RWB's 180g fish box Update 12/29/13

[redwhiteandblue]

Hello,

I have started my 180 build. It is a couple of months away from having water in it, but I have been working on the DIY stand and canopy for a bit. I figured Id post the build to give other ideas, as well as take suggestions from other builders.

It is a clear for life 180g with 3 overflows across the top and 2 returns. there is also a closed loop overflow and return about 12" up from the bottom (previous chiller) I dont plan on runnign a chiller, however, i might put a valve on it to use for water changes. the sump is a 65g AGA. and the system is powered by blue line aqua pumps. This was a used setup i found on craigslist for an amazing price. I wish I would have bought the lights and chiller from them as well. oops!

I am planning on updating this as I go. here you go, enjoy!

The day I got it home (it was used to i fill tested it):

the sump


the skeleton stand


the trim


the doors


complete stand






Today was canopy day:

some more trim, cut out the openings and its ready for staining. It is an open top canopy for better airflow. I am thinking about using curtains instead of cabinet doors. this will allow for fresh air, better air flow, and make it a little different look than the usual. good idea or bad?

[redwhiteandblue]

correction: the sump is an adhi berlin 45 not an ADA

[mastadon]

wow i cant wait to see how this turns out, I like the color stain you choose. will this be a FOWLR or straight reef? its odd how dead this place is over 100 views and no comments heh, all lurkers!!

[redwhiteandblue]

so i finally after a long week, finished building and staining the canopy.

 

it took a while because at first, It was too tall for the room I was placing it in. Ihad to chop 6 inches off the top to allow for air flow around the open top.

 

then, I realized I didnt account for the water level being exposed below the canopy. this had to be extended about 2 inches down from the top of the tank. hopefully it works out, it wasnt an easy fix. thankfully i didnt have the trim up yet!

 

and today, since i had to mod, the bottom of it, i made an almost disasterous mistake. not realizing that the canopy was two inched down on the tank, i put the first brad in the trim, and heard a crack! i accidently nailed right through the acrylic! thankfully it just chipped the top edge of the tank, so no integrity of the stand was affected. and now that i have this "sweet" canopy, it covers my flaw in the tank

 

the only thing left it the doors and some killz paint

 

trim

 

 

trim complete

 

 

detail on side

 

 

stained awaiting doors

 

[adam87]

nice

[redwhiteandblue]

the new stuff:

 

finally moved into its permanent spot

 

 

the all day fill since i only can store 80 gal of RODI at a time

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x447/r...1/180/fill1.jpg

 

 

my RODI water operation

 

 

 

filled up and running

 

 

 

the heartbeat of the system

 

 

 

So far, it has been one week since the fill up. everything is tuned to the proper flow and so on.

 

For this tank, I wanted all dry rock which will be seeded from live rock from my biocube, along with my corraline covered snails and crabs. the cycle method i used was old filter floss from my biocube, along with 40 lbs of live sand.

 

the rock is 35 lbs of pukani, and 65 lbs of reef saver rock all from BRS. this stuff is all very nice, I only wish I would have gotten all 100 lbs of pukani.

 

the cycle has started, im into the nitrite growing phase.

 

Currently awaiting my ATI sunpower light to arrive (6x80w) with 3 blue plus, 1 purple plus, and 2 aquablue specials. im not sure how this will look, but i will fine tune it as we go.

 

Im not planning on adding any fish, or corals until mid november, so it will all cycle, and hopefully the cuc will remove whatever algae occurs until then. the cuc will be introduced gradually to avoid starvation.

 

the reef octopus xs 200 is a beast of a machine.

[disaster999]

looks good

[tam]

Very nice, what lighting are you going with?

[disaster999]

he mentioned it in his last post

 

ATI sunpower light (6x80w) with 3 blue plus, 1 purple plus, and 2 aquablue specials

[iDream]

And might I add a very SICK light at that, definitely gonna like seeing that set up.

 

In a future build I'm basically going with the same 6 bulb combo, so I'm excited to see how it looks!

[animalmaster6]

Can't wait to see this filled up!

[redwhiteandblue]

thought I would share this with you all:

 

I was at petsmart, and I usually dont buy much there other than simple stuff.

