Randy's 180 gallon reef build...

[stillill]

Once I get back from vacation I will be setting up my 180 gallon full blown reef tank. I am going to do a DIY led setup for lighting once I ist it going. To start off the setup I am going to have a coralife 3x metal halide 4x compacts. That should grow anything I need but I love LEDs to much not to build another light.

For rock I am going to have a big mix of different kinds. Some figi, tonga, and random kinds. I have about 275 pound saved back for the tank. I figured I would pick and choose till I have it the way I want it. I plan on having lots of caves, arches, and a couple over hangs. I ordered some acrylic rods to build with.

I am going to have a custom acrylic sump that I plan on having an algae scrubber built into and a place for all the other goodies. Refug, skimmer, and return

Im going to transfer my 54 corner tank over into this tank so all the livestock from there will go into this one. I plan on adding tons more and a list will be made once the tank is setup. Same for the coral list.

I plan on making the closed loop system jimmy enlighten me to. I haven't decided on the amount of flow I want it to produce but I know I am going to use my sea swirl returns on them. I plan on having three or four korrillas around the tank so water movement will not be an issue.

I can't think of anything else right now but I'm sure to add to this once I get the tank going. Pics will be loaded as everything comes together. Build will start Thursday afternoon. Updates to come then!!!!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Waiting for pics!

 

[wysiwyg]

will be following and want alot of pics

 

[revsgirl]

Lookin' forward to it!

 

[rarelyseriousb]

Very interested in this. Please be specific with the ATS build/results and the led build. Can't wait.

 

[stillill]

UPDATE with PICS!!!!!


Pre Sand, Rock, and Water

Setting up this tank was the most stressful and labor intensive setup I have done. I did a LOT of stuff to make this setup as perfect as possible. I reran home run outlets for my electricity to my breaker panel. I wanted to make sure there wasn't going to be any stress on my outlets due to the mass amount of stuff I was plugging up for this tank. I also went into my craw space and setup floor supports to make sure it wasn't going anywhere. After doing all that it was time to get the tank into the house. We had to stand the tank up on its end and take it through my hall and into the fish room. I put the sump under the tank and decided that there wasn't enough room for it the way the stand was. I had to cut the bottom of the stand out so the sump could sit on the floor and have enough room. After finally getting it all cut out and put in place it was time to build the HOB closed loop for my sea swirl system. It went together fast and works well. I hard plumbed the entire system to the sump and back to the tank. I had to buy new bulk heads and was able to find them at Fish and More in G-town for $12 for all 4 that I needed. I couldn't believe that they were that cheap!!! I tried MVP and they wanted 13.99 for one! None the less in two days I was able to get this tank ready for sand rock and water!!!

Sand, Rock and Water...

Next we took the four totes of sand and rock that we had sitting in our floor for this build and started putting it in. God this was the best part of the build!! I seen totes leaving the floor and all the mess getting cleaned up. We had about 250 pound of rock sitting in totes on our fish room floor with damsels keeping it going for about 2 weeks. We didn't really aquascape the tank as we just wanted it put together. The damsels went into the frag tank(this tank actually changed one week after the 180 was setup... check frag tank section in the next week for an update there!!!) for the time being. Then we started adding water. We was only able to add about 50 gallons of RO/DI water and the rest had to be tap! I know that sucked but we ran out of room for water. My wife had about 100 gallons of water made in a different tank till our son poured an entire thing of dry flake "feeding the fish" and ruined it. None the less the tank was up and running finally after about 3 weeks. We added Seachem Stabilizer that day and for the next 7 days.

X-fering small corner reef to new home and my new light!!!!

This took about 2 hours as we took down my 54 corner and put all the coral over into the 180. Again never aquascaped it and just kinda jammed it in there. We had to run the 180 with my 2x LED lights I had built. The 72 LEDs ran this tank for about a two weeks as I ordered and built my new light for it. As of last night I was able to finally complete my new LED light for my 180. I ordered a 72 led DIY kit and tore apart one of my 36 LED lights to make a 115 led light for my tank. I did 3x 35 led sections over my 180. I built it into my canopy so it is 100% hidden. It blows my corals out of the water and I am super happy with the light.

Stocking the 180 gallon with Fish

I moved almost all my fish from my 54 corner to my 180 and have added more and will be adding more as time goes on. Below is a list of all the livestock in there and that will be in there.
maroon golden striped clown
royal gramma
yellow watchman goby x2
pistol shrimp
flame angel
firefish x2
engineer goby x2
lawnmower blenny
Coral banded Shrimp
Sand Sifting Star x2
Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Peppermint Shrimp x2
Green Brittle Star

Fish to come:

Coral beauty
Pajama Cardinal x2
Copperband Butterfly
Red Dragonet
Powder Blue Tang
Kole Eye Tang or Purple Tang

I am sure I will add or take away some stuff as the time to add stuff comes around. Not planning on adding anything for another two or three weeks and only doing one fish at a time. Here is the Pics I know you been waiting for. Let me know what you think!

This is my HOB closed loop system. I added a prime spot on the input side before I glued it. This was a pre-glue pic but forgot to take one after. It will run my two seaswirls with a mag 12 pump. I love it alot!!

I went ahead and hard piped the entire sump area as I think it makes it alot neater and nicer looking. This is the input of the sump.

A little more pipe under the tank. I have a mag 9 for a return pump so it is a bit slower movement through my sump. The sump is a 5 chamber custom 100% acrylic sump that holds a little more than 40 gallons. I will get a better pic of the sump post at a later date. I will be using one of the chambers for an algae scrubber which will be added at a later date.

There is just a few pics from my tank after I got it all put up. There is a dire need of a reaquascaping and once that is done I will load more pics. I also will be adding the build of the DIY lighting system for this tank on here. Lot to do and I know I know.... Pics and info. I will do my best. Sorry if this was just a bad tease.

 

[skinz78]

But it's a great looking tease and I can't wait to see the updates!

 

[stillill]

Sadly this tank didn’t last long as things got real hard for my family. I know this is an old post but I’m just now getting back into the hobby and have started a few tanks to get me going again. This dream is still alive just in a different tank. I will make a post on the system I have just setup but sadly it’s a lot smaller.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Welcome back

 

[stillill]

Thanks a lot!! It sure feels good to be back in the hobby. Just a few more days and I will update my Red Sea max thread again. I want to add a few more pieces of equipment and do a proper introduction of it.