John's 180 build

[St Pete John]

Nothing fancy, matter of fact, this is a budget compared to most of what i see on this site but screw it, i'm happy with my first tank. Wife took a leave from her job and went to school full time this past Feb so money has been tighter than normal going from two paychecks to one.

That said, my bud set up a tank and i got the bug hard, found a incredible deal on cl and just had to jump on it. 6x2x2, first pics are right when i got it home and staged up in the carport/weight room. Needed a cleaning something fierce.

 

[St Pete John]

stuff was pretty gross

 

[St Pete John]

I'm guessing they took the bottom off to get the sump in because it wasn't even close to coming out.

So i left it in there and cleaned it up with only triple the effort it would have taken outside of the stand.

 

[St Pete John]

Got it all cleaned out and ready to go inside, during this process i found a gouge in the silicone around the bottom. Shot some water in the hole to clean it out then squirted a dab of silicone in it to plug (i know it wont stick but it keeps sand out of the hole.

Also a shot of my first aquascape ever, really enjoy making scapes.

 

[TheAquatect]

Looks like that sump was more fun than you bargained for, good luck with the build. Cant wait to see it.

BTW, IMO everyone has a budget or we would all be poor, single reefers. lol

 

[St Pete John]

The fill.

Lots of fun making it happen and what i thought at the time was a major hurdle but boy was i wrong, filling it up is the easy part lol.

I know the right side of the stand is a cluster/fire hazard but it didn't stay that way more than 10 minutes.

 

[St Pete John]

Looks like that sump was more fun than you bargained for, good luck with the build. Cant wait to see it.

BTW, IMO everyone has a budget or we would all be poor, single reefers. lol

Thanks dude, sump was a huge pain in the butt, especially before i cut the top off. Should have just done that off the jump.

Budget was/is tight but i'm making it happen and loving every second of it.

 

[St Pete John]

My first scape after the settle, really liked it and kept it that way until it cycled.

First real problem was temp, tank is pushed up against a very large window that is constantly the hottest part of my house, unfortunately it's also the best place for the tank. Added a 20 gallon open top fuge and a couple of fans, also doubled up on the curtains with white facing out. Now the tank max is 81 in july and settles down to 78-77 ish at night.

Second problem was the crap skimmer i got with the tank and not having an ato, kept getting clogged and overflowing the cup or the water level would drop a centimeter and the lower water would keep it from doing anything. Solved that problem with a trip to faois, walked out with a new eshopps skimmer and tunze ato.

Don't know how people do it without the ato.

 

[St Pete John]

No more ammonia !!!!!

True joy comes from colored test strips.

 

[St Pete John]

First occupants were a trio of very active pinfish along with some shrimp that i scored for less than 5 bucks at the bait shop.

Hindsight is a hell of a thing. :facepalm:

 

[St Pete John]

Tried traps, nets, midnight ambush, sabeki bait rigs and eggcrate to get those damn pinfish out but nothing worked. Finally broke down and pulled the rock out, stacked it back in a different way and ended up likeing it. For now.

 

[St Pete John]

Got rid of the under powered pumps and replaced with a pair of rw15s.

Like them so far, if i had to say one thing about them it would be that they are strong.

 

[St Pete John]

First fish were a blue tang, sixline facepalm, and 3 chromis.

Also snagged up a nem, pink bottom with a green top, very cool.

 

[St Pete John]

That's it for today, still have a few pics before i'm current but this was a good start. :fish1:

Thanks reefcentral. :bounce2::bounce3: