Muddy's 175 bowfront build

[Muddy357]

Well I am finally starting my build thread for my 125 gallon tank. I am almost done collecting the equipment to put everything together so far I have the tank 72"x21"x18" drilled for 2 corner over flows, and a custom stand made out of 2x6's so it is really sturdy, I will be building a canopy in the next couple of weeks and 55 gallon tank for a sump with a fuge built in made by aquatic obsessions, a mag 18 for my return and I have all of the pipes and fittings to plumb it up I am still debating on lighting I am probably going to go with 2 250watt metal halides and some LED stunners for lighting. Equipment I am still waiting to pickup is an avast ATO and avast kalk stirrer, and an AC3 to control everything. I will be getting about 100 pounds of dry rock next weekend and I will be getting about 40 pounds of live rock when I am ready to add water to the system. I am still about 2 months away from adding water but figured I might as well start the thread now. I will post pic's of the tank and stand tomorrow.

 

I am still working on my fish list but here is what I am thinking about.

I will let the tank sit running with no fish for 2 months testing parameters every day to make sure a full cycle

first fish in will be 4 green chromis

then 3 to 4 weeks later a pair of clowns not sure what kind yet

then wait another 3 weeks and if all goes well a blue hippo tang

then a yellow tang

then a male flasher wrasse and 3 females

after that I am not sure what else but all fish will be added in 3 to 4 week intervals to ensure no one is stressed out and that I do not over load the system to fast.

 

I am open to any suggestions.

 

Thanks ahead of time

Jake

[Incredible Corals]

SWEET! Can't wait for pics

[smallreef]

can't wait! glad to see ANOTHER woodbridge person on here too!

[trockafella]

Jake, what happened to the cowfish.? Decide against it.? Congrats on the new set up.!!

 

Also, dont waste your money on stunners, there Junk. If you want something like just buy the LEDs at lowes that change colors, I think there like 12" long and comes as a set of 4 for like $50. The exocotic modules work much better, or the reef brites(?)

[icecool2]

Sounds like a nice build. You might want to reconsider the order you add your fish. I'd go for least aggressive first and end with most aggressive. Also depends on the size of the fish.

[Muddy357]

Jake, what happened to the cowfish.? Decide against it.? Congrats on the new set up.!!

 

Also, dont waste your money on stunners, there Junk. If you want something like just buy the LEDs at lowes that change colors, I think there like 12" long and comes as a set of 4 for like $50. The exocotic modules work much better, or the reef brites(?)

 

Yeah I am actually going to go with LED's for the whole lighting for the tank. Yeah I know what you are going to say but I want to give them a shot and see for myself what they can do.

 

Jake

[Muddy357]

I just ordered the avast ATO and I am picking up the skimmer this weekend things are slowly coming together for this build.

[Mike Mann]

you would be best to add your tangs at the same time. That will increase the chance of them doing good together.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Mike Mann

[Mike Mann]

Also which LEDS did you decide to go with for the whole tank?

[Sharkey18]

Awesome, Look forward to following along...

[Muddy357]

Also which LEDS did you decide to go with for the whole tank?

 

I am going with LED's from the new vendor Quantum Reef.

[Muddy357]

Mod's please change title to Muddy's 175 bow front build

[steveoutlaw]

Nice.......an upgrade before the tank is even set up! That beats my fastest upgrade.

[Muddy357]

LOL yeah the deal was to good to say no to.

[Sharkey18]

Sweet! What brand of LED's are you going with?

[Muddy357]

Well I am now going to need to build a stand for the 175 bow front but I am not exactly what support I will need for it I will need to have enough space in the stand to fit the sump which is 60L*24W*18T that I am getting from SteveOutlaw any thought's? I was thinking of building the stand to be 78L*30W*36T made out of 2*6's

[Muddy357]

Well I found a canopy for the tank so that is one thing checked off the list.

[Muddy357]

I picked up the canopy today, and I pickup the tank this weekend the thing left to get is the LED's and I still need to build the stand I am going to have to build the main frame out of 4x6's so I will have enough room in the stand for the sump.

[smallreef]

Sounding like a plan is appearing...I would use 2x6's at most... one in each front/back corner and 1 under the bow and straight in back...

[Muddy357]

I wish I could use just 2x6's but with the widest part of the bow being 24 inch and the sump also being 24 inch wide I need the inside dimensions of the stand to fit the sump as well as have a center brace in the front and the back of the stand.

[Muddy357]

This will be my fist stand build and I want this thing to be as sturdy as a rock, as well as have plenty of room under the stand for all of my equipment.

[smallreef]

ahhh a newbie have you built things before though?? mines almost done... im a procrastinator... but this is the 2nd stand Ive built but Ive built alot of things.. walls... cabinets, lol you know miscellaneous builder/maintanance junk,lol

[Muddy357]

LOL yeah I have made ton's of stuff out of wood, like work benches, cabinets, I also work with a wood lathe and make wood pens bowls and platters.

[smallreef]

You have a lathe?? i want oneeeeeee ( can you imagine the whinny voice with that.... thats what I intended..lol)

We dont have room for one in our garage :(

 

then you know you can displace alot of weight... if you made the stand a few inches deeper than the tank you could do it really easily and run all the plumbing through hole you drill in the top of the stand?? youd still be able to fit the sump and you could use the 2x6's instead... just saying...

[Muddy357]

for weight displacement I will be getting metal bracket joists for flooring and use them for the boards running front to back for added support.