180 gallon SPS reef

My project looks like it’s finally ready to get off the ground. I picked up the wood, Styrofoam and rails from home depot today and I also siliconed my baffles for my refugium last night. Even though it may seem like I’m going backwards to allot of you out there. I’m actually happy with how things are starting to move along for me now. I have changed allot of things along the way and I think these are the things that are going to make all the difference in the end. Here are some pics.

Rails that I’m going to DIY….
rail.jpg


Live rock in garbage cans.
bin2.jpg

bin1.jpg


Refugium baffles
baffles.jpg


Full Tank Shot!
fulltankSHOTpl.jpg



And finally HELL!!
garageMess.jpg
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9634264#post9634264 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by drummereef
Does that hole in your garage floor lead to the fiery underground? What's that for? :)

It's just a drain.

It usually has a cover on it.

I have the same thing in my garage.
 
Branden, if it’s the third “small” baffle that you’re talking about. I put it there to hold my sandbed in place.

Aquadan(my tank builder) told me I’m going to be receiving my tank on the 23rd of this month. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT!

Stand is back up without the problems I had before. All I have left to do is reinforce the legs, paint it and put the Styrofoam on.
I drilled another hole in my sump in order to handle the new flow through it and 3 in my refugium. 2 holes will connect it to the sump.(I did this to avoid the splash and salt creep I had with my old setup) and 1 for the return.
Ill be building the canopy for my lights next.
newstand-1.jpg



Rock is looking better by the day. It’s now a little over a month that the rock has been cooking. I’m preparing its weekly “squishing”.
rockCook.jpg
 
The stand certainly looks a lot more sturdy. Take your time with the build and get it right, just keep us updated :p

Just out of curiosity, what caused your 90 to crash?
 
Thanks Chris. My tank crashed due to a 24h power failure. I had nothing as far as back up was concerned and lost most of my corals and all my fish. I have a generator this time around so this will never happen again.
 
That sux. I suppose we all think about power loss, but dont or cant afford to address the problem. The generator that you have now, is it set up to start in the event of a power failure or is it a manual start.

Im interested in finding a generator that cuts in when there is a power failure, but ive only seen them on a big scale ( generators for backups in department stores for example).

I know that you can get solar powered grid feeds ( photo voltaic systems ), but obviously they are no good during the night or on bad days. I dont know if they have reserves/batteries for maintaining power, ill have to look into it. Cost is a major factor with these units. $16000 for the base modell in Australia, not including installation, but you can get a government rebate. Still going to cosst at least $14000, hence my interest in alternatives. :eek: hehehehe
 
Yup sux BIG TIME! I somehow knew that it might happen someday and still never did anything about it. I didn’t even have a little battery to at least run a small air pump.

The generator I bought cost me about 2k and it generates about 7000watts of electricity. It’s not installed yet but I’m planning on installing it so that it goes on when the power goes out. Don’t know why a generator would costs so much in Australia but if it cost 16k in Canada I would be looking at solar power back up as well.
 
Anything solar costs big bucks :(

The beauty of the solar ones though, is that they are wired into the house. The model ill be using generates, on a good day, is 5kwh, which is about 1/6th of my daily power usage.

Im building myself a new home and am required to put one on, due to the size of the house for energy effeciency.

Can you post details of the genie you brought. Solar is not always as effecient as we hope. Demand for the silicone to make the panels has gone through the roof. Its apparently not a common material and is in high demand in Europe, so the suppliers say.

Cant wait to see your 180 up especially considering how nice you 90 was.
 
Chris, Ill try and get a pic of the generator for you up as soon as I can

My stand is finally done. I’m adding sand to my refugium, which is now in place and I’m starting to prepare water. I still have not made any progress with my hood. I hope I can get that done this week.

stand-2.jpg

refugium.jpg

water.jpg
 
looking good :)


how do you heat the garage? at what temp do you keep in the winter? do you have to run AC in the summer?
 
a4twnenty, I’m glad to see you found my thread!! I don’t need to heat the garage in the wintertime; the cold helps keep my tank stable. I use fans to cool it down in the summer and yes I also run AC

MY TANK IS FINALLY HERE!! :D
I got my canopy done last night and only have a few miner adjustments to do to it.
Ill be starting on the plumbing this week and hopefully Ill be able to get it wet by next week.
Enough said here are the pics.

fullcanopy.jpg

canopy.jpg

backside.jpg


and finally my first FTS with my 180!

fts180.jpg
 
Love your light rack bro! That will be one sweet looking tank! The dimensions are very nice!
 
Thanks Richard. I’m actually very impressed with it myself. Like I said, I have some miner adjustments to do to it but nothing to serious. I can’t wait to get the plumbing done so I could get the tank wet. (hint hint)
 
Magnificent job your doing there ssbreef. The light rack looks nice and sturdy, and the tank in position, oh boy.:lol:

So are you going to use the lights of your 90, or are you doing a complete upgrade? again well done:thumbsup:

Chris.
 
Thanks allot Chris,
Like I said, I have some miner adjustments to make to my ”roll away canopy” but nothing major. Ill be using the two 250’s I had over my 90 and the two VHO’s along with two more 250’s and one or two more VHO’s. For the colour of my lights I was thinking of doing a combination of 20k Radiums and 10k XM’s. I had a very hard time choosing between them when I had my 90g so might as well use them together now that I can.
 
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