Mrpontiac80 ‘s 180 gallon build

[mrpontiac80]

Woo hoo!! Finally got the tank today! 3 friends and I picked it up from the lfs today and got it in the house.
Planet aquariums 180 gallon with low iron front glass, external overflow.
The stand is 45”-50” tall and the tank is heavy, but it’s in place! Now time to figure out the plumbing

 

[mrpontiac80]

Started messing with some plumbing tonight. Went into it with a plan but it’s a little more difficult to come to fruition. I’m not a plumber but deal with pvc and drains all the time on hvac units as part of my job. So I might have come into it a little over confident. I’m not concerned about leaks or anything but more like functionality. This is my first plumed tank with a sump.
Worst case is I don’t like it and I redo it but I’m hoping not because this stuff ain’t cheap!
Well anyway, here are some progress pics.

 

[mrpontiac80]

One thing about the planet aquariums mega matrix is the trim and their tideline external overflow box. They have added another panel to push it away from the trim but it’s slightly interfering with the top. I happened to have an old one so I decided to add the gaskets from it to the outside of the tank in addition to the factory design that uses them inside the inner box. It helped straighten things up a bit.

 

[Fish Styx]

Off to a great start. I have a 180 Planet too, and absolutely love it. Tagging along for the ride! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Fish Styx]

I Decided to install leveling casters on the tank stand. I don’t like shims and the way that the stand was constructed, this seemed like the best option. I’ve used these on my custom built stand under my waterbox 65.4, but on that tank I only used 4. But I built the stand and knew exactly how and where the support needed to be.

this stand is considerably bigger and will be holding more weight so I probably went overboard on it but I used 10 of these casters. Each leveling caster is rated to a maximum of 550 pounds. So all 10 should carry up to 5,500 lbs. Now obviously I would never move it with a tank full of water but just prepping the tank plumbing and etc with these are a breeze. Once you are happy with placement you crank the feet down and the casters are not touching at that point. I love my experience with these.

Love this! Wish I added them to mine.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Love this! Wish I added them to mine.

Man I get a lot of flack from it but I swear they are the best! A lot of people don’t seem to trust them but I do. Plumbing this for example was as simple as cranking up the feet and rolling it away from the wall. Obviously I’ll never try to move it even an inch with anything in it, but in a pinch they are great

 

[mrpontiac80]

Here are a few more after calling it a night. Still need to strap things up and finalize where I want some stuff. My plan for the secondary drain is to drop into a hang on filter sock. Eventually I’ll likely redo a little of the return by adding a manifold.
im not sure if I have the clarisea in the best spot but I think so. This whole build is a learning experience for me. It’s a far cry from my 65 gall in one. Sorry for the dark pics. My other tank lights shut off a while ago and my fish were somewhat trying to bed down but not staying put. So I figured I’d be considerate

 

[Zero_Cool]

Looking great. Thank you for sharing.

Following along.

 

[Fish Styx]

Here are a few more after calling it a night. Still need to strap things up and finalize where I want some stuff. My plan for the secondary drain is to drop into a hang on filter sock. Eventually I’ll likely redo a little of the return by adding a manifold.
im not sure if I have the clarisea in the best spot but I think so. This whole build is a learning experience for me. It’s a far cry from my 65 gall in one. Sorry for the dark pics. My other tank lights shut off a while ago and my fish were somewhat trying to bed down but not staying put. So I figured I’d be considerate

Lookin good!

 

[mrpontiac80]

Looking great. Thank you for sharing.

Following along.

Thanks!

 

[mrpontiac80]

Lookin good!

Thank you. I’m following yours too. Amazing!!

 

[mrpontiac80]

I feel good about the plumbing overall, so now I need to figure out how I want to scape this thing.
On my 65.4 aio I used the same type of rock and built structures using e-marco cement and I have been happy with it… but I was 100% newbie and now I know that it would sometimes be nice to be able to remove pieces of rock and not the whole structure.
So I’m almost debating on finding pieces that lock naturally into place with each other.
My second issue is how to fill the tank with new rock and also make it work with the structures in the 65.4. I want to condense everything into the 180 after a little bit of cycle and run time to work out any kinks.

The pic of the 65.4 shows the structures I want to incorporate. (The water is green because I just fed the fish and dosed AB+).

also for what it’s worth, the rock on the floor is what you get if you order the 220.6 Caribsea liferock bundle from Waterbox.

 

[mrpontiac80]

—I posted this in the aquascape thread also so sorry if it’s a repeat for anyone but here is my current thoughts on the aquascape. —

Ok everyone, I’d welcome any feedback! I’m trying to scape my new 180 gallon build. I learned from my 65 that arches look cool but shadow a lot.. also on my 65 I used e-Marco cement and built structures. From that I learned that it’s very difficult to remove parts of encrusted growth or etc. so on this scape everything is wedged into place and pretty solid but can be removed piece by piece if I need to. Not to mention the top of the tank is 6’ high and I need a step ladder to get anything in or out. The tank will hopefully be sps dominant. But mixed reef in the end.
please feel free to share your thoughts!

 

[leepink23]

Your tank build is looking good. The quality on the planet is very nice! My rock work is slowly coming together.

 

[mrpontiac80]

Your tank build is looking good. The quality on the planet is very nice! My rock work is slowly coming together.

Thank you! I hope to rinse my sand and get it in the tank along with some water within the week! Still not 100% on my rock scape.

 

[leepink23]

Thank you! I hope to rinse my sand and get it in the tank along with some water within the week! Still not 100% on my rock scape.

That’s awesome. The wife and I are close to heading out on my 10 year anniversary. My plan is to fill with water as soon as I come back so I got a lot of work to do on the rock structures.

 

[mrpontiac80]

That’s awesome. The wife and I are close to heading out on my 10 year anniversary. My plan is to fill with water as soon as I come back so I got a lot of work to do on the rock structures.

I looked through your lowboy frag build. Do you also have a 180 I haven’t seen?
And congratulations on 10 yrs!

 

[leepink23]

I looked through your lowboy frag build. Do you also have a 180 I haven’t seen?
And congratulations on 10 yrs!

Thank you! I have a 180 planet that I am working on currently.

Large Build - Lee’s 180 gallon Planet Acro Tank

So I haven’t had a home display in over a year as we sold our trailer and built a house. I do have 2 lowboys that I grow out corals located in a friends shop but not a home display. Exciting news I finally ordered a home tank. 180 gallon planet aquarium. Expecting in 4-6 weeks. Equipment I have...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[leepink23]

Post error

 

[mrpontiac80]

What’s your address, going to start prepping for shipping. Do you have an ups hub? I always pick my corals up that way so they don’t sit on a truck. I can ship to a hub or home but prefer hub.

Wrong thread?