New 120 Gallon Aquarium

So many options, so much anxiety.

It’s time to take a step up in the reef world. My personal tank is about to go from my long loved 72-bow front (pictured) to a 120-gallon reef ready beauty.

Choosing the tank was easy. I have four feet of wall space so tanks that are six feet long won’t work – no 125 or 180. I didn’t want one too deep – no 150. Besides, I like the look of the 120.

Not so easy will be what to put in the tank. There are soooo many options! If you’ve been watching developments on the Ultimate Aquariums YouTube Channel, you may have seen my recent podcasts on a planted 29-gallon freshwater tank. There is a significant part of me that wants to swap out my actinic lights for daylight bulbs (6700 K) and watch the plants grow while small fish swim in schools through this huge space. Can you imagine a school of 40 cardinal tetras, and a similar sized group of rummy noses swimming amongst carefully planned greenery and driftwood, while dwarf cichlids, say German rams or apistogrammas, darted in and out of the rock work?

Alas, the guys at the shop would never have it. Nothing will do but a full-on living reef. My recent re-found fascination with plants has been described as “backsliding.” And I must admit, while the planted tank is tempting, the 120 reef is what I have always wanted to do.

Be that as it may, there are still multiple options: Do I do an “SPS” (small polyp stony) tank? What about a beautiful “LPS” (large polyp stony) tank with some large leathers? (Like our very popular 180 gallon display tank in the store.)

More sophisticated, but less popular options are detailed in a book given to me by Jeff Turner of Reef Aquaria Designs, entitled Reef Secrets. Authors Alf Jacob Nilsen and Svein A. Fossa, describe unique options such as:
• “Beach Zone” with mangrove roots, sponges and fish and invertebrates that inhabit them.
• “Seagrass” option showing the, “shallow fringes of the coral reef community.”
• Or the “Reef Gorge” biotope, which caters to deep water inhabitants;
• “Rubble Zone” which calls for a single large rock with smaller rocks around it. All of the corals would grow from the large rock as a unique focal point
• “Cave” option for low light corals and other unique crabs and inverts.
• “Pizza Anemone” biotope with 2-3 of these anemones, porcelain crabs, anemone shrimp, sexy shrimp and domino damsels.

Any one of these options would be great. Each would provide its own challenges and rewards, and have the added benefit of being something few other people would have.

Right now the tank is empty. I have made no decisions beyond the background color, which will be black. (as opposed to blue.) The second coat of paint will go on today.

Plenty of time to ponder.