180 gallon tank build

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12498244#post12498244 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by magdelan
I stacked the rock the way I want them (which I'm sure will be restacked 27 more times) and added 90lbs of sand. I would take a picture of it, but instead, I though we could do something a little more fun. First, walk over to your tank. Position yourself so that you are dirrectly in front of it. Now, take your left hand and cover your eyes and raise your right hand and slap yourself in the face. This is what my tank looks like right now...warm and fuzzy. The water is very murkey and will probably remain that way untill I get enough water in the system to turn on the return pump to turn over the water. Right now I have two of the Koralias in there just to keep the water circulating. My ro unit seems to be working well, producing 30 gallons ever 8 hours. At this rate, the system should be running by midnight tomorrow night. We'll see ;)
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Could I just drink a whole bunch of beers instead? :D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12499751#post12499751 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ouuduy
hey magdelan i looked at how you built your stand and it looks great but i see you didnt use any 2x4's or anything. is it safe to put that much weight on it ? thanks
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I can answer this one.
Commercially built stands don't use 2x 4 construction. Go to a LFS and look at an AGA or Perfecto stand. They are stapled together.
Mike's stand is MUCH sturdier than a commercially built stand.
 
This is AJOE110 I built the stand for Mike, That stand is so strong You can park your car on it ! . Mike everything looks great.
 
OK Joe . What about my pickup truck?
Seriously, you do nice work.
 
Thank you everyone for the kind words (no pictures please). The display is full now and I will continue pumping the ro water up to the 180 to utilize the overflows and fill the sump and the fuge. I don't expect any sort of cycle due to running my skimmer in the rock bin for a week without pulling an ounce of skimmate. Unless someone tells me differently, I should be able to transfer the contents of my 30g over by Sunday or Monday. I threw a couple asterina stars in there yesterday to see how they did. Well, apparently they are doing well.

IMG_2160.jpg


Check out my rock stack!!!

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when i set up my 55, i transfered everything from the 15 to the 55 a week after. I had a niiiiice algea bloom, but everything survived the "cycle". I had zoas and mushrooms then though, so yea. i can say though, a deresa clam (which perished a year after when i broke the damn thing trying to move it away from a torch coral) which also survived the cycle. i think you should be fine. If your that worried, keep the corals separate (e.g in a "frag" tank or something) for a few weeks, and then put them in the new display.

either way, best of luck
 
I have enough water in my sump to begin running my pump!! I think that this will clear up some of the cloudiness a bit. I love the sound of a large volume of water coming and going in my computer room (now being refered to as the fish room...fish trumps computer). I have decided to hold off on taking any more pictures until I have my corals and fish in there. You all know what a 180 looks like, however, what will differentiate mine from the rest will be what I put in it ;)
 
I'm just going to try to get the water params as close to my 30g setup as I can. I'll match the temp, Ph, Alk, and Ca. My skimmer has pulled out a small amount of tan water, but I think that is only from the dust in the sand.
 
if you add everything TOO quickly though, u will risk a massive spike, a massive algea bloom, and a massive die-off
 
I'm designing something similar to what you have here (on paper right now).

How is the return pump feeding the fuge working out for you?

In your quote below, what do you mean by "why isn't the 1" bulkhead drain on my 30g fuge handling the water"?

Do you mean it wasn't draining as fast as the T off the return line was feeding it, and potentially would overflow?

I'm confused because that seems to contrast with your statement about wishing you had some flow in the 30...I would think if you were having problems getting it to drain, it would have a lot of flow (inward, and potentially too much...)

Also, when you say you have the ball valve "almost all the way back" do you mean almost all the way closed or open?

I just want to understand better to incorporate some of your mistakes...ahem...lessons learned into my design. j/k ;)

Josh



<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12487062#post12487062 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by magdelan

Also, why isn't the 1" bulkhead drain on my 30g fuge handling the water? I have the ball valve (feeding the 30) almost all the way back!! I like that I have so much flow going through my display, but I wish I had some flow in the 30 aswell...you know?
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Josh, SkiFletch pointed out that a one inch bulkhead can only handle 600gph of water. I had the ball valve half open/closed going to my fuge and the 1" bulkhead couldn't drain 1,000gph. So I had to close the valve even more to get it so that the pump was only feeding around 600gph. Now that I understand that there is 600gph flowing through there even though I have the ball valve 85% closed, it is still a good amount of flow through the fuge. To answer your question, it seems to be working well, and I look forward to adding some macro algae and rubble.
 
You've got that right Mike!! I seemed to have fixed the leaky pump problem. As it turned out, there was a very, very slow drip coming from the output thread of the pump. I disconnected it and added a thicker layer of teflontape. So far so good.

What can I do to get rid of the cloudiness in the tank? After the pump began running, the cloudiness cleared up by about 90%. But there is still a cloudy hue to the tank. Should I be running carbon right now?? If so, How much should I put in the bag? I have Matrix Carbon by Seachem.

I'm having a hard time getting the temp up to 79-80 where my 30g is at right now. I suction cupped the two heaters to the return side of the glass baffle in the sump. I figured that this way, ALL of the water has to pass over them.

My SG has finally leveled out at 1.025 which is where my 30g is.

More Pics coming soon :thumbsup:
 
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a filter sock and some carbon should get rid of your cloudiness. im sure its just dust from the sand. pretty harmles IMO, and it will eventually go away/settle if you leave it.

How big are your heaters? perhaps they are too underpowered for a 180
 
Agreed. Even the natural reef isn't clear every day of the week :)

As for the heating issue, got any UV filters? They always help me out :(
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12522832#post12522832 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tmz
What's a uv filter?
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Ditto that.

I added about a quart of carbon last night right after posting. The tank looked better this morning alrealy.

I am running two 300w heaters in my sump. That should be pleanty, yes?
 
Like a Coralife Turbotwist or other UV system designed for killing parasites/bacteria... The UV bulbs inside them do a great job of heating up water.

In theory it should be enough, but everyone's system and basement are different :)
 
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