# Our 125G All Male Build



## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Just wanted to to do some showing off and to also give a chance for anyone to make any comments and or suggestion on our set up.

Took us a little while to get it going, this is our 4th tank currently. 
It is a 6ft 125G that has been drilled on the back glass, by far the longest *** ever owned. I bought the tank from a member on another forum our of Chicago IL. Tank was a little rough, cleaned up real well though.

I did a DIY Stand and painted the back glass on the aquarium.

Here are a few pictures from the start to where we are at now.

Here is the aquarium in our basement, i had just finished cleaning off the light blue acrylic paint that was on the back glass.


































Marineland Tidepool 2 that came with the aquarium.










Started working on the stand










































Worked on covering this monster


















One of my mistakes during the build 
I built the stand larger then the aquarium, on purpose. 
well i couldnt come up with something to do with the left over space that the aquarium doesnt take up. 
I made the plywood for the front and sides taller then the stand to cover up the trim on the aquarium. So this left me with quite a bit of room between the plywood and the tank it self. 
Well ii decided to nail in some 1x2 or something between the bottom trim on the tank and the inside of the plywood.

Well it looked horrible when i was done installing it, i still think it looks horrible finished. 
So im thinking about removing the top trim on the stand, corner trim and the center trim on the stand, shorting the center trim and corner trim pieces. This would allow me to lower the top trim on the stand. I plan on cutting off the excess plywood i left at the top and then getting some 1x3 and making sort of a cap to go around the front and the sides of the stand. Should be easy, havent started on that yet.










Did a little detail work, added some character.










Started the doors


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## iwade4fish (Jan 5, 2009)

=D> =D> =D>

Looks solid, man, and a nice set of pics as well. :thumb:


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## The King Crabb (Jun 28, 2011)

Looking good :thumb: What did you use to cut the squares in for the doors? Also, are you using the cut out portion of plywood (oak plywood?) as the door?


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

iwade4fish said:


> =D> =D> =D>
> 
> Looks solid, man, and a nice set of pics as well. :thumb:


Thank you thank you!



The King Crabb said:


> Looking good :thumb: What did you use to cut the squares in for the doors? Also, are you using the cut out portion of plywood (oak plywood?) as the door?


I cant remember what type the plywood is. I remember it being about $15 a sheet at Lowe's though. 
I simply measured out the openings i wanted and cut them out, the doors are from another piece of plywood, the doors over lap the openings by about 1/2" all the way around.

Here are some more pictures -

I made some progress and took a break on the pictures.










Painted the stand using Satin Black spray paint. 
Definitely did not seal then stand, i will have to becareful.


















Updated shot of the basement










Doors open, kinda wish i would have painted the inside either black or grey.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

I designed, built and painted the stand in our finished basement. I made 1 great big boo boo but
we are over it, and life goes on.


















Now how about the first leak test for this aquarium since it has been in my possession..
In my basement!!


















had 2 PITA leaks back here
Oh and im not using the Tidepool 2 BTW.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Filled the aquarium up, it tested fine. 
kept getting some dripping from the pipe nipples that were connecting
the T's and bulkheads together. 
Kept trying teflon tape, it failed twice. Finally asked around and i was told
to run some aquarium safe silicone around the threads on the nipple before
threading it into either fittings. Perfect, worked great and no more leaks.

Im using 2 Rena XP4's on this tank.










Oh and here's the other side


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## Nwright36 (Jul 27, 2011)

looks like your stocked and ready to go lol


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## dsouthworth (Sep 7, 2011)

Wow. isnt 2 of those a little overkill? at least you could have saved some cash and gotten 2 xp3's. *** never seen a setup with two xp4's

what was the cost? i know my xp3 was new @ $115


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## Sand Man (Oct 12, 2006)

Way to capture the process. Why did you choose not to use the tidepool? What do you plan to stock the tank with?