I have been looking for some good moonlighting for a reasonable price under 30$

 

turns out i found a marineland LED 11" for an "aquarium up to 30 inches" for 30$ I looked closer and it had 3 blue led moonlights. I figured id try it and this is the result:

 

 

after some height adjustment (moved from top of tank to top of canopy) I got an amzing shimmer effect. make that ridiculously amazing. the white painted canopy amplified the light and made those cheap 3 leds really glow.

 

so happy i waited until dark. i almost returned it lol

 

not to mention, it also leaves a sweet moodlight ring above the canopy.

 

best 30$ spent so far on the 180

 

 

 

also, thak you all for the comments. im trying to update this anytime something new happens to keep the interest alive lol

[redwhiteandblue]

 

this pic is just the daytime led light from that marineland fixture. it does nothing, but at least I can look at the rock until my real light comes in

now for the update.

 

still waiting on my ati sunpower. should be here by monday. i was really hoping that it would show up by friday but things happen i guess. at least my bulbs arrived from bulk reef supply, along with my sweet new algae magnet (*hammerhead) this thing is awesome. i obviously dont have algae deposits on the acrylic yet, but i dont think ill have too much of a problem when it comes. this thing is a workout to do the whole 180 lol.

 

the tank itself is cycling like crazy. my ammonia is about 0. my nitrites are sky high....which is throwing my nitrate reading way off. hopefully it will get back into testing range soon. just so i can write somethign new down in my log.

 

other than that, iv been planning my cuc. 25% of them will be introduced whenever the algae boom shows up. but then again i might hold off till november just to be safe. gonna be a various mix of nassarius,astrea, ceriths and turbos. red,blue, and scarlet hermits. a couple emrald crabs, an maybe ill get a cleaner shrimp.

 

as far as fish planning, not sure yet, but i might move my clowns out of the nano when the time is right.

 

thats all for now. feel free to toss suggestions

[joeyhatch11]

I can only hope to one day have a 100+ gallon SW tank. Sh!t, I'd be happy turning my 40B into one. LOL But for now I'll stick with the 10G and see how that goes. Looking forward to some future updates. Good job so far. Love the custom cabinet.

[redwhiteandblue]

I can only hope to one day have a 100+ gallon SW tank. Sh!t, I'd be happy turning my 40B into one. LOL But for now I'll stick with the 10G and see how that goes. Looking forward to some future updates. Good job so far. Love the custom cabinet.

 

 

Thank you. I have wanted a big tank for a long time as well. I almost bought an undrilled 180 a few yrs ago. thankfully I waited till I got into the saltwater world. who wants an undrilled 180 freshwater anyway? j/k lol

[Catbus]

can't wait till this bad boy is stocked!!

[Ferrari_Jones]

Absolutely gorgeous setup.

[redwhiteandblue]

the ATI SUNPOWER is officially on the tank and wow this thing is bright! wil post pics later one hopefully.

 

the cycle had completed and i have a small amount of diatoms starting to form up so i introduced one blue leg hermit to be the first occupant. he came from my biocube which was overstocked on the blue legs. also, i transported 1 piece of cured live rock to assist with the corraline growth and seeding the base rock.

 

moved my GSP to the big tank as well due to it not growing very well in the biocube.

 

Iknow that this is fast, but nothing else is being added to the tank till mid november other than a cuc.

 

im confident in my parameters as well.

 

...........sooooooo, let the 180 begin!!!!

[saltwatercoral]

the new stuff:

 

finally moved into its permanent spot

 

 

the all day fill since i only can store 80 gal of RODI at a time

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x447/r...1/180/fill1.jpg

 

 

my RODI water operation

 

 

 

filled up and running

 

 

 

the heartbeat of the system

 

 

 

So far, it has been one week since the fill up. everything is tuned to the proper flow and so on.

 

For this tank, I wanted all dry rock which will be seeded from live rock from my biocube, along with my corraline covered snails and crabs. the cycle method i used was old filter floss from my biocube, along with 40 lbs of live sand.

 

the rock is 35 lbs of pukani, and 65 lbs of reef saver rock all from BRS. this stuff is all very nice, I only wish I would have gotten all 100 lbs of pukani.

 

the cycle has started, im into the nitrite growing phase.

 

Currently awaiting my ATI sunpower light to arrive (6x80w) with 3 blue plus, 1 purple plus, and 2 aquablue specials. im not sure how this will look, but i will fine tune it as we go.

 

Im not planning on adding any fish, or corals until mid november, so it will all cycle, and hopefully the cuc will remove whatever algae occurs until then. the cuc will be introduced gradually to avoid starvation.

 

the reef octopus xs 200 is a beast of a machine.

 

I think this is the same PS I have. How do u like it? How long was the break in period?

[redwhiteandblue]

I think this is the same PS I have. How do u like it? How long was the break in period?

 

its a extreme 200xs

 

very nice. started pulling crap out right away. its breakin in still, but pretty consistant. the pump is loud (helps to turn sideways) and the air intake is loud too. i just stuffed some filter floss in each intake tube. helps out quite a bit.

 

it has quieted down a lot in 2 weeks. im thinkin its safe to say its broken in

 

i cant jusdge it against any other skimmer, but all the reviews seem to be accurate from what i can tell.

 

ive cleaned it 1 time each week so far, and thee is nothing but base rock and sand in my tank. pretty sweet

[saltwatercoral]

Looks real nice! What r u going to stock it with? Im lookin at all the reef setups on this site for a while and getting many good ideas!

[redwhiteandblue]

my ati sunpower finally came in and wow its bright.

 

throughout the week the cycle completed this past monday, i moved my clowns from my biocube, along with a couple peices of live rock to seed my base rock.

 

its amazing how much better this light is. my zoas, have doubled in size and polyps in 1 week. my gsp has never been this full.

 

i know this is fast, but i trust my tank parameters to stay stable, and im confident there isnt gonna be too much change in anything. i will not be adding more livestock till, mid november.

 

here are the pics of everything alive and well.

 

o yea, the diatoms have made their presence so i put about 10% of my CUC in today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[iDream]

Awww, no actual pics of the Sunpower? Those things are a piece of art by themselves!

[redwhiteandblue]

Awww, no actual pics of the Sunpower? Those things are a piece of art by themselves!

 

ill see about gettin one on here tomorrow or so. it is a fancy fixture. very well made

[redwhiteandblue]

hello again, no pics today, hopefully by tomorrow ill get some stuff posted.

 

well, its been a busy week, but great things have happened in the tank.

 

i know its a bit soon, but like i said before i am confident in my reefing to know when something is going worng, and what is going well. I got a little more buildup in my cuc. i ordered from reefcleaners. got some amazing service! the post office screwed up and didnt leave a notice for my missed package....well, turns out, they were holding it for 3 days! the only thing that didnt survice the shipment was 5 redleg hermits, and 2 blue leg hermits. pretty impressive for 4 days in a bag!

 

they also sent me about 100 dwarf ceriths when i ordered 20 lol! i placed them all in the tank and beleive it or not, i can only find 5-10 with the lights on, so im thinkin my CUC will be good for a while now. the only thing i might add is a little shrimp sooner or later.

 

now for the exciting part....I was in a LFS picking up some fish for my nano (since the clowns moved out) and a guy in there mentioned he had some frags for sale...

 

well ,i wasnt planning on getting any till december, but things are goign great, and i couldnt pass up the deal: especially since i was going to get these anyway:

 

DUNCAN WHISKER CORAL W/ 3 HEADS : $15

PURPLE/GREEN TIP BRANCHING FROGSPAWN W/ 2 HEADS : $10

BRANCHING HAMMER 2 HEADS: $15

7 LBS good, clean LR with red mushrooms(20-30ish) : $10

 

im not the bigget fan of mushrooms, but I wanted some because they are a great way to visually monitor your water quality. they sense thing before the fish and other corals. may be a myth, but it makes sense to believe this.

the frogspawn has also started to split into a third head already so thats pretty awesome

 

the diatoms are gone, just waiting on the dreaded cyano...hopefully my flow keeps this from happening in this tank. a little corraline has also appeard this wek as well

 

 

all in all its been, a great week for reefing!