180 Gallon

[brickwood]

Thought I would start a tank journal for my 180 build. This tank came into Aquatic Addictions and as soon as I saw it I snatched it up. I'm sure a lot of you have seen the tank in the store. The rock is Reef Ceramics and is aquascaped to perfection. I am planning to add a few more pounds of live rock to seed the tank and also for a little more natural look.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1365.jpg

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1367.jpg

The sump is 40 gallons.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1376.jpg

We went with a Vertex 280 skimmer.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1382.jpg

The system is running off of a reeflo dart pump and is plumbed with 1" 1/2 pvc.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1380.jpg

The best part of the whole system is the lighting. We went with the AquaPerfekt Photon Plus 72" 3x250w SE HQI 12x39w T5 Fixture. Overkill? I think not. I don't have any pictures of the lights as of yet. The lights are on order and should be in soon. They are the same lights that are on the SPS tank at Aquatic Addictions.

The tank was filled with a garden hose and tap water and flowing using H2O salt. Here is a picture of all the "stuff". Sort of a whatever picture.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1387.jpg

So far that is as far as we have gotten. I will post more when the lights come in. Everything came from Aquatic Addictions. "plug" Thanks Nikki and Dan and your wonderful employee. :wink:

[JDigital]

Sweet Aquascaping!.. Look forward to this thread

[fishytime]

Lookin goooood. I like the look of the "man-made" rock wall. I know its a little late but, they say you shouldnt use garden hose to move your water around. They leech chemicals....you know that funny taste when you drink from the garden hose? Really curious about your light, you will have to let us know how you like it.

[mseepman]

x2 on the garden hose info..heard that many times before too.

The build is looking great. I was looking at the fixture at AA and it sure did a great job of pushing light into that tank. I bet you'll love it...at least until you need to replace 3 MH bulbs and 12 T5 bulbs...lol.

[Ripwoop]

Looks mint! Can't wait to come down and take a look at it. Things always seem to look way better in person :) Can't wait till this one is fully stocked.

Rob.

[christyf5]

Looks great, I like the rockwork :cool: Can't wait to see it up and running :biggrin:

[brickwood]

Thanx for the concern about the garden hose. The water is not in contact long enough for there to be any worries about leaching chemicals. There are many systems out there that have been filled with garden hoses and never had any problems. I'm just glad I didn't post the pictures of me bleaching the tank with Javex. LOL!

[Keri]

I eyeballed this tank at AA as well lol but you'd bought it allready! Good score, can't wait to see it up and running!!

[brickwood]

Bought the tank as I carried it off the truck.

[brickwood]

Picked up some live rock the other day from Aquatic Addictions. Trying to cycle the tank with as much rock as possible. I was thinking of using PVC structure to add some more archways. Will post more pictures of the progress soon.

[Myka]

This should be a good tank build! Nice looking rockwork. Do you have much reef keeping experience? What do you plan to keep in your tank?

I don't understand why you would spend all that money on the equipment and then not buy a $200 RO/DI filter for water? That boggles my mind!!! :lol:

[banditpowdercoat]

Yup, Get a RO/DI. Trust us. if just to save you from the Hair Algae that WILL run rampant.

[brickwood]

I have had many years experience in keeping tanks. I do have an RO/DI but I was not willing to wait a week to fill the tank. By the time this tank cycles all the baddies in the water will be gone anyway and the amount of water changes I am having to do the good outweighs the bad. The equipment I have purchased is all high end equipment and will take care of all my fishy needs. I do value all of your opinions but I really do know what I am doing. Hair algae is part of the normal cycle anyway. It's going to happen no matter what.

[3MTA3]

I have had many years experience in keeping tanks. I do have an RO/DI but I was not willing to wait a week to fill the tank. By the time this tank cycles all the baddies in the water will be gone anyway and the amount of water changes I am having to do the good outweighs the bad. The equipment I have purchased is all high end equipment and will take care of all my fishy needs. I do value all of your opinions but I really do know what I am doing. Hair algae is part of the normal cycle anyway. It's going to happen no matter what.

Years of experience do not account for making one mistake :wink:. It is good to hear you are buying the best equipment you can as that one of the best things you could do rather than buying mediocre stuff and having to upgrade later. You will get the hair algae specially with using that hose to fill your tank but as long as you accpet it and understand it will come then kudos to you. All the best and I hope to see future pics of the tank build.:biggrin:


with respect

Bruce S.

[brickwood]

Years of experience do not account for making one mistake :wink:. It is good to hear you are buying the best equipment you can as that one of the best things you could do rather than buying mediocre stuff and having to upgrade later. You will get the hair algae specially with using that hose to fill your tank but as long as you accpet it and understand it will come then kudos to you. All the best and I hope to see future pics of the tank build.:biggrin:


with respect

Bruce S.

Thanks Bruce. I do like positive feedback. I do believe the equipment choices were well thought out. I had a lot of help from friends and the staff at AA. :biggrin: They really should pay me for plugging their store so much LOL!:lol:

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

I have had many years experience in keeping tanks. I do have an RO/DI but I was not willing to wait a week to fill the tank. By the time this tank cycles all the baddies in the water will be gone anyway and the amount of water changes I am having to do the good outweighs the bad. The equipment I have purchased is all high end equipment and will take care of all my fishy needs. I do value all of your opinions but I really do know what I am doing. Hair algae is part of the normal cycle anyway. It's going to happen no matter what.

Great build so far.

I have to disagree about hair algae happening no matter what. I have cycled more tanks than I can remember, always using RO and only once ever had HA. Im not saying you have to use RO but HA outbreaks can be avoided.

Going to be a nice tank!

[brickwood]

Well the lights finally came in today. Very exciting. No new pictures yet. They are as follows.

T5's
4 x fiji purple
4 x actinic
4 x duo

Halides
3 x 14k 250w moguls

All Aquascience bulbs.

I am hoping this will be enough light. LOL! The tank has been cycling for a couple of weeks with some liverock and looks good so far. Now some light.

[fishytime]

Pics!....please.

[christyf5]

Definitely more pics. I am totally loving that reefceramics, it just looks so cool.

[brickwood]

Alright. Hung the lights tonight. WOW! Better than I thought.
This is a picture of the bottom with all the T5's and halides
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo040.jpg
Before the lights were turned on.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo045.jpg
Logo
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo046.jpg
Side shot.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo047.jpg
A shot with just the T5's. One bulb was burnt out so not all the lights are on.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo048.jpg
All lights are on. Looks great. The shimmer in the water was awesome. I am really glad we chose these lights. It was a great combination of T5's and Halides.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo049.jpg
Some of the rock work.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo052.jpg
The RO will be installed soon and an auto top-off is in the plans. Tested the water tonight and everything checks out. Just have to decide when to add the fish.

[lastlight]

Gorgeous light. Smart design to allow for some decent mh reflectors. Are the t5's actively cooled?

[brickwood]

The only cooling is the design of the fixture. Most of the heat is directed up and not down towards the water somehow. You can hold your hand under the lights and not feel much heat.

[Aquatic Addictions]

Things are looking great! Can't wait to see how things progress :) Keep the updates and pics coming.:biggrin:

[bignose]

I really like your light fixture. Looks like you didn't have to spend much on sand.

[brickwood]

I really like your light fixture. Looks like you didn't have to spend much on sand.

I still used 3 bags of sand. I wanted a deep sand bed. There were still some places in between the rocks for sand.

[brickwood]

Moved the rest of the cured rock over tonight and the couple of fish from the 33gal. I wasn't too sure about moving the fish over but the tank has been cycling for a few weeks now and should be fine. The tank didn't go throught too much of a cycle because all the rock was pretty much cured and we used the "dirty" water from the water changes on the 33gal.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo077.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo080.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo078.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo075.jpg
All the perameters were fine. Now I just have to wait a while to add corals. I still need to get a calcium reactor and finish the rest of the electrical for the lights. We ran a seperate circuit dedicated to the lights. Better safe than sorry.:biggrin:

[Ripwoop]

Not too shabby!!:biggrin:

[dkcrx]

Looks great Scott, once you're ready for some corals you should come by and grab a few frags from my tank.

[sharuq1]

Looking good! Anything eating that caulerpa in there? (hope so)

[brickwood]

Looking good! Anything eating that caulerpa in there? (hope so)

There is a sailfin tang. I just picked it off. It started out as a small piece from the fuge that got through the system. I found it hiding in behind the rock.

[brickwood]

Looks great Scott, once you're ready for some corals you should come by and grab a few frags from my tank.

Thanks Dean. When I'm ready for corals, I'm sure you'll be the first to know. LOL!

[Ripwoop]

Anymore updates on this!! more pic pls :)

[Haloreef]

Friend Scott. I would offer you some of my frags but, you probably won't need any after visiting Dean.
How's the cricket coffee?

[brickwood]

Friend Scott. I would offer you some of my frags but, you probably won't need any after visiting Dean.
How's the cricket coffee?

Well Keith.....the cricket coffee was fantastic. Thanks. I would take your frags anyday. LOL!

[brickwood]

Time for some more updates. We used a small PLC to control all the lighting. The whole setup cost about $300. The PLC can be plugged into the pc and the program can changed and adapted to whatever we need. Blah......blah.....blah.....it's a glorified light timer. It controls all the halides and the 2 seperate T5 circuits as well as the moonlights. I might even do the same thing for a wave controller. I know you can buy all these things in stores but going this way can be cheaper and far more customizable. I can write the program to do whatever and whenever I want. The box hasn't been mounted yet and the receptacles are not in the wall yet so more pictures to follow. We went and purchased some strip LED's from Ikea today.......yeah Ikea. They will act as the moonlights. I looked at getting the Coralife moonlights but by the time I finished paying for the 4 or so that I would need, it was cheaper and cleaner looking from Ikea. Not sure how they will work out but it was worth the money to find out. I actually got the idea from Niloc. He used the same thing on his tank and it looked great.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo172.jpg

[Ripwoop]

ROFL i heard about that coffee!! Wish i could have been there to see his face LOL :)

[brickwood]

This is not a cricket eating thread. This thread is about my tank build. Maybe this will clear that up.:lol:

[brickwood]

Update time. The tank has been running for a couple of months and I have slowly been stocking it week by week. We are adding a Schuran calcium reactor. It's only rated for tanks up to 158g but it's close enough. It will do the job just fine. I can always upgrade to something else later if needed. There is also plans to put in two Vortex MP40's. Just have to pick them up from Dan at Aquatic Addictions.:wink: We have a couple of Koralia #4's in there but they just aren't enough.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo193.jpg
I have added more live rock since this picture was taken. The coraline is going crazy in the tank. I have just been dosing with a little Liquid Reactor until the calcium reactor is up and running.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo190.jpg
She has a little ich on her but it's all cleared up now.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo199.jpg
The two Bangaii's seem to have "hosted" this plate. They usually live around spiny urchins so I guess this makes them feel safe.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/PictureorVideo200.jpg

[Leah]

Was wondering how it was going, what a surprise to see it so stocked...Cool!

[brickwood]

Was wondering how it was going, what a surprise to see it so stocked...Cool!

I tore down two tanks and put the fish, corals and rock into the 180. I also spend a lot of time at the LFS!

[Rbacchiega]

mmmmm 180. Looks great.

[JDigital]

Nice Blondy!

[brickwood]

Nice Blondy!

He's the newest neighbor in town. Always wanted one.

[brickwood]

Well, started putting in the RO/DI. Went with a 5 stage Spectrapure. Unfortunately the RO and is on the complete opposit side of the house. Getting a line over to the tank for an ATO is going to be almost impossible. First off, the ceiling is all finished and and second, I will have to get a booster pump. For now I will just have to use jugs for topping off.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1519.jpg
I managed to aquire a fresh water barrel from a friend so I will use that for all my fresh water. I would like to get another barrel for all my salt mix. I haven't quite decided how I'm going to set this all up.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1520.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1521.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1522.jpg
Started the install on the Calcium reactor.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1525.jpg
Mounted the 10lb bottle under the tank and that's as far as I've gotten so far. Ran out of time on the weekend. It will be next weeks project.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1542.jpg
I have added a few new corals to my tank thanks to a fellow reefer.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1546.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1547.jpg
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1548.jpg
Another tank shot.
http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv184/brickwood/IMG_1556.jpg
More to follow.

[fishytime]

Lookin good....holy crap man...you managed to get, at my count, 13 fish in that last pic.:surprise:

[brickwood]

Lookin good....holy crap man...you managed to get, at my count, 13 fish in that last pic.:surprise:

Nope. 14. You missed the little red splotch of my firehawk behind the frogspawn.

[Leah]

Too Funny!

[Oceanic]

What kind of ballast comes with that light? I am looking into getting one of those in the 48" length! Still like the lights?

Cheers!