# 125G setup



## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I've been working on this project for a couple of months and finally uploaded some pictures to Photo bucket. Some pics are still missing but when I find them, I'll add them here.

I bought a used leaking 125G All-Glass tank (72"L x 18"W x 23"H) from a local fish keeper for $125. Completely stripped the old peeling silicone from the inside only. Cleaned it well with denatured alcohol and used Dow Corning 832 Multisurface Adhesive/Sealant, Black, to reseal the tank. I let the silicone cure for 2 weeks then filled it with water in the driveway for a 1 week leak test. Good so far.

I lightly sanded the worn down oak plastic trim and primed then painted it with black latex wall paint.

We built the stand using plans from Reef Central. 2 x 4 construction except for the top support is 2 x 6 because I did not want any center vertical supports. We used 1/4" b i r c h lauan to sheath the front & sides and then used 1 x 3's for the top trim & 1 x 2's for the side & bottom trim.










The doors were designed by my boyfriend and I must say they came out well. They look like four separate doors but they open as only 2 doors. The panels are hinged in the center (piano hinges) to allow full access to the inside of the stand. 
Interior view of door panels










Exterior view of door panels









Doors fully open









We used Minwax Pre-Stain and Golden Pecan for the finish. I also applied a couple coats of Minwax water based Polycrylic to finish the stand. It's a little bit too reddish but I can live with it. I finished the interior of the stand with a couple coats of white enamel Kilz after caulking all the joints. Just in case of water spills.

We made the real rock background using Feather Rock (cut to size), bonded to egg crate panels using Quikrete Quick Setting Cement with Charcoal liquid cement color added. The Feather Rock had to be prepped before mounting to the egg crate since it floats when dry. I just baked it in the oven for 20 minutes at 300F, carefully removed it & kept it submerged in water prior to bonding it to the egg crate panels with cement. The hardest part was remembering where the pieces went when mounting them. They were dry fit before baking & sinking & I forgot to take pics of where they were supposed to go.

There are some gaps between the rocks and the colored cement looks better than plain gray. We did the background in 3 separate panels to allow them to fit between the top tank braces. We should have done 4 separate panels because they were very heavy to maneuver in place. The background was set on pieces of foam used to separate glass block windows to avoid direct contact with the bottom glass of the tank. I applied a bead of black silicone to the top of the background to hold it in place under the tank rim. It's very secure and flat against the rear glass.

Left side









Right side









The length of the background is shorter than the tank length to allow the canister intake pipes to be placed properly, one in each corner. I just painted the back & sides of the exterior glass so as not to see the intakes when viewing from the sides.

I'm using one Eheim 2260, with a Hydor ETH 300W heater, on the left side and one FX5 on the right side. The outputs were a bit of a challenge as I forgot to take them into account when designing the background. I had to chisel out a bit of the Feather Rock to get the FX5 dual output nozzle in place. It's on the left third of the tank.










The Eheim spraybar is mounted on the underside of the right brace. We drilled the spraybar clamps to accept #4 x 5/8"L SS machine screws & drilled thru the plastic trim brace to mount them. No more suction cups!!!

You can barely see the spraybar
View attachment 3


The substrate is 3M Colorquartz S grade and Spectraquartz in black, brown and white. The driftwood was scavenged from the woods at the rear of my property. I just power washed it well (no soap) and wire brushed the soft spots out. I have to weight it down with a rock as it is still a bit buoyant.

I added some additional Feather Rock and am using Java Fern and Giant Hygrophila for plants. I will be adding some Anubias Nana when it arrives in a few days.

Full tank shot










Left side, planted with driftwood









I've been fishless cycling the tank for a few weeks using ammonia to maintain 2ppm. I still have about a week or so to go, as my Nitrite dropped to about 0.5 recently.

I am using two 36" Marineland LED Double Bright light fixtures but recently add a 48" T-12 strip light I had laying around. It has a 40W Aquasun bulb that is a bit too pink for my liking but will do until I come up with something else. I thought it would help the plants growth because I'm not sure the LED's will be sufficient.

So, long post, but I think I covered everything. Any questions or comments on how it looks would be greatly appreciated.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Really, really nice. Lot of work!


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

Looks like a lot of thought and effort went into that tank. Background and scaping appear natural. Thanx for sharing :thumb:


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## jrf (Nov 10, 2009)

I absolutely love that background. But, I have to say overall I hate it...it remindes me how plain and boring my tanks are. :lol:


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## kinesis (Aug 20, 2009)

Great tank, makes me jealous!


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## jeaninel (Nov 1, 2009)

Gorgeous tank. Great job! :thumb:


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Thank you all for the kind comments. This style background is actually very easy to do. I made a similar one for my 220G in 2005. I actually got the idea from this site about making a Styrofoam background but I wasn't artful enough to carve the rock shapes to my satisfaction.


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## bearded lab (Apr 28, 2010)

Looks great, what fish will be going in it?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

What fish? Good question.

I originally was going to put four F-1 Amphilophus Festae (Red Terror) in this tank that I got from a local breeder. But I know that this will not be realistic once they hit puberty.

But then I got six young Aulonocara "Stuartgrantis Maler" Peacocks. I think the breeder of these fish mis-marked the bag I got at the fish club auction. They may actually be "Jacobfreibergi" but I won't be sure til I speak with him next week. I ended up with 3 males & 3 females and I have already had two spawns!

The Peacocks are absolutely gorgeous so I think they will be going in the 125G.

Any and all recommendations would be appreciated for tank mates. Can I realistically keep these 3 pair of Peacocks together without problems or do I need to lose 2 of the males?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Save a bunch of females from your spawns and 3 males should be fine. Maybe a blue copadichromis for a tank mate?


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Good idea on saving the female spawns to keep the males satisfied.
I'm not familiar with Copadichromis at all. I looked over their profiles briefly & none really grabbed my fancy. I'll continue to look at some pics. Thanks for the suggestion.


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## Babydelux3 (Jun 28, 2010)

GORGEOUS!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You may want to avoid fryeri because they have a rep for crossbreeding with peacocks.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Beautiful!


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## GotCichlids? (May 21, 2010)

More Pics with fish please!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

No fish in the tank yet as it is still cycling. Just waiting for the nitrites to drop.


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## GotCichlids? (May 21, 2010)

opcorn:


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## kingdave (Mar 9, 2007)

Wow! Beautiful setup! The stand looks high quality, the background looks very realistic combined with the plants... I'm anxious to see it with fish too ;-)


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