# 125g FOWLR



## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I'm upgrading my 40g reef that has been up for just over year to 125g AGA RR tank. This thread is going to be updated as I go along. Hopefully this thread will help others, and hopefully you guys will be able to help to me. Any questions ask away. I ordered the tank last week, it came in yesterday, and I picked it up today. Here is an equipment and stock list:
Equipment
Tank: 125g AGA RR
Sump: custum 40g w/ fuge
Lighting: 3-250w SE Horizontal PFO pendants and ballasts w/10k XM and 440w VHO actinic
Skimmer: ASM G3 w/ gate valve mod (will upgrade later)
Return pump: Mag 12 (1200gph) into a OM 4-way Super Squirt 
Intank flow: 2 Hydor Koralia #4s (1200gph) and 1 Hydor Koralia #1 (400gph)
RO/DI: SpetraPure MaxPure 90gpd​Live stock
I already have
90lbs of LR
BTA
2 False Percs
1 Royal Gramma
Branching Hammer Coral
Frogspawn
Zoas 
Mushrooms
Misc. snails and carbs​ I will be adding 
80lbs. of LR
3 Flasher Wrasses
1 Powder Brown Tang
more snails and crabs
Corals will mostly be LPS and softies, maybe a couple choice SPS​I will post some pictures up of equipment and the tank tomorrow. I hope to get the back of tank painted, buy all the plumbing supplies and the glass baffles in place this weekend, but I work Saturday so we will see how this goes. This is a big jump and will be very time consuming I'm kind of nervous about starting it all. I have taken my time with planning things like flow patterns and rockwork and equipment purchases. Hopefully I will only have to everything once. I know there are some guys out there that have some expeirence with larger reef tanks, do you guys have any advice? 
Thanks,
Dan


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## Apott05 (Jul 19, 2005)

sure does sound like its going to be awesome. Good luck with it. I cant wait to see pics of the progress. Thanks for all your help


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

definately alot of good equiptment lets see some pics


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## Apott05 (Jul 19, 2005)

may i ask how you like your Hydor Koralias? I was interetested in one for my 45. it 48 inches long which one would you suppose i get? would #1 be enough?


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

some equipment pics
tank:
















MH lights:
















flow:








a shot of the OM Super Squirt Compact 








hydor Koralias








80+ lbs of LR








aquaglove so I'm not pulling bristle worm bristles out of my finger again








skimmer








VHO lights and sump tank are in my jimmy still. I will get them out this weekend and post pics. today I'm goin to start painting the back of the tank black.


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Sure does look very impressive!!! Keep the fics flowing when you start putting her together!!


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

Yea, I think I got the equipment to make it work. Its just if I can make it work.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

At work now, but I got the first coat of black paint on the back of the tank. I will get a second coat on when I get home and a third coat tomorrow morning. Hopefully three coats will cover.


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## Apott05 (Jul 19, 2005)

looks great man. I know a 75 mega flow wasnt cheap i cant imagine the 125


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I think I got a pretty good deal from my lfs. I payed a total of 518 that taxes and overflow kits included. It seemed like a fair price to me. Petland wanted 560.00 for the tank alone and another 60.00 for each overflow kit. So I don't think I over paid.


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## hyphen (Apr 4, 2004)

all i see in those pics is "$$$"


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I wish my bank account would see more $$$$$$. But I bought everything off other reefers, except the bulbs, tank, and koralias. So that save a ton of money.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I put the fourth coat of paint on the back of the tank before I left for work today and I will put on a fifth coat when I get home. Tomorrow I'm gonna work the canopy. I bought it used of a guy, its 4'x18", so I'm gonna take two feet of the back and add it to the front to extend it to 72". I will I have a foot on each side and a four foot section that will open in the center. I will post some pics up of the tank with back painted and hopefully some before and after pics of the canopy.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the tank lately but I made some progress today. The tank is painted and on the stand. I have most of the plumbing done just need a few more pieces and I will be finished. I'm using the kit All-Glass gives you and two other returns that will all run off the return pump through an OM S-Squirt. I abandonded the idea of a fuge. If I need one later on I left room in the stand for it to be added in. Here are some update pics.

Shot from the front 








The water from the tank will drain into CPR sump inlet assembly and filtersock. The skimmer will go right next to filtersock.








Mag12 return pump and OM S-Squirt








Two shots of the back, the AGA megaflow kit, and my two other returns.

















Tomorrow I'm going to try to get the couple plumbing pieces I need and paint the white PVC on the back of the tank black, so it won't stick out.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

the last of the plumbing will be done tonight, and I hope to start filling tomorrow. I need to extend the canopy that is still in my car. Man I am lazy. Oh well I will get it done when I get it done. I don't have a lot of spare time between work and work I have to do around the house for my cousin's grad party, and I'm going out of town this weekend. This is just taking way to long.


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## Raptor (Jan 3, 2003)

Well take your time, Once its full of water rock fish and corals its hard to change stuff.
Looks nice there.
Are you going with a sand bed?