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

dsouthworth said:


> Wow. isnt 2 of those a little overkill? at least you could have saved some cash and gotten 2 xp3's. I've never seen a setup with two xp4's
> 
> what was the cost? i know my xp3 was new @ $115


I paid $170 each for the XP4s when they were brand new. 
*** had them for awhile, way before this build was planned.



Sand Man said:


> Way to capture the process. Why did you choose not to use the tidepool? What do you plan to stock the tank with?


I tried, wish i would have took about 2 more pictures during the build up of the frame work for the stand. 
Decided not to use the tidepool as i read a whole lot of bad reviews and comments about them. 
Its also missing a few important parts and needs the bio wheel replaced. The prices to replace the stuff that needs to be replaced is outrageous. 
So i made my self to make a decision on using 2 canisters are building my own sump.

As far as stocking goes... You will see soon. :thumb:

How about some more pictures

Sorta kinda start working on the rock work 









Then obtained a bunch of rock and prepped it and set it inside the aquarium.


















Did some work before the first group of fish went in


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

We added 11 fish included a brown BN Pleco 
Somewhere in this group of pictures, we added more fish. 
We now have a total of 21 fish in the 125g


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## jd lover (Mar 11, 2011)

am i the only one who notice he faked this to advertised soda and hefty bags?

lol jk nice build and good place for a fish room. never have to worry about your fish if a tornado strikes =p


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## inurocker (May 9, 2011)

Looking good :thumb:


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## blackedout (Sep 21, 2010)

i like the collection of fish!


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## chinds78 (Jun 22, 2011)

Yes, nice species selection. Could we have a full stocking list?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> building my own sump


Good idea, you'll be happier with it. The commercial units are just so small. Your DIY will probably have greater biocapacity and water volume too.

Nice setup, btw. :thumb: There are often questions here about all male setups. Journaling your stocking experience could be helpful.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

jd lover said:


> am i the only one who notice he faked this to advertised soda and hefty bags?
> 
> lol jk nice build and good place for a fish room. never have to worry about your fish if a tornado strikes =p


LOL Thank you!



inurocker said:


> Looking good :thumb:


Thanks a bunch! 
My last cichlid tank consisted of Yellow Labs, Red and Albino Zebras in a 75G. 
That was about 5 years ago, i set this 125G up mostly on my own without using 
suggestions from the net, i think i did pretty dang good.



blackedout said:


> i like the collection of fish!


Thank you! Fiance and I both personally picked them out from a breeder.



chinds78 said:


> Yes, nice species selection. Could we have a full stocking list?


Of course you can, i'll get it typed up. 
I tried dragging this thread on, the tank has been up and running with fish for about 3 weeks now. 
I got the tank going almost 2 months ago.



prov356 said:


> > building my own sump
> 
> 
> Good idea, you'll be happier with it. The commercial units are just so small. Your DIY will probably have greater biocapacity and water volume too.
> ...


Yeah im sure i would have been plenty happy with a sump. However i have never owned one or built one. I did plenty of research on the net and found that the only tricky thing to do was to find the right size return pump. I might try a sump out some time later on, not right now.

Here is a a list of the current stock

Z Rock 
2 Yellow Labs 
Red Empress 
2 Ob Peacocks
2 Electric Blue Alhis
2 Pearl Zebras 
Dragon Blood 
Christmas Fulu
SRT Hongi 
White Top Hara
Bumble Bee
Fuelibourni pair 
Brown BN Pleco 
PS Demasoni ( going to add 3 or 4 more of these) 
Blue Dolphin

Planning on adding 3 or 4 more Demasoni's to the tank. 
From what i have witnessed and heard, they seem to take out any aggression on them selves instead of another fish of a different species, kinda neat. They are fun to watch zipping around the rocks.

Here are 2 recent shots


















Tank is lighted with a 48" Hagen Glo 2x54W T5HO fixture, going to replace it with 2 36" T5NO fixtures when i can. Tank is heated by a Hydor ETH 300w heater which is awesome let me ad.


