Todd's 180 Gallon Reef Build

LiveWire · Dec 3, 2015

I wanted to share with you all my current 180 gallon Reef Tank Build. I have been in the reef hobby for a long time and had a 150 with a 90 running for awhile but this will be my biggest completed with finished stand that I have done. I built the stand myself and must say that I am happy with the turn out although I had no plans to start with and I changed my design half way through and had to make a lot of changes but it turned out well. I painted the entire inside of the stand including an orange wall for my Apex items. I lined the outside with cedar and cedar trim. I got the tank and a lot of other items at a great price but It took me a lot of scraping glass to get this tank clean and get the paint job off the back but it was worth it. This will be a 180 with about a 50 gallon sump. I still have a lot to do as I plan on setting up auto lighting when I pull the magnetic held doors off that I built as well as having auto water changes and many other ideas. I have thought of going with two skimmers instead of one as I have two on hand that will equal over the size but I may just sell them both to buy the size I need. I may also do some LED indicator panel so I know what’s going on by just looking at the tank. Although my Apex will do what I need from my phone I just think it would be cool to have a small panel on the right of the tank letting me know what’s happening without moving a finger.

I will also be installing maintenance mode switches as well as feeding and hopefully a auto water change setup. I will be running at least 2 Radion Led's and maybe a 15 in the center as well as a 150 Gyre and some MP 40's for flow if needed on the back of the rock work. Most of the rock was dead or dry and 80% of the sand was dry. I used a mix of Rock that came with it and some that I had on hand and for the sand I ordered 40 lbs of live Fiji pink and 120 lbs of seafloor special grade sand. My return pump is a Jebao 10000 DCT and as of now is running at 50%. I have always had great luck with their dc pumps and I will have a spare on hand just in case. I have a reef octopus super as well as an Icecap K2 skimmer but am still not 100% on if I will be using both or just selling booth and getting 1 that is large enough once I have Tangs and other large fish in the system. (Any input on running two skimmers would be great!)

I will be plumbing UV as well as Ozone to have them available as well as reactors for media. I already have a doser that I will add as well. I most likely will start to run the UV after the bacteria flourish in the system. I also have a chiller that if not needed I will be selling it as well as my frag tank system. I have a lot of plans for the 180 setup but those are some that I look to start off with. I added some pictures so you all can see where I am in this build. Right now the system is in "Cycle Mode" with no fish but I do have 64oz of Live Nitrifying Bacteria on hand although I am in no hurry as we all know nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank. I have added 4 oz of Bacteria so far as well as some mysis cubes but no Ammonia has been detected thus far. Please let me know what you think and any ideas or comments that you may have are always welcome.

markalan · Dec 4, 2015

Love the Orange wall for the Apex. Good luck.

cameronh · Dec 4, 2015

Nice man, I'll subscribe to keep an eye on the progress

LiveWire · Dec 6, 2015

Thanks guys! I thought that the orange wall would look cool and show off the Apex. Although I plan on having as much as I can fit outside of the stand I will still have energy bars and such on there. I got in my Gyre and have that now mounted in the tank. I may need to get the additional magnet if I ever decide to get a wave going in the tank. I had it running on 100% and it will move some water I have to say. I got a 3rd Radion from Whatchamacallit so next weekend I may be moving some corals over. I am now working on the right side of the tank where I will be hiding my containers for SW and RO/DI top off. I am planning on building a bench seat next to that enclosure as well. That hose going through the wall in the picture was to a chiller on my old RSM 250 system. I will be patching that.

LiveWire · Dec 11, 2015

So I built a area for my water containers and a bench that has storage under it. I just kept going with the cedar and it is really starting to look nice. I never seem to have a plan but more of just a vision of what I want it to look like and I start building till I think I am finished. I still have lots of clutter all over the place so once I get things cleaned up I will get a final picture. My other Radion came in and I mounted it to the tank with the RMS and I must say that it looks like poo. It must be the old style tank that makes it not level and I dont want to tighten it so much that something gives. Its very snug but still droops so I think I may be going canopy.

LiveWire · Dec 11, 2015

I tested my water the last few days and I now have 0 Ammonia and Nitrates so its time for the first of my livestock. I got some Firefish from my local store Ricks Fish And Pet and now have them acclimating. I wanted to get 2 Purples but there was only one available so I may get another in the future as it is a 180 and there hopefully wont be an issue with space they would be fighting over. I did notice that my RO/DI system was pushing a 2 TDS reading and I changed the sediment and carbon to see if it will get back to 0. The filters were kinda dirty so I will back flush and may be changing some DI resin as well. Just to make sure that the water was ready to go and no chloramines are present I added some Alpha. (Better safe then sorry to protect the fish) I also added 4 ounces of Live Nitrifying Bacteria even though I have been ghost feeding the system and have not had any issues. I bought a 64 oz bottle at Drs Foster/Smith for under $20 (awesome everyday deal btw) so I have plenty available. Rick gave me some live brine shrimp when I bought my fish so I will gut load them and feed them to the new residents tomorrow.

cameronh · Jan 4, 2016

Nice man. How's it holding up so far?

LiveWire · Jan 5, 2016

So far so good. I only have one Radion lighting the tank at the moment as I had to get 2 others. Once they arrive I will think about breaking down my frag system and getting the other 2 radians mounted. I have a larger skimmer arriving tomorrow as well. I have added a few clowns and a sharknose goby to the livestock. So far so good I have not lost one fish. I am thinking of going Zeovit on this build as I have seen some really nice systems that run that system. I added a light to the sump and a reactor for carbon and gfo. It's coming along. Once I get the other radions mounted I will et my Apex moved over as well as my Reefbrights and some corals. I will test again this weekend and see how close I am to doing my first water change on the system as well. I have diatoms on the rocks so things are moving right along.

LiveWire · Jan 6, 2016

Ordered some cleaners today from Aquarium depot. 95 cleaners for $40 shipped free is a sweet deal. I wont add them all to this system right away. I will put some in my other systems and slowly will get them all in here. I will also in time get some Trochus snails locally as well as a Blue Tuxedo Urchin. I need to get my RODI system filters changed out this weekend and also check the PH of my water sitting in a storage tank to make sure it did not change. I also need to get some RO water tube and float valves so I can get the water change system ready to go. Busy Busy Busy but making progress.

LiveWire · Jan 8, 2016

So looked what showed up today!! My K2-200 has arrived!!!! I have the smaller K2-120 on my frag tank and love it so it only made sense for this build to go with the IceCap K2-200 from Coral Vue. This skimmer is the only way to go. It's set to break in mode so many updates to come.