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I'm going to have a shallow sand bed. I finished the plumbing last night. I have to go out of town on Friday and won't be back until sometime Sunday, so I will start filling and the canopy then. Almost there.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the tank lately. But I have decided to make the 125g a FOWLR, I'm selling the dual PFO ballast, 2 PFO mogul pendants, 3 brand new 250w 10k XM bulbs. I'm going to keep the 40g breeder as a clownfish and anemone tank. I will use the remaining 1 PFO pendant and ballast with a 20k XM bulb. I'm going to use a combo of VHO and NO flourescent lighting on the FOWLR. A full blown reef will take up to much time right now, so maybe down the road I will try for the upgrade agian. I hope to have the tank filled Monday, then I can test my plumbing. Then add salt and rock. I'm hoping for a quick cycle, but we will see.


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## jasert39 (May 1, 2003)

let me know if you are intrested in just selling the bubls.


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## Trillion (May 10, 2004)

wow youve came a long way sice i remember.

i remember when i was a noob, and i was trying to help you,

your 125 looks better than mine does now

i just have a over flow, and a 45 gl, refuge and about 100 lbs of live rock, but its only a fowlr tank cause im planning on putting a clown trigger a fox face, maybe an angler fish, and a juvi emperor angel fish, and maybe a couple of maroon clowns

dosent sound like a good mix i know but when i upgrade to a bigger tank in 6 months itll be big enough

but yeah man congrats youve came a long way.

i would have got a reef ready tank, but i dont understand how that pvc plumbing goes, hell finding the right size tubes was hard enough for me

If you go with sps start with frags, cause its great to watch them grow, i now just have a stlyphora frag and its growing at a good rate

youll learn that your cal should be around 380 to 450 i like to keep mine around 420

your mag should be like 1350 to 1450, and if your mag gets to low it crystalises your calcium carbonate molecules causing them to not raise or fall, im not sure what will happen if your mag gets to high, but im sure its not good!!!

are you gonna get a call reactor, im just gonna dose with kalk

keep you alk at around 8 to 11 dkh

good luck, everything looks good, congrats!!!


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

well the tank holds water and the pulmbing I did doesn't leak. I have got the salinity stable and added about 80lbs. of LR and 30lbs of dry marco rocks. I'm going to add another 50-70lbs or so of LR this week. I have 2 two more koralia 4s on the way. I'm hoping for a quick cycle becuase the LR I already added was curing for about a month and the LR I'm adding this week is from my existing tank, but we will see what happens. I will get some pictures up tomorrow.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I finally got my light fixture this week and was able to get a couple pics. I'm not sure if I like how I have the rock right now, and I have more rock to add. what do you think? 
actinics








actinics and daylights


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## piranha_guy_dan (Oct 4, 2004)

looks great man. is that 5 pwerheads i see in there? holy moly!!!!

is there any sand in there yet? also the rocks dont look too bad the way they are...... its leave lots of swimming space for the fish.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

yea you see 5 powerheads. the one AC powerhead is coming out tho. I added about 50 more lbs of LR moved it all the way I wanted to. Now I have about 130 lbs of LR and 30 dry base rock in the tank or sump. Now I wait for the cycle to finish.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

The cycle finished sunday. Today I bought a 4" Volitans Lionfish and a 5" Blue Tang. The liofish is already eating frozen foods, that is a huge plus. I will try to get some pics up tonight tomorrow. I think for the rest of my stocking I might add 3 schooling bannerfish and be finshed.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

here is a new full tank shot 








here is Mufasa 
















The blu hippo tang is still very shy, and won't come out of the rocks for very long.


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## redbellyjx © (Jan 26, 2004)

tangs usually take a while to be comfortable. it took about 5 days for him to come out of the rocks, and within two weeks i could put my hand in the tank with out spooking him.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

as it turns out my volitans lionfish is actually a russells. which is good news the russells stays about 3-5" smaller.


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## redbellyjx © (Jan 26, 2004)

what ever it is, it i8s beautiful!!


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## jasert39 (May 1, 2003)

looking great, nice additions, are there any other fish that you plan on adding?


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

my stocking list is always changing. I'm juggling 3 different options right now.
1. 3 schooling bannerfish 
2. foxface lo and zebra eel
3. some kind of wrasse, foxface, and powder brown tang
I dunno I just can't decide, but I have a couple weeks before I can add more fish. So I have time to think. Any other ideas?


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I have an update I purchased a yellow tang two weeks ago and I have zebra moray coming tuesday that I ordered from liveaquaria.com. I just built a set of pvc tunnels for the eel. I will remove the other fish tomorrow and put the tunnel in and then redo the rock work to hide the tunnel. the tunnel is made from 3" pvc and painted black with krylon fusion. here are a couple pics of the tunnel. 
















i will post some pictures of the new rock work and the eel on tuesday.


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## jasert39 (May 1, 2003)

can't wait for the pictures, nice idea on the tunnels.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I'm acclimating the eel right now. 
here is shot of the eel in the bucket








here is a shot of the new rock work and eel tunnel








it better use the darn thing


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## jasert39 (May 1, 2003)

i like your rockwork that way better than the way you had it before, looks awesome.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)




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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Looks like you have an answer to your question judging from that last pic!

Fantastic looking set-up and fish. Every time I see something like this it makes me want to set up a sw tank... Maybe one day!


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## jasert39 (May 1, 2003)

looks like he founds his tunnel, lol

mettle, once you start there is no going back.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

jasert39 said:


> looks like he founds his tunnel, lol
> 
> mettle, once you start there is no going back.


That's what I'm scared of.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

HERE IS A LONG OVER DUE UPDATE
I have made a lot of changes to my 125g FOWLR over the past months. Here is a quick run down. I have redone the rockwork, and redone the rockwork, and redone the rockwork. I think I finally have it the way I want it. I have added a shallow sandbed, just about 1" or so deep. I have redone the plumbing to make it more quiet. Now all you hear is the fans from the light fixture, and a slight hum from the return pump and skimmer pump. I have done the recirc mod to the ASM G3. So now I have a mesh wheel recirc that is fed directly from the overflow. I have second G3 that I am thinking about modding and running side by side. I downgraded my return pump to a mag 9.5 to slow the flow through the sump. I think that is about it. The current fish list: 
Russells lionfish 6-7"
yellow tang 6"
blue hippo tang 5"
zebra eel 24"+
yellowtail damsel 3"
I just ordered a 4 1/2" X. ringens trigger fish from divers den that I should get on thursday. I think that will be my final fish I add. Here is an updated picture of the tank and the eel. The white balance is off but oh well.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

Here are some pictures of the new guys, and couple of the their tankmates. 
first is a 3" damsel that was given to me by a local guy. It became to aggressive for his tank. It fits in well on my tank. I'm not sure what kind it is. Does anyone know?








Here are some bad pictures of the new tomato clown. it is probably close to 4". 
















Here is the sargassum trigger it's about 4 1/2". This fish is awesome. I can't wait for it to put on some size.
















And of course I have to throw in some eel shots 24+".

















I pick up the new light fixture tomorrow,So I will be taking new pictures then too. 
What does everyone think?


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## goldlake (Dec 2, 2007)

luv it.


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## kilicar (Nov 3, 2006)

jealous....i wish i could go back and change this 55 gallon tank for a 125. I really would like to have some larger fish.

BEAUTIFUL JOB!!!!!!!! love the tank and tankmates look amazing!


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

beautiful trigger, those are not very commonly seen either. very nice aquisitions..


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

here are some updated shots of the tank with the new lights. Also some shotsd of the fish, and two corals I have.
Right side:








Left side:








New light fixture:








Yellow tang:








Sargassum trigger:








Russells liofish:








tomato clownfish:








Red mushroom:








Finger leather:


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## redbellyjx © (Jan 26, 2004)

i really like what you hav done so far.

dont tell anyone im admitting this, but salt water predators are way cooler than the most colorful of reef fish.

heres my hierarchy of fish by coolness factor

pipefish>seahorses>mantis shrimp>salt water preditors>>>>>reef fish

but in the end, im still going to have my reef. lol


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

redbellyjx © said:


> i really like what you hav done so far.
> 
> dont tell anyone im admitting this, but salt water predators are way cooler than the most colorful of reef fish.
> 
> ...


cooler then mystery wrasse?


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

that trigger is amazing..........!!!!!!!!! i hate those tomato clowns, i had to get rid of one because
he chased everyone around the tank, took him back to the lfs

i just scored an 9" snow flake for $15.00 how are eels to have? do they escape alot? i plan to
reinforce my top for him not to jump out


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

assclown said:


> that trigger is amazing..........!!!!!!!!! i hate those tomato clowns, i had to get rid of one because
> he chased everyone around the tank, took him back to the lfs
> 
> i just scored an 9" snow flake for $15.00 how are eels to have?* do they escape alot?* i plan to
> reinforce my top for him not to jump out


LOL they only need to escape once

eels are cool but they eat alot and make alot of waste.


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I like the saltwater preds better too. Wrasses are cool. I love the colors, but most are sold at small sizes and would be food for the lion. I would love to add harliquin tusk to the tank but I think I'm at max now. The trigger is one messy fish between him the liofish and zebra eel they eat a ton a of food. My eel has never tried to escape. I used to only have glass lids before I had the new light. I know that the eel could easily lift the glass lids and get out if it wanted to. But I think that if you keep it fed, have clean water, and places for it to feel secure it won't have a reason to leave. I have read about eels escaping and their owners finding them hours later. The eels would be covered in some kind of mucus, and would survive.


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## redbellyjx © (Jan 26, 2004)

nismo driver said:


> i really like what you hav done so far.
> 
> dont tell anyone im admitting this, but salt water predators are way cooler than the most colorful of reef fish.
> 
> ...


cooler then mystery wrasse?









[/quote]

wrasses=$$$$


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

welsher7 said:


> wrasses=$$$$


yeah that is probably one of the few fish i would like to have right now but the 200 +/- price tag is too steep right now, for that much i could get 4 really nice sps pieces..


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

thats a real nice tank there. the fish look awesome. keep it up


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

very nice fish and tank setup..loving the zebra..


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