Yesterday morning:

before


Getting started, that veneer was sticky...


a little paint


a little PVC


a little progress


After, and moved inside


Dry fitting the return


All of it, that's a long way down there


Painted, called it a night



Today:

got buckets?


got aquariums?


Out with the old


In with the new


Where we stand right now, dinner break



Forgot to say that I found the jawfish that I'd written off for dead months ago. She looks rough, but she's alive. I'm almost thinking she was trapped or something. Hopefully she'll perk up in the new tank. Now I've got to add a little more sand than I was planning.

The upgrade looks great! The old 125 looks so small now... I can't believe you found the jawfish too.

The size difference is even more dramatic in person. It's crazy.

The fish are still in the 40b. The 180 is a little more than half full with a couple of koralias and a heater. The water was still only 72* this morning. Hopefully I'll be able to move them over tonight, I've got a lot of work to do today.

This is pretty close to what the stand will look like when finished:

That is a very BIG difference in size!
I would never have thought that it was that much bigger

Nice progress 'skills!

Dats a bigun too!

Thanks ya'll. The fish will be moved over tonight. Everything was settled and warmed up enough last night to do it, but it was 10 pm before I got home and I didn't feel like it. The Nova Extreme should be waiting on my front porch for me, too. Soooo...first FTS tonight!

I'm thinking about getting a Vortech with the battery backup, for peace of mind. I've lost almost a whole tank before in one night while I was sleeping because the power went out, I can't chance that again with the amount of livestock that will be in this tank. I was looking at the Magnum Koralias, so what's another $450?

Whoa.

Looking good so far, how many tanks do you have setup?

Bruce

Thanks. Just the ones in my signature and the 40 breeder holding tank for everything moving into the 180.

IT'S LIKE CHRISTMAS IN FEBRUARY! Nova Extreme 4-lamp, Par38, and clear 1/4" pond netting were all waiting for me at home! Tonight is going to be fun. Now I just need to find a lamp to hold the Par38, the one I was going to use temporarily isn't big enough.

Let there be light:

Tank looks awesome!

Great scape!

Thanks! The rock on the right in the foreground sits up on top of that tower, but the water level is still too low. I'll put more in it tonight.

That would be cool if snails and hermits went up there

Didja see the new battery back up with the dual ports? Same price as the original model but can run two pumps. Savin' some pennies for that one myself.

I saw that today actually. I'll probably only have one pump, so it doesn't make much difference to me. I may eventually add a second one.

Picture time! Mesh lids:


The Par38 wouldn't fit in the desk lamp I was going to use for testing, so I came up with this:

I took all the bulbs out of the overhead light. It's 30" too far away, but it worked for tonight.

Comparison shots (it's not this blue in person, I didn't change the settings at all, it's getting late)
left side with just T5


T5 and LED


Right side T5 only


T5 and LED


I'm very impressed with the nanotuners.com Par38 LED. This is the 12000k, 60* optic variety. I think I'm going to put this one over my Pico though and go with 3x 40* optics to act as spotlights to really highlight my aquascape. I'll make my final decision after I get another lamp that I can move closer to the tank.

good lord.

what?

Looking really good. I like the scaping alot.

Thanks, I'll get a better FTS when the 125 is out of the way. I'll figure out the white balance too.

Looking good!! Is it totally filled up and running now? I think I need to eventually add screens like that on my tank - did you just buy a screen window kit from home depot and use pond netting? Is it a an easy DIY?


just noticed 2000th post -

This is looking awesome skillz..

cmador, not a kit, but same stuff. I bought it all seperate. It's the 1/4" mesh that someone was selling in the hardware classifieds, he'll cut it to size and mail it to you for a very reasonable price. There's also a DIY article in the DIY section by the same guy. I wouldn't run a tank without it.

Not filled all the way, only about 3" from the top now. I'll be finishing the plumbing this week after work.

Thanks for the compliments guys. It's really starting to look nice in person. Today we put a floor inside the stand and moved the sump in so I can finish all of the plumbing. I still need to drill my fuge too.

My truck started acting up today, so some of the final funds for this tank may get diverted to that. I'd like to get a whole new truck altogether, I need more towing capacity by next year anyways...

Lots of frags are on their way from Mr. Fosi and nanoyed. A pair of baby Black & white Occy's from nanoyed as well. Lots of zoas, some frogspawn, a little gsp, and an orange monti cap frag.

I've also placed a liveaquaria order for Saturday delivery:
Scotts Fairy wrasse (Cook's island, large),
Red Head Solon Wrasse,
Exquisite Wrasse (Maldives),
4 lyretail anthias (female, fiji),
bicolor blenny,
5 chromis,
2 yellowtail damsels (1 for 180, 1 for 55),
heniochus butterfly (indo pacific, med),
marble sea star (orange, maldives, med)

Wow! thats a big order!! can't wait to see the fishies
I got 6 green chromis 2 weeks ago...they look great in a school.

Can't wait to see the order!

Congrats on the new tank!! Can't wait to see all the goodies your getting bro!!! And adding more lr would be sweet! So much rooooooooooom!

Yeah, the government paid me back for their loan from last year. I apparently loaned them way more than I was planning on. It was a nice surprise.

well I hope the miata is getting some lovin' too.

New soles for the used new shoes.

New page, new picture:


I got a lamp for the Par38 finally. I approve of the LED spotlight. I will definitely be getting some track lighting and more Par38s. I love the shimmer.

looking good man... can't wait to see this mature...

Looking awesome man... how is your Powder Blue doing?

knock on wood....just fine. He's still trying to convince the yellow tang that he's the boss. What neither of them realize is that the Coral Beauty Angel actually runs this tank. A full grown dwarf angel is surprisingly spunky.

Par38 only. I definitely think I could light the whole tank with these things.


New cleaner shrimp(plural)


Whammin' watermelon "frag"


I say "frag" because it was pretty much a colony in the frag bin. That picture is of about half of the "frag", I already split it up. It's only half open because I only turned the Par38 on for like 15 minutes this morning.

I have to admit, they look brighter over your tank than I would have expected.
You got the 12k, right?

They're way brighter than I expected. They outshine the Nova. Yep, 12k, 60* optics.

Nice Additions

DO EET!

Corals from Mr. Fosi!

Zoanthids:


Another frag of zoas, this is the last one to open up, you see on the bottom of the rock it's starting to (Lani's reds)


And 4 heads of Frogspawn, should be pretty big when it fully inflates:


I'll get better up-close shots when the glass is clean.

Orange Cremes.

They'll come around.

change thread title to:

fewskillz' 180 gallons of awesome wild sex

Damn, you guys are fast. I was just copying the pictures. I'll post in WL anyways.

Thanks for the correction Fosi, I'm horrible with names.

Looks great! I love the scape

That PAR38 is brighter than I would have expected! how deep is a 180?

New fish are here!!!





They made it through the snow!

Yay

fishies!? fishy fishy fishy!

what fishies?

Everything but the Heniochus. They ran out of stock before shipping my order. He's going in the 55 anyways.