180 gal reef Build

[penelty]

My tank never sold so decided to follow through and set it up. Currently in the process of building the stand.


Sump is a oceanic 3 and will be contained under the stand. The ends of the stand will be large vents used as access doors in the event the sump needs to be removed.

[penelty]

I never feel my tank is ready to show but some friends wanted to see how it was coming along so heres some updates. I had some dying corals given to me when I started up the tank so the occasional coral with exposed skeleton was not my cause but they are now making a nice recovery. I did have a issue with extreme salinity for awhile while using a salinity monitor but that issue has been resolved. Alittle bit of algae is being stubborn around some sps so I cant remove it easily so I am waiting for it to die off. I feed very heavily for both corals and fish. Mysis, Brine, Cyclopeeze, Reef roids, phyto-something dry, coral vitalizer, sponge power... alot of feedings. Somewhere around 26 fish right now and working up to more in time.
4 Yellow Assessors - 1 male 3 female
3 Bar Gobies
2 Gudgeion Gobies
1 Figi Gudgeion Goby
3 Scissor Tails
5 Chalk Bassets
1 Splended Dottyback
1 Multicolor Angel
1 Copperband
1 Matted Filefish
1 Naso tank
1 Gold Stripe Maroon Clown
2 Potters Wrasse - Male and Female

I think that is it so far but I always forget someone. All small fish which is my aim, the copperband ate my aiptasisa, the naso ate the waffle algae and the filefish is eating the majano that was plaguing my tank.
3 x 400w halides over the tank with 13k bulbs. 2 x 5ft actinics run the length. I might add another pair of actinics in the future. An alpha cone 180 and vertex bio-pellet reactor keep waste under control.

The tank has along ways to go still and alot to improve on still but figured I might as well put up a mid point between start and finish.
Cheers
Ben

[hound96]

i have a 180 6' 24" tall i was wondering what you think of the korallias on the top like that i was thinking of doing it with mine just not sure about kicking up the sand , what height is your tank and do you have any issues with sand kicking up

[penelty]

the tank is 30-32 deep I forget the exact but they don't kick up sand really. If positioned right at the sand they will carve a valley but angled across my rocks and glass is working well. I have oolite sand and besides when I use a spare maxi to blow my rocks and kick up crap I don't have an issue with sand in the water column. I was having a lot of trouble with 3/4 thick glass the koralias weren't strong enough to stick to the glass so they were on the overflow boxes above the corals and that wasn't visually pleasant or nice for the corals. The euro bracing is working amazingly for power head placement and they are easily accessed or tweaked when needed.
Ben

[penelty]

been awhile

[Coralgurl]

Very nice! Updated fts?? Please??

[penelty]

[kien]

Nice! But I don't understand why the poor little guy doesn't just fly out of the box?

[penelty]

[lastlight]

Lots of growth it's looking great. What's the gap size between glass and overflow?