Weeble's Euro-180

[Defective_Weeble]

When I first started in this hobby it was with a 20 long. That quickly became a 40 breeder, then a 120. I was stopping at 120 as it really was a great tank size at 4x2x2, but my haste to find a tank burned me a bit and I ended up with a tank that had glass problems that I wasn't willing to put the time in to fix. So for the past few months I've stared at my 120 knowing that I'd be sacrificing it to the upgrade gods.

Yesterday, the ceremony began:

When you buy used tanks you almost always have to compromise. There's usually a scratch here or a scuff there. But this is honestly the most perfect used tank I've ever seen. I literally can not find a scratch on the glass. The silicone needs a bit of touch up if I want to be anal about things, but even that is minor.

It will be a couple of weeks before I do the flip out from my 120 to the new 180, but I've got some garage work to do in the mean time. The canopy is ready for paint but the stand isn't here yet. I'll be getting it in the next few days, then starting the sanding and filling process on it as well. I'm going for gloss black with multiple coats of clear to make this thing shine.

As for the equipment, almost everything that I'm running on my 120 is going to transfer over just fine. I might upgrade heaters, but my dual 150s hardly ever kick on as it is so I'll likely let them run for a bit. I'm thinking that I'm going for dual Jebao RW15's for circulation, but I'm not 100% decided just yet. The biggest unknown is the lighting. I'm currently running 6x 48-inch ATI T5. Leaving a foot on each end is going to create some serious dark space, so I need to get looking pretty quickly. Fortunately my current tank isn't grown in too much yet so even with only 4 feet of light I have plenty of room for corals until I decide.

Filtration will stay as it is now. A Super Reef Octopus 2000 is serving me well. Though I'd eventually like to get a Vertex Alpha 170 or 200. I'll be waiting to find a used one though because hooooooooly crap are those pricey.

Anyway, not a big and pretty build thread for this one as most everything is already in place and it's really just a tank switch. But I've waited a long time to get into the "Large Aquariums" threads so I had to take the chance

For now, I'm back to painting and trying to find a couple 100-gallon horse troughs for the tank swap.

 

[revhtree]

Looking good!

 

[gcrawford]

Following....

 

[c_healy]

Cant wait to see this one, following along.

 

[Defective_Weeble]

So the big question is lighting. Unfortunately, since ReefGeeks closed shop, I'm finding it very difficult to buy T5 pieces to do a 60 inch retrofit in the hood. But even if I could, I'm not sure I want to.

I'm considering moving over to HQI MH. Logic tells me that a 24 inch deep tank with a 14 inch tall canopy is going to need 3x 250w halides. But then I see this tank running on 150 and I'm not so sure (MikeTR via Flickr)

Now here's my concern. See that echinata that sits just barely left of center? Here's a better closeup of it:

It looks to me like the 3 branches are growing in a funky pattern for an echinata. Maybe I'm wrong, but it looks like the coral is trying to grow up to light faster than it can branch out. Would anyone else agree? Aside from lighting, is there any reason why a growth pattern like his would happen?

Mike's thread over on Nano-Reef details the troubles he had with 250w halides on his tank. Eventually, after bleaching every coral that came into the tank, he decided to make the move over to a lower wattage and he's not had any trouble since. But if I'm focused primarily on SPS, where Mike's tank is most definitely a mixed reef, would I be better served to bite the bullet with 250w fixtures and just be careful about light acclimation?

 

[Defective_Weeble]

Day 1: Well OK, so it's really day 2, but I didn't do anything to it last night because I had to get out and get paint supplies. So I'm calling it day 1.

Got the first coats of paint and Killz onto the canopy and the back of the stand. I'm thinking it's probably going to take 3-4 more coats of paint before I'm happy enough with it to give it a thumbs up. The problem is that I only have until this upcoming Sunday to get those done, dried and approved. Whew!

I had used Plasti-Dip on a previous tank and I was happy with the results. Unfortunately my 2 local stores only had it in spray cans and I didn't want to go that route. But the more that I thought about it, I remembered being really upset when a small nick in the Plasti-Dip turned into a big rip on a previous tank setup. So all things considered, I've had this gallon of black paint around for a long time and this is tank #4 that's being painted with it.

 

[bknapp]

I've got a standard 180, I've had zero issues with running 250 watt halide. I'm utilizing three 250's along with four 4' T5 and four 5' T5. I'm running more of a mixed reef with heavy SPS, I would think you should go with 250's or 400's.

And as far as that weird growth pattern on that enchinata there are any number of things that can influence that change in pattern such as flow changes, lighting changes, frags being cut, parameter changes. It could also be another coral growing out from behind it, it looks more stag like.

