My 180 gallon sps dominant build.

[dfm34]

So I have decided to post my progress on my 180 gallon sps dominant tank. As I share my journey with you I welcome feedback from those of you with more experience. Especially if you see me making a mistake.

First some history : I started with a 75 gallon mix reef tank in the family room. My wife decided it was time to redo the floor in the family room?!?! Perfect time for an upgrade since I have to break down the tank to do the floors. This could not have come at a better time as I was battling a Dino outbreak. Sold off the live stock broke down the tank and been cooking the rocks

The new tank will be in the basement and I will use a closet next to the tank for the sump and equipment I gave it a nice coat of water resistance paint.

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This is the tank and stand it's a standard marinland rr 180.

I will be using the old 75 as my sump. This tank was also a rr pre drilled tank so I thought I can remove the overflow and drain the sump from the bottom 1" drain to an external pump. While capping the 3/4" hole.




I had to build a platform to raise the sump up and fit the plumbing to the pump.

 

[143MPCo]

Looks like a great start.... looks like you are running a "Pan World 200PS", if I can make one recommendation get that pump on a rubber isolation pad... I have the same one and the vibrations on a wooden floor drove me nutz!

 

[dfm34]

Thanks. Great point on the pad. The pump is a blue line 55 but I am sure the vibration is the same. I will definitely look into one.

 

[dfm34]

First off Happy New Year to everyone . Took advantage of the day off and did some plumbing

I am going to have to drill the sump in two places for the dual return that why I had to use flex tubing. I don't think there will be enough room to drill 2 holes next to each other so the flex tube will help me get to the other side with a 90 coming out if the bulk head.

 

[dfm34]

My Christmas gist to myself came today can't wait to start to set them up.

EB 8

Advance leak detection module with two hard surface detection units

Wxm vortech module

And Some ball valves for a manifold

Hope to set these up in the closet and drill the tank this weekend.

 

[dfm34]

Finally got up the nerve to drill the sump.

Used the cup as a reservoir to keep the bit cool.

Success !!!!

 

[dfm34]

Spend they day working on a manifold which will be run off a separate mag9 pump.

I expect to run gfo and gac I did not want to dead end the manifold so I will have flow back into the sump. Just not sure if I will dump the manifold return in the skimmer or fuge section. Opinions in this are welcome.

Also since I drilled the tank for the return pump and decided to cap off both pre drilled drains I can place the sump on the floor.

Have to re work the pluming a bit but it's still all dry fitted.

 

[dfm34]

Here is a better picture of the manifold.

Anyone with an opinion on where to dump the manifold return into the sump the skimmer section or the refugium section for extra flow???

 

[Zippy]

Spend they day working on a manifold which will be run off a separate mag9 pump.

I expect to run gfo and gac I did not want to dead end the manifold so I will have flow back into the sump. Just not sure if I will dump the manifold return in the skimmer or fuge section. Opinions in this are welcome.

Also since I drilled the tank for the return pump and decided to cap off both pre drilled drains I can place the sump on the floor.

Have to re work the pluming a bit but it's still all dry fitted.

Maybe you want to put a protective cover over the wood floor. Like what one has for laundry washers, otherwise the water and salt creep will trash it. IMHO

 

[dfm34]

Thanks Zippy great idea. If you have a link or something I can see that would be awesome

 

[kschweer]

Looks like things are coming along nicely. Great job on the manifold!

 

[Grouchy]

Looking forward to seeing this come together

 

[dfm34]

Thanks all Cant wait my self. I hope to get the electric run to the closet this weekend. I also just ordered my skimmer a life reef VS30. Heard lots of good things about it I am pretty excited.

 

[143MPCo]

Nice progress thus far... keep the updates coming...lol

 

[dfm34]

My skimmer came this week I went with a Lifereef VS3 30" This thing is a monster. It came with a Mag12 can't wait until it's running

Tomorrow I will work on the glass baffles for the sump. I am using .25" polished glass 9" high also tomorrow my electrician aka brother in law will run two circuits to the closet. Hope to have another update tomorrow.

 

[dfm34]

We were able to run the rough electrical today ran two circuits four outlets

Also was able to get three of the baffles in place for the sump

 

[dfm34]

Snow day in NJ means I can work on my build. I mounted the apex display on the outside of the closet.

Also finished the sump baffles.

I noticed that my fuge section is smaller then I thought only about 10 gal. So I am contemplating a 20 high fuge on the shelf next to my ato tank. My plan is to T off a mag 9 that will feed my manifold and feed the fuge. Any one have an opinion or comment on this.??

 

[dfm34]

Was a little board today so I worked on experimenting with some aquascaping

I plan on using zip ties and marco rocks mortar to secure the rocks. I ordered this an 50# more of dry rock today.

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Oh, I am looking forward to this build!

 

[dfm34]

Finally got back to business this weekend and built out the aquascaping.

Not sure the pictures do the overhang on the left side justice but is about 6" deep. The pictures seam to make it look more like an arch.