Amps Reef Life 180 Gallon in Wall Reef

Amps Reef Life · Nov 9, 2017

Hello, everyone, I'm starting another build thread for my new tank and my new home.

I bought a house back in October and I'm working on building a 180-gallon tank into the wall at my place along with closing off an area to make a small fish room. I have another build thread of an 85 gallon I had on here. Currently, I have a 110 tank but never posted a thread for that one.

Heres the list
Tank - Planet Aquarium Starfire custom 180-gallon tank 72x24x24 perimeter glass bracing w/ ghost overflow.
Stand - Custom built for tank/wall
Sump - Bashsea 48x15x16 (black & white)
Lights - 2x 36" Hybrid T5HO 4x39W fixture with LED mounting from Aquatic Life. 4x Hydra HD 52's.
Skimmer - Nyos 160 - Upgraded to Vertex Alpha 200
Power Heads - 3x MP 40's (will add more if needed)
Refugium Lighting - H380 Halo II LED Algae Grow Light - Kessil
Heater - 2x 500W Finnex TH Deluxe Titanium Heater
Controller- WiFi Apex Controller System. (New)

I hope you enjoy following along with the process of this one. I will be taking a ton of photos and videos of the process. I will continue to add to the list as I pick out more equipment. Cheers!

Amps Reef Life · Nov 9, 2017

To start things off here are a few pictures of where the tank will go. The tank is going in the wall where the arrow is. I'm going to close the room off with a door. The tank will be as far to the right as possible(viewing from the front) as I'm going to cut a nice circle on the side wall for looking down the tank long way. I think it will look really neat. I wasn't able to put the tank fully on the corner due to some wall supports for the upstairs but I was set on having the viewing angle of the tank the long way. The plus is I'll be able to see the tank from the living room, dinning room and kitchen.

There are pictures before I bought the place.

cilyjr · Nov 9, 2017

If you're open to advice, may I suggest having some way to access the tank from the front. This was suggested to me when I built my 180 in and am so glad for it. Trying to work in the tank from back to front exclusively would be a pain. The other thing I would suggest is rather than having the back of the tank painted building some sort of panel that can be removed to easily see into the tank when working. For me I just got a couple of sheets of black acrylic and use magnets in the corner to hold them in place. So when I do work from the back I can pull that off and see inside easily

Amps Reef Life · Nov 9, 2017

cilyjr said:
If you're open to advice, may I suggest having some way to access the tank from the front. This was suggested to me when I built my 180 in and am so glad for it. Trying to work in the tank from back to front exclusively would be a pain. The other thing I would suggest is rather than having the back of the tank painted building some sort of panel that can be removed to easily see into the tank when working. For me I just got a couple of sheets of black acrylic and use magnets in the corner to hold them in place. So when I do work from the back I can pull that off and see inside easily

Great advice! I have been told about the from access to the tank and trying to work out a decent cabinet door or doors look above the tank to allow for that. Never ever thought about the back of the tank not being painted black. I may contact my guy tomorrow and see if it's to late to change that. That's a great idea being able to see in from the back. Thank you very much for sharing that information with me.

cilyjr · Nov 9, 2017

Here's my doors. Maybe it will give you an idea for your situation. Oh and by the way absolutely do cut in a little porthole you were talking about for side viewing. I wish I had allowed myself a way to see the side of the tank

Amps Reef Life · Nov 10, 2017

cilyjr said:
Here's my doors. Maybe it will give you an idea for your situation. Oh and by the way absolutely do cut in a little porthole you were talking about for side viewing. I wish I had allowed myself a way to see the side of the tank

Awesome, thank you very much! I've looked at your build thread several times! Great looking setup by the way! I definitely need to build access to the front of the tank like you did. I think that looks really nice.

