180 Gallon Upgrade- Slightly Ghetto

[SeattleReefer]

You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! - Eagles Hotel California

I quit the hobby in 1987, and I quit again in 1991, and again in 1997, and 2002... And last November I allowed the bug to bite again. I broke down and bought a Biocube 29.

It was too small, so I decided to go bigger. I ended up with four 40gallon breeders all hooked together.



This was a pretty fun setup. I was going to do a mixed reef in the top right tank, anemones in the top right, and FOWLER in the bottom left. The plumbing was all DIY PVC which worked fine... I learned alot about moving water and had alot of fun building it but it was LOUD.



Six months later I figured out the downside of DIY plumbing....


So I decided to go BIGGER. I surfed Craigslist until I found a guy selling a 180gallon acrylic, stand, and hood. He wanted $900. I went to take a look at it. He had it in the back of his storage unit and needed to get rid of it so I talked him down to $750 and took it home.

The tank is really nice! Thick acrylic recently polished, pre-drilled for a center overflow. It took me many weeks to prep it but yesterday was finally moving day for the fish.



The tank is 6'x2'x2'. I'm using a new, improved 40 gallon sump with dual 1.5" drains and dual 7" filter socks. Skimmer (not shown because it's soaking in vinegar) is a Reef Octopus 200-int, and the pump is a Jaebo DCT-15000. I bought an APEX gold too!

You can see my PVC racks which are meant to provide a base for the rockwork. As it turns out those racks also make a great place to hide the two MarinePure blocks from the old system!

Powerheads are dual Jaebo RW20's which are WAY too powerful for the tank. I have them connected to the Apex so they run various wave patterns ranging from 0% power to 30%.

Lighting is five chinese black box LED's at 165 watts each. I'm pretty happy with them thus far.

When I pulled out the MarinePure blocks from the old sump I found them covered with small fan worms.







Next to the tank I built a stand to hold the remote refugium. It sits above and to the left of the main tank. It's a 29 gallon tall with blue painted background.




When I first plumbed this together I had the refugium drain straight to the DT. Big mistake! Lots of bubbles! So now the refugium drains back to the sump.

I shouldn't call it a refugium, really I intend it to be an algae/pod farm. I'll be doing a upflow ATS, ball of chaeto, and rubble for pods. The light on this tank is actually LED meant for hydroponic plants which should work well to grow algae.



Here's a shot of the overflow. I'm pushing probably around 2200 gallon/hr but it's pretty quiet. The tank was drilled with 3 holes- 3/4". 1", and 1.5" . Originally I suppose the 3/4" was internal return and the two others were for a Herbie. I ended up using all three for drains so the return is over the top as you can see. I also had to drill two more 1" bulkheads in the top corners for additional returns.


Down below, from right to left:

The 3/4" and 1" drains are tied together before the valve. This is the full siphon Herbie drain.

The 1.5" spa-flex is the emergency. Both of these drains go to 7" filter socks.

The fourth drain from the right is the return from the remote refugium.

Then you can see the pump manifold with a 1" line going up to the DT and another 1" line (with valve) going to the refugium.



future home of my dosing station.



And the final result!



(I need a few more rocks to cover the left side rack)

During the move two fish ended up carpet surfing but they were rescued. Everybody seems happy in their new home. It's fun to watch them adjust! Seems like they had two big priorities in the new tank- find a place to hide and establish a dominance hierarchy. No aggression yet, just a big of bluster in the more aggressive fish.


.

[uvijaya]

Thats a nice size tank, definitely going to be a great build.

[Jah2707]

Wow - seems like the reef bug and bitten hard. 29 gallon to 4 40s and now a 180. This tank has a ton of potential. Nice start.

[SeattleReefer]

I think it's pent-up demand. I've wanted a reef for quite awhile.

I got the ATO going, and here's my chaeto chamber which will eventually include an uplift ATS. It's lit on 2 sides with 40 watt grow lamps, and from above with another 100 watts.



I also redid the rock work, trying for the two island effect.

[mattix]

digging the aquascape, the tank looks great

[mjstech]

I like the setup. Is really cool. The 165w lights... are they the manual dim ones? Do they run hot? Are the fans load?

[SeattleReefer]

Originally Posted by mjstech

I like the setup. Is really cool. The 165w lights... are they the manual dim ones? Do they run hot? Are the fans load?

yes, manual control (white, blue). They don't run hot but I do notice that the heaters do not come on during the day. The fans are super quiet.

[SeattleReefer]

yesterday I bought two pink skunk clownfish but today when I came home I could only find one. I looked all over but no sign of the second one. Then on a hunch I checked the sump and sure enough he's swimming around happily inside the filter sock.

That's the second tank inhabitant to make the trip. My porcelain crab also took that joyride but was unharmed. I hope this isn't the start of a trend.

[civics14]

your tank looks nice, but the crooked lights being hung up that way is very distracting..

[SeattleReefer]

Originally Posted by civics14

your tank looks nice, but the crooked lights being hung up that way is very distracting..

I can't argue with that. The lights are hung from a curtain rod. I DID say ghetto!

I'll eventually build a canopy to hide the lights, all in good time.

[SeattleReefer]

duplicate

[civics14]

how does your two yellow tangs get along?