# How do I start a 120 gallon saltwater aquarium?



## Javier

First of all thanks for taking the time to read this. Here is my story, I've always been facinated by aquariums. I've been thinking of buying one for the past year or so, but always held back b/c of the cost and also b/c first I wanted to get a bigger house. Last weekend I bought what a thought was about a 30 to 40 gallon aquarium at a yard sale. The lady gave it to me for $15 dollars, so I thought it was a win, win situation. After going to pet stores and measuring my tank I found out that I'm the new owner of a 125 gallon tank. Now, I'm getting worried b/c I read about how delicate fish are; however, I'm a man, so I want the best thing, which I believe is a saltwater aquarium. Unfortunatly I don't know very much about starting an aquarium so I desperatly need your help. Very first mistake I made was to get the aquarium home and use soap to wash it. The lady that had it before me had Rabbits in it, so it's stunk, plus I didn't know that I was not to use soap. Can I still use the tank and if so, how can I make sure that it doesn't have any harmfull chemical? Also when I do a leak test do I have to fill the tank all the way up, and what can I do with 125 gallons of water afterwards? I would hate to waste all that water. Guys, you're going to have to take me by the hand like a baby and help me be succesfull at this.


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## Rebecca

Well, I don't know the answer to your questions, but I just want to say welcome to the forum! It's nice to have you.


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## usmc121581

Since you wash it out with soap you want to make sure that there isn't any soap left. I have never ran into this situation before but I would clean it out every chance I got with just a wet rag and a hose. Maybe someone else has dealt with this before. Now to see if it has leaks. Check to see if any of the sealent around the edges doesn't have any crack's in it, none of it is missing, that the glass isn't chipped in any way, or that there isn't any cracks in the glass(like stress fractures) You can fill it up 1/2 way and that should be good enough. I would say that the water that you use to check for durability you could use to start the saltwater tank, but that wouldn't be a good Idea. After all this is complete you need to decide which way you want to go Fish only saltwater or a reef tank. Everything is the same for the equipment side, But its the lighting and the chemicals you need for the reef setup. Well welcome to the site and we will do our best to help you though this process.


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## joeshmoe

you can use the tank still but you have to really clean good $15 thats a great price


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## usmc121581

joeshmoe said:


> you can use the tank still but you have to really clean good $15 thats a great price


I wasn't sure because I *never* clean any tanks with cleaner even if the won't use them, because you never know when you will again.


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## joeshmoe

i did once when i didn t no anything about fish. i just had to wash it fealy well to get it out. need to use some warm water and just keep on flushing the tank out.


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## Javier

*Reef Tank?*

What exacly is a reef tank? Is that the same thing as live rock?

Thanks alot, you guys have been very helpful so far.


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## usmc121581

Live rock can be used in both a reef take looks like mine.


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## Mike

Hi Javier,

Reef tanks typically mean that invertebrates such as coral, sea horses, etc. will be living in the tank with or without fish.


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## Javier

I might try coral in mine, but definetly not sea horses. I've read that they are very difficult to keep, and for a begginer like me I would think is definetly a recipe for disaster. I will clean the tank over the next few days, do the leak test, and if it passes all that I will ask you about the next step. I know this will take a long time if I want to do it right, so I'll let you know what the results are, and ask you more questions when I'm ready. Once again thanks for all of your help.


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## caferacermike

Great score. My first impression is that the rabbits have chewed away all of the sealants. Before even filling it with water let us know if the silicone on the inside corners is all still completely intact. You would hate to find it sprung a leak in 2 or 3 months. Depending upon what type of soap you used I wouldn't worry to much about it. Dish soaps are easy to rinse away and will only add phosphates to the tank. Bad but not bad enough to hold you back. Now if you used brake cleaner or engine solvents you are on your own.

You seem to have a true zest for learning about the hobby and diving right in. For your first tank I'd suggest starting slowly. I'd suggets easing into a reef by starting out with a peaceful FOWLR tank. (FOWLR, fish only with live rock) Get yourself a nice DSB, deep sand bed, of Carib Sea Aragonite (if available). Buy as much dry as it takes to fill the tank about 4". You can buy a 20lb bag of "wet" to seed the tank with beneficial bacteria. You can also ask around and get a couple of cups of sand from a fellow reefer. Fill the tank with salt water that you have premixed in a brand new trash can that will only be for this purpose. I'd like to say stay away from the wall about 6" if possible. As time progresses I assume you'll be adding an overflow box to accomodate more hardware. After the sand and water have settle out you can begin buying live rock. The stuff isn't cheap so look in craigslist for people breaking tanks down in your area. Do a yahoo search, salt forum, TN Your City Name, and see if any forums come up in your area dedicated to salt tanks. I have 2 sites dedicated to reefs here in Austin. You can usually find people breaking down tanks offering rock for $2.50 a lb. My friend Monica sells it very reasonable at www.oceanhomes.com . If you can afford 40 lbs at start up you'll have a great start. Add a few devices to add currents, for a 125g I'd recommend Seio M800's, maybe a pair or even 3. For your Fowlr I'd maybe think of getting a nice canister filter, I'd recommend an Eheim 2217 from www.thehobbypalace.com usually about $100 and that's a steal. You'll think about scrapping the canister as your reef becomes more complete. Now wait about a month and let the tank mature. Have an LFS test your water, Ammonia being hte most important part of the "cycle". When ammonia levels disappear you have a nice tank begun. Add a couple of nice fish that you like, do understand that you will probably trade them in later as your reef fills in. A wrasse, a couple of clowns, maybe a naso tang. Stay peaceful and small if possible. While learnign the ropes you want your tank to stay as clean as possible, don't pollute it with aggressive fish like lions, eels, triggers, or groupers. If you decide that fish are for you and that you don't want the headache and expense of corals you can later make it an aggressive FOWLR with some really dramatic fish. Stay away from the damsel dither story. Damsels are the terror of the reef community and are better used as food for your lion fish than an inhabitant of your tank. As your tank becomes more reef like and cash becomes available begin thinking about adding an overflow box of about 1,600 GPH capacity, a nice sump ( a 55g long tank would be perfect as you could easily silicone in a divider for a 10-20g refugium built into the sump without having to add another pump), a nice skimmer like euroreef or ASM, and a good return pump such as Eheim 1260 or an external pump like Dart to return the water to the tank. Once your sump and skimmer come online unhook the cannister filter. After securing a good filtration system lights become the single most important factor after clean water for a reef tank. A standard 125g long should have 3x 250W metal halide bulbs and about 300w of supplemetal PC or T5 actinic lighting. 3 250w bulbs are better than one 400w bulb as each light only spreads out about 20". Once your lighting and filter are running it's time to add more rock. Get it up to about 200lbs if possible. You could save money at this point by buying dry "live rock" as it will seed from your existing tank. After your lights, filter, rockwork come online your DSB should be fully matured and it might be time to start thinking about corals.....

Of course with a Fowlr much of that is not necssary. A good canister or maybe even 4 of them. I have 4 on my 125g. Any old flourescent strip lighting will do as your fish don't even really need the light. a good water circulation via power heads or stream makers like those I listed earlier.

To test the tank I'd definitely set it up somewhere and fill it to the top. It must be a perfectly flat and level surface that can hold 2,000 pounds (your tank will weigh approx 1,080bs full of water) or the tank will warp and crack. You'll need to bail it with buckets or use a powerhead and some vinyl tubing to get the water out. What to do with it? water the garden. You don't need to test it with mixed sea water, plain old hose water will work.


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## Javier

I filled my up my tank thursday, and so far there are no leaks. Therefore I'm assuming that I'm ready to take the next step. I think I'm going to go with a blue background, so I wanted to know what the cheapest way to go would be. I whent to the closest aquatic store and they're very knowladgable (is that right?), however they're a bit expensive. Also, I don't want to paint my tank, b/c I don't want to be stuck with that color. Any advice?


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## usmc121581

I use a back ground on mine, that goes from a lite blue to a dark blue. Is your LFS the only one around. I had that problem when I lived in Sc. They were the only store around so they were able to charge what they wanted. The stuff wasn't that expensive but you get my drift. For my back ground I pain about $1.99 per foot for mine.


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## caferacermike

I've painted them and liked it. I've left many bare and let the coraline cover it. 

Spray paint and patience, you can get great results.


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## usmc121581

My sump is paint and I like the results, I just don't know what it would look like on a main setup. That would be interesting to see what it would look like.


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## Javier

If I choose to paint it, would I use spray paint? If so, what kind of spray paint should I buy?


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## Lupin

Javier said:


> If I choose to paint it, would I use spray paint? If so, what kind of spray paint should I buy?


There are paints which can be easily removed. I can't remember what type of paint it was but I'm referring to the ones used by shops to design on their window glass when there are events or special holidays.


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## caferacermike

I've just used whatever was available. Some say acrylic works the best. Can't say for sure. I can say that you need to wipe the glass down thoroughly just before painting with rubbing alcahol to rid the glass of oils.


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## usmc121581

When I used spray paint to paint my sump, I noticed that the sealent wasn't taken the paint. The sparay paint would just puddle next to certain parts of the sealent. If you decide to paint it take pics and post them I think that would be cool to see. As I have never seen one painted.


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## shie

Regarding spray painting the tank, do you just paint the back of the tank or the sides too?


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## Lupin

shie said:


> Regarding spray painting the tank, do you just paint the back of the tank or the sides too?


It's a matter of preference.:wink2:
I have background on the sides of my tank though. Fish feel more secure with that.


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## Javier

Ok so this is were I'am so far. I did the leak test and the tank is fine. Also I added the background to the tank this past weekend. Now what I need to do is buy a top, b/c when I bought it only had one piece, so I'm missing the other two. I been doing some research and it seems that the top is going to run me about sixty dollars. Also I checked about getting lighting for the tank and two 36 inch lights are about $100. Also when I was at the fish store, I asked one of the salesman there what to put at the bottom of the tank, sand, rock or anything else. He told me that the best thing to do is to get crushed coral, and since I have a 120 gallon tank, I would need 120lbs of crushed coral. Is this correct?


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## usmc121581

> He told me that the best thing to do is to get crushed coral, and since I have a 120 gallon tank, I would need 120lbs of crushed coral. Is this correct?


Do not get crushed coral, it is a mess it. Evrytime a fish or your self touches it or what not it will get up dust for it. washing it real good will not help it either. Get live sand, as this will help cycle your tank to. As for how many pounds to get, it all depends on how deep of a bed you want, I have seen sand beds from 1" to 6" in depth.


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## trreherd

Usmc i think he was asking how many pounds of substrate he needs per gallon and I think hes rite about one pound per gallon
You told him to stock it with live sand but wouldent it be cheaper to do a live sand/aragite mix


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## girlofgod

caferacermike said:


> Get yourself a nice DSB, deep sand bed, of Carib Sea Aragonite (if available). Buy as much dry as it takes to fill the tank about 4". You can buy a 20lb bag of "wet" to seed the tank with beneficial bacteria.


mike had some good advice too


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## usmc121581

> Usmc i think he was asking how many pounds of substrate he needs per gallon


 If he wants a sand bed around 3" he can go with 2-40lbs bags of aragite and 2-bags of live sand(which I think is 25lbs per bag). Now if he whats it lower then 3" go with 1-40lb bag of aragite and a bag of live sand. To get how many pounds of sand to use per gallon would be based on how deep the sand bed would be. In my 120gal I went with 2-40lbs of aragite and 3 bags of live sand(155Lbs) and I have a sand depth of about 3 1/2". Yes trreherd you are correct about the live sand and aragite mix ,thanks for catching that for me I thought I metioned that, but I didn't. A LFS store in most cases won't tell you that because they would want to sell all live sand vise mixing it.


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## caferacermike

I did not notice what the tanks dimensions were, it is ver important to know. Using a tank calculator program I have around I based one instance upon the Oceanic 48"x 24" 120g tank, you would need 180lbs of aragonite to achieve a nitrite reducing sandbed of 3". Basing it upon the long 72"x 18" tanks commonly available I came up with 203lbs. Of course things like built in overflow boxes can detract from the amount needed.

Personally I'd recommend between 150-200lbs. 120lbs might get you going if you have lots of rock. 

I hate having to tell people this because it generally upsets them, it is best to have you rockwork long before your aragonite. It is acceptable to do both at the same time. Reason being is that rockwork should reach to the bottom of the tank, not sit on top of the sand. Sitting on top of the sand creates ded zones that cannot recive flow nor can gases rise stright up an dout. Instead noxious gases will form under the rock work and collect. These then can age with time and will leech back into the water supply as deadly invisible gases killing off livestock.

Story is put your base pieces down and then pour the sand around them.


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## usmc121581

> you would need 180lbs of aragonite to achieve a nitrite reducing sandbed of 3"


I used 155lbs and have a sand bed of 3-3 1/2".



> Reason being is that rockwork should reach to the bottom of the tank, not sit on top of the sand. Sitting on top of the sand creates ded zones that cannot recive flow nor can gases rise stright up an dout. Instead noxious gases will form under the rock work and collect. These then can age with time and will leech back into the water supply as deadly invisible gases killing off livestock.


Which is true, so you can use tongo branch to raise the rock work above the sand a little to allow for water flow under the rock work


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