Hey everyone! Below is the setup and progression of my 180 gallon reef tank! 
Big thanks to BRS for being an extremely valuable source of knowledge and products!
First things first, gotta start with the foundation.Shout out to King of DIY for providing an easy blue print to follow. My goal with this was to make it tall enough so I can sit comfortably at it. Eventually, I'd like to make a bar top to wrap around it. I could sit, have a drink, and watch the tank for hours!
Wrapped the stand and stained it with dark walnut. I wanted a simple design with the stand because the main focal point will be the tank.
I bought a 55 gallon tank that I thought I would easily convert to a sump. Boy was I wrong. First, the tank was actually older than me. It was made in 1992 and I'm pretty sure had original silicone. So I took it all out and resealed it. Then it had a terrible paint job so I scraped it all off and repainted it. Then came time to add baffles and I decided it was too much work and just bought a manufactured sump. I'm very happy with this decision.
Below is a big concern with the tank that I am probably just over thinking. There is a very slight gap between the tank and the stand on one side. (All four corners have good contact with the stand). What do you all think? Fix it or leave as is? Im hoping it wont make a difference at all.
Doors on...new sump and other equipment. Neptune box is misleading, I dont actually have anything Neptune and I'm not really sure what shipped in that box.
Lights installed makes a HUGE dfference. This is where I really started to get excited. 3 EcoTech Radion XR15 pro's. I know many will say that is not sufficient lighting, but I simply couldnt afford to buy 3 XR30's so these will have to do for now. I wont be adding coral for a while so I have time to upgrade if needed. What do you all think about the lighting??
A better look at the heart of the system. I know ZERO about plumbing so go easy on me. I wanted to keep it as simple as I could and building some impressive manifold with hard PVC just didnt seem feasible for me. Soft plumbing seemed like the best option. I still have to hook up the return lines but I'm stuck on deciding if I need any valves or not. My sump can handle any back siphoning (so why install a check valve that will likely fail?) My return is the Reef Octopus Varios 8 DC pump, so I can in theory control the flow through the returns (so why install gate valves to control flow?)
Protein skimmer is the Skimz SM201. Also, its hard to see but there is a small refugium section right before the skimmer section.
Most of the equipment and boxes.
RO/DI system. I dont feel like messing around with auto top off, float valves, etc... so I will be doing some manual work. Once I get tired of doing that then I will make some upgrades but until then this will do just fine. Anyone have experience with 180 gallon tanks? Im curious how much water will evaporate each day/week....
My first order of reef saver rock... turns out rock is kinda expensive so I'm doing this in two separate orders. Shown below is supposed to be 115lbs. Shipping was terrible and the boxes were delivered completely destroyed. BRS does a great job at packaging but that still wasnt quite enough. Lots of unusable rubble and some broken pieces. In reality I might have 95-100lbs of usable rock. Oh well, I guess thats part of buying rock online. My next order will be for about 70lbs so hopefully thats enough to make an awesome aquascape!
Thats all for now! Let me know what you think about the setup and what you would change! I appreciate all feedback.
Big thanks to BRS for being an extremely valuable source of knowledge and products!
First things first, gotta start with the foundation.Shout out to King of DIY for providing an easy blue print to follow. My goal with this was to make it tall enough so I can sit comfortably at it. Eventually, I'd like to make a bar top to wrap around it. I could sit, have a drink, and watch the tank for hours!
Wrapped the stand and stained it with dark walnut. I wanted a simple design with the stand because the main focal point will be the tank.
I bought a 55 gallon tank that I thought I would easily convert to a sump. Boy was I wrong. First, the tank was actually older than me. It was made in 1992 and I'm pretty sure had original silicone. So I took it all out and resealed it. Then it had a terrible paint job so I scraped it all off and repainted it. Then came time to add baffles and I decided it was too much work and just bought a manufactured sump. I'm very happy with this decision.
Below is a big concern with the tank that I am probably just over thinking. There is a very slight gap between the tank and the stand on one side. (All four corners have good contact with the stand). What do you all think? Fix it or leave as is? Im hoping it wont make a difference at all.
Doors on...new sump and other equipment. Neptune box is misleading, I dont actually have anything Neptune and I'm not really sure what shipped in that box.
Lights installed makes a HUGE dfference. This is where I really started to get excited. 3 EcoTech Radion XR15 pro's. I know many will say that is not sufficient lighting, but I simply couldnt afford to buy 3 XR30's so these will have to do for now. I wont be adding coral for a while so I have time to upgrade if needed. What do you all think about the lighting??
A better look at the heart of the system. I know ZERO about plumbing so go easy on me. I wanted to keep it as simple as I could and building some impressive manifold with hard PVC just didnt seem feasible for me. Soft plumbing seemed like the best option. I still have to hook up the return lines but I'm stuck on deciding if I need any valves or not. My sump can handle any back siphoning (so why install a check valve that will likely fail?) My return is the Reef Octopus Varios 8 DC pump, so I can in theory control the flow through the returns (so why install gate valves to control flow?)
Protein skimmer is the Skimz SM201. Also, its hard to see but there is a small refugium section right before the skimmer section.
Most of the equipment and boxes.
RO/DI system. I dont feel like messing around with auto top off, float valves, etc... so I will be doing some manual work. Once I get tired of doing that then I will make some upgrades but until then this will do just fine. Anyone have experience with 180 gallon tanks? Im curious how much water will evaporate each day/week....
My first order of reef saver rock... turns out rock is kinda expensive so I'm doing this in two separate orders. Shown below is supposed to be 115lbs. Shipping was terrible and the boxes were delivered completely destroyed. BRS does a great job at packaging but that still wasnt quite enough. Lots of unusable rubble and some broken pieces. In reality I might have 95-100lbs of usable rock. Oh well, I guess thats part of buying rock online. My next order will be for about 70lbs so hopefully thats enough to make an awesome aquascape!
Thats all for now! Let me know what you think about the setup and what you would change! I appreciate all feedback.
Last edited:
