180 Gallon Reef Tank build!

[Itaysworld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13240711#post13240711 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hulley
Thanks Itay for the info. I was actually leaning towards the Canon XSi, I liked the "live view" screen, but I didnt think I needed the 12.2 megapixels! If the XSi is a much better body than I'd rather have that for just a little more money now than pay more for a nicer camera later. I'm not brand loyal at the moment, I'm starting out with nothing! I think I'll go for the Canon!

No problem! Glad to be helpful. I would definitely recommend stepping up to the XSi if your budget allows for it. You'll have plenty of camera for a many years to come! Not only will your resolution be double, but the live view and focus features in these newer generation cameras are great!

You'll love it!

 

[Itaysworld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13241436#post13241436 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thebradybunch
I got to spend some more time looking at your design. Your design is almost exactly like what I was thinking of doing other than 2 items.

1)I was going to put the pump to feed the skimmer in the section of the sump with the overflow.

2)I was planning on running 2 outputs from the 4 way to the front of the rock and split them with a "Y"and run the other 2 to each side of the tank and have flow from each side.

Does this make sense and would it work ok? [/QUOTE

Brady, regarding #1, there isn't anything wrong with putting the skimmer intake pump there. In my case, the sump I got has a plastic cover and light fixture that sits over that center section (refugium) which is where I keep my macro algae and pods. If your sump doesn't have the cover or if you plan something else in there you can certainly do that. I like the idea of getting the water to the skimmer after it's gone through the filtration socks, through the sponge and then into the skimmer, and also like how I return the water from the skimmer back to the beginning of the sump, and it has to go through all those steps again before going back into the tank.

As far as #2 goes, I am most certainly not the most experienced person to weigh in on this, but I venture to say that I don't foresee any issues with it. I would make sure to equalize the pressure going to each by having relatively symmetrical or equal plumbing on each, but other than that, just be careful not to have too much back pressure - which I think you would avoid by not having to many elbows and not reducing size/flow too much.

I do recommend you ask someone who knows a bit more than me for the second, but I'm glad you're designing your system in a similar fashion. Worked well for me!

Good Luck and let me know what you end up doing!

 

[ReefEnabler]

wow this thread has been updated so fast lately that I'm struggling to keep up, and all good stuff!

thanks for the advice on the camera's, I look forward to hearing anything else you have to say on the subject. Right now my only camera is a point-n-shoot sony cybershot, and its next to worthless for aquarium shots. I'll definitely be researching that SLR Canon like you suggest!

nice plumbing diagram.

 

[thebradybunch]

Itay, the reason I wanted to pull water from the overflow section is I am considering drilling the sump and putting the skimmer outside the sump as you did. If so I am not going to have a pump in the sump at all for the skimmer. The skimmer pump will be gravity fed (being that the hole is well below the water line). Also I do not use any mechanical filtration. I quit using a sock when I was trying to increase the number of pods in the DT and didn't want them to get caught in the sock if they made a full circle back to the fuge. Also I got tired of cleaning as it is a real pain in my current tank. After doing a lot of research here on RC was surprised to find out many people have went away from socks. I do keep a couple handy in case I move something around or disturb the tank and stir it up. My tank still stays very clear and there is very little debris in the water column.

 

[thebradybunch]

1 more question for you. I may have missed it but I am assuming you are not running a chiller. I am hoping to stay away from a chiller. Are you having any trouble with your temp? I think I saw in one of your pics you temp was around 81.5. Is that about where it stays? Are you running fans?

 

[Itaysworld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13244264#post13244264 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thebradybunch
Itay, the reason I wanted to pull water from the overflow section is I am considering drilling the sump and putting the skimmer outside the sump as you did. If so I am not going to have a pump in the sump at all for the skimmer. The skimmer pump will be gravity fed (being that the hole is well below the water line). Also I do not use any mechanical filtration. I quit using a sock when I was trying to increase the number of pods in the DT and didn't want them to get caught in the sock if they made a full circle back to the fuge. Also I got tired of cleaning as it is a real pain in my current tank. After doing a lot of research here on RC was surprised to find out many people have went away from socks. I do keep a couple handy in case I move something around or disturb the tank and stir it up. My tank still stays very clear and there is very little debris in the water column.

I have a lot of debris in the water column right now... specially as I have 2 new inhabitants that are digging their new homes! I picked up 2 Blue Spot Jaw Fish. Will post an update about them later.


Ah - I understand. I've never had a gravity fed skimmer, so I don't know the ins and outs of that. As far as the socks go... I can already start feeling the 'sock fatigue' from cleaning the set of four on a weekly basis, but I must say it is making a big difference, because every time I change the socks out they have a bunch of sand and other particles in it. Not to say I could go without it, but I'm pretty sure it helps keep things clean. I have 3 sets of socks and I'm basically changing twice and then washing once.

Bleach, twirl, turn inside out, rinse and then rinse in water with dechlorinator. Hang out to dry... its tedious work, but I think I'll keep it up for the time being.

My pod population is doing very well - you can't look at any rock or piece of substrate without seeing them running around- its great. I can only imagine the population would be even higher if I weren't running the socks, but I'm happy with the numbers.

 

[Itaysworld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13244275#post13244275 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thebradybunch
1 more question for you. I may have missed it but I am assuming you are not running a chiller. I am hoping to stay away from a chiller. Are you having any trouble with your temp? I think I saw in one of your pics you temp was around 81.5. Is that about where it stays? Are you running fans?

Brady - I'm not running a chiller.

That picture was snapped before I installed the fans, and before my first fish went in. My tank is running at around 79°F most of the time and during the day, at the period where the 3 halides are on at the same time (only 3 hours a day) and my house AC is set to 75, it hits as high as 80.5°F.

The fans do a great job of keeping the temperature down. If I had the fans off the tank would be over 84°F. The only kicker is that my evaporation rate shot through the roof and I'm filling my Auto Top Off unit once every 2-3 days now. It would be fine, but I have to run a rubber hose through the front door the garage, which is whre the RO/DI unit is and my 'Brute' bucket is.

I think my aquarium produces a lot of heat from the halides, as well as the 3 mag drive pumps sitting in the sump. I have 2 300W heaters in the overflows set at 79°F, and I do see them on at night, so I think once the weather cools down a bit (this is my first few months with the tank, so haven't gone through a winter) the temp will not hit 80°F anymore.

 

[Itaysworld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13242688#post13242688 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RyanBrucks
wow this thread has been updated so fast lately that I'm struggling to keep up, and all good stuff!

thanks for the advice on the camera's, I look forward to hearing anything else you have to say on the subject. Right now my only camera is a point-n-shoot sony cybershot, and its next to worthless for aquarium shots. I'll definitely be researching that SLR Canon like you suggest!

nice plumbing diagram.

Thanks Ryan! Its definitely getting exciting now! I'm really enjoying the tank. Slowly adding livestock and loving spending time observing and watching everything unfold - behavior, growth, exploration... its great!

I'd be more than happy to chat further about cameras. I don't have the latest and greatest, but I'm a firm believer in learning to take good pictures and turning them great with post processing. This is specially true for aquarium photography, where the lighting and colors definitely need work each and every time.

I think that Canon is a great entry/mid level SLR. If I were upgrading, that's the one I would get. Of course one wants the latest and greatest model with all the bells and whistles, but I think that the XSi is just right in the price/quality department and will not empty your wallet and leave you with some money for lens,frags and fish down the line

This is a worst case scenario, two very pricey hobbies (though I struggle to call reef keeping a hobby) colliding! So bad, yet soooo good! :mixed:

 

[Itaysworld]

New Arrivals!

New Arrivals!

Yesterday I added 2 Blue Spot Jaw Fish, 1 Pacific Blue Tang (Hippo Tang) and a couple of frags.

I struggled to take good photos because after a few minutes one of the jaw fish started settling in and began taking out mouth fulls of sand and spitting them right into the flow from one of the eductors.

I must say, watching him create his burrow front and center of the aquarium was great! Not only is he in a prime viewing location, but he's right in the middle of the tank and strategically placed because the water flow brings pellets and mysis shrimp right to his spot. Brilliant! He's also grabbing rubble and small rocks and dragging them back to his hole. Its very funny to see him try to grab large pieces of live rock that he would never be able to move and try to pull them with his mouth. Very cool to watch the whole process.

The other Jaw Fish was a bit shyer and has not yet set up camp.

The blue tang is sooo small and sooo cute! Of course it was immediately named "Dori" and called a she. Oh what has Finding Nemo done! (I love that movie though).

She spent a few hours hiding within the rocks around the acropora frag, and then spent a few hours hovering behind the frag, "Dori, keeper of the acropora".

Now she's out and about chasing the clowns all day. Trying to fit in. Very very cool to watch.

Lastly, I also added a zoanthid and 2 frags of an SPS - the name escapes me. I'd appreciate IDs on both.

