180 Gallon Reef Tank build!

Itaysworld

Itaysworld

Premium Member
Hello everyone,

After many years of day dreaming, many months of debating and endless hours reading books and online materials, and after reading the great threads on this forum I finally started on my 180 gallon (6ft x 2ft x 2ft) reef tank build.

Currently all the plumbing is complete. I just finished the closed loop and overflows. Tested this morning and unfortunately found a leak in an elbow. Sand and Live Rock is coming in during the week. I can't wait!

IMG_2249.jpg
IMG_2264.jpg


I've had fresh water aquariums most of my life, but the largest tank I owned was approximately the size of my sump in this build!

Since this is my first saltwater tank, I'm having a local, family owned pet store help me with the plumbing and specifications

I am posting the detailed build on my personal page, I hope you all don't mind checking out the regular updates and pictures there. I find that I have more flexibility in posting and manipulating format over there.

Here are the specifications of my build:
* 180 Gallon glass tank (6 x 2 x 2 feet) with 2 cornerflos (681 liters - 183 x 61 x 61 cm)
* 72″ Aqualight Pro Retrofit Kit with timer
* Hardwood cabinet and canopy
* Pro Clear Flex 300 Sump
* 2 300W Heaters
* Bermuda 5C Protein Skimmer
* Oceans Motions 4 way flow regulator
* Mag Drive 9.5 Pond Pump
* Reeflo Dart Pump 3600 GPH
* 320 lbs of Atlantic Coral / Aragonite Sand (145 kg)
* 150 lbs of Bali Alor Live Rock (68 kg)

I look forward to getting to know you and discuss my tank and progress as I finish the build and start the cycling and curing process!

The details of the build can be found at: www.itaysworld.com/blog

And here is a list of URLs on project so far:
http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/01/23/reef-tank-project/
http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/04/04/reef-tank-project-update-build-starting-very-soon/
http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/05/21/reef-tank-its-finally-here/
Build Day 1:http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/05/22/reef-tank-build-day-1-not-a-good-day/
Build Day 2:http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/05/30/reef-tank-build-day-2-new-stand-is-here/
Build Day 3:http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/05/31/reef-tank-build-day-3-more-plumbing/
Build Day 4:http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/06/01/reef-tank-build-day-4-plumbing-done-water-test-falied/

Thanks for reading and nice to meet you all :)

Itay.
 
Last edited:
Well, It's sad to respond to your own thread, specially if nobody else has done so since your post...

But here we go... I just finished aquascaping the tank and have the water coming in the next few minutes.


Here's a full tank shot, and you can see the rest of the pictures at:
Reef Tank - 202 Lbs Of Live Rock Are In!


IMG_2311.JPG


Thanks and look forward to some feedback/comments.

Itay.
 
Last edited:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12746704#post12746704 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmjohnson
please dont add fresh water and mix the salt in the tank while the rock is in there.
Click to expand...

Oh! no no no! :eek:

That would be an unfortunate mess :)
My LFS is delivering around 170 gallons of saltwater any minute now.

50 gallons of 'old' salt water from his system... already cycled
130 newly mixed saltwater

Just got off the phone with the guy. Was filling the tanks on his pickup truck and coming over!!!!!

CAN'T WAIT! :rollface: :rollface:

Itay
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12746184#post12746184 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Conesus_Kid
Looking good!

What are your livestock plans?
Click to expand...

Thank you!

I haven't made my list yet... I tried to keep the livestock planning out of my mind for the time being because I know I have a long cycling process ahead of me. It's my only defense against losing my mind during this period.

I definitely want a number of tangs, trigger fish, a pair of clowns, some gobies and blennies, wrasses and some smaller schooling fish. I would like lots of soft and stoney corals and a good number of inverts. I'd also like to get a miniature puffer.

I know it sounds a bit vague, but I will be coming up with a more specific and definitive list as the time approaches.

For the time being, I'm watching the cloudiness subside slowly, expecting my Reef Keeper Elite to show up as soon as they ship the pre-orders they took, and looking forward to starting my water tests.

Thanks for the responses - I will continue to post updates as things progress.

Thanks, Itay.
 
Hello -

I'm at work right now and would like to get some advice prior to getting home...

I only filled the aquarium this past weekend and need to add more water.. the mag drive pump sponge is not covered and I'm getting air mixing in...

I have an RO unit that is brand new and I haven't mounted it yet. I understand I need to let it run for about 6 hours discarding what it produces in order to get all the particles and debris out of the unit first.

My question is... can I buy mineral/distilled water and add it to the tank? I don't have anything but liverock right now. I'm at the very beginning of the cycle.

