A brief rundown on my aquatic experience - In high school in the late 80s I had a Oceanic 30 Long with under gravel filter and far too many fish - flame hawk, dwarf lion, blue throat trigger being the mainstays of the aquarium. After college in the late 90s I gave the hobby another go with my 30L, but quickly upgraded to a Oceanic 50 which I had drilled into reef readiness. After more struggles with FO, I switched to reef and continued to struggle, eventually leaving the hobby again. I just didnt have patience back then. And I shudder when I think of the fish I stuffed into those little tanks back then.
In March 2015, I bought a softie dominant JBJ NanoCube24 off craigslist with the idea that I would give it a year and consider upgrading to a bigger tank. So now in May, I bought a 120 from TheGrimReefer and ended up with:
Oceanic Tech 120 with custom stand and hood
Trigger Systems sump
Sicce 4.0 return pump (noisy - new impeller on order)
Tunze 6065 and (2) Tunze 6025 powerheads
Avast Marine Skimmer with Swabbie and collection tank
Sea Side Aquaitcs Large Media Reactor (for sale)
AquaMedic KS1000 Kalk Stirrer (motor shot, stirrer probably needs replacement too)
Custom 8 channel LED system with DA ReefKeeper 2 controller
Apex Lite with 2 EB8s
300 w AquaHeat EC Plus heater
A rudimentary float switch / dosing pump ATO set up
A couple spare RIO pumps
I am learning some hard lessons about buying on the used market. After a few other purchases, I now have a new BRS 4 stage RODI, a new Tunze Osmolator, and a used BRS dosing system. And a few things that either dont work or I dont need.
So far in this project I have done the following:
- Scrubbed all the equipment with vinegar and scotch brite. Most of the equipment was well used but in good shape overall after the scrub.
- Refurbished water damage on the back and base of the stand with lots of wood glue and c-clamps.
- Painted the back and inside of the stand with white satin enamel exterior paint. I really like having the sump area painted white which makes it much more easier to work with.
Resealed the seams. When I bought the tank, I noticed some of the black seals had turned orange and were a little janky (technical term) so I resealed the interior seams with RTV108 (clear). I was worried that resealing black seals with a clear sealant on the seam would look funny, but I really like the look of the finished product. Resealing took quite a while because I found it really hard to get motivated.
- Plumbed up a BeanAnimal drain system which only took about six trips to Home Depot and an order from BRS, but but I am really, really happy with the final result. Dead silent. I switched from dual returns to a single to make the BA drain happen, and the flow on the one outlet is strong, but workable. The Y on my loc -line cracked, so the single return currently has a single outlet, but I will replace the Y and go back to two outlets on the one return line.
- Poured over a variety of rock and aquascaping options and finally settled on some choice pieces I picked up from Gonefishin. I may make one more change to the aquascape this weekend.
- Tuned the timing on the lighting channels and set up the hood and lights. The lighting system is a mix of Blue, Royal Blue, Warm White, and Neutral White. Eventually I would like to swap some of those out for some cyans, limes, and UVs.
- Transferred the livestock over from my 24 nano cube with no hiccups save an astrea snail or two.
I am currently fine tuning the ATO and the skimmer while cleaning up some of the wiring. Future projects include beginning to add some kalk to the top off water as needed, setting up the Apex Lite, and starting up a refugium with an upflow algae scrubber.
The tank is currently stocked with
(1) purple stripe pipefish
(1) small yellow watchman goby
(2) paired o. clowns
I continue to researching stocking options and current thoughts are:
1 royal gramma
1 tang (yellow, purple, or sailfin). I would love one of each, but I am not sure that is practical in a 120.
1 angel (flame or coral beauty)
Some sort of peaceful wrasse or three
Maybe some green chromis and a blenny
I would love a flame hawk and/or a dwarf lion, but I don't think that would bode well for my smaller nano-fish.
Coral wise, I have got zoas and a few stoneys (2 favias, 1 chalice, 2 acans, and a jack-o-lantern something or other), and plan an sps dominant mixed reef.
Invertebrate-wise, I've got about 10 astrea, 3 nass, and maybe 1 cerith snails with about 12 hermits. I'll probably bump up the nass and cerith to 5 total for each type while adding an emerald crabs and a peppermint shrimp. I'll add a pistol shrimp for my watchman goby - his last buddy died recently, probably due to a poorly thought out addition of a free chocolate chip starfish which now lives in the sump.