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## chinds78 (Jun 22, 2011)

Very nice looking tank and great stock list. Never thought of putting demonsoni with peacocks, but I suppose you can if they only take out aggression on one another.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

I guess its not an all male tank with the 1 female. :wink:

We love our fish


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

Ok, so you left out the BIG yellow lab then? :lol: Or was that a golden retriever?

Looks good. Is your rock resting on the hard bottom, or egg crate? Not substrate I hope.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

vann59 said:


> Ok, so you left out the BIG yellow lab then? :lol: Or was that a golden retriever?
> 
> Looks good. Is your rock resting on the hard bottom, or egg crate? Not substrate I hope.


Thats our Yellow Lab, he is a big boy. He's about 8 years old now. Big ol sissy is all he is. 
Rock is resting on a sheet of 1/2" Styrofoam on the bottom.


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## trdtaco401 (Sep 19, 2011)

Looks awesome!! That's alot of rock.. I feel like everytime I did a water change i would knock everything over..


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## sik-lid (Sep 6, 2011)

vann59 said:


> Ok, so you left out the BIG yellow lab then? :lol: Or was that a golden retriever?
> 
> Looks good. Is your rock resting on the hard bottom, or egg crate? Not substrate I hope.


I have some pretty heavy boulders and granite in my glass bottom 240 gal and they are directly on top of 2 inch sand (bottom) 1 inch crushed shell (middle layer) and 2 inch pea gravel (top layer) I haven't had any problems. I didn't think of putting down a protective layer first, I figured the sand would diffuse the weight.


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## ?Fishy? (Sep 19, 2011)

Wow! That's fantastic work!


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## Clink51 (Aug 4, 2011)

i love the keg as a table...very well done =D> 

the whole thing looks amazing. :thumb:


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Thanks everyone for the kind comments

we lost our first fish a couple nights ago. 
Noticed the older Pearl zebra of the two hanging out near the rear top left of the aquarium. 
I knew something was up but figured i would see what would happen. My Fiance lets out a "Oh no!" 
I turn and look and he is swimming up side down, sideways, doing loops and cork screws. 
I netted him and did what i could to try and save the guy. He lost no color at all, not a clue as to what happened. All other fish are great.

I need to take a new picture of the tank, lastnight i went to change things up and nearly crashed the rock work. So i got the unstack most of the right side and restack it. Now there are a few more pieces of rock in there. The fish seem to like it. :thumb:


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

*** got a rather large update i believe for this tank.

Pictures to come!


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## clekchau (Jul 24, 2011)

awesome setup!


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

z400 said:


> I need to take a new picture of the tank, lastnight i went to change things up and nearly crashed the rock work. So i got the unstack most of the right side and restack it. Now there are a few more pieces of rock in there. The fish seem to like it. :thumb:


I had my rocks set up in the 'parking garage' style, and they do like to hide in those large spaces, but I decided I wanted to make it look more natural, so I rearranged them into the 'after the earthquake' look, and I do like it more now, and I see more of them, since the bigger fish can't hide so much. And when you let them lay in more of a pile, you don't have to worry about them collapsing, since they are already collapsed basically. So, you might try letting them just live in 'slum lake'... :lol:

Just my two cents. 

Great looking tank. And as a construction guy, I have to warn you that that stand build you have will probably barely hold 3500 lbs!


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

nice work,nice work  :fish:


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Alright, *** been awefully busy lately. 

We have made some changes to the 6 footer. 
Equipment and all that stuff is the same.

But *** restacked the rocks 5 or 6 times ever since i "finished" the tank. 
We had a big collapse about a month ago. 
I was sitting in my recliner next to the aquarium, my girlfriend is standing
in front of the tank, next thing we know...About every single rock on the 
entire left side falls forward and collapses to the bottom.

