Brandon's 180G Upgrade

[Johnson556]

I upgraded almost 10 months ago but I thought I track my builds progression on Reef2Reef as it has a much greater following than local forums.

I graduated college in 2016 and started my career in NYC. A year and change later a great opportunity in Boston came and decided to move back home. A few months after being home I found some old equipment for a nano I had in high school circa 2010. At the time I had no idea what I was doing. No skimmer, no alk/calc test kits, no dosing, and rarely did water changes. Needless to say it became an invert and Kenya tree tank tank a couple of months in with everything else dying. Eventually I lost interest getting ready for college and put everything in storage.

Fast forward to July of 2017. I found the old gear and set up the 20G nano with plans of getting into corals and having a clue as to what I was doing. That lasted all of a month. The 20G was set up for two weeks before I had drilled and built out a 40G breeder. Built a black stand for it that looked like a Red Sea stand. As my rock was curing in the 40B someone on a local forum was giving away a 90G and I snagged it. The 40 lasted all of 3 weeks without ever putting fish in it.

I spent hours cleaning the 90G with a razor blade and wire brush prior to learning the benefits of vinegar. Built a stand and got it wet around August 2nd. The tank has came along great and I have learned a lot. Eight months later I had the urge to upgrade in every which way.

 

[Johnson556]

In February of 2018 I found a 180G for cheap money an hour away. However it was freshwater and had the dual column overflows I hated. It was a great deal and beggars can’t be choosers. I made the drive with my friend and loaded two truck loads of gear. He wasnt joking when he advised a uhaul, he didnt mention that he used to own a store and that I was required to remove EVERYTHING from his basement. The tank was absolutely disgusting and needed some serious TLC. After spending two hours removing fish, mud, and tons of equipment my buddy and I moved the tank into the bed of the truck. All went well. Then during the tie down the glass chips...took a lot of effort to not lose my mind right then and there.

Reached out to a few people to see what they though and said it would be fine. Just to check I filled it with water and left it for a week, even pressing on the glass from the inside just to make sure. I deemed it safe to fill. Spent just about 6 hours cleaning and applied extra silicone in all four corners for aesthetics.

 

[Johnson556]

Working full time again, the process took much longer than previous builds. Probably for best. As they say, this is a hobby of patience for optimal results. I had an idea for what I wanted for a stand, drew it up, made the measurements, and purchased the needed materials. The frame would be built out of premium 2x4’s with 10 support columns aka about 6,500lbs of capacity. More than enough for 180+/- gallons and 200lbs+ of rock.

The interior frame was painted a glossy black water proof paint. Yes, I wanted it black to notice any salt creep so I can clean it up as I notice it form. I’m a little neurotic with stuff to say the least. The exterior trim was formed out of poplar and painted white to match the room. It will have a matching canopy that will be fully automated, raising and lowering with the flick of a switch via linear actuator. Still in design. The canopy will house 3 Kessil A360’s and six 60” 80W T5’s as it will be predominantly SPS. I was debating on radions but I'm a sucker for shimmer.

 

[Johnson556]

Plumbing contains 8 unions, 4 gate vales, and is 1" red pvc all around with white joints. The sump was built off of a 50G acrylic sump that came with the tank. I was hesitant on using this as it did not have filter sock holders and wasn't sure if the Regal 250INT skimmer I purchased would fit. Once realized the skimmer fit perfectly I was set on using this sump. I snagged a 2x4' sheet of cast acrylic off amazon for $50 and began meticulously cutting to make a 4th chamber/filter sock holder in the sump. Cutting the circle for the sock free hand with a broken router was quite the task....

The sump has three 1" drain ports for the two overflows and algae scrubber. They overflow into one 7" filter sock. From there it passes through a chamber full of rock/rubble to the skimmer then return. The return pump is a Jebao DCP 15000. I had a DCP 6000 on the 90 and had no issues. Plus for the price, you cant beat it. I have had great luck with the Jebao's and have another DCP 15000 for back up.

 

[Johnson556]

Stand was finished in April of 2018. Pretty happy with how it came out, certainly a learning experience. So far is has held up great for its 7 months of life.

The canopy woodwork was done at this time as well. Just needed to do some finishing and paint. Didn’t realize how many more outlets this tank would need compared to my 90. Picked up another EB8 for just the canopy alone. Tank is now down stairs. Plan on doing the transfer 2 weeks from now. Tank was dry plumbed after eating 75lbs of food from Greek Easter

 

[Johnson556]

Towards the end of April I finished the canopy. It was now time to get everything ready for the transfer...so I thought.

