my new 125 gallon aquarium setup

[adamsfishes]

Hi all,

Here is my new aquarium setup that I have been planning and working on for the last several months. I'm on the home stretch now so figured I would start sharing.

The basic setup is an Aqueon 125 with black silicone, a custom built 45 gallon wet/dry sump, and 3x Kessil Tuna Sun.

I bought the stand off the floor at the LFS. No idea what brand it is, but it's nicer than the typical stands by Aqueon or Marineland. I was going to build by own, but this stand was nice enough that I decided to just buy it and avoid the extra hassle.

I have a lot more to show about it, but I wanted to start off by talking about the leveling. I filled it half way with water, and (big surprise) it's not level.

Here is the shot of the setup.



As it sits, the water level is 7mm higher on the right side vs the left. And it's 2mm higher in the front vs the back. I'm assuming the best approach is to shim at this point.

I'll probably drain it first. I need to decide exactly what shims to use, thickness to use, and where I should put them. I'll probably let it settle like this for another day or so before I take any further action.

Any input you all have would be appreciated!

I'll share more details of the build once I get this issue sorted.

Thanks.

 

[wcgunns]

Looking good

 

[convict360]

Really nice

What stock are you planning?

 

[adamsfishes]

Really nice

What stock are you planning?

Thanks. Stock will be a large group of a Thorichthys species, depending on what is available when I'm ready. I also plan to add swordtails as "dithers" and also to fill the upper tank area. I considered maybe adding a small number of Cryptoheros, but now I'm rethinking that.

 

[koltsixx]

Sounds like a sweet comm. Can't wait to see it all fleshed out. Also let us know how the leveling goes.

 

[Def Leppard Hysteria]

All our tanks are in the basement on a concrete slab, so I have to shim all our tanks a little. I just use composite shims on all our tanks and use a 3 foot and torpedo levels, measuring left to right and front to back. The nice thing about the composite shims is once you get the tank where you want it, you can snap off the part of the shim that sticks out from the stand.

 

[adamsfishes]

I tried some cedar shims, had it pretty close to level dry, then after filling and letting it sit a while, it's off again. I'll probably have to drain and go taller on the shims this time, maybe go a full quarter inch.

 

[Hendre]

hope it works out man. 125 gallons is a lot to work with so good luck!

 

[adamsfishes]

Thanks, it'll work out. Honestly, I could just let it ride as it is and probably be ok. But once it's done it's not moving, so I don't mind doing some extra work now. I should have it cycling this weekend.

 

[adamsfishes]

A bit late in updating this thread, but better late than never.

I was talking about shimming, so here is a shot of what I did. It's within a couple mms now, fine for my purposes.



Here is a shot of the sump before I put the media in it. The aquarium is a 44XH 36x12x24. There are 1/2" x 1" rails under the egg crate to keep the media off the bottom. The drip tray sits on the 1/2" acrylic cubes. I'm actually going to drop the drip tray down another inch or so. The overflow into the right side is about 11" tall, and there is some eshopps foam in between.



Here is the right side of the sump. Pumps are Aqueon 2300. I'm not happy with the flow, so I bought two Eheim 1260. Also hoping they will be a bit quieter, but noise isn't too bad. Heaters are Jager 150W. Return pipes are 3/4" flex pvc.



I wasn't happy with the returns, so I made new ones. Here is the new design, all Schedule 80:


And here is a shot of one installed (there are two):


Here is a shot of my CustomAquariums.com H2Overflow with some Schedule 80 plumbing:



The back is painted with matte black Plastidip. Here is a shot from behind. this 1-1/2" bulkhead with adapted sticks out pretty far. My aquarium is about 7" from the wall. I actually like having some access back there. I got the 125 instead of the wider 180, so it's fine in terms of the space.



This image gives an idea of how the wiring is set up. The lighting transformers are mounted with velcro. There are two surge protectors mounted at the top of the back inside the stand. No wires are anywhere near the floor. One is for the pumps, and the other is for the lights and heaters. So I can turn the pumps off independently.



I'm about to pull the sump out and make some changes before I call the setup "done".

• Replace cheap Aqueon pumps with Eheims.
• Put filter foam under pumps in sump.
• Drop drip tray ~1".
• Add more Ultra II media up to the media chamber.

While the sump is out, I'm going to do some sound-proofing to the stand. The aquarium sits in my home office, so I'm finding that the low pitch vibrating sound of the pumps is a bit much. It's mostly due to the back being open. I don't mind the sound of the overflow, but the vibrating sound annoys me. So there is what I'm thinking:

1. Cover openings in back with 1/4" plywood.
2. Line interior surfaces with DB3 mass-loaded vinyl.
3. Place a piece of vinyl under sump to reduce vibration.
4. Attach acoustic wedge foam to interior surfaces.

It's not super loud, but it should be pretty quiet after these changes.