180 half cylinder

mrlavalamp

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I was fortunate enough to come into a 180 gallon half cylinder glass aquarium. It came complete with stand and canopy; and this was a heck of a deal, but a real handful to move!

Luckily I was able to enlist some family and friends and we got it home. Unfortunately the move was such a handful the cameraman had to help.

Now that it is home, and after some thorough cleaning, I couldn't be happier!

The tank is 60" wide along the back, 30" front to back, and 30" deep.

So far I have removed all of the existing bulkheads and overflow parts, and wiped/ vacuumed it out atleast three times. The previous owner converted it to freshwater a couple years ago and in doing so glued caps at each bulkhead rendering ALL of them unusable. I had to cut most of them off becasue the caps were glued directly to the bulkhead trapping the nuts. Fun times, glad I had an oscilating tool with a long blade.


IMG_20200314_152248.jpg IMG_20200314_154039.jpg IMG_20200314_154058.jpg
 
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hdsoftail1065

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Nice tank! I'm running some similar in a 144. Lighting and flow was my biggest challenge. I plan to watch this one!
 
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mrlavalamp

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with 30" vertical I am definitely concerned about getting good enough lighting top to bottom. I think my livestock choices will help with that factor as well as building the rockwork up so I have a good size area closer to the surface as well.

For flow, I am thinking having the main return from the sump sized around 1500 gph, and the closed loop pump sized around 3000 gph, and then a pair or trio of wavemakers in the 2000 gph ballpark. Plan would be to have all of it variable speed so I can tune it some.
 
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mrlavalamp

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ATM (the guys from tanked) are local here, and they just moved shops a month or two ago.

They were clearing out some AMAZING tanks for next to nothing (relatively) some really famous tanks as well.

There was a 600g cylinder for something like 1500 with stand. The rest of the equipment costs on that tank would send me to the poor house for sure though lol!
 

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ATM (the guys from tanked) are local here, and they just moved shops a month or two ago.

They were clearing out some AMAZING tanks for next to nothing (relatively) some really famous tanks as well.

There was a 600g cylinder for something like 1500 with stand. The rest of the equipment costs on that tank would send me to the poor house for sure though lol!
Oh, wow. Wish I had run across something like that!
 
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mrlavalamp

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Time to make some progress!

For overflow, I have 4 holes inside the box. [email protected]" (1.5" threaded bulkhead coming) and 2x 1.75" (1" threaded bulkhead coming).

I was going to plumb it like this:
1x1" for return pump flow, barb fitting and black tube up to the two return ports at the top of the weir, then 3/4" locline and fan nozzle on each side.
1x1" for primary drain (beanimal style system), will use gate valve to adjust this drain
1x1.5" for the durso open channel drain
1x1.5" for emergency drainage

I could also go with just the 1.5" for primary drain and durso, then use both 1" for return, not sure how safe that is though.

For return pump I am really looking at the maxspect jump 8k DC pumps (2100 gph).
 
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mrlavalamp

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you've heard of the dog tax, but have you heard of the tortoise tax?

In lieu to tank pics, I have a sleepy tort that just woke up and came out of his burrow for the spring. Gopherus Agassizii: Toki is a 1 year old Desert Tortoise, and is native to my state. He was very hungry after sleeping all winter. We are building him an outside burrow this summer to move him outdoors (better for his health). He is still small enough that birds will eat him if we dont keep him indoors/protected by covers.

IMG_20200314_161347.jpg
 
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mrlavalamp

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MVIMG_20200318_190206.jpg
IMG_20200317_163324.jpg
IMG_20200318_185833.jpg


Sump is a little lonely under there for now.

Was bored so I cleaned out the tank again and put some strip lights up I had laying around. Trying not to use any cleaners inside the tank, hard to get it to look "clean" when dry though. Water will be in there soon......soon.

Still waiting on bulkheads in the mail, already have the piping/fittings to plumb it once they come in.

The closed loop is out of the equation now, with enough waffling i finally decided the ports in the bottom only allow 1" piping, not enough flow to be worth it for the cost/complexity concerns. wave-makers/power-heads seem like a much more cost effective and flexible option. At this point I will probably just cap them with threaded plugs, if I ever change my mind I can always pull the plugs.

Some dry rock is in the mail as well, just a couple foundation pieces to start. Going to try and buy most locally so I can see it first.
 