Needless to say... I'm a bit :rollface:

Best,

 

[thebradybunch]

The new additions look great. I just added a pistol shrimp and a yellow watchman goby. Watching them 2 work together is amazing. I bought them at the same time but put the gobie in QT for 2 weels prior to adding her to the DT. I never saw the pistol shrimp at all during those 2 weeks. When I added the gobie to the tank within hours they had pared up and the shrimp was busy digging holes while the gobie standed guard.

I also have a Dori. When I first put her in the tank she hooked up with my 2 clowns. The tang was very young and thought she was a clown. For a couple months she swam like a clown and acted like one. It was the funniest thing to see.

 

[mindytoy]

did you QT any of this? any new whole tank shots?

 

[Itaysworld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13247939#post13247939 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mindytoy
did you QT any of this? any new whole tank shots?

I know that ideally I would have my own QT tank, there's no arguing with that.

I trust my LFS very much, he keeps them for me and only after he's had the fish for a number of weeks, in quarantine, treated and in lowered salinity, do I take them.

He has a couple of separate systems and there's a 55 gallon tank he keeps with fish that I am interested in. Only when he clears them do they enter my display.

In the long term, and as my system matures, I will by no means risk introducing anything that hasn't gone through QT. For now though, I haven't put a thing in my tank that has not come from the same store.

Its the same store that I bought everything from and helped me with all the set up.

I will post a new FTS shortly - going to take one one. Stay tuned!

 

[mindytoy]

sounds good

 

[Mr. Brooks]

That blue tang is tiny! Nice and full figured too. Most blue tangs I see that are that small are rail thin from starvation. I'm curious to see how she does. Pacific blue tangs along with powder blue and powder brown tangs are notorious for being ich magnets. I'll have new found hope if you can keep her ich free with no QT.

 

[Itaysworld]

Full Tank Shot

Full Tank Shot

Alright - its Full Tank Shot time.

I went a little crazy this time.

Below is the 800 pixels wide version, but I'm providing 2 links, one to a 2000 pixel wide image, and the second, to the full 1:1 size of the image. It's about 13 megabytes, so it may load slowly...

I really look forward to having my rocks covered with corals and SPS growing everywhere. It will make the pictures much more exciting. Kind of boring at the moment.

Here they are:

2000px version can be found here (scroll under the July pic):
http://www.itaysworld.com/reefcam/fulltankshot.html

Full size shot is at this link (will take a while to load):
http://www.itaysworld.com/reefcam/aug28_08full_size.html

And finally, the 800 px, you can barely see anything shot:

Thanks!

 

[Mr. Brooks]

You really hid the bottom outlets well! Can't even see them anymore. When your tank balances out a bit more the coraline will go crazy! You'd be amazed at how fast it will grow under optimum conditions. Then you'll start cursing it when you have to scrape it off the glass.

 

[thebradybunch]

Beautiful tank and aquascaping.

 

[Itaysworld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13247751#post13247751 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thebradybunch
The new additions look great. I just added a pistol shrimp and a yellow watchman goby. Watching them 2 work together is amazing. I bought them at the same time but put the gobie in QT for 2 weels prior to adding her to the DT. I never saw the pistol shrimp at all during those 2 weeks. When I added the gobie to the tank within hours they had pared up and the shrimp was busy digging holes while the gobie standed guard.

I also have a Dori. When I first put her in the tank she hooked up with my 2 clowns. The tang was very young and thought she was a clown. For a couple months she swam like a clown and acted like one. It was the funniest thing to see.

I definitely want to get pistol shrimp and a watchman goby. They are great to watch and so much fun.

I think my Blue Tang is definitely thinking its a clown. It not only hangs out with them all day, but is also beginning to swim like them, just like you said! LOL - it will be funny to see this evolve, specially as the tang begins to grow.

 

[Itaysworld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13248702#post13248702 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thechad21
That blue tang is tiny! Nice and full figured too. Most blue tangs I see that are that small are rail thin from starvation. I'm curious to see how she does. Pacific blue tangs along with powder blue and powder brown tangs are notorious for being ich magnets. I'll have new found hope if you can keep her ich free with no QT.

Chad- I'm hoping so too... like I said, its been in the LFS tank for a few weeks growing, eating and looking good.

I really hope I'm not tempting fate here. I think this system may work (QT @ LFS for now).

Only time will tell. For the time being, she's out swimming like a clown and eating like a pig - LOL

 

[Itaysworld]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13249107#post13249107 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thebradybunch
Beautiful tank and aquascaping. [/QUOTE

Brady - thank you very much! Its starting to come together. Now I need to fill it up with frags! :rollface: