Brad's 180 Starphire Aquarium

[VoltNation]

I will be posting pictures soon.

I'm setting up this thread to showcase my 180 gallon Starphire Aquarium upgrade.

First some background information on me.
I've been in the aquarium hobby since I was around 8 years old. I am now 27.
I first got into the saltwater hobby in 2003 with a spare 20 gallon Long aquarium. I eventually moved up to a 75 gallon. Then due to a move from MA to FL I downgraded to a 65 gallon in preparation. I successfully moved my entire reef tank from MA to FL. After being in an apartment for about 3 years we finally bought a house. Thanks to the $8,000 tax credit, I am able to use some of it to upgrade my tank. The tank and stand are all custom built and I plan on picking them up soon. Here is what was ordered:

180 gallon custom made stand and canopy, 40" high option added. (see attachment)
Standard size 180 gallon Starphire front and right side glass with overflow in the back middle of the tank.

The filter is a Marineland Acrylic Sump Model 4. Thanks to the fact the house is on a crawlspace I have plumbed the sump directly into the drain for water changes and as a way to prevent it from ever overflowing. I also plumbed in a line from the saltwater barrel (outside) that will also connect to the sump for waterchanges. Oh yeah and I also ran a line for the top off unit. I'm hoping to elimate the need to move buckets of water around.

 

[VoltNation]

Pictures of plumbing

Pictures of plumbing

See below for pictures of the plumbing. It is not all connected yet.

The first 3 pictures show the outside. My outside setup has 3 trash barrels. 1 is for R/O water, the 2nd is for the automatic top off system (I have kalk water for the top off) and the 3rd one is for saltwater. The 3rd one is the one piped from the outside right into the house to help perform water changes.

 

[VoltNation]

Another Picture

Another Picture

Here is a closeup of the wall. The larger pipe goes directly into the drain. There is an S trap right below the floor in the crawlspace. The smaller pipe is a feed pipe that runs outside to the saltwater mixing container. No more moving buckets of water for me.

 

[VoltNation]

Pictures of current setup

Pictures of current setup

Here are pictures of my current setup, a 65 gallon glass aquarium.

http://www.firebirdbandit.com/websites/homeraisedaquatics/tankprofile65gallon.htm

This is what I am upgrading to a 180 gallon tank.

 

[VoltNation]

Pictures

Pictures

I have finally picked up my tank. The back was not black like I wanted and I'm not a fan of the eggcrate on the overflow but those should be an easy fix.

 

[VoltNation]

Here are some more pictures

 

[VoltNation]

And some more.

 

[Shane Hoffman]

Are you going to run a skimmer?? If so where will you place it???

 

[VoltNation]

Yes, Its going in the middle compartment of the Marineland Model 4 sump. The return pumps will be in the front part of the sump. I also will be putting a 20 gallon refugium under the tank.

 

[muttley000]

Looks great so far, what is the rest of the equipment list?

 

[j-dizzle]

looking great congrats! love the color of that stand very classy

 

[VoltNation]

Thanks,

I have still yet to decide on the lighting for the tank. I'm now thinking of a DIY LED lighting system with some T5 H/O.

I'm probably going to get a Marineland Marine Pro 300 Protein Skimmer. I'm probably going to use 2 quiet one pumps for now and eventually upgrade them.