 

[Johnson556]

After I finished the canopy I brought it downstairs and looked at the tank all ready to go. Something about the chip in the glass plus the two column overflows caused some wires to cross in my brain and flip out. I went on Craigslist, found a guy selling his entire set up and drove to him 30 minutes later. Checked out the tank and all seemed well, brown trim but ehh it had corner over flows and looked good. Plus it came with an MP40QD, a sump and a bunch of other goodies. I went for it. I would call this a big mistake, however I got everything for $300 and made money off the deal. The tank was severely scratched, not going to work. I sold the tank to a guy looking to get back into the hobby for cheap money. He was thrilled and I made sure to mention the scratches his response "One eye is made of glass, the other eye is complete sh!+, this tank is perfect for me!".

After he picked it up I called a buddy who said he could get me a tank at "wholesale". Yeah not quite but I'll take the brand new Marineland for under a grand thank you. Corner Overflows, Black silicone I was fired up about this one.

 

[Johnson556]

A week later I go to unwrap it and bring it down stairs with my brother. Mind you this is a brand new tank and my 3rd 180G in a few months time. I flip it over to paint the back black and noticed the bottom bracing is completely crushed. At this point I wasnt sure what to do, called my buddy and he started flipping out saying marineland wont replace it because he checked off it was good to go blah blah blah. I send the pics to him, he send it to Marineland and like I stated, this wasn't something you could see by a basic inspection. All of the cardboard had to be removed. Marineland said they would replace the tank. Time to get my FOURTH TANK....

 

[Johnson556]

The fourth tank came in perfect and was plumbed end of April, gave it a few days to dry. Canopy is on but not hinged yet, the actuator idea was thrown out with my first tank. After speaking with "OneEye", the guy who picked up the second 180 he talked about how he puts his canopy's on hinges so they open like a clam shell. Stole this idea and it has been working flawlessly since. Just tough to manipulate for my shorter counterparts.

Algae turf scrubber will be going on the platform on the left above the ATO reservoir.

 

[Johnson556]

May 14th I began the transfer, thought it would take under 10 hours and 200 new gallons of water. Wrong wrong and wrong. I had to take a day off the following monday to complete the chaos I started. I had 3 brute barrels full and ready to go filled with fresh RSCP salt. One of the pumps fried itself when circulating water in the barrel and destroyed 50 gallons of fresh saltwater...that sucked. Aquascape took some time and the area was destroyed in the process. Luckily they have professional carpet cleaning services. It was finally full and running around 5PM the next day. Casual 24 hour process.

 

[Johnson556]

Tank was finally "stable" mid June getting consistent readings at 8.0 dKH for three weeks. Calcium was still balancing out, however floating around 480. Light schedule at that time was kessils from 12pm-10:30pm with a 2 hour ramp up/down, and peak of 90% from 4pm-6pm. The 6 80W T5’s rum from 3pm-9pm. Just finished getting some PAR readings, turned them down a bit after this due to NO3 & PO4 being undetectable. Didn't want everythign to start starving on me.

Fish list at this time
-Powder Blue Tang (RIP)
-Two purple tangs
-3 Yellow Tangs
-Melenarus Wrasse
-Yellow Coris Wrasse
-Paid of Clowns
-Swallowtail Angelfish
-Flasher Wrasse (RIP)

 

[Eagle_Steve]

May 14th I began the transfer, thought it would take under 10 hours and 200 new gallons of water. Wrong wrong and wrong. I had to take a day off the following monday to complete the chaos I started. I had 3 brute barrels full and ready to go filled with fresh RSCP salt. One of the pumps fried itself when circulating water in the barrel and destroyed 50 gallons of fresh saltwater...that sucked. Aquascape took some time and the area was destroyed in the process. Luckily they have professional carpet cleaning services. It was finally full and running around 5PM the next day. Casual 24 hour process.

Looks good.

Always remember that no matter what you do, Murphy always shows up during a tank move lol.

 

[Captain Quint]

@Johnson556 man, I really enjoyed reading the progressive builds and I'm totally stoked after reading and seeing the pics you have shown.

 

[Hemmdog]

The fourth tank came in perfect and was plumbed end of April, gave it a few days to dry. Canopy is on but not hinged yet, the actuator idea was thrown out with my first tank. After speaking with "OneEye", the guy who picked up the second 180 he talked about how he puts his canopy's on hinges so they open like a clam shell. Stole this idea and it has been working flawlessly since. Just tough to manipulate for my shorter counterparts.

Algae turf scrubber will be going on the platform on the left above the ATO reservoir.

Looks great man! That’s so crazy how many tanks it took till one was perfect! Haha

 

[Johnson556]

All was well until September 2018....the tank was/has been a complete headache. Nothing was making any sense and I’m just going to blame it on new tank syndrome. No growth... Yet, I have to deep clean my MP40’s almost every 2-3 weeks because of how fast they get coated with Coralline. I haven’t added any corals in over two months yet two weeks ago I notice AEFW on numerous acros...funny how that happens. Everything’s been dipped and dealt with. Haven’t seen any signs of them in a weeks time and have inspected 90% of corals for eggs.