I'm not too worried about the salinity/spec grav right now, but is there a reason I shouldn't buy a big jug of water and add it until I can get my RO up and running?

Thanks! Itay.
 
Hey Hulley -

Thanks for the message. I picked it up on my mobile as I was entering the store. I came home with 5 gallons of distilled water.

4 seemed to do the trick. The water level is much better and the pumps are running as they should now.

I suspected distilled water would be OK, but wanted the confirmation of someone who knows what they are doing/talking about.


As far as the skimmer, yes, I made a recirculation mod. I added 2 eheim recirculation pumps to inject even more air and create more microbubbles. I'm very pleased with the outcome. I will post a close up picture in a little bit (need to take them first).

How do you like this skimmer? Has it worked well for you?

thanks again! Itay.
 
To be honest in the beginning I really liked the skimmer, its worlds better than the ASM I had before it, but now I'm less than thrilled with it. I cant seem to find the "sweet spot" anymore and now that my tank is a little more than medium stocked I think I'm over-working the skimmer. I should've bought the 8C or another skimmer. My tank is BB so skimmer performance is very important. Actually with you having a DSB skimmer performance is just as important too. You'll probably have better luck with yours having a recirc mod. Good luck!
 
Still smelly.... :(

Still smelly.... :(

Hey guys,

For those of you who have cured rock in your tanks, cycled a new tank... how long does it take for the smell to dissipate?

I still have a mild stench in my house and wanted to see if after 5 days of being filled, with the closed loop moving a lot of water, and 4 days skimming, it should still be there or if there may be something else going on.

The smell level has definitely dropped since the first day, but it seems to have leveled off and isn't going anywhere.

Thanks, Itay.
 
The smell is usually a sign of die off. As long as it smells, youre probably cycling, and even after that you're still probably cycling a little lol.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12771163#post12771163 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jflip2002
The smell is usually a sign of die off. As long as it smells, youre probably cycling, and even after that you're still probably cycling a little lol.
Click to expand...

OK- I figure as much... I hope things hurry up and die!

My wife deserves a medal :)

Here's another 100% noobie question - how wet should I be skimming? I have been playing with the ball valve pipe from the mag drive to the skimmer to adjust up and down.

Right now I have it skimming very slowly, where micro bubbles rise and stay in the neck (not sure if neck is the right term, but I'm referring to the riser between the bottom chamber and the collection cup) of the skimmer for about 30 - 40 seconds and every minute or so a little bit of foam "spills over" into the collection cup.

I've also had it much more fluid where I get the bubbles to spill over almost constantly.

What's the way to go? How should I adjust it (considering I'm in the beginning of the cycle and curing my live rock?

Thanks in advance!

Itay.
 
the subject of "how wet to skim" is much debated around here, and it really boils down to preference.

many people prefer to skim "dry". This usually means that the waterlevel is lower in the skimmer, and only the nastiest gunk makes it up top. Your skimmate will be nearly BLACK if you are skimming dry with alot of nutrients in the system.

and other people prefer to skim "wet". This usually means the waterlevel is higher in the skimmer, and more bubbles make it into the collection cup. As a result, the skimmate is not quite as dark, but much more is produced. I think that some people believe that you will actually skim alot more of the nasties that way, and I think that is true. You also potentially remove alot of water, so its a good idea to keep an eye on the tank's salinity and not rely on auto-top-off too much. Not an immediate concern you just don't want to slowly drift.

The whole dichotomy of 'wet or dry' is a bit of a fallacy, since there is really anything and everything in between the two extremes. Personally I adjusted my skimmer to only pull dark dry skimmate since I don't have to change the collection cup as much, or overskim beneficial plankton etc...

But in response to your build:
your plumbing looks great! I'm surprised you did all that with so little room to work with.

your aquascape looks like it will be cool

I feel ya on the rock curing. I'm curing a bunch of liverock in my garage right now, and ammonia levels are around 1.0 or so, and the smell is there, so its definitely cycling :)

btw, do you have ammonia/nitrite/nitrate test kits?

Its not necessary to test at this point (you KNOW its going to be high), but in a two or three weeks when the smell starts going away, start testing, and you will see the numbers drop in time.
 
btw, have you had any issues with your OM 4-way on the dart yet??

I am running the same exact combination, and the drum on my 4-way 'sticks' after running for an hour or so, and the flow gets stuck coming out 2 outlets. every 30 seconds or so I hear a loud "click". Already speaking to Paul at OM but just wondering how yours is treating you :)


looks like you're running locline on the outlets of the closed loop? Its funny because I was too, and Paul actually suggested that the locline might be creating backpressure and jamming the drum.

I removed the locline but obviously it didn't fix my problem any :)
 
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