DansReef's 180 System

[dansreef]

Hi everyone. I have been a member but not active for a few years. I thought it was time to post a build thread to my new 180 system. I have been keeping fish tanks all of my life. Back in the '80's I started keeping very small salt tanks while in college. Those were the days really no one knew what the heck they were doing. I had a 5 gal tank with a simple under gravel filter with a condi nem and a clown. I actually kept it for three years....with few water changes... Lousy fluorescent tube light... How the hobby has changed over the years.

I have messed around with small tanks for years. Then about ten years ago...I set up a 72 bow front that is still running today....and about three years ago a 125 corner bow.....still running in my home office. I went through a divorce and after coming up for air... I wanted to do a bigger tank. I was in the midst of remodeling my house a bit...which has led me to this build. So... Sit back and enjoy. I will try to share as much as I can... and I am always open to ideas....and constructive comments.

So here is what my front room looked like shortly after the divorce. It is right off of my home office where I work nearly 100% of the time. The office is to the left behind the pilar. The front windows are to the right.

This room was really never used....except by the two dogs and cats. Formal living rooms are really wasted spaces in my opinion... So I decided this would be a great place for a library....and a big flipping tank. My plan was a 125... But that soon changed to a 180....with a sump in the basement.

I removed the furniture and gave it away to Restore. Painted the rooms and replaced the carpet. I then got down to planning the tank and stand. I wanted a basement sump and something that was a real centerpiece of the room.

I contracted Matt from Sho Tank Aquarium in Mundelein IL to build the tank for me. I have seen his work over the years and always wanted something he built. The opportunity presented itself and the rest is I guess history. Here are a couple of pictures of Matt delivering the tank.

The tank was installed the first week of November. I had a ton of work to plumb and set the tank up long before I put water in it.

More to come.

 

[dansreef]

Here is a night time picture...no water and a cheap T-5 light.... Things were starting to come together...nicely.

And a picture the next morning....

Needless to say.... I was pretty stoked. At the same time...perhaps a little overwhelmed.

Here is what I had planned for the basement. I built structure before the tank was delivered to make sure the floor could handle the weight. I made sure that there was dimensional lumber structure around all four sides of the tank itself. This would allow solid wood support and for shimming if neccessary. This then created an area for a sump... Which then led to the plan to create a fish room. The sump would be a 100 gal Rubbermaid trough with a Hammer Head pump providing return water to the tank. Matt had set up the tank to have four drains...two in each corner overflow...with a single 1 1/2 return....which fed a manifold across the back of the tank... With four sets of lockline. The plan was to provide a lot of flow....not needing a bunch of MPs for supplement.

This made for some interesting plumbing. I took a stab at things.... Unfortunately I really suck at plumbing and found one in four connections leaked...very minor leaks...but still leaked.

So I broke down and hired a friend and fellow reefer who just happens to be a licensed plumber. If you could hear him.... He basically said....yeah...I am cutting the whole out and starting from scratch.

More to come.

 

[dansreef]

So...I realized I did not post pics of the basement fish room and sump....here are a few.... This is starting to fill the tank...mixing RODI and salt....before pumping it up to the tank.

My RODI system and a wash basin.....all new for the fish room...

Here is the fish room as it sits today. I still don't have drywall up yet. I am going to rock the one basement side.... You will notice my daughters gold fish in its winter home....a 29 high.... **** near froze to death....got it in just before the pond outside froze over.

Some other random structure pictures...

The whole idea is to a) put sump in the basement, b) provide ample support...and c) make life managing a big tank easier. No more schlepping water around for water changes.

 

[dansreef]

Ok....let's see where did I leave off...

So I finally filled the tank about 3 weeks ago now. I used reef crystals for the cycle. I added about 200 lbs of dry base rock, 100 lbs to the display and another 100 lbs to the sump....along with a Marine Pure block. I have heard a lot of great things about Marine Pure Blocks so I decided...why not. I then added four frozen....but raw shrimp to begin the cycle.

I arranged the rock and the MP block in a way to force flow through the rock before heading to the pump.....kind of like a rock dam if you will. After about a week...the Ammonia levels spiked and I added two bottles of Dr Tims bacteria. This is not the recommended dose...actually about 2/3 of a dose. The stuf is expensive.

