Lairds 180

[Laird]

I've been talking about this 180 for well over a year. Its been a major project mostly because I could never decide what I wanted exactly. The tank itself was the biggest problem because I wanted to go custom but couldn't justify the price difference. Its also been a slow process with how freakin expensive all the equipment is.


I'm going to be transfer all of the livestock from my 90 gallon over to the new big tank. I have new special grade sand that I will be adding to the new tank, but other then that all the livestock is coming from the new tank. I'm also going to be using DDH2ocean salt for this tank.

Here are a couple pics of the 90.

Right now I have just the tank and stand sitting in the middle of my house waiting to be plumbed in the next few days.


Tank Dimensions
72x24x24 Marine land corner flow tank with black silicon.


Custom Large Black knotty alder stand and canopy. This thing is huge and beautiful. Its 7.5 feet tall, 81inches wide, and 29 inches deep. It also has 4 big doors in front, and also doors on each end.

Equipment
2 mp40Wes
Reefo Barracuda return Pump
Emperor 40 watt UV
2 BRS deluxe Media Reactors
Elite Aquatics Skimmer
Apex Controler
Marine Magic 3 pump Dosing pump. I will be dosing BRS two part.
M3 model Elite Aquatics sump with 4 drains lines, baffles that are further apart to accomidate the larger return pump, and also probe holders.

Lighting
3 60watt Retro fit t5s. Bulbs are one ATI Blue + in the back, and one ATI purple + and another ATI Blue + in the front.
I will be moving my 2 DIY LED fixtures over to the new tank for the time being but I plan to make 3 new DIY fixtures, or buy the Vegas. I'm waiting to see how the Vega looks in person before I decide which way i'm going.




Plumbing
For the plumbing I'm doing SCH 80 valves, and there are a lot of them. I'm running everything off my large return pump which include my UV, and two reactors.


Drains
I'm doing two herbie style drains along with two emergency drains in the corners. I will then be running my return up the back and of the tank instead of through the overflows. I like this because it alows for my drains to be ultra quit and also be able to handle the large amount of flow i'm going to be getting with this barracuda. I also like the return lines away from the overflow so that the flow can help push the water into the overflow instead of away from it like in most tanks.




Aquascaping
I will be keeping 80% of my current rock and then adding more minimalist looking rock. I have Vida rock making some custom pieces for me.


• Semi minimalist look.
• Lots of sand space
• SPS dominant
• Acan rock and garden
• Chalice area around perimeter
• Zoa grow out
• No rock or coral close to glass on any side
• Plenty of swim space above and around rock



Fish


Currently Have
• Borbonius Anthias
• Yellow Tang
• Kole Tang
• Snowflake Clown
• Chromis
• Purple Firefish
• Mandarin Goby
• Flame hawk (will remove)


Wish List
• Powder Blue Tang
• helfrichi firefish trio
• sohal tang
• lyretail anthias trio




So my good friend Bill (sitaga) and I brought over the tank and went to put the tank in the stand. As we are straining to carry the tank with just the two of us we find that the stand is 1/8 of an inch too short to fit the tank. So we put the tank on the island in my kitchen and call the guy who built my stand. Luckily he ran right over and fixed it perfectly.

 

[Laird]

About a week after the above pictures were takin I got to this point....

Not a ton to report. A few plumbing parts from BRS didn't show so set back the build a bit. I'm super disappointed because I wanted to get it up this weekend. We will plumb what we can and get most of it set up but can't get it full of water until the middle of the week. Grrr.


Got the back painted. I originally put vinyl on the back but decided I hated it and tore it off and painted it.

Got the monster sump and pump in the stand.

Here a pic showing the nice big lip on the stand.

All my new equipment and sand is also all here. 200 pounds of special grade sand. A new 40watt emperor UV (HUGE), another new MP40Wes, and my marine magic triple doser.

 

[Laird]

My Herbie drains.


So One Herbie drain, and one durso emergency drain in each overflow.

 

[Laird]

Just some of the valves. I like lots of precise control.

 

[Laird]

Started plumbing.


Got the Emergency drains in.

 

[Laird]

Bill and I have been workin our butts off getting this put together. We are about 80% there, but that last 20% will make things look really really cool. We will be adding all the extra gate vales, reactors, UV, and finishing the plumbing up over the back.


I have valves and unions all over the place.


Right side of the tank with two herbie drains with gate valves on the right. The one on the far right I had to use spa tubing, I hated to but had to because I couldnt get the angles right to hard plumb it. The drains behind it are the two emergency drains plumbed together. Every drains has at least one union, and some have two.

Here is the left side of the tank. Drains, and the return pump.

Working on the manifold.

Manifold installed.

Back of the tank. You can see the return lines with its large gate valve and check valve. Also the end of the manifold that has a cap at the end of the union.

I have another cap I can put on that union so I can expand my manifold easily at any time.

 

[Laird]

Another week or so passes and I get here....

Making progress.


Shelves in

I'll have my Apex outlets for most but for the few things that don't fit I bought this power strip that lets you turn off each outlet individual. I also mounted it right by the door so turning things on and off will be easy. The apex components will mount to that black baron the side of the stand.

And another one high and in the middle. When you are looking under the stand it strip is almost invisible.

 

[Laird]

and then a few more days after that.....

Getting exciting since its almost done.


Got that monster UV installed. Found some cool plastic mounts to set that UV on and then hard plumbed it in off my manifold. Unions on both ends, as well as a gate valve so I can fine tune how much water I want going through the UV. The drain is the hard plumbed into the sump. I put a hammer in the photo to show how huge the UV is.

 

[wysiwyg]

wow your 90g looks amazing cant wait to see the 180 when you have it up and running

 

[nicks387]

Looking awesome Laird. I love it. Well thought out and plumbed great. Love that sump too.

 

[revhtree]

WOW yes great job!

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

I can't wait to see the new tank filled up. I noticed your switching to h2ocean salt. Can you post water parameters of the water when it is freshly mixed? I'm really just interested in alk, and ca. Oh, and make sure to mix the salt in the bucket extremely well before mixing.

 

[Laird]

Thanks for the complements guys.

Seahoresekeeper, I've used the H2O salt before so i'm not switching. I was just stating that I will be mixing all my fresh with it. I will be testing so i'll let you know my parameters. I always mix it for 48 hours before I put it into my tank. I just have a bunch of those big brute garbage cans that I have a powerhead in to mix and hold my salt water.

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[Laird]

I still can't decide what i'm going to do with the lights. I really wish someone local would get one of the AI Vegas in so I could see how it looks in person and its coverage. I don't like the Radions that much, the Vertex is too expensive, and the rest I don't think are good enough. Vega is the only wild card fixture left. If I don't like the Vega i'll just do DIY again. I also have the 3 T5s on there so that LEDs don't have to be perfect. I might do 3 of the Phoenix kits from reefledlights.com

 

[revsgirl]

Beautiful current tank!! Builds looking great!!

 

[CHEF]

very nice. Can't wait to see final setup

 

[ritter6788]

Looks like it's going to be a great one! Nice work.

 

[bige]

Looks great. Very nice.

 

[EcoFrags]

just switched to those Radions personally and saw great sps growth and coloring up using just the natural mode...every tank is different though so thats only my experience with them =)

 

[skinz78]

Great job thus far on the build, keep the updates coming!