mbh7848's journal - New owner, Old tank

mbh7848 · 10/12/2017, 02:56 PM

Hey everyone, pretty new to the forum but have been lurking for some time.

Little background of me and my situation.

I've been doing freshwater aquariums for some time and am a full time wastewater operator, cleaning water for different industries and sending it to the river. So I have some experience with water chemistry and plumbing, thank goodness!

My wife and I have been looking for a new house to buy and I had my mind set on getting a big cichlid tank when I moved into a house with more room.

We had been looking at houses a few months, and finally found a perfect home for us. When we first looked at the house it had a saltwater tank in the dining room and didn't really think twice about it.

We ended up putting a bid on the house. A few hours later something told me to check craigs list for aquariums, now that I had this bigger house for a tank. Well I scrolled for a little while and that fish tank in the dining room was for sale.

Long story short, my realtor said that was the first time she ever included a fish tank in a house contract.

It is a 125 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. He has a mixing station in the garage with a pump running to the sump for auto top off. Also has a pipe running from the display tank to the outside for water changes.

Got a lot to learn! Thanks in advance for all the help and will post pictures soon.

mbh7848 · 10/12/2017, 03:02 PM

Pictures of my tank before cleaning and replacing the metal halide bulbs.

mbh7848 · 10/12/2017, 03:16 PM

Pictures of After cleaning the tank and replacing the metal halide bulbs. Just got some cheap halide bulbs off of amazon. Will be going to LED in the future.

Stand needs some refinishing and am about to order a new protein skimmer. He said his has been down for about 6 months now.

shaggydoo541 · 10/12/2017, 04:19 PM

Looks good, especially after your cleaning. I wish my house came with a tank.

mbh7848 · 10/13/2017, 04:39 PM

It was definitely nice to have one with plumbing already ran. And I do not miss having to cycle the tank.

mbh7848 · 10/18/2017, 05:44 PM

My skimmer finally arrived in the mail. I went with the SC Aquariums 302 skimmer. From the get go it feels cheap to me and it cracked as soon as i started the pump up. Super glued the cracks, but luckily the cracks were not too bad. Installed it about 7 inches of water and am slowly ramping it up now.

mbh7848 · 10/18/2017, 05:47 PM

Next on the list is to clean this mess of wires up. Ran to home depot and got some velcro and hooks.

10/12/2017, 02:56 PM	#1
mbh7848 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2017 Posts: 31	mbh7848's journal - New owner, Old tank Hey everyone, pretty new to the forum but have been lurking for some time. Little background of me and my situation. I've been doing freshwater aquariums for some time and am a full time wastewater operator, cleaning water for different industries and sending it to the river. So I have some experience with water chemistry and plumbing, thank goodness! My wife and I have been looking for a new house to buy and I had my mind set on getting a big cichlid tank when I moved into a house with more room. We had been looking at houses a few months, and finally found a perfect home for us. When we first looked at the house it had a saltwater tank in the dining room and didn't really think twice about it. We ended up putting a bid on the house. A few hours later something told me to check craigs list for aquariums, now that I had this bigger house for a tank. Well I scrolled for a little while and that fish tank in the dining room was for sale. Long story short, my realtor said that was the first time she ever included a fish tank in a house contract. It is a 125 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump. He has a mixing station in the garage with a pump running to the sump for auto top off. Also has a pipe running from the display tank to the outside for water changes. Got a lot to learn! Thanks in advance for all the help and will post pictures soon.

10/12/2017, 04:19 PM	#4
shaggydoo541 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Utah Posts: 216	Looks good, especially after your cleaning. I wish my house came with a tank. __________________ 60 G LPS Cube Current Tank Info: 60G LPS

10/13/2017, 04:39 PM	#5
mbh7848 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2017 Posts: 31	It was definitely nice to have one with plumbing already ran. And I do not miss having to cycle the tank.