Luke's 180 gallon In-Wall Dream Tank!

Cassian

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Hello all!
I am proud to announce that I am in the process of building my dream tank! This tank is a 180 gallon acrylic aquarium that will be built into a wall in my basement! I will be upgrading to this tank from my current 65 gallon reef.
First off, I want to give a huge shoutout to @WWIII and @Mr Rock ! I purchased this amazing tank from @Mr Rock, who was amazing to work with! (he still has another very nice tank for sale, check it out!) And @WWIII was very kind and offered to transport it halfway to me since he was getting an aquarium from from Mr Rock as well. Many thanks to these two kind people who made my dream tank a reality!
This build thread is probably going to be fairly slow, but I hope to have this tank up and running this year! As stated before, it is a 180 gal acrylic tank, with external overflow, very large custom sump with built in ATO, and a foot print of 96" x 24" x 18". All of this sits on a powder coated steel stand. Right now, I am in the process of ordering supplies and cleaning it. I will be ordering rocks soon to begin my aquascape, and the only equipment I don't have are the lights, which I am working on purchasing soon. The tank will be in-set into a wall and will face into our basement living room/work out room. The equipment will be accessible in our storage room behind the wall.
I am working on my stocking list, but the main fish I want is an Achilles Tang. It is my dream fish and is the reason I got an 8 foot tank. :D I plan to make this tank into a high flow reef with SPS and LPS dominant. Below is my planned stock list, please leave any suggestions about the stock list if you think I should add/remove any fish. (the wrasses are still undecided, so some of them may not be compatible). I would also love to have a powder blue tang, but over read that they cannot be paired with an Achilles Tang. Is this true, even for this size tank?

1. Achilles tang-8.5"

2. Blonde Naso Tang-18"

3. Purple tang or Desjardini salifin-10 or 16"

4. A pair of spotbreast or Wantanabei angelfish-9" x 2

5. Trio of anthias (lyretail or Bimaculatus)-5" x 3

6. Pair of mocha or black storm clownfish-3" x 2

7. 6 firefish-3" x 6

8. Onespot or Magnificent Foxface-9"

9. Golden Rhomboidalis wrasse-4.5"

10. Leopard wrasse-6"

11. Red head solon Fairy wrasse-5"

12. Orange back wrasse-4.5"

13. Labout's Fairy wrasse-5"

14. Lineatus fairy wrasse-5"

15. Diamond watchman goby-6"

Thank you all for reading! If you follow along, I hope you will enjoy my build thread! (it will be pic heavy! :) )

The tank!!

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WWIII

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woohoo! Congrats on the awesome tank! I was very happy to help. It is a great setup and can't wait to watch this tank/thread develop!

I'll leave the Achilles/powder tang question for those that have attempted it. I know that it's not easy to accomplish.

Very nice to meet you and congrats again on the tank! Following along...
 
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Cassian

Cassian

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woohoo! Congrats on the awesome tank! I was very happy to help. It is a great setup and can't wait to watch this tank/thread develop!

I'll leave the Achilles/powder tang question for those that have attempted it. I know that it's not easy to accomplish.

Very nice to meet you and congrats again on the tank! Following along...

thanks! it was nice to meet you as well!
 
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Cassian

Cassian

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Update!! I got two big boxes of rock in today and I did some aqua scaping! One thing I wanted in this new tank was some shelf rock. ive always loved the way it looks, so I added some in my aquascape. I plan on having three islands total. Each island will be connected with arches of rock. I made two islands out of dry rock and the third will be constructed from the liverock I have in my current tank.
Also, lights come in this week as well as the filters. I also finished programming the gyre pumps and am working on the protein skimmer. Here's some pics of my progress!
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Cassian

Cassian

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WOO HOO!!! Moving day!

This was both very exciting and very stressful. lol. But, everything went well I I managed not to break any acropora or birdsnest. Although, It was pretty scary when my 2 foot long moray jumped out of the bucket while I was about her in the tank. Luckily she landed right in the water and Is now very happy. all the corals look good now (which is a week later, sorry I was slow to post this) and the fish are happy.
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enjoy the pics!
 

vetteguy53081

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Keep going - Project looking good !!
I have always been and always will be a lover of in wall builds and canopies !
 
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Cassian

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More pics!

I have all four lights now ;Happy

also looks like tank is fully cycled. checked nitrates 2 days ago, 10 ppm. checked them today 0 ppm.

im getting some fish tomorrow, so more pics coming!

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Cassian

Cassian

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if anyone wants to send me some coral clippings it would be much appreciated. lol :cool: I've got a tank to fill
 
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Cassian

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The first fish are in!! They are going through quarantine before they go in the display. My first fish are a pair of Wantanabei Angelfish, a Ruby head wrasse, and a diamond watchman goby ( for sand cleaning). enjoy the pics!

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Cassian

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Hello all! new update today! I finally got finished building a shelf to store test kits, food, and my doser. I built it out of 1 x 8 lumber and glued and nailed it together with an air nailer. My cabinetry work isn't the best, but it works for what I need, haha. I have the GHL 2.1 standalone unit for my doser. I downloaded the app and got it programmed. This is a great doser if anyone is looking to invest in one. It has lots of great features and is so easy to program! Heres some pics of my shelf I built and the doser installed. although, I might add some sort for rail or cage around the doser so my dog or cat doesn't knock the doser into my sump. The doser sits on the very top of the shelf so it can feed right into the sump. The shelf is screwed into the plywood on the bottom of the steel stand, so I feel like it is sturdy enough.

Also, does any one have a good solution for cords??? mine are chaotic right now

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