*** been dealing with 3 or 4 fish digging constantly. 
They keep me on my toes. I let one hole get to big. It was directly under
a pretty important, supporting rock. We didnt have any fish get smooshed
or anything, could have been alot worse then what it was. I had the rocks 
restacked in about an hour.

Next time i take the rocks down, im going to remove about 2 inches of substrate also. 
The biggest and about the only problem im having right now is my XP4 filter
on the right is sucking air some where. *** literally done nothing to track down
the leak. Im so annoyed with it at this point. I had an air leak on the XP4 on the 
left side, that was an easy and quick find/fix. The one on the right, i am not sure. 
The cannister is not filling up with air, it is somewhere between the outtake into
the aquarium and the cannister it self.

What is so annoying is that it fills my aquarium with tiny air bubbles, it drives me
nuts. More nuts on some days then others.

I had been taking pictures over a long length of time of the aquarium. 
Before rock restacks, and after. All of these pictures are gone. lol

We have lost 3 fish since the aquarium has been up and running. 
A Pearl Zebra, Albino Red Zebra and a fish i cannot identify. (need to get with
my fish breeder on that one)

Anyways, here are some pictures i snapped today, in the order i took them.


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

my opinion u should of went with big lace rocks,but other then that nice stack up...but u go have that problem again...because they go keep digging and make there spots :fish:


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

I fine with the rock i used, I managed to get all of that for free. So thats a plus! 
Now for the digging, I know. It is not a battle i will win.


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

z400 said:


> I fine with the rock i used, I managed to get all of that for free. So thats a plus!
> Now for the digging, I know. It is not a battle i will win.


ok cool then if you got them rocks for free work with it, :thumb: nice .


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Yep you got it!

*** been working quite well with them. :lol: 
Have probably got another 75-100lbs of it. 
It is mostly sand stone.


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

z400 said:


> I had an air leak on the XP4 on the
> left side, that was an easy and quick find/fix. The one on the right, i am not sure.
> The cannister is not filling up with air, it is somewhere between the outtake into
> the aquarium and the cannister it self.
> ...


If the leak is on the return side, that is, downstream from the pump, it will leak water when the pump is running, so if you are taking in air while the pump is running, it must be on the suction side.

I had "fish condo's" in my tank with the rocks, and since I put them on egg crate, they weren't shifting or anything, so you might want to do that if you want them to have large sheltered spaces. I just opted to change mine and go with the "earthquake look" for a change. I think it's more natural looking, but they don't have as much space to hide, which I actually like, since I get to see them more. But if you want to stack them up, I would set them on eggcrate.

But, since you already have sand, the best way to do that is to put in small sections of the eggcrate, clearing the sand away a little at a time, so you can place the eggcrate on the bottom.

And hey, if you get rid of the TV, you would have room for another tank! :lol:

Looks great...


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## TrashmanNYC (Dec 10, 2007)

dsouthworth said:


> Wow. isnt 2 of those a little overkill? at least you could have saved some cash and gotten 2 xp3's. I've never seen a setup with two xp4's
> 
> what was the cost? i know my xp3 was new @ $115


I run an xp3, an xp2, and a Pengoun 350 on my 75g.


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## 60gallon (Dec 14, 2010)

z400 said:


> Oh and here's the other side


Now THATS being prepared! :lol: *Very nice setup!!*


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

lol Thank you!

I do not like to run out of supplies. 
I buy most of my stuff in bulk from the interwebz. 
Lots cheaper then buying in bulk locally, even after shipping.


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## Catfish Dan (Apr 12, 2011)

Bummer about your rocks tipping! We experience the same in our two big tanks. The Haps-Peacocks are moderate diggers- but the Frontosas are digging fools! Every week we even out the sand in their tank and within a few hours they are down to glass in their favorite spots.

Beautiful tank!!!


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

I guess i have a Female Christmas Fulu, still unsure on that one. 
I also have a Yellow Tail Acei now in my stock list.


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## chinds78 (Jun 22, 2011)

Looking very nice! Are your rocks directly on the bottom of the tank or something else?


