180G photo diary

[Klay]

I've had a 72 oceanic bowfront for several years. You can see pictures of it before I tore it down at www.180g.blogspot.com

I finally got the time/money to upgrade the tank to a 180 gallon tank

I keep mainly LPS/softies

I wanted:
- a tank with a builtin overflow unlike my previous tank
- a very uncomplicated system to run the tank.
- no more DSB. Go go starboard!


So i went with
180G RR AGA tank
1/4 inch starboard
2X 6100 Tunze streams
PS4 Poseidon return pump (extremely quiet)
75 Sump
H&S F2001 Skimmer
Metal tube stand
2 Icecap 250Watt MH running 20k XM bulbs ( i might purchase a 3rd light for the middle of the tank. We'll see.

So here goes. The total setup time took me just over a week.

The stand. Unpainted. Piece of starboard sitting on top

Painting the back of the tank.

 

[Klay]

To cutout the overflows on the starboard, I drilled many little holes on the starboard and punched out the piece of excess starboard.

 

[Klay]

Checking to see the starboard fit

Canopy frame:

 

[Klay]

Checking sump fitting on painted stand. I used a white epoxy paint. Covered it with Spar varnish. There is a vinyl backdrop against the wall to protect against humidity on the drywall

Lifted the tank onto it with one of my classmates.

 

[Klay]

Plumbing stuff. First attempt at it. Had a small leak on one of the threaded joints. But I just used more teflon tape on it to fix it. It looks kinda weird. But it works.

 

[Klay]

Moved everything from old tank into this one. Corals are on the bottom because I hadn't setup the lights yet in the canopy.

Installing lighting. Used Home depot 6.5k CF bulbs for supplemental lighting

 

[Klay]

Tank setup and running .. kinda hehe

The pink styrofoam on the top of tank is just temporarily there to prevent the humid air from escaping too much. (don't worry it's not going to melt. It's not touching anything warm) I'm building an aluminum casing for the tank and will use aluminum for the top of the canopy as well on the "lid" (to replace the pink styrofoam).

Some notes:
- I thought it woudl take me a while to get used to the starboard look. But I've grown very attached to it already. Only took a few days. I would NEVER go back to DSBs. I hated the random sandstorms I would get from fallen powerheads.
- I've caulked my bathrooms a hundred times so i should be applying the silicone properly... but silicone doesn't stick to starboard very well.
- For people worrying about tunze 6100's being too strong for LPS and softies in a 180G. It's not. Everything has responded very well to the new flow.
- Plumbing a tank for the first time isn't as easy as it looks.


There is a ton of work left to be done on the tank, but I have clinical hours at school coming up. So happy hour is over for now. I would really appreciate any comments. Especially if anyone can spot a disaster waiting to happen. =)

thank guys

 

[corb66]

where can you buy the starboard?

Thanks

 

[NewMariner]

What no skimmer?

 

[Klay]

starboard i got from whps.on.ca

there is a a skimmer. it's a short one =) H&S f2001. equivalent to a deltec. rated for 220G

 

[wahshk]

Wow. Nice work.

 

[shanersnyder]

Im officially jealous. Good Luck with it!!!

 

[Fliger]

I think it looks AWESOME. I like the tunze rocks. I have the magnets but have thought about reaquascaping my tank to incorporate the rocks instead.

Interesting choice on fluorescent lighting. Have you used it before successfully?

What are you doing for cabinetry? My tank is in the same state as yours, just up and running on a metal stand. I go back and forth between how to finish it. Jeffbrig has a great thread and gave me the idea to get the facade/skin at HD or Lowe's. But I need to get it done by next month or my wife is going to kill me. ;-)

And I agree, I will NEVER go back to DSB's unless it's a smaller tank where it's manageable.

Nice choice on skimmer brand. ;-)

 

[Klay]

actually i chose the h&S skimmer partially because of your thread on it fliger =)

Cabinetry I'm going to get aluminum panelling. I looked into it and it's actually a lot cheaper then i thought it would be. I wasted tempted to go with the wood "skin" that I've seen on other tanks but I'm not much of a wood person and the cost to get a panel with a decent finish is only fractionally cheaper then a 1/8 inch sheet of aluminum.

I actually tried the tunze magnets as well, but I didn't like having powerheads stuck on the glass. The tunze stream rocks look pretty good and I'm sure they'll cover up in coralline pretty fast. Over 50% of my rocks are DIY agrocrete LR. and it only takes about 2-3 months for them to become completely purple

 

[Fliger]

I would love to hear more about the paneling. I'm the same as you, I'm more into modern furniture. That is what has taken so long, trying to get used to the idea of cabinetry in that room. I have a friend who was going to help, we talked about incorporating stainless steel paneling, or some sort of aluminum to give a modern look. It's just hard to figure out how to do it, and not make it look homemade. A custom job will run $3K-$5K and I just can't afford that.

 

[Klay]

yeah i was also going to get a custom job and the quote was absurd =)

I'll take some photos of it once it up

An idea that crossed my mind before was to get carbon fibre accents for aluminum panels. But that stuff costs a fortune. I was told they had vinyl adhesives that had a carbon fibre pattern on it but I never really looked into it. Not sure if you'd like that look.

 

[AquariumObsessed]

Hey, nice setup...

where do you buy your true unions with blue handles? Cost?

thanks

 

[Klay]

i bought them at jj downs in toronto

i got 1 inch ones which i think cost me 17 dollars each? canadian

 

[Gooli]

klay...are u happy with the starboard...do u miss sand at all? doesnt look a little uinatural?