It was then time to sit back and let nature take its course.... In the meantime I added a Mazpect Gyre.... This thing rocks. The amount of water that is over with it is outstanding. Dollar for dollar....I would recommend these over everything...including MPs. We will see how it holds up....but thus far I am impressed...

 

[dansreef]

Next on the list of topics is lighting. I have used T-5s, LEDS, Hybrids... Etc.... I wanted to keep energy costs in check and I did not want to add a lot of heat to the tank. I investigated all sorts of fixtures....but finally settled on the Gen3 Radions. I have Gen2's on my 125 Corner Bow....and they seem to perform fine. For this tank....I also wanted the convenience of programming from my iPad really anything I want as far as intensity and color. The Radions together with the ecosmartlive cloud based connectivity with the reef link I already had made sense. I needed three in total to cover the whole tank.

Thus far I am pretty happy with the lights. I am going to tweak color and intensity as I get closer to adding corals. As for controllers...I am using a full Apex. I added new modules to the Apex I had for my other tanks. I added leak detector modules as well...to notify me if something leaks under the tank...or in the basement. A little peace of mind if you will... Most of the electronics are in the basement for this tank. here are a couple picks of the control / electronics area....

You will notice I added also a Tunze ATO. I have heard a lot of good things about it. I am using a 20gal brute can for top off water. I am finding that I am adding about 3-4 gals of top off per day.... Which I guess seems like a lot. My other tanks run about 1 gal a day... Needless to say I am not having to run the humidifier on the furnace this winter. I am getting a lot of humidity from the tanks.

Well...I think this basically brings me to today. My cycle is complete. Ammonia is zero.... Nitrites are now zero... Nitrates are about 1 ppm and Phospates are almost non existent... I am hoping to get a small school of Blue Green Chromis from a LFS tomorrow. I will let them settle in before I add more fish. I need to get my Quarantine tank set up as I plan to have some nice tangs and angels... I want to prevent unwanted pests in the system. I may add a few coral frags from the other tanks. I also plan on adding a cleanup crew from John at Reefcleaners soon as well.

So let me know what you think.

 

[46gReef]

I think it looks great, sweet set-up!

 

[dansreef]

Ok... So last night I recieved my new LifeReef SVS3 30" Internal Skimmer..... This morning I had the chance to assemble things and get it installed in my sump. So I thought I would do a quick video. Enjoy!


[video=youtube_share;hXcBigefjyg]http://youtu.be/hXcBigefjyg[/video]

 

[dansreef]

Ok... Well the new year is here and the water parameters are perfect.... So I decided to add a couple of sacrificial frags I have been growing out in my other tanks.... Placement is top of the lower third to the middle third of the tank. The corals are a pink birds nest to the left, a green pocillipora (sp?) middle, orange digi below that...a bird of paradise to the right and upper right a forest fire digi. These were all breaks I have had that I made into frags hat I was going to sell off...until this tank came to be.

I left them on their plugs figuring if they don't respond well...I could pull them quick and move them back to one of the other tanks. If they do well...then I will epoxy them in... With the tanks water parameters stable and all but perfect...nitrates are just around 1 ppm... my hope is these will do fine. They are also pretty easy to grow corals.

Tomorrow I am going to pick up a small group of blue green chromis from a LFS... I then am going to wait until next weekend to add anything else. I need to head out of town on business on Monday for a few days. I want to get an order into reefcleaners for a CUC but need to wait til I get back to recieve them. I also want to order some other types of chromis from LA... The Blue Reefs and Lemons would be a nice grouping of small fish. I then would start acquiring slowly a Naso, some Carribean Blue Tangs.... Perhaps a nice Trigger... I am thinking a Sargassum or a couple of small Blue Thoats... My neighbor is trying to get me to drop the coin on a Crosshatch... I am not sure I have the brass to spend that much on a fish.... For the time being....I am going to look at the Chromis...and hope they can all settle in and get along. Of course....it will most likely be a giant grudge match until the last one or two are left swimming....

Wish me luck!

 

[dansreef]

It has been a while since my last post here.... So here it goes. Let's have some pics...

Some of the fish and corals.
.

A trio of beautiful disbar Anthias.... I love these fish... Absolutely gorgeous colors...

I purchased a shoal of cardinals; seven red spots and five yellow stripe... They shoal beautifully...and in a 180... Fantastic fish.

There is a bit of hair algae that has now disappeared... Thanks to my small Tomini Tang and Fox Face.

 

[dansreef]

Some additional random pictures of corals and fish...

 

[dansreef]

The hair algae in the tank has now been decimated by the tomini and the fox face. My neighbor brought over another 8 SPS frags that are now in place... They were not doing well in his tank...I am hoping they kick into gear here. Water parameters are perfect... Low nutrients... I have plenty of flow. Witha. Gyre 150.. And am running G3 Radions...with a 13k program with sunrise and sunset programmed. All in all... I am very happy with home the tank is going...

Here are a couple of shots of me just sitting staring at the tank from my recliners.... This has become my favorite room in the house....


Sunrise at the house and the fish are begging for a little food..

Reading the paper with the dogs...on a cold winter morning...who needs a blanket when dogs will keep you warm...

Sunset beginning on the Radions....

 

[dansreef]

This will be the last update tonight...

The Disbars are settling is so well they are starting to flash, display and display almost what I would call pre-breeding dominance in the tank. This is something that has only recently started. They will go at it for a while then are all fine. At first I was pretty worried... Not so much now. They haven't damaged themselves and seem healthy... This video shows it... None of the pictures or videos can really show the incredible beauty of the fish. When they start flashing...the colors are even more pronounced.

Enjoy!

[video=youtube_share;nGV29OEj4Ec]http://youtu.be/nGV29OEj4Ec[/video]

 

[spspirate]

Great build!! I really like the way you centered the room around the reef. Nice choice of fish and sweet aqua scape.

 

[BetURWrasse]

Awesome tank

 

[dansreef]

Ok... So this is one of two videos for a three month update. Enjoy!

[video=youtube_share;gfHfLvUbueY]http://youtu.be/gfHfLvUbueY[/video]

 

[dansreef]

Ok... Here is video two. Enjoy!

[video=youtube_share;TRgbhZdE4J0]http://youtu.be/TRgbhZdE4J0[/video]

 

[dansreef]

Wow..... I just noticed how long it has been since I last updated this thread.... 2 Years!!!!

A lot has changed in that time....too much really. You would think that the tank would be much further along than it is, but it isn't in some ways and in others it is. A quick summary... a) DINO infestation that nearly caused me to shut the tank down, b) WWIII against the aforementioned DINOS.....,c) lost a few fish, a lot of coral.... d) added some equipment.... Bottom line, about November of last year I started to see forward progress with the tank. It is starting to mature and once again become the showcase I had wanted it to be.

So, if you will forgive me for being away so long... I will post a few pictures I just took. One thing that hasn't gotten better is my photography skills. I need to work on that a but it appears.

 

[dansreef]

Full Tank Shot:

Left side:

Right side:

Temporary frag rack with four SPS frags I picked up at this weekends frag swap. I like to introduce them to the tank here first to allow to move the rack up and down to acclimate to the tank and lighting.

 

[Maritimer]

Thanks for sharing the ride - and that last point about the temporary frag rack! (I always wondered why anyone would want one in the middle of their front glass!)

The tank looks very happy, and plenty of room for stuff to grow into!

~Bruce

 

[dansreef]

Thanks for sharing the ride - and that last point about the temporary frag rack! (I always wondered why anyone would want one in the middle of their front glass!)

The tank looks very happy, and plenty of room for stuff to grow into!

~Bruce

Since it is only temporary, it is only in there for a week or so. It allows me to inspect the corals much more closely. I do dip everything....but IU do not QT the corals. Having them on the front glass makes looking them over a bit easier. These 4 frags will get placed on the rock this coming weekend. They all have nice PE and with the exception of the one second from the right, the colors are pretty good. The one that isn't came from a guy at the swap that had an issue with a his tanks the day before he came to the swap. A wire from a device in his tank allowed for stray voltage and it caused the corals to essentially bleach out. Not sure if this frag will fully recover. I hope it does. It is a shortcake like sps.