My 180 Pics

[Neoz]

Thought I would post some pictures of my tank. Its not done yet as far as the rock work. Plan on adding much more hopefully this weekend.

Too start with the tank is recessed back from the main room. So the tank only protrudes out into the room about 6". I then painted the entire area black. I didn't want anything taking away from the display of the tank. My wife painted the light blue and dark blue. She also added the ocean wave border to split the two. I still need to finish off all the trim work but hey the tanks up On to the tank.....

The right side of the tank has the ledge over hang piece. I plan on putting lots of corals all across this top. But leaving room for growth. This piece is 2ft wide by 2ft in length just to give you an idea of size. My wife says it looks like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek.

The middle piece is a cavern. What I like about this is the way I have it made, the lights protrude down thru the rocks. I left opeings like this on purpose. While looking at it in the tank the cavern is lit up. Looks nice like that. You can look inside the cave.

Everything on the left is just a rock pile stacked up for now. Its were my live rock is placed for now. I plan on filling this entire area in with the traditional rock wall. So one end of the tank will be full and going to the right it will be open. Let me know what you think.... Time for the pics...

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[nwrogers]

Sweet ledge! That sand looks really nice too, good choice on that!!

 

[Neoz]

Thanks Nate. Not too bad for a first timer. By the way these pics were all taken with just the 2 VHO's. You should see that sand pop with the 4 MH's on . Very glad I decided to go with that sand. I'll post some MH pics later...

 

[SPN]

Looks GREAT!

 

[daveverdo]

Great start. Get some coral and fish in there

 

[pimpinitup6969]

Looking good! let me know when your ready for some frags!

 

[Neoz]

Thanks guys.. I wish it were ready now. But I'll test it again tomorrow. Trying to only test it once a week. Waiting for my spike to happen....

 

[drbronx]

Looks like you're going about this the right way. Beautiful rockwork! I also love the idea of the black backround wall. That really shows off the tank nicely! Looking forward to seeing some live stuff in there.

 

[Neoz]

Yeah Live stuff would be great. Thought I would post more pics. First picture is with No lights on or anything. The rest are pictures with the MH's on. Oh and yeah I know I have to move that heater to the sump with the other one. Also hoping to add about 75Lbs of live rock to the left side this weekend. Will be re-doing that whole back left corner.

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[Capt_Cully]

RIGHT ON! Beautiful stand and canopy. I love the old school corner over flows. SO MUCH BETTER than the huge old Oceanic ones or those friggin Mega Flows from All-Glass.

You've got some sweet rock. Just wait til that stuff purples up!!! You may have some "new tank" algae blooms, but don't get discouraged. With that rock and set up, you should have a Kick-A$$ reef in 6 months or so.

Don't forget to give a shout next time you swing up to ABC. I'll throw you some "fillers".

BTW, What lights are you running?

 

[J4Life]

Nice looking tank!! What kind of sand did you use?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[Neoz]

Thanks Cully, I'll be sure to hit ya up. I'm running 4 175W MH's with 20K bulbs. 2 VHO's with Super Actinic bulbs. But I don't know how old these bulbs are so I'm thinking of replacing all of them. I'm doing all my research on lighting now. Been reading up alot on these 20K Radiums.

Bill