I love the look they give. They won't fit in my fixtures or I would get them to mix with what I have.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/science-aquatic-lighting/723-9325k-difference.html


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

yes- saw the thread - I think I can get something similar in MH from aquaforest - it'll have to wait.

That "log" btw, is a rock. Looks a lot like petrified wood - I found a bunch of them at my local rockery... and didn't have to soak them for six weeks or worry about tannins  .

- Jeff

p.s., some of that Macrandra will be on its way to you first thing Tuesday morning  - see anything else you want?


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

How ever did you get the anubias attached to a rock? :-s That's a pretty good feat!

If you have it to spare, besides the R. Macrandra and R. Colorata, are you doing to trim your baby tears? Also mailing out your baby Kleiner Bar. It's so pretty and red. I think you're gonna like that plant. It requires room but I really like it. The parent plant is about 14" high and 10" wide. You can always take some of the outside leave off to keep it trimmed back.[smilie=b:


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

I used a trick used by reefers to attach coral to Rock - superglue gel 

Worked like a charm...

I'll throw pretty much everything into the box (H.M., and a few other surprises along with the R. M. and the R. C.). I'll see if I can find a piece of the a. nana who's missing tips wont be noticed either.

- Jeff


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## taekwondodo (Dec 14, 2005)

Done (for today, at least - tomorrow, trimming!!!)!!!

Done replacing my 2x175 14Ks with 3x150 10Ks - WOW:

Before:










and after!!!










I would say this is the best investment in weeks!

- Jeff


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