 

[Defective_Weeble]

Thanks BK. I'm thinking 250 is the right way to go. Given the types of corals that I want, I could definitely get away with 400 but I'd rather stay at the lower wattage if possible. I'm going to try to avoid T5 supplements, using Reefbrite or some other type of LED. I'd like to minimize the amount of bulbs I'm having to change every 6-9 months. I'll have to see how the growth patterns look, but I think having the halides as the main light will take care of things.

Agreed that it could very well be a stag growing behind the echinata. It's really hard to tell. But if it's not, then that growth pattern is really concerning. That's one funky echinata, if it's indeed looking like a stag horn

 

[bknapp]

It's hard to beat the look and growth of T5's and halide. Without some sort of supplementation to the halides you'll have shadows with the halides being a single point source of light.

 

[Defective_Weeble]

Hm. Hadn't considered that.

Fortunately I have a while before shadowing becomes a real issue. Everything I have right now is frag size so it's not going to have big issues. But I will definitely keep looking for some supplement light.

 

[bknapp]

Even with just rock work you'll have shadowing

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Looking forward to the next pics!:wink:

 

[fishroomlady]

congratulations on the new tank! also great luck to find such a pristine used tank - sounds like it was meant to be yours

 

[Defective_Weeble]

Day 2 - Stand is home, sanded and has the first coat of paint. Gotta say, it's a beautiful piece of carpentry, though I'm slightly concerned about the stand's long-term ability to hold the weight of the tank. It's obviously been set up before, but I think I'm going to do a bit of reinforcement before I let it sit in my living room.

The top of the stand is 3/4 inch hardwood ply. The front and back panels are done in 5/8 inch hardwood. I'm not positive about the side panels as I can't get a cross section view of them, but they appear to be done in the same 5/8 ply as the front and back. All said, I don't have any concerns about solid, vertical 5/8 plywood holding the weight of the tank, but I'd rather be safe than very freaking sorry.

I think I'm going to run vertical 2x4s in each corner, and another at the center braces. Though I hate to lose 3 inches of front to back space, I think it's worth it for the peace of mind. Also, the water stain that you see in the corner shot is a bit of an anomaly. There's no water stain on the top of the stand, so it leads me to believe that maybe it came from a hose popping off or some other type of splash. Regardless, this is hardwood ply and not MDF or particle board. I've literally stood on my toes on that section and it didn't give at all. I'm not concerned, especially considering that I'm going to have a 2x4 brace in that spot anyway.

Feedback welcome on my bracing thoughts. Pics included for reference.

 

[bknapp]

I would think adding some 2x4's in each corner and in the middle would add more than enough strength to the stand, wood is much stronger than people give it credit for.

 

[Defective_Weeble]

wood is much stronger than people give it credit for.

My thoughts exactly, especially when it's vertical. I think that's the deal then. 6 supports, 20 minutes of work and a lot of reassurance that things aren't going to end up on my floor.

It will be interesting to see if my 55 gallon sump will fit into the stand. I might have to take the center brace out, place the sump and then reattach the brace.

Not a lot has been getting done the past couple of days as I've had life catching up with me and I'm preparing to leave town for a few days. I'm doing a second coat of paint tonight, but otherwise it's time for a pause while I go enjoy Irish stew and Guiness.

 

[bknapp]

When I put the sump under my 110 I had to knock the rear center brace out, so glad my 180 has a metal stand.

 

[Defective_Weeble]

Hah! Yeah, I'm definitely going to miss the open, metal stand. But one thing that I've found difficult is mounting stuff to it. Or, more difficult than with wood obviously.

 

[Defective_Weeble]

Okay folks since I'm out of town, I have a lot of time to think. Unfortunately, that sometimes leads to me making really stupid decisions.

Here's my latest bright idea. Since my tank is been running fallow for the past 60 some days, obviously I have no nitrates of the system. This is going to create a problem for the bio pellets and their ability to reduce the phosphates in the system. my phosphates have been running a bit high right now, up to around .35. I did stop feeding the tank reef chili and I've done a couple of water changes, which has brought the number down to something at least more reasonable and around .1.

I'm only a few days away from being able to add the fish back to the tank, but I'm also going to be switching from 120 gallons to 180 gallons. I have a 40 gallon tank that I'm using right now that is holding the fish. The nitrates in that tank or higher, but still well within a safe range for fish only.

Would there be any significant harm in taking that 40 gallons of water and adding it to my system when I make the change from that 120 to the 180? Logic tells me, that as a part of the whole water volume, that's a rather insignificant amount, but perhaps is enough to assist the pellets in the phosphate removal.

What say you, reef gods? Before this turns into a hold my beer moment, I would like some logic from an outside source.

 

[bknapp]

I don't think it would hurt anything, I used as much water from my 110 when I moved up to the 180. Unless of course you're medicating the fish in the 40 in that case I would not use that water.