180G Office Reef Tank

[sphelps]

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

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by JDigital

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.

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.

Originally Posted by JDigital

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.

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

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by fishytime

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

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).

Originally Posted by sphelps

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

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

Originally Posted by fishoholic

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.:

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!

Originally Posted by fishoholic

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

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

[JDigital]

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







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

Water Blaster HY7000 Return Pump



80lbs of Sand


Coralife Salt. Enough for 300G worth of water.


Vertex Refracometer


Misc Plumbing:



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.

[fishytime]

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?)

[lockrookie]

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

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by fishytime

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?)

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. Doesn't take long to drive over to concept aquatics from where I work, bit longer than 3secs though.

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.

Originally Posted by lockrookie

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

Im almost there!

[JDigital]

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).




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.

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

[reefwars]

will be following along i gotta say looking killer man

id go with the black background over blue

[gridley]

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