More pics to follow. This one was taken when I was starting to tape for the reseal.
In March 2015, I bought a softie dominant JBJ NanoCube24 off craigslist with the idea that I would give it a year and consider upgrading to a bigger tank. So now in May, I bought a 120 from TheGrimReefer and ended up with:
Oceanic Tech 120 with custom stand and hood
Trigger Systems sump
Sicce 4.0 return pump (noisy - new impeller on order)
Tunze 6065 and (2) Tunze 6025 powerheads
Avast Marine Skimmer with Swabbie and collection tank
Sea Side Aquaitcs Large Media Reactor (for sale)
AquaMedic KS1000 Kalk Stirrer (motor shot, stirrer probably needs replacement too)
Custom 8 channel LED system with DA ReefKeeper 2 controller
Apex Lite with 2 EB8s
300 w AquaHeat EC Plus heater
A rudimentary float switch / dosing pump ATO set up
A couple spare RIO pumps
I am learning some hard lessons about buying on the used market. After a few other purchases, I now have a new BRS 4 stage RODI, a new Tunze Osmolator, and a used BRS dosing system. And a few things that either dont work or I dont need.
So far in this project I have done the following:
- Scrubbed all the equipment with vinegar and scotch brite. Most of the equipment was well used but in good shape overall after the scrub.
- Refurbished water damage on the back and base of the stand with lots of wood glue and c-clamps.
- Painted the back and inside of the stand with white satin enamel exterior paint. I really like having the sump area painted white which makes it much more easier to work with.
Resealed the seams. When I bought the tank, I noticed some of the black seals had turned orange and were a little janky (technical term) so I resealed the interior seams with RTV108 (clear). I was worried that resealing black seals with a clear sealant on the seam would look funny, but I really like the look of the finished product. Resealing took quite a while because I found it really hard to get motivated.
- Plumbed up a BeanAnimal drain system which only took about six trips to Home Depot and an order from BRS, but but I am really, really happy with the final result. Dead silent. I switched from dual returns to a single to make the BA drain happen, and the flow on the one outlet is strong, but workable. The Y on my loc -line cracked, so the single return currently has a single outlet, but I will replace the Y and go back to two outlets on the one return line.
- Poured over a variety of rock and aquascaping options and finally settled on some choice pieces I picked up from Gonefishin. I may make one more change to the aquascape this weekend.
- Tuned the timing on the lighting channels and set up the hood and lights. The lighting system is a mix of Blue, Royal Blue, Warm White, and Neutral White. Eventually I would like to swap some of those out for some cyans, limes, and UVs.
- Transferred the livestock over from my 24 nano cube with no hiccups save an astrea snail or two.
I am currently fine tuning the ATO and the skimmer while cleaning up some of the wiring. Future projects include beginning to add some kalk to the top off water as needed, setting up the Apex Lite, and starting up a refugium with an upflow algae scrubber.
The tank is currently stocked with
(1) purple stripe pipefish
(1) small yellow watchman goby
(2) paired o. clowns
I continue to researching stocking options and current thoughts are:
1 royal gramma
1 tang (yellow, purple, or sailfin). I would love one of each, but I am not sure that is practical in a 120.
1 angel (flame or coral beauty)
Some sort of peaceful wrasse or three
Maybe some green chromis and a blenny
I would love a flame hawk and/or a dwarf lion, but I don't think that would bode well for my smaller nano-fish.
Coral wise, I have got zoas and a few stoneys (2 favias, 1 chalice, 2 acans, and a jack-o-lantern something or other), and plan an sps dominant mixed reef.
Invertebrate-wise, I've got about 10 astrea, 3 nass, and maybe 1 cerith snails with about 12 hermits. I'll probably bump up the nass and cerith to 5 total for each type while adding an emerald crabs and a peppermint shrimp. I'll add a pistol shrimp for my watchman goby - his last buddy died recently, probably due to a poorly thought out addition of a free chocolate chip starfish which now lives in the sump.
More pics to follow. This one was taken when I was starting to tape for the reseal.
"Janky" i don't iniw why that made me chuckle but it did. Nice intro to the new setup. 