Amps Reef Life · Nov 10, 2017

Small update I have some rock curing. My 105-gallon tank has rock in it that's a few years old but I'm going to need more. I bought 60 pounds of rock from BRS this is the Pukani dry rock. It came in excellent condition with some really good sizes. I have placed the rock in a brute trash can to get the curing process going. I'm feeding the brute can and adding some good bacteria to it to help kick start it. I will probably add a small rock from my tank to help seed it. I have another 50 pounds of rock on the way.

Amps Reef Life · Nov 13, 2017

A few goodies

. I like to have two heaters in the tank one for back up if the other happens to go out on me.

Amps Reef Life · Nov 15, 2017

The fun stuff keeps coming in. This is the Aquamaxx Pukani dry rock I ordered this from Marine Depot. This is the rock I currently have the most of in my 105 tank. It's looks just like the BRS Pukani Dry Rock. I only got one rock I wasn't to happy about but maybe it will be a nice base rock. You'll notice in the pictures below. Bassicly one solid Rock came in the shipment. I need to grab another Brute Trash and get this rock cycling.

Here the real solid odd rock compared to the others that came with the shipment.

cilyjr · Nov 15, 2017

Man skimmers sure look fancy compared to what I bought 10 years ago. But I love my Franken-Asm skimmer. As I have modded the thing to barely recognizable from out of the box. I can't see myself ever buying another one unless I break this somehow

Amps Reef Life · Nov 16, 2017

cilyjr said:
Man skimmers sure look fancy compared to what I bought 10 years ago. But I love my Franken-Asm skimmer. As I have modded the thing to barely recognizable from out of the box. I can't see myself ever buying another one unless I break this somehow

Yes, they have changed a lot. I needed to upgrade as the one in my 105 gallon wouldn't be able to handle the 180.

Amps Reef Life · Nov 30, 2017

I hope everyone had a great Holiday! Just a quick update of some more goodies coming in. I got my sump in pictures to come! I must say this sump is absolutely beautiful and the handwork is incredible. It has tons of bells and whistles. Over the Holiday break I was able to get some more rock cooking and did a water change on the other brute can with the wastewater I changed from my current tank. My two T5 hybrid led light fixtures came in today

. Sand and sand and more sand coming. I have been using the special grade arage live sand for years in all my tanks.

(mistake photo)

Amps Reef Life · Dec 6, 2017

Progress update. More to come.

cilyjr · Dec 7, 2017

How wide is that arch? Those sistered 2x6 are likely load bearing. Do you need to move one?

Amps Reef Life · Dec 7, 2017

cilyjr said:
How wide is that arch? Those sistered 2x6 are likely load bearing. Do you need to move one?

No need to move one lucky. They are staying in place.

Amps Reef Life · Dec 7, 2017

Or are you talking about the 3 together? I'll upload more photos

Amps Reef Life · Dec 7, 2017

More pictures. The corner post are staying in place. The arch is about 47 inch wide.

xaflatoonx · Dec 7, 2017

Another texan here - love your plans... looking forward to this.
also placing an order with planet soon.
can you share your ordering experience with them? did you give them any renderings?
what about your stand? getting from them or DIY?

Amps Reef Life · Dec 7, 2017

xaflatoonx said:
Another texan here - love your plans... looking forward to this.
also placing an order with planet soon.
can you share your ordering experience with them? did you give them any renderings?
what about your stand? getting from them or DIY?

Hey fellow Texan!

I highly recommend planet. This is my 5th tank from them and my second custom tank. They do an amazing job and there work is absolutely beautiful. I just got the tank and will upload pictures. They can pretty much do what ever you like. I did perimeter bracing so water wouldn't splash on my wall. The last 4 tanks from them I had them build the stand. The stands look great you can get them in mutiple colors and as expensive as you want. They really do look good. The stand for this tank is a DYI because it's going to be build to fit the wall with the tank. I felt it was beast to do that here at the house. The guys who are working the wall are building the stand also. They are aquiuam guys so they are fit for the job and have done this many times.