180G Puffer Peninsula

jradishness

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Good evening R2R,

I’m working on a new build and thought I would start a thread for it as well, since there are a handful of questions I need to seek advice on before I can go a whole lot further.

First, about the tank. It is a used 180g Oceanic (6’x2’x2’) with the 17 3/4” wide support (1/2” glass) across the top. It has 1/2” sides and 3/4” bottom. It holds water, but I am still planning on resealing all edges since everyone that I’ve talked to about Oceanics says to reseal it. The tank has five holes drilled in the bottom (a 1.5” and 1.75” on each end, and a 1.75” in the middle, offset of center). It came with a stand that I’ve since reinforced and refinished.

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I currently plan on leaving the tank bare bottom. The spot in the house we have picked out will lend itself to a peninsula layout, so I would like to make decisions with this in mind. I’m still not sure yet how to plumb this best, whether a) to plumb it like it sits, building an overflow on each end and returning in the middle, b) re-drilling/filling holes and plumbing it like a true peninsula (is that a good idea with a 6’ tank?), c) re-engineering to incorporate a closed-loop, or d) a better suggestion you have (*fingers crossed*). I would be willing to put starboard down to hide any blemishes in the tank bottom.

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The major limiting factor of the build will be budget (I’m a teacher, and a full-time PhD student, so funds are tight), but I am skilled enough in plumbing, electrical, construction, etc. to perform any of the work or modifications myself. For example, we bought 200lbs of “dead” rock (for far less than $1/lb) from various LFS’s in the area and we have acid bathed, bleached, rinsed, etc. it all ourselves to save money. I’d rather do something myself than pay for it if I can help it.

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Inhabitants
The tank is intended for a Porcupine Puffer (Diodon holocanthus). We don’t have it yet, since I understand it’ll need to be added basically last anyway, and all of the fish will go through prophylactic quarantine (because I hear puffers are susceptible to Ich) before going in anyway. Because it is a puffer tank, we understand that it will be FOWLR, that we’ll be at a disadvantage in finding clean-up crew (hence the bare bottom, and subsequently high flow), and that we will be limited on the rest of the livestock. The puffer is the girlfriend’s dream, and so every decision in the tank needs to keep that in mind, from flow, to scaping, etc., I would like to create as ideal a habitat as possible for now. So far, the scape idea is simply to have a shorter scape with lots of caves and arches to provide places for the dissolution of any aggression among the eventual tank mates. As far as tank mates go, we’re thinking about maybe a harlequin tusk, a niger trigger, a nano tang, some maroon clowns, maybe some sand-free wrasses. Really, we’re not completely sure what else would be appropriate company with a porcupine in a 6’ 180g tank.

We have a 4ft long 55g ($/gal sale), 2 super cheap Deepwater DC8 pumps from the LFS (supposedly flow 2100gph ea.) and a Bubble Curve 7 (that I got for $30… budget theme) that constitute the sump setup thus far. I plan on getting some cheap glass from our local Binswanger for some baffles and maybe a diy acrylic sock holder or something similar. Not completely sure about the socks, or what else I should do in the sump, but I will be putting some marinepure blocks in the sump I have leftover from a refugium starter kit from Algae Barn. I also plan on filling out the rest of the bottom of the stand with a 14gal ato reservoir.

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Any advice is welcome. Thanks!
-Jared




And some more photos...
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Our budget rock before washing.


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The stand, post-makeover.
 

Devaji

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think is going to be a fun build watch come together! I love peninsula and puffers I'hve never had one tho. a porcupine is a dream of mine to.

I think you should see if you can get an external overflow box and drill the tank that will be the cleanest look IMHO. some risk is involved tho. fiji cube makes some nice overflow boxes worth checking out.
 
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jradishness

jradishness

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I have a fiji cube on my 40breeder. I love it. I won't be torn up if it comes to that. I'll patch the bottom and add starboard when I reseal it. But before I do that, I'd like to exhaust built-in and hidden options, like closed loop, using the holes it already has. Thanks for the advice!

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lilgrounchuck

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you could get fancy with rock work and use the existing holes to do drains/returns, but you'd have to cut plumbing across the bottom of the inside of the tank and run it up through a central rock structure. to hide that 90 degree bend coming into the tank, bare bottom won't work. You could hide it under a sand bed though.
 

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