BigDog0598 180 Build

bigdog0598 · 12/05/2010, 08:12 PM

So i posted this in the Large Reef, but since 180 is on the border i figure i'll post in both places! Unless a mod tells me otherwise.....

So I just bought my new, well new to me 180 AGA tank! I'm a little late on putting this up and its now up and cycling, but i thought i'd throw up a few pics and get some feed back.

So this is the first time i've ever done all the work myself, meaning plumbing and what not, on large tank.....what joys!!! After countless trips to home depot and trying again and again, i finally got my herbie system(THANKS HERBIE!) all setup with out any leaks....now..... I decided to use soft plumbing just because of the ease of use and flexibility it has, i have 2 1" main drain lines and 2 1.5" emergency lines. The 2 main drains are connected together with a T and then merge to a 1.5" with a gate valve (Found at OSH). Before any questions on why the larger emergency, basically i screwed up, it works, but I'm a retard and didn't realize that the plumbing into the bulkhead goes on the inside not over the threading!!!! DUH, ya i know....anyways when i first set it up, over the threads, the mains leaked so i had to redo the main and then realized that I'm and idiot, however the emergencies don't leak so i just left them as is!

I have a 18x30x15 sump, i'm going to be running the skimmer in-sump, no idea on the brand, but the guy made it recirculating and it seems to be working great! I'm also going to but a "In-tank refugium" in the sump just to have some sand and mangroves and chato in. I then decided to go with an external pump, the guys gave me a Gen X 4, OMG THIS PUMP IS AWFUL!!!!! i mean it works and would be fine outside or in a basement, but you can hear this thing from outside with the door closed, hahah, so i have already ordered my new pump, a velocity T4! Can't wait to have a quiet pump, its been a week of this noise and i'm ready for it to stop! haha.

In the tank i have 2 Korilla Evo 1400 and a tunze 6025, so far the korillas have been great and are really quiet and much smaller then the old ones. The tunze is working well to, but when you start it up it makes a grinding noise for a second, any ideas? I was going to go with vortechs, since i love the mp10 i have on the tank i'm upgrading from, but the more i read, the more i read about the problems they have, plus i don't really want to see pumps on the outside of the tank, so if the Korillias die, i'll prob go tunze just because i've read about how long they last and what a quality product they are.

I don't have my controller yet, i'm supposed to pick that up this week, a aquacontroller jr, i'm going to use this as my wave timer and of course for all the other cool things it does, i may upgrade to a Apex in a bit but we'll see how this works for now.

I also have a chiller on the way, the guy i bought the tank from was having it fixed, so i should have that this week as well.

Right now, it has 3 150 hqi and 96w power-compact, they color looks nice when its on, but i'll definitely be upgrading to LED before summer hits, i have led on my solana right now and LOVE it, but its a few dollars more on the 72" tank haha. I think i'm going to go with 3 of the ReefKoi LEDs because i want to do a mixed reef, and plan on having all my sps up top anyways, with lps and softies below and i've also read of success with clams with his light even thou the par isn't as high as some of the other LEDs out there.

There are still somethings i need to decide on, like running a reactor or not and what other dosing things to add. The dosing is new to me, b/c on my solana i just do weekly water changes and haven't had to dose at all, but i know that on a tank this large, that just won't be an option.

I did start using MB7 and will start bio fuel in the future, may change to vodka down the road, but besides that i'm not sure if i'm going to do kalk water in the ATO or a reactor or just us dosing pumps....any suggestions?

The guy i bought the tank from gave me about a 100 lbs of live rock that was in another tank he had, although it was just running, no lights or anything, just saltwater and movement, i then just got my BRS pukani dry rock and shelf rock. THIS STUFF IS AMAZING!!!! So i think i have my aquascaping all done, the wife and i really like sand corals, like brains and red flowerpot and favia and acan so we left a lot of sand space. I also wanted a shallow sand bed so you can't see all the crab that get in the sand, so i wanted it hidden by the lip, so only about 140lbs of sand, but i think i really like it!

Ok, so enough talking! Time for pics!

Just in the house

EARLY CHRISTMAS!!!

1st attempt at plumbing...and failed....

And redoing it!

And Redone!

putting sand it

Just put rock it

Clearing up with lights!

Waiting and waiting....

bigdog0598 · 12/05/2010, 08:12 PM

All scaped with no lights

With Lights!

Sump and skimmer

Return and Ballasts

Ok, well more to come!!!

mauger1 · 12/05/2010, 08:21 PM

Looks pretty nice so far!

bigdog0598 · 12/05/2010, 10:37 PM

Thanks man!

bigdog0598 · 12/06/2010, 09:54 PM

So got the new pump today, thank god! And let me tell you when they say these things are silent that may be an understatement. When I plugged it in I couldn't tell it was even on. Amazing pump!!!! Thanks blueline for the velocity!

nitro4kthompson · 12/06/2010, 11:32 PM

I like the light colored wood cabinet. The rockscape looks good too.

bigdog0598 · 12/07/2010, 03:14 PM

thanks man! It'll be interesting to see once i put stuff in to see how it lays out, or if i'll need more layers..... I really wasn't sure about the maple, but against the blue wall it looks great in the house, i'll take some full room pics soon