I’ve lost numerous acro colonies and frags in the past three months and noticed a big rainbow acan colony deteriorating as well. Tank has been stable between 7.8-8.0dkh, calcium balanced out around 450PPM, and Nitrates at 2PPM. I can tell phosphates fluctuate depending on how the glass and sand looks, added some GFO while the scrubber seeds just to keep them low. I do 40g water changes each month and sometimes a quick 10g in between using Red Sea blue bucket.

I disconnected the scrubber in June to let my nutrients accumulate due to everything being so pale before hand. Because of that I’ve developed this weird green crap all over my rocks and have some nice brown acros as well....decided it’s going back on. I plan on adding more fish and making it a high import/export system with the scrubber. I feel like the scrubber worked so well on my 90G (along with everything else) because I added the scrubber when the tank was 8 months old. I also had a significantly greater bioload in respect to what this tank has.

Added a Neptune Dos last and let me tell you, hate it, plus the Auto programming is garbage and it’s loud. I planned on going full nerd to program how I want later this week. BRS 1.1ml dosers did a fine job and I should have stuck with them. The plan was to let the tank mature until things color up and everything’s in good health/stable. Going to be adding some more fish and cuc in the mean time. Hopefully by December I can confidentially dump 20+ sticks in it.

I eventually ripped out every single piece of SPS towards the end of September and threw it in a bucket of shame. I scrapped all the rocks down and decided I had to go SPS free for a few months to let all the AEFW die off. I ended up going 74 days stick free. During that time did a bunch of water changes and again tried to get things as stable as possible. Bunch of water changes and acropower eventually led to my "Strange growth" taking off and Dino's. Hoooorayyyy reef tank.

 

[Johnson556]

Well, this is going to be the first post that is current with the build. All before were taken from my local forum build thread and such. After my 74 days acro free I thought I had defeated all difficulties and I could get some growth happening again. PSYCH! During the fallow I increased my bioload tremendously to get things where they should be. For the longest time I could not break 2PPM nitrate which is fine but phosphate no matter what test kit was undetectable. I added some fish to make it an even 20, had a nitrates rock solid at 4PPM and phosphates either 0.01 or undetectable. Still did not matter because before I knew it I had dino and cyano everywhere. Frustrated I did a lights out period, 40 hours. Nothing. I got the bright idea of dosing phosphates. I dosed seachems flourish and went from 0.01 to 0.08...whoops. Didnt think it would be that big of a deal, came back from NYC and I had burnt tips GALORE. Alk was still 7.5 as it has been for months now. Nitrate 4PPM but PO4 sky rocketed then dropped back down. Couple that with a water change with 85 degree water and I managed to mess my tank up again. I first lost a nice Orange Passion, then a green slimer....yes a green slimer. Since that time a month ago things have not been recovering as expected.

My bonsais are receeding by the day and I'm just hoping something turns around and they start to heal. I had a big setosa colony that is basically just polyps right now, all the other tissue has fallen off. I purchased a new green slimer which seems to be on its way out now as well. This is all too fimiliar. With my 90G at the 8 month mark when I thought things were groovy I did one stupid move (accidentally left a doser on) and killed a lot of $$$ in sticks. All of the zoas and LPS are fine. Just my friggen sticks, the corals I care most about. I have an acro pack waiting to be picked up from a buddy but I refuse at this point because I don't want to kill it. Want to wait until everything has taken its course and either heals or dies. Hoping for the best of course. As my friends in the hobby and a few people I've recently sold equipment too have said. I need to calm down and not touch anything, just let the tank figure itself out and shoot for stability. More importantly I cant be lazy with water changes and make sure I stick to my schedule, and more importantly make sure the water is the proper temp and salinity going in.

Another quick side note, I traded a few zoas for the old ATO reservoir from a LFS Red Sea Reefer 650. I had him drill it and used it to make a nifty little frag tank I mounted on the wall. Very pleased with my creation and look forward to growing some nice pieces to help fund future acquisitions in the hobby.

Fish:
-Two Purple Tangs
-Three Yellow Tangs
-Blue Throat Trigger (Newest addition, huge fan of him)
-Swallowtail Angel
-Pair of Clowns (constantly breeding, Free Food!)
-Trio of Lyretail Anthias
-Ruby Head Wrasse
-Solon Fairy Wrasse
-Yellow Coris Wrasse
-Menelarus Wrasse
-Lubbocks Wrasse
-Flasher Wrasse
-Black Sailfin Blenny
-Orange Tail Damsel aka King D!ckhead