180G Office Reef Tank
 

Hey everyone! I'm back.... with a tank!

So about 2 months ago, the owner of the company I work for moved back from Texas to Canada. And with him he brought his 180G fish tank that he had. Not wanting to start another tank he left it at the office, where it has been sitting, while I tried to persuade and convince my manager to setup a Salty tank.

I finally got approval this morning to go ahead with this build so it's time to start buying gear. :mrgreen:

I've got my sump tank quoted already through dave@conceptaquatics which I am hoping to order tomorrow after work as long as he makes it back from Edmonton in time.

The tank I have to work with is a 180G tank with dimensions 60x24x29. This puppy will need to be drilled though as its not reef ready.

This is the only pic I have right now, but gives you an idea of what I have to work with.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0011.jpg

So far what I have planned for this build is:

- 150lbs of Dry "Live" Rock (seeded with 20ish pounds live rock)
- 2x 250W MH (Thanks for GreenSpottedPuffer)
- 40"x19"x16" sump tank seperated into 3 sections
- Bubble Magus NAC7 Skimmer
- Mag drive 1800 Supreme Return Pump
- Korallia Powerheads
- 4 Stage RO/DI
- Herbie Style Overflow


More to come.... It's good to be back! :lol:

following along wellcome to the 2012 180 club lol

Exciting, so this means you can go all out on equipment then? Lol

based on your tanks from the passed, If your in charge of this one, Its gonna be bad ass. Glad to see you building a tank again Josh

This will be the biggest tank I have had.. Pretty excited, while it is an office tank, I'm making sure that I am the only one doing maintenance on it, feedings.

Umm not quite.. I do have to keep the costs down as much as possible. Lighting I am picking up used, because it was far to much new. I'm down Dry rock to save on cost (and hopefully nuisance pests).

Thanks Jon.. I almost need a refresher course I've been awhile from tanks for so long. (2+ years).

The Nac-7 skimmer is rated up to 90g, pretty small for a 180g plus sump. I have a nac-7 running on my 34g cube/20g sump, a bit overkill but I figure if I ever upgrade to a 60g cube I'll be ok skimmer wise.

Also starting with mostly dry rock will take 6 months to over a year before becoming live rock. My advice is to stock the tank like you only have 20 pounds of rock in it or use mostly live rock and only a small amount of dry rock.

I'm not sure where you got your rating but both Bulk Reef Supply and Bubble Magus' website would seem to disagree regarding the skimmer rating, and every other website I have come across that sells the Nac7.

http://bubble-magus.com/en/productShow.asp?id=972

Meshwheel cone protein skimmer
BM-NAC7
Capability : 500L-700L (130G-185G)
pump:atman ph2500 (made in china)
Pump power: 28W, 220V 50Hz /110V 60Hz
air intake : 500L/H
Dimensions: 240×200×510mm( 9.4" * 7.8" * 20.0 ")
cylinder: Max 9"
Water Level :9.5"-11"

Yes it is still a bit on the low end for this tank, but I have to work with the budget I have unless it comes out of my own pocket.

The NAC77 (rated at 210-315) would be ideal I think, I just don't have room in the budget right now. I may change this or try and persuade an increase in budget but it's not a top concern at this point in the build.


I realize Dry rock will take longer that usual and for most of my tanks in the past, I have usually let the tank sit longer that a normal cycle anyways before any heavy stocking. I haven't even started to think about stocking yet to be honest.

Right now my main goal is to get this up and circulating water and seeding as soon as possible. I can keep the rest of the office staff at bay regarding stocking until its ready as none of them have a clue about the biological cycle/filtration involved in a salty tank, they will just have to be patient and listen to my advise. :)

Well I am starting to get the ball rolling on this tank.

Went to Concept Aquatics this weekend and ordered my sump tank from Dave. Should be ready for pickup today. I was rather impressed with his baffle design over my old school straight forward "over under over" design I had in mind when I went to see him. I'll get some photos of it when I get it picked up.

Also payed for my lighting this morning. 2x Lumen Bright Pendents with Coralvue 250W Dimmable Ballasts with 2x XM 20K bulbs and 2x Reflux Bulbs (can't recall the Kelvins)

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...r10/photo1.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...r10/photo2.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...r10/photo3.jpg


Huge thanks to GreenSpottedPuffer to hooking me up with these. You rock Justin! :mrgreen:


Next on the list is Salt, RO/DI unit, Rock, and Return pump.

Picked up "sumpin" new for the build last night! :lol:

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...der10/sump.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...er10/sump2.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...er10/sump3.jpg

ok......splain all the fancy cuts in the sump:mrgreen:

Pretty sure I invented that :wink: use to call them space saver baffles

I bought the Nac7 from Dave and both Doug and him told me up to 90g. So I took their word for it, most sites will over rate their skimmers so it's usually better to go with the low end of the rating. However I do tend to overstock/feed my tanks a bit so maybe they were taking that into consideration when they told me up to 90g.

Good to hear, I know a few people who go full speed ahead with dry rock and run into lots of issues later, glad you're aware to go slow. Should be a nice tank for everyone at the office to enjoy :biggrin:

According to Dave, they are something he has been trying out on sumps to help reduce bubbles/microbubbles by forcing the water to travel the length of the baffle panel. I originally went in with a straight for over/under/over design, but the logic in his idea seemed sound and I don't believe it cost me any extra so I decided to give it a try.

Skimmer will go on the left side (of the first pic), return pump in the middle, and live rock (and possibly a 2nd skimmer on the right).

I understand the idea behind Daves explanation of this design, not sure how they save space though? Do tell! :wink:

Even on the low end I am looking at 135G of that rating.. with the opportunity of having a NAC 6 helping out as well (freebie with the lights from GreenSpottedPuffer). I missed out on my chance for a NAC66 yesterday in the marketplace unfortunately! :cry:


The last thing I want is this office smelling like a crashed tank! :lol:

Picked up a few more things last night from Concept Aquatics.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0184.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0185.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/Untitled.jpg

This RO/DI unit looks pretty badass! Looking forward to setting it up this weekend.

Water Blaster HY7000 Return Pump
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0192.jpg


80lbs of Sand
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0196.jpg

Coralife Salt. Enough for 300G worth of water.
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0195.jpg

Vertex Refracometer
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0193.jpg

Misc Plumbing:
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0194.jpg


Stopped off at Home Depot tonight and got the rest of my plumbing, a Timer Power bar. Then stopped off at schuns place to grab a Koralia 3 and 250W heater. My ballasts and pendents are somewhere between Vancouver and Calgary according to UPS' shipment tracker (not that I am in a rush for them anyways)

Picking up my overflows tomorrow from Concepts' and hopefully my dry rock if the shipment comes in. Then Saturday it's time to start drilling and plumbing. :razz:

he gets the green light and its zero to sixty in three seconds flat huh?.....looking good mang!.....you'll be happy with the vertex RO....we have one at RCE and its da bomb....(is it just me, or is kinda dorky to be talkin about a RO/DI unit like that?:mrgreen:)

whatever get you wet is a good thing its alll good lol

I've had almost 3 months to plan this tank since the first day I walked into the office and saw it sitting there empty. :mrgreen: Doesn't take long to drive over to concept aquatics from where I work, bit longer than 3secs though. :wink:

Im definitely impressed with the RO over my last unit I had, and I haven't even ran water through it yet! I'm hoping our flimsy walls can support its weight. :razz:

Im almost there!

Went into the office today to do some work on the tank.

Main things I wanted to get done:

- Silicone in my overflows
- Drill the holes for the overflows and returns
- Plumb the tank
- Position the sump and stand where I want them.

I got 2 out of the 4 done, mainly because I got my overflows made to the wrong height and had to leave the the office to get them corrected. I got them made to 28" (30" tank Trim to Trim), unfortunately that left me with 0.5" to the lip of the tank from the top of the overflow, a risk I didn't want to tank. Thankfully Roger and concepts was able to correct this for me today. Still time consuming but I'm in a training class next week, so not sure how much time I will have to work on the tank and really just wanted the overflows done.

I did in the end get the overflows installed and the tank drilled. The sump is in position.

Plumbing the tank I put on hold as I'm debating about adding a blue or black backing to the tank, and the plumbing would just get in the way. I could just let it encrust with coraline I suppose.. Gonna sleep on it this weekend.

Not a great pic as it was with my iphone, but this was basically how it sat when I left the office tonight (minus the frogger tape and dirty glass).

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0203.jpg


Oh and one more thing.... I ended up grabbing this little beauty today while at Concepts getting my overflows fixed.

I honestly have NO idea when I will be able to do this tank build as my rental agreement doesn't allow for an aquarium... but it was too nice to leave sitting around the shop. Now it can sit around my bedroom and tease me with idea's of what I'm gonna do with it. :razz:

Apologies for the last picture being so bad.. I got bad lighting in my room and the iphone takes ****ty pics.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...f/IMG_0180.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...f/IMG_0181.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...f/IMG_0206.jpg

will be following along i gotta say looking killer man:)

id go with the black background over blue:)

This is a looking very good - looking forward to following your build.

Looking good!

So you come back in to the hobby, Start up a build and shoot us with all the glory shots of equipment. And its not set up OMG MAN:mrgreen:

Nice tank too.

Thanks guys. :)

I don't even have the rock man! :lol:

It's gonna be bit slowed down now as my debit card got skimmed (no pun intended) and the bastards stole a large portion of funds from my account (mostly funds allocated for the tank). So until the investigation gets completed and I get my money back, I won't be able to buy anything I need to continue. (Rock, various pumps/heaters, etc) :neutral: I can still do the plumbing and stuff this week, and hopefully have water in the tank by next weekend.

aw man that friggin sucks.

I had that happen to me too. It's scary when it actually happens to you. Kinda makes you feel helpless.

The only good thing (I'm with TD), was that they dealt with it very quickly, and I had the funds put back into my account within 4 days of reporting it. They were super good about it.

The bad thing was that I was in the process of buying a new Motorcycle, and it put a major hold on that for a while.

It actually happened to 5 of us where I work, and we are pretty confident we know where it happened. We go to a Subway for lunch every monday, and they are continuously changing out there debit keypad. It's the only place all of us ever go to that's the same and we all use debit there. Will be filing a police report (as suggested by the bank).

I was actually able to get an overdraft setup for the amount taken, so I might be able to get some work done on the tank this week, if I can find the energy after sitting in this training seminar all day, all week. :lol:

I definitely need to get a couple arcylic panels siliconed to overflow, so they have time to cure before I fill the tank with water. I'm hoping Dave gets his dry rock in this week too.

Anyone got any spare 1" strainers laying around?

I swung by the office last night and tonight, on my way home from a training seminar I'm in all week. Last night I finished up siliconing the acrylic to the overflows, and then spray bombed the back of the tank in black. Which was about all I was able to do as the unbearable air in the office started making me light headed.

Went back tonight and did all the plumbing for the system. This is the first tank I have plumbed that doesn't have a check valve (could not find one) on the return line, which makes me nervous, but I have done the calculations (4x) and based on my numbers I should have enough room in my sump for the water that will drain back down back down from the Display and Overflows. I basically copied fishytimes plumbing (minus the check valve). I went with Herbie overflows as they have always worked for me in the past. Couple ****ty iphone pics.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0235.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0236.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0237.jpg


Next on the list is to order some 1"x1" - 3/16" tubing and get the light stands welded up and installed on the the stand. This needs to be done before I get any water in the tank so I can still access the back.

Just another day at the Office. :lol:

Swung by Concept again today... Dave is probably sick of seeing me!

Changed up my skimmer choice from the Bubble Magus to this!

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0247.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0248.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0249.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0250.jpg

Barely fits in my allotted skimmer section as it wasn't planned for... but it fits none the less.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0251.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0252.jpg

Also picked up 150ish #'s of Dry Macro rock that Dave just got in.. I gotta say, 150lbs of dry rock seems like a lot.. I did a mock up of an aquascape, and I still have a 1 FULL box (out of 4 @ 40ish lbs each) of rock after words.. And I don't even have the live rock yet to seed it. I may just have to keep the extra box of dry rock for myself for the 62G I bought. :lol:

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0253.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...0/IMG_0256.jpg

Looking good! Love the skimmer upgrade, glad it fit, it should work better for your system :biggrin:

Thanks Laurie.. I'm definitely impressed with the build quality.. It's no BK, but it is still built extremely well, very solid. My only complaint with it is the twist-locking collection cup style neck..

I still need to decide if I am gonna T off my return pump to feed it, or if I should just pick up a 500gph pump to feed it.

I hope it pays off.. the extra that it cost me came out of my own pocket. :lol:

@#%^&**!!!! :mmph:

Just finished typing up my update and accidentally switched to youtube to upload the video of the swinging light rack, and lost everything I typed!

So.. attempt #2.


Tuesday I got around to welding up my light racks using 1"x1" steel tubing. Sealed up all the ends to prevent salt creep and corrosion and finally finished with a few coats of black paint to tie them into the color scheme of the tank.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0281.jpg

One issue I came to realize was that with the size of these Lumenbright Pendents, and the annoying glass brace (pictured above) it was going to be a bit MORE of a pain when it came to maintenance on this 30" deep tank. Thus I decided to make it super easy to swing these lights out of my way, freeing up the whole top of the tank for access (except for the brace).

Quick video of how simple it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzkff...ature=youtu.be

After that was done I installed the ballasts inside the stand, setup my timers and tested the lights. I gotta clean up the cables a bit. :lol:

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0287.jpg

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0283.jpg


And finally before leaving for the evening cut out and laid in my egg crate floor. I've never done this before in any of my previous tanks, but figured I would give a try with this, hoping that it provides a sold base for the rock to sit on rather that the smooth glass. We'll see how that goes tomorrow when I mock up an aquascape.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...k/IMG_0285.jpg


As much as I wanted to get the RO/DI flowing tonight and start filling, I held off as I wasn't comfortable leaving it running all night without being able to check on it. So I will be into the office bright as early tomorrow after Formula 1 Qualifying to start getting this tank wet! :mrgreen:

Wow! This is looking very, very good. I really like what you have done with the lights.

Thanks gridley! That little trick should save me some pain during maintenance.:lol:

Well I am back at the office today...... I gotta say, it's not so bad saying that when I'm not actually here for my 9-5 job! :lol:

I finished the aquascaping... and I am liking my first attempt quite a lot.. I was originally worried when I did my mock up (pictured above I think) that I was gonna have a hard time creating a good looking aquascape with such a deep tank... I've never had a tank deeper than 20" before, so this was a bit of a challenge but like I said, very happy with how it looks right now.. Lots of tunnels and passages for the fish.

Couple shots of the aquascape..

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...180GRocks1.jpg

Left side at an angle...
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...180GRocks5.jpg

Middle at an angle.... I purposely left the middle section of the rock lower due to the fact that the stupid glass bracing that I wasn't able to remove cuts my lights spread through the center of the tank.. So I will use that area for low light coral most likely.
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...180GRocks2.jpg

Right side at an angle...
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...180GRocks4.jpg


And the water is flowing!.... Slowly @ 100GPD...
http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/...180GRocks3.jpg

The biggest regret I have with my build is adding eggcrate like that. I would never do it again. I've always just put the rock on glass, and the egg crate made no difference.
But with the sand moving around, it's exposed and looks like crap. And there's no removing it now. I'd really re-think that before you get too far....

If its bare bottom would that not collect detritus? If covered in sand, {and not exposed as Brad mentioned}, would it matter? Under a sand bed the crawlies can still get in there.

I will be adding a fairly good sand bed... In my experience I've never had sand blow around so much that its exposed any part of the bottom of the tank.. I did find it to be rather beneficial actually while scaping for supporting some pieces that would have otherwise been rocking back and forth.

I'm really liking the rock work as it stands now. I've seen plenty of builds go this route with no issues, so I'll just to live with any consequences which I think will be nil. If the sand is moving around that much, I will be thinking more about altering my flow before worrying about a bit of exposed egg crate.


Certainly won't be BB.. I am waiting to add the sand until I get the salt mixed in, and as mentioned, I'll have a decent depth sand bed for the crawlies to travel through.

Hope that works out, it sucks to not want it after it's there :) I didn't even have a good reason to add mine, just read about it somewhere -lol

Me too.. lol

It seems like a 50/50 debate on various forums as to whether to use it.. Mostly varying opinions on dispersing pressure points and whether or not it "traps" nutrients. Personally I think fauna is gonna travel vertically and horizontally through the sand bed, so I hardly see it as a nutrient trap.

I'm obviously on the side that says it doesn't have any/many serious negative side affects to the tank. :razz: but it's also something fairly new to me. Meh!

One argument against it that gave me a chuckle was "Have you ever seen a TOTM with it?" :lol: While possibly true, I wouldn't know as I'm not one to follow every TOTM out there.