180 build thread!!!
- Thread starter kyuubichan218
- Start date
We would have loved to get the peninsula setup but it didn't work that way so we are making due with what we have. We will be growing montis on one of the overflows probably and have magnetic frag spots all over the other. On the inside we were considering bending some black acrylic sheet and sticking it in the overflow to hide the drain and return. (as well as all the other crap that inevitably grows in there)
Well, since this is the fastest, most exciting build ever, I thought I would post an update. It is, unfortunately, probably the last update until October because we have a wedding to plan (and pay for)! Although at the rate I'm posting updates, that's not really all that big of a change. So! We've been working hard the last few weeks to get the plumbing done and get the tank ready to run. This includes doing the rockwork, adding sand, plumbing, more cleaning, etc. I still want a little bit more rock, I'm thinking tonga branch, but we moved on without it for now. We painted the insides of the overflows black so you can't see all the nasty crap and pipes and stuff that gets in there. After a little research, Krylon Fusion Spraypaint is supposed to be reef safe, so that's what we used. Just in case anyone was wondering, it is not easy to do this on a tank that's already set up and vertical. In the end it turned out looking pretty nice though.
We did almost all the plumbing hard, and it is not leaking! It was kind of complicated because we're running our skimmer and our return on the same pump. We also plumbed in the valves to connect a frag tank down there in the future when money permits. The hardest part of the plumbing was definitely getting the skimmer right. We meant to have it in-sump, but it didn't fit (the sump we got with the tank is apparently not a standard tank size like we thought it was). So, after a little work and a few modifications, we managed to shove everything in there how we wanted it. In the process, however, the skimmer was renamed "the skimmer of broken dreams". Jerk skimmer. That said, it seems to be working great; it started pulling gunk out as soon as the salt was added to the water. The gunk, of course, was from not rinsing my sand because I didn't feel like getting the bathtub all sandy. We're still making some minor modifications, but I'm really pleased with the plumbing, especially how quiet it is.
Once the plumbing was done and water tested with fresh water, I finally got to add salt. I know there are two distinct camps about the quality of Salinity, but it mixed up great in my tank. And I used a lot of it. The water is clearer than its ever been. There are still a few microbubbles coming from the skimmer, but we'll see if those don't go away as it gets conditioned. Once it was all mixed and at the proper salinity, I took a rock from my 72 gal that I put in a few weeks ago to get the nice bacteria growing, and put it in. There are currently at least two brittle starfish that think that the 180 is a habitable environment
All that's really left is to get lights and one more MP40 before I can move all my corals over. Patience does have its rewards though, because by the time I'm actually ready to buy lights, the AI Vega should be released (if they don't push it back again). I'm planning on getting three Vegas to light this tank up. Anyway, here are the pictures that are the whole point of this. Who knows if anyone even reads the words on these threads
Make sure to keep an eye out for lots of frags for sale and DBTCs when I move my coral over, there should be lots coming in October!
We did almost all the plumbing hard, and it is not leaking! It was kind of complicated because we're running our skimmer and our return on the same pump. We also plumbed in the valves to connect a frag tank down there in the future when money permits. The hardest part of the plumbing was definitely getting the skimmer right. We meant to have it in-sump, but it didn't fit (the sump we got with the tank is apparently not a standard tank size like we thought it was). So, after a little work and a few modifications, we managed to shove everything in there how we wanted it. In the process, however, the skimmer was renamed "the skimmer of broken dreams". Jerk skimmer. That said, it seems to be working great; it started pulling gunk out as soon as the salt was added to the water. The gunk, of course, was from not rinsing my sand because I didn't feel like getting the bathtub all sandy. We're still making some minor modifications, but I'm really pleased with the plumbing, especially how quiet it is.
