# 125 journal



## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

well last night I picked up my first 125g tank so i will keep you up dated on the progress. here are a few pics of the tank.





































the tubes on the outside edge of the tank are the intake overflow for the sump. the inside tubes are the return jets. I will be painting the back of the tank black. and the sump is a 30g long. coustome built stand and false canopy.


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## czar_wilson (May 26, 2011)

Lookin good. Keep the updates comin' opcorn:


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## camelworm (Aug 16, 2011)

i have never seen overflows and returns like that ever it is f'in cool


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

i love them and once the background is painted black they are going to blend in nicely. and they work great.


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## livingroomdiver (Oct 10, 2011)

How much water are you accounting for in case of power outage? If your pump isn't running, your sump will fill with excess water until the water level drops below the overflow. Just something to be wary of in case the power blinks. It is that time of year!

As long as that adds up, I really like the setup. Did you drill the bottom, or did you have to order it? I'd always heard that tank bottoms were tempered, so I never considered it for mine.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

if the pumps go off the tank will loose about three gallons and the sump will take about 5g give or take. the guy i got it from showed me how it worked before we took it down.

and the bottom was drilled. a budy of mine did it for me and it was beautifull work


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

looking good keep us updated opcorn:


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## clekchau (Jul 24, 2011)

nice setup, what are you going to stock it with?


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

Not 100% positive yet but thinking peacock, hap tank.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

Or many labs and acei. Not realtime shure at the moment because its going to be a long term build. I want this to be my show tank so it has to be perfect. Before I start stocking.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

Here is the sump redone got finished about an hour ago. will water test it tomorrow and make shure that everything is working the way it should.


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

cool cool me myself I have haps, peacocks and yellow labs...a school of yellow labs look good in a tank.,with big haps....


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

update sump in and pump hooked up some temp deco just to kinda get a feel for what I want to do for the set up. still have to paint the back of the tank. finish gelling the substraight. and start accumulating the focks and build the light set up. but here you go on what I have so far.


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## Cartem2 (Oct 4, 2011)

Nice plants, I am surprised they are doing so well with no water.  
Seriously tho nice setup. I wish I could make a sump like that, I just don't have the skills, or would even know where to start, they just look overwhelming to me.


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## Annal606 (Nov 25, 2011)

Thanks for this post guys I was going through the same thing


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

the sumps are actualy realy easy to build not a whole lot of skill required.


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## Cartem2 (Oct 4, 2011)

It looks like something I could do but I have no knowledge of sumps, how they work, how to set them up, let a lone how to make one the right way. I would love to do some research but have not found much helpful info. If you had any links to good step by step DIYs like the one you have I would really be grateful. I'm also very interested in the Rubbermaid tote kind but again have come up short on any helpful info I could use.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

i could probably draw it out for you easier than trying to find links. all I realy did was take a marine sump set up and adapt it use filter media instead of a skimmer. all it takes is an old tank a little bit of acrylic and some GE silicone. other that that its just geting the acryilc cut which you can do with a table saw or a skill saw.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)




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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)




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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

sorry about that. I messed up on one thing its 4-6"x12" not 12"x12"


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## sirlancelot77 (Oct 17, 2011)

Very Nice Setup. How much did it cost you to build/buy?


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## Cartem2 (Oct 4, 2011)

Thanks for the illustrations!! That does look like something I could handle. Anther question I have is the intake, How does the water get to the sump and how do you prevent floods if power goes out or pumps fail in some way? Again I am a sump noob  Sorry for the DIY questions on your thread, I know its probably not the right place but you have exactly the system I would love to have.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

No problem cartem2. If you look at the pylons the two out side ones are set up like the overflow system of a salt water tank. So the water drops in from the top and down the pipes into the the Sump. I'll try to get some better pictures today and show you a little better.

And sirlancelot. I actualy only have about 200 in lights into this build. I got the tank on trade. So it has cost me very little. I had all the material to build the Sump allready and the stuff I needed to build the stand.


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## jimmie (Oct 23, 2002)

looking good,nice,keep on going


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

Cartem2 said:


> Thanks for the illustrations!! That does look like something I could handle. Anther question I have is the intake, How does the water get to the sump and how do you prevent floods if power goes out or pumps fail in some way? Again I am a sump noob  Sorry for the DIY questions on your thread, I know its probably not the right place but you have exactly the system I would love to have.


And as for the flooding if the pump goes out. While the pump is running there is only about 15 g of water in the 30g sump. And I am shooting on the high side on that. So that leaves me about 15g of water that can still fall into the Sump if the power goes out or the pump dies. And the way the overflows are set up. If the pump goes out I only loose about 8g (on the high side.) Of water from the tank so that keeps all the water in the tank and Sump.


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## ILfish (Dec 5, 2011)

What type of pump are you using for your return? I have a 125gal also and iam trying to figure out pump size for return. Also how many gallons can it pump? That sump is really impressive. Iam using an old sump from an old saltwater setup.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

ILfish said:


> What type of pump are you using for your return? I have a 125gal also and iam trying to figure out pump size for return. Also how many gallons can it pump? That sump is really impressive. Iam using an old sump from an old saltwater setup.


Its a laguna pro jet 1500, its and older model the newer models have a bit different nember rating and look a little different. It puts out 1200-1500gph adjustable. It does an incredible job and I dont have to run two pumps. I love it.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

Ok so change in plans on lighting for the 125, Just made a monstrous deal on trade for
some current usa nova extreme 48" 8 bulb t5 w/ 4 moonlights. 54wX8. Will have pics up soon. $400-500 lights for some tatt work. Yeah I think i can do that, hahahaha. so now after returning the lighting suplys I was going to build my own lights with. I am $2.96 in this 125 build. 
125g glass tank- free
125 stand- free
125 canopy- free
30g sump- free
overflow and return system and plumbing- free
Acrilyc- free
currentUSA nova extreme lights- free
1400-1500gph sump pump- free
150 lb crushed coral- free. 
One tube of GE silacone 1- $2.96

125g tank that wife said we couldent aford, and that is now happy that it hasnt cost here anything-
PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love this build. When it is all said and done I will be looking at $200.00 give or take in fish. and maby a few bucks in paint hahaha.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

Well the tank is all taken apart, and ready for the move. It sucks not having a tank set up though.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

well its been a while sence i had an update, sorry about that. ran into a few problems my pump went out so *** been waiting to set it all up. but new pump in and new sump desighn and all is well.


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## fusion (Jun 21, 2012)

nice set up, looks great :thumb:

Like cartem2, i dont understand sumps, i can follow the drawings ok, looks simple enough, what i dont understand is all the baffles at different heights ect.
Dont want to jump on your thread but an explanation would be nice, or maby someone could point me to where its explained


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

its actualy fairly simple i will send you a break down of it to explain in a pm


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## fusion (Jun 21, 2012)

That would be great, TY


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

should be in your inbox


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## Dawg2012 (May 10, 2012)

jackskellington101982 said:


> its actualy fairly simple i will send you a break down of it to explain in a pm


Could you forward me that information too?


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

Dawg2012 said:


> jackskellington101982 said:
> 
> 
> > its actualy fairly simple i will send you a break down of it to explain in a pm
> ...


check your inbox


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## Dawg2012 (May 10, 2012)

Got it! Thanks! :thumb:

Most of it made sense earlier but the microbubble remover area puzzled me... now it makes perfect sense.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

good. it is actualy a salt water sump design that i modifyed to meet the need of what i wanted to do in my system. I didnt want to worry about the plants being destroyed in the main tank by the africans but i wanted to make sure there were plenty of O2 in the water so thats why i added the refugium for the plants in the sump. and it was a nice place to raise feeder guppys for the cichlids to munch when there big enough. which they are now.


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## fusion (Jun 21, 2012)

Ty, now i understand it


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

:dancing: tank looks awesome...great job


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## chinds78 (Jun 22, 2011)

Very nice looking setup!


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

thanks guys. that means a lot.


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## bwestgsx06 (Sep 21, 2011)

Can I get that explanation as well? I'm gknna be purchasing a 125 soon so I'm curious


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## BrendanMc (May 30, 2012)

Sorry if I missed it, but when did your return pipes turn white? They were black in your original pictures.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

the origanal ones got broken so i hade to rebuild them and havent painted them yet.


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## jackskellington101982 (May 16, 2011)

Up-date on the tank.


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