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Thank you!

Rocks are sitting on substrate and then eggcrate. 
I need to remove about 2 inches of substrate.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Anyone have any input on what these 2 swimmers are besides fish?


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## roke28 (Oct 26, 2008)

#2 is a kenyi not to sure about the 1st? :thumb:


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Female?


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## roke28 (Oct 26, 2008)

It's hard to say. The males will be blue until around 3 to 4 inches. Then start turning a orangish yellow. Be careful though there a pretty aggressive cichlid.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Thank you for the help, it was much needed.

I have heard some bad news about white top hara's and Kenyi's.


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## roke28 (Oct 26, 2008)

There both pretty aggressive. However, all tanks are different. I have a buddy that put a Oscar in with a johanni, kenyi, and auratus. I told him he was crazy! 1 year later there all buddies! Your tank looks great BTW


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

I need to get the title of this thread changed. :lol: opcorn:


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## sirlancelot77 (Oct 17, 2011)

Very Nice setup. How much did you pay for the tank? Also, how far do you keep the tank from the wall? Thank you for your time.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

i paid $100 for the tank, it is about 6 inches from the wall i believe.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Not sure who they belong too....

But *** got fry swimming around!! =D> :dancing: :thumb:   =D> :drooling: :dancing:


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

So far i have netted 1 of them, i have counted 3 more in the tank swimming.

*** got the 1 sitting in a large net hanging in the aquarium. 
*** got the net stocked with Val and Moss.

There are definitely 3 more in the aquarium, possibly 4. 
*** scanned the whole tank with a flash light and my computer chair, i am only
finding them on the far left end of the tank, right on the edge of the rock wall.

Going to run and pick up a breeder box, get that all set up an then try and 
increase population of the unknown fry.

I swear i saw my SRT Hongi holding about a week or two ago. 
But i swear that fish was supposed to be a male. opcorn:


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## FloodXL (Feb 23, 2006)

Very nice setup! Love the tank, love the room, love that you have a planted tank also. Nice little mancave you've got there. My only criticism would be the rockwork. But I don't mean that at all in a negative way, it looks cool. I just would have tried to do it a little more natural looking.

But again, love it. Good job! =D>


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

I would love to make the rock look more natural, i am just unsure of how to do it.

Please feel me in on any suggestions you may have for restacking it. 
I know exactly what you mean, you dont see rock work stacked like that
out in the wild.


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

z400 said:


> I would love to make the rock look more natural, i am just unsure of how to do it.
> 
> Please feel me in on any suggestions you may have for restacking it.
> I know exactly what you mean, you dont see rock work stacked like that
> out in the wild.


I have just changed my rock arrangement the other day. I had been trying to create places for the fish to have shelter, and it always looked like the rocks were deliberately placed that way, and of course they were. It's kind of counter intuitive to put them in 'half a$$ed', but if you do, they will look more natural.

Remember there isn't anyone arranging rocks on the floor of lake Malawi or wherever your fish would be in the wild. If they did, it wouldn't look the same. I have realized that the best and most natural looking tanks, in my opinion, are the ones where the rocks don't look deliberately placed, but look more like they got put there during an earthquake.

I have had to practice, and learn NOT TO select and strategically place each rock! I still don't have it down just yet. (Notice I don't have a pic up? And my plants are still really rough looking, since I only got the right kind of lighting two days ago.)

A tank by zazz, a forum member has a really good looking tank here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/tanks/index.php?mode=owner&u=49071 called 'bedrock quarry'.

Both he, and fmueller, a moderator here, have inspired me with their tank pictures, and what they have said about rock placement. If you go to fmueller.com you can read about his thoughts on it. Of special note, is the idea that the rocks should appear to be resting without the likelihood of tumbling down. This has a calming effect on the observer, whereas precarious rock formations, cause subconscious stress to the observer (my paraphrase). I thought that was a brilliant point!