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Got the bulkheads all installed and started roughing in the plumbing. First draft on the dry fit, blue tape is marking gate valves are going in. also adding unions to the drains plan is to hard pipe down to a filter sock holder I am making that rests on the top rim of the sump.

IMG_20200320_195300.jpg


Plumbed the overflow. The right side (full siphon) is going to get a gate valve for tuning, and the durso side has a 1/4" hole in the top of the elbow to break siphons and will not have a valve at all.

IMG_20200323_213241.jpg


The returns are both 1" hose and initially I tried to hard pipe them, but with the bulkheads I could not get them to line up vertically very well and could not get the 1" pipe to bend into the slight S shape I needed. At the upper hose barb on each, I have a 1/8" hole that should remain above the water level in the overflow and break any siphon should the pump shut off.

IMG_20200323_212302.jpg


Picked up some dry used rock this weekend. Lots of old gha and other staining. Previous owner had algae and Ich problems that basically chased him out of the hobby. After reading some threads on the subject I plan to bleach these rocks for a good amount of time (1 day at least) and scrub the junk off them, followed by all the dechlorination steps of course. Even after all that I expect them to sit dry for a couple weeks while I finalize plumbing and leak test/fix leaks.

IMG_20200323_173728.jpg


Now the question is.....where am i going to find 3 gallons of bleach right now?
 

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Got the bulkheads all installed and started roughing in the plumbing. First draft on the dry fit, blue tape is marking gate valves are going in. also adding unions to the drains plan is to hard pipe down to a filter sock holder I am making that rests on the top rim of the sump.

IMG_20200320_195300.jpg


Plumbed the overflow. The right side (full siphon) is going to get a gate valve for tuning, and the durso side has a 1/4" hole in the top of the elbow to break siphons and will not have a valve at all.

IMG_20200323_213241.jpg


The returns are both 1" hose and initially I tried to hard pipe them, but with the bulkheads I could not get them to line up vertically very well and could not get the 1" pipe to bend into the slight S shape I needed. At the upper hose barb on each, I have a 1/8" hole that should remain above the water level in the overflow and break any siphon should the pump shut off.

IMG_20200323_212302.jpg


Picked up some dry used rock this weekend. Lots of old gha and other staining. Previous owner had algae and Ich problems that basically chased him out of the hobby. After reading some threads on the subject I plan to bleach these rocks for a good amount of time (1 day at least) and scrub the junk off them, followed by all the dechlorination steps of course. Even after all that I expect them to sit dry for a couple weeks while I finalize plumbing and leak test/fix leaks.

IMG_20200323_173728.jpg


Now the question is.....where am i going to find 3 gallons of bleach right now?
I wonder if you could use pool shock for the bleaching part as long as you rinse very well (which you were going to do anyway)....hmmmm.
 
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mrlavalamp

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I wonder if you could use pool shock for the bleaching part as long as you rinse very well (which you were going to do anyway)....hmmmm.

Thats a good idea! as long as it doesnt have any extra "stuff" in it I woudl be willing to give it a shot.

I really like these half cylinder tanks.
Me too!

I was about to setup a 4x2x2 standard 120 when this beauty essentially fell into my lap. Couldnt be happier!
 

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Thats a good idea! as long as it doesnt have any extra "stuff" in it I woudl be willing to give it a shot.


Me too!

I was about to setup a 4x2x2 standard 120 when this beauty essentially fell into my lap. Couldnt be happier!
Well, having worked in a facility that processes chlorine and hydrogen chloride, there's probably as much "other stuff" in the bleach as there is in the pool shock ;)
 

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As cheap as bleach is, I can't see why you would risk it. Many many people have and use bleach all the time and can attest to it's safety when thoroughly rinsed and dechlorinated later. The same can not be said for pool shock. And I know bleach flew off shelves like toilet paper recently, but stores are carrying bleach again. Don't risk it over a $2 item
 
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mrlavalamp

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If I can find it then totally. Unfortunately my brief perusal of online inventory's has not left me hopeful. I am not sure how long this situation will last either. Lots of places aren't putting these supplies up on their websites though because they fly off the sales floor so fast (and it stops the e-hoarders).
 

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If I can find it then totally. Unfortunately my brief perusal of online inventory's has not left me hopeful. I am not sure how long this situation will last either. Lots of places aren't putting these supplies up on their websites though because they fly off the sales floor so fast (and it stops the e-hoarders).

Then I would look into the acid dip that BRS did on there video. But that's just me
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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