Bowin
Active Member
So the guys in my reef club have been encouraging me to do this. I've been hesitant because of the fear that I may be documenting my great failure. While I'm excited about this build I am also nervous about the challenge before me. This will be my second build after two years in the hobby. My previous setup is a 90 gal wavefront with my own diy 20gal sump. I've decided to make the jump and doubled my dt to a 180. I've been working on this build for a little over a month now so here goes a little of what I've done and what I plan to do.
At the time that I made my purchase I was researching a purchase a year or more from this time. When I saw the tank was available and the price was right I called my wife who was with my kids vacationing at Disney to get the approval and the next morning I became the owner of a eurobraced 180 with canopy and stand.
After moving the tank to it's new home I decided that I'd rather have the stand and canopy match the trim and doors in my home so I immediately went to a nearby Lowe's and purchased everything I needed to change the look. That night as I began sanding and painting the stand I saw commercials advertising Shark Week and then the name Great White came across to me as ironic so I decided to nickname my build the same thing. Just weeks prior to this another reefing friend and business owner had me over to help setup a large coral tub he had purchased for his business. His tub is light blue so I secretly call it Viagra being that it also is full of sexy corals that arouse plenty of hobbyists. I'd like to give a shout out to him and his business but I don't know if the rules here would permit it.
Anyways, back to the story of my build. The decision to paint the stand white from it's original black has given the system a cleaner look that I am pleased with. It came with a 40 breeder that was used by the previous owner as a sump that at first I considered converting into a frag tank or a setup for my daughter. Unfortunately after struggling to remove it from under the stand without removing the rear center brace it was dropped and cracked. So to relieve my frustrations and remove the tank at the same time I wrapped it with duct tape and smashed it with a hammer and took it out piece by piece.
I will now list some of the things I have purchased and plan to purchase for this system. I chose to use about 200lbs of AragLive Special Grade sand. I prefer the brightness of the Fiji Pink that I have in my other setup but hope that this will prevent the slight dustings I've experienced in the past with the Fiji. Because of a slight aptaisa breakout in my current system I have decided not to use any of my current rock and instead I purchased 120lbs of man made Real Reef Rock. I am loving this rock and it is insanely good looking. For lighting I ordered 3 sets of Gen 3 Radion XR30 Pro's with a Reeflink. This is a big jump for me considering my lighting on the 90gal was cheap Evergrow D120 Chinese lights. My sump arrived from Trigger Systems this week and it is the Emerald 39. I've caught a little teasing from some local reefers being that Synergy is just down the road from where I live and they are a sponsor for our reef club. It was a very hard choice to make but nonetheless I am very pleased with my choice. I will be using the same skimmer I've been running on my 90 which I chose as oversized because I had hoped one day to be making this upgrade. It is a CadLights TIA 1220 cone skimmer that I have been running for about 1 1/2yr. I have also ordered a Reef Octopus Water Blaster HY7000 as my return pump. I'm hoping to run a manifold to have it power things like a pellet reactor(probably from synergy), an ats, and any other reactors I may decide to add in the future. I will also be using the same Tunze Osmolator that I currently have running on my 90gal.
As it is getting late to a long day my mind has gone fuzzy and tired so I will update later as I progress. Photos I have on my phone will be uploaded as well to give a visual of my progress and steps. Please give feedback on ideas for this system and I will be very appreciative. Thanks for checking things out and happy reefing!
At the time that I made my purchase I was researching a purchase a year or more from this time. When I saw the tank was available and the price was right I called my wife who was with my kids vacationing at Disney to get the approval and the next morning I became the owner of a eurobraced 180 with canopy and stand.
After moving the tank to it's new home I decided that I'd rather have the stand and canopy match the trim and doors in my home so I immediately went to a nearby Lowe's and purchased everything I needed to change the look. That night as I began sanding and painting the stand I saw commercials advertising Shark Week and then the name Great White came across to me as ironic so I decided to nickname my build the same thing. Just weeks prior to this another reefing friend and business owner had me over to help setup a large coral tub he had purchased for his business. His tub is light blue so I secretly call it Viagra being that it also is full of sexy corals that arouse plenty of hobbyists. I'd like to give a shout out to him and his business but I don't know if the rules here would permit it.
Anyways, back to the story of my build. The decision to paint the stand white from it's original black has given the system a cleaner look that I am pleased with. It came with a 40 breeder that was used by the previous owner as a sump that at first I considered converting into a frag tank or a setup for my daughter. Unfortunately after struggling to remove it from under the stand without removing the rear center brace it was dropped and cracked. So to relieve my frustrations and remove the tank at the same time I wrapped it with duct tape and smashed it with a hammer and took it out piece by piece.
I will now list some of the things I have purchased and plan to purchase for this system. I chose to use about 200lbs of AragLive Special Grade sand. I prefer the brightness of the Fiji Pink that I have in my other setup but hope that this will prevent the slight dustings I've experienced in the past with the Fiji. Because of a slight aptaisa breakout in my current system I have decided not to use any of my current rock and instead I purchased 120lbs of man made Real Reef Rock. I am loving this rock and it is insanely good looking. For lighting I ordered 3 sets of Gen 3 Radion XR30 Pro's with a Reeflink. This is a big jump for me considering my lighting on the 90gal was cheap Evergrow D120 Chinese lights. My sump arrived from Trigger Systems this week and it is the Emerald 39. I've caught a little teasing from some local reefers being that Synergy is just down the road from where I live and they are a sponsor for our reef club. It was a very hard choice to make but nonetheless I am very pleased with my choice. I will be using the same skimmer I've been running on my 90 which I chose as oversized because I had hoped one day to be making this upgrade. It is a CadLights TIA 1220 cone skimmer that I have been running for about 1 1/2yr. I have also ordered a Reef Octopus Water Blaster HY7000 as my return pump. I'm hoping to run a manifold to have it power things like a pellet reactor(probably from synergy), an ats, and any other reactors I may decide to add in the future. I will also be using the same Tunze Osmolator that I currently have running on my 90gal.
As it is getting late to a long day my mind has gone fuzzy and tired so I will update later as I progress. Photos I have on my phone will be uploaded as well to give a visual of my progress and steps. Please give feedback on ideas for this system and I will be very appreciative. Thanks for checking things out and happy reefing!
This should be in the large tanks section, you've moved up to the big boys league!