Zazz stacks rocks without even using anything to secure them, leaning them against the back glass.

So you have to unlearn the tendency to carefully and strategically place those rocks, IMO. And the other neat part is, it's so much easier when you have to remove and replace the rocks to catch a fish... you don't have to remember how you had them.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Thats going to be hard, but i am going to give it a shot this weekend.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

So *** got 1 little guy caught, *** counted up to 6 at a time throughout the tank.

Here are the best pictures *** got.


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

z400 said:


> Thats going to be hard, but i am going to give it a shot this weekend.


It really is just a matter of letting go of our impulse to engineer the rocks. I am a recovering perfectionist so I know how hard that is. :lol:

You are getting some nice algae on the rocks and the plants look good. It's a beautiful tank.

Congratulations :thumb:


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Well i think i did it... 
I think i got the job done.

The first try.

We will see... 
I'll post up a picture or two after my water clears up. 
I removed a 5 gallon buckets worth of substrate. 
Tank looks good, real good.

I managed to extract 10 fry. 
I'll be putting them in a 5.5 or a 10 gallon here real soon.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Here is a quick shot of the tank. 
A before and a after.

Before










And the After










I'll get some better pictures later after i get home from work.


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## chinds78 (Jun 22, 2011)

Looks good. Whats that square in the upper right hand corner? Is it just a reflection from the tv?

-chris


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## cantrell00 (Oct 30, 2010)

Breeder net..


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

chinds78 said:


> Looks good. Whats that square in the upper right hand corner? Is it just a reflection from the tv?
> 
> -chris


Breeder box *** got set up for the fry untill i can get them into their own aquarium.


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## chinds78 (Jun 22, 2011)

Oh, ok, gotcha.


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

Good job, looks like a natural FW reef. :thumb:

Don't sweat making it look the same way twice. It's different every time, and it's good to mix up the territories anyway.

Your next challenge will be 'fish puberty' 

You have some mafia in there as I recall... 

Really nice tank. Have you found a buyer for the TV yet? Some times you have to sacrifice lesser forms of entertainment to make room for the next tank...


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Seriously? You dont think it looks too bad? :dancing:

I personally love it, and love the way it came out. 
Im going to add a couple more Java Ferns, would like
to pick up some Hornwort for the right rear and maybe
somewhere around the rear center of the tank.

I actually tried really really hard to place everything so it 
looked like i hadn't purposely placed the rocks where they
are. I spent right around 4-5 hours rebuilding the layout.

Cleaned both of my filter, and also changed my source
of oxygen. Going to clean the glass tops and then enjoy
how it looks. :thumb:

I'll have a new picture up when i get home from work today. 
I forgot to take a better shot with my good camera, and then
lastnight i stirred the tank up a bit, so it wasnt in a picture
taking mood lol.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

*** got an awesome camera but do not know how to use it.


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## vann59 (Jun 20, 2011)

z400 said:


> Seriously? You dont think it looks too bad? :dancing:
> 
> I personally love it, and love the way it came out.
> Im going to add a couple more Java Ferns, would like
> ...


Looks great, especially considering you tried so hard and took 4 or 5 hours. I think the harder we try, the more deliberate looking it is.  But you've got it looking nice, and it will no doubt be more stable too now.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Well thanks! I sure did spend some time on trying to make it right.


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

I was able to do some rehousing. I moved a fish out of my 20L quarantine tank into the 125G, so freed up the 20L. Moved the fry out of the playpen in the 125 and into the 20L. They are doing great.

they are growing and are very active.

Giving them a Christmas present here shortly.

:thumb:


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## FloodXL (Feb 23, 2006)

I like the rockwork adjustment, good job. You have some very beautiful fish. =D>


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## z400 (Jun 30, 2009)

Thank you!

*** added more rocks, i will try to remember to take a new picture tonight

Tank looks a bit..messy but i like it and the fish seem to dig it a bunch.


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