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.
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.