Once the plumbing was done and water tested with fresh water, I finally got to add salt. I know there are two distinct camps about the quality of Salinity, but it mixed up great in my tank. And I used a lot of it. The water is clearer than its ever been. There are still a few microbubbles coming from the skimmer, but we'll see if those don't go away as it gets conditioned. Once it was all mixed and at the proper salinity, I took a rock from my 72 gal that I put in a few weeks ago to get the nice bacteria growing, and put it in. There are currently at least two brittle starfish that think that the 180 is a habitable environment
All that's really left is to get lights and one more MP40 before I can move all my corals over. Patience does have its rewards though, because by the time I'm actually ready to buy lights, the AI Vega should be released (if they don't push it back again). I'm planning on getting three Vegas to light this tank up. Anyway, here are the pictures that are the whole point of this. Who knows if anyone even reads the words on these threads
Make sure to keep an eye out for lots of frags for sale and DBTCs when I move my coral over, there should be lots coming in October!
I suppose I'm due for an update, not that there is much to tell. I am waiting to get lights for the 180, so the 72 is trucking along FULL of corals waiting to go into a much bigger tank. The 180 is cycled and I started adding fish several months ago. I am, however, stocking very slowly because I'm poor. I mean patient. Yeah, patient. Anyway, the current inhabitants are:
1 white tail bristletooth tang
3 lyretail anthias (M/F/F)
1 midas blenny
2 dragonface pipefish
Why no pictures of my beautiful bristletooth tang? Because he's a giant wuss and hides if I'm there with the camera. Actually, Wednesday was the first day he didn't hide when I walked into the living room. Baby steps for my wuss of a tang. Pics when I can get them.
My current plans for the tank, in no particular order are:
-Get lights (radion pros, I think, but one at a time so I can still eat and stuff)
-Plumb in the 20 tall that's under my tank for a qt/frag tank (sits next to the sump, going to house an ATS and frags someday, but starting as a qt. Possible to twist two valves and completely disconnect with the system in case I need to run hypo)
-Make an ATS to go into the tank, planning on doing one undersized for my system and using it in conjunction with a skimmer, macros and dosing pumps to keep my chemistry lovely. I'm never getting rid of my skimmer, because surfactants are sweet and totally different chemically than the nutrients used by an ATS.
-Add fish - Current list - trio of spotbreast angels, copperbanded butterfly, yasha goby, pearly jawfish, purple tang, lieutenant tang, regal tang, pair of clowns, coris wrasse and mandarin (last two from the 72) I'm hoping that's not too many. Obviously that's not the order I'll add them in.
-Finally move over my corals. There are a lot. Here's some pics from the 72.
1 white tail bristletooth tang
3 lyretail anthias (M/F/F)
1 midas blenny
2 dragonface pipefish
Why no pictures of my beautiful bristletooth tang? Because he's a giant wuss and hides if I'm there with the camera. Actually, Wednesday was the first day he didn't hide when I walked into the living room. Baby steps for my wuss of a tang. Pics when I can get them.
My current plans for the tank, in no particular order are:
-Get lights (radion pros, I think, but one at a time so I can still eat and stuff)
-Plumb in the 20 tall that's under my tank for a qt/frag tank (sits next to the sump, going to house an ATS and frags someday, but starting as a qt. Possible to twist two valves and completely disconnect with the system in case I need to run hypo)
-Make an ATS to go into the tank, planning on doing one undersized for my system and using it in conjunction with a skimmer, macros and dosing pumps to keep my chemistry lovely. I'm never getting rid of my skimmer, because surfactants are sweet and totally different chemically than the nutrients used by an ATS.
-Add fish - Current list - trio of spotbreast angels, copperbanded butterfly, yasha goby, pearly jawfish, purple tang, lieutenant tang, regal tang, pair of clowns, coris wrasse and mandarin (last two from the 72) I'm hoping that's not too many. Obviously that's not the order I'll add them in.
-Finally move over my corals. There are a lot. Here's some pics from the 72.
We were initially thinking of going with the Vegas but with all of the issues that people are reporting with them recently we have been reconsidering that option. Additionally the radions are one of the few lights that have successfully incorporated the uv spectrum in a way that more closely mimics the emission spectra of a MH. Jake Adams, vivid aquariums, and Mr. Saltwatertank are fans of the Radions, and have done tests to demonstrate their effectiveness putting them up there in my book.