12/05/2010, 08:12 PM	#1
bigdog0598 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Moorpark, CA Posts: 295	BigDog0598 180 Build So i posted this in the Large Reef, but since 180 is on the border i figure i'll post in both places! Unless a mod tells me otherwise..... So I just bought my new, well new to me 180 AGA tank! I'm a little late on putting this up and its now up and cycling, but i thought i'd throw up a few pics and get some feed back. So this is the first time i've ever done all the work myself, meaning plumbing and what not, on large tank.....what joys!!! After countless trips to home depot and trying again and again, i finally got my herbie system(THANKS HERBIE!) all setup with out any leaks....now..... I decided to use soft plumbing just because of the ease of use and flexibility it has, i have 2 1" main drain lines and 2 1.5" emergency lines. The 2 main drains are connected together with a T and then merge to a 1.5" with a gate valve (Found at OSH). Before any questions on why the larger emergency, basically i screwed up, it works, but I'm a retard and didn't realize that the plumbing into the bulkhead goes on the inside not over the threading!!!! DUH, ya i know....anyways when i first set it up, over the threads, the mains leaked so i had to redo the main and then realized that I'm and idiot, however the emergencies don't leak so i just left them as is! I have a 18x30x15 sump, i'm going to be running the skimmer in-sump, no idea on the brand, but the guy made it recirculating and it seems to be working great! I'm also going to but a "In-tank refugium" in the sump just to have some sand and mangroves and chato in. I then decided to go with an external pump, the guys gave me a Gen X 4, OMG THIS PUMP IS AWFUL!!!!! i mean it works and would be fine outside or in a basement, but you can hear this thing from outside with the door closed, hahah, so i have already ordered my new pump, a velocity T4! Can't wait to have a quiet pump, its been a week of this noise and i'm ready for it to stop! haha. In the tank i have 2 Korilla Evo 1400 and a tunze 6025, so far the korillas have been great and are really quiet and much smaller then the old ones. The tunze is working well to, but when you start it up it makes a grinding noise for a second, any ideas? I was going to go with vortechs, since i love the mp10 i have on the tank i'm upgrading from, but the more i read, the more i read about the problems they have, plus i don't really want to see pumps on the outside of the tank, so if the Korillias die, i'll prob go tunze just because i've read about how long they last and what a quality product they are. I don't have my controller yet, i'm supposed to pick that up this week, a aquacontroller jr, i'm going to use this as my wave timer and of course for all the other cool things it does, i may upgrade to a Apex in a bit but we'll see how this works for now. I also have a chiller on the way, the guy i bought the tank from was having it fixed, so i should have that this week as well. Right now, it has 3 150 hqi and 96w power-compact, they color looks nice when its on, but i'll definitely be upgrading to LED before summer hits, i have led on my solana right now and LOVE it, but its a few dollars more on the 72" tank haha. I think i'm going to go with 3 of the ReefKoi LEDs because i want to do a mixed reef, and plan on having all my sps up top anyways, with lps and softies below and i've also read of success with clams with his light even thou the par isn't as high as some of the other LEDs out there. There are still somethings i need to decide on, like running a reactor or not and what other dosing things to add. The dosing is new to me, b/c on my solana i just do weekly water changes and haven't had to dose at all, but i know that on a tank this large, that just won't be an option. I did start using MB7 and will start bio fuel in the future, may change to vodka down the road, but besides that i'm not sure if i'm going to do kalk water in the ATO or a reactor or just us dosing pumps....any suggestions? The guy i bought the tank from gave me about a 100 lbs of live rock that was in another tank he had, although it was just running, no lights or anything, just saltwater and movement, i then just got my BRS pukani dry rock and shelf rock. THIS STUFF IS AMAZING!!!! So i think i have my aquascaping all done, the wife and i really like sand corals, like brains and red flowerpot and favia and acan so we left a lot of sand space. I also wanted a shallow sand bed so you can't see all the crab that get in the sand, so i wanted it hidden by the lip, so only about 140lbs of sand, but i think i really like it! Ok, so enough talking! Time for pics! Just in the house EARLY CHRISTMAS!!! 1st attempt at plumbing...and failed.... And redoing it! And Redone! putting sand it Just put rock it Clearing up with lights! Waiting and waiting....

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12/05/2010, 08:12 PM	#2
bigdog0598 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Moorpark, CA Posts: 295	All scaped with no lights With Lights! Sump and skimmer Return and Ballasts Ok, well more to come!!!

12/05/2010, 08:21 PM	#3
mauger1 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 57	Looks pretty nice so far!

12/05/2010, 10:37 PM	#4
bigdog0598 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Moorpark, CA Posts: 295	Thanks man!

12/06/2010, 09:54 PM	#5
bigdog0598 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Moorpark, CA Posts: 295	So got the new pump today, thank god! And let me tell you when they say these things are silent that may be an understatement. When I plugged it in I couldn't tell it was even on. Amazing pump!!!! Thanks blueline for the velocity!

12/06/2010, 11:32 PM	#6
nitro4kthompson Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: mccalla,alabama Posts: 273	I like the light colored wood cabinet. The rockscape looks good too.

12/07/2010, 03:14 PM	#7
bigdog0598 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Moorpark, CA Posts: 295	thanks man! It'll be interesting to see once i put stuff in to see how it lays out, or if i'll need more layers..... I really wasn't sure about the maple, but against the blue wall it looks great in the house, i'll take some full room pics soon