Zee's 180 Gallon Reef Build

[zhasan]

Hi all, I've been busy working on the build. Below are pics form the past week.

Got the plywood board all sanded and painted.

Bottom panel.


Top Panel.


Back Panel.



Here is the stand after the first coat of paint. I wanted a brighter shade of red but this is all that was available.. oh well.




Painted the bank pane of the aquarium black. Always wanted a jet black finish. It looking real good from the front side.



Got an awesome place for my RO/DI setup. Wife is not home these days so maybe this will have to move but I'm optimistic for now.



While I waited for the paint to dry off it was time to nuke the dry rock and take out any possible trace of algea.





Its cooking up a storm in there...





Didn't get a picture of the cleaned up rock but it turned out pretty nice. I ran short on the acid so have some pieces that didn't clean properly. I'll be picking up some more acid this week to nuke them again.

I finally got to open up all the goodies I had ordered over the holidays.



Really stoked about the skimmer. Its my first ever brand new purchase of an integral piece of equipment. Hoping this guy will last me years.



I decided to take full advantage of wife's absence. Got my temporary holding tank setup for cycling the rock in the dining area.



RO/DI system made enough water overnight for my purposes. Got the salt in this morning and temperature is now stable.

In goes the rock...



Will be adding Brightwell Microbactor7 and some food pellets to jump start the cycling process. Hoping for the cycle to be completed by Sunday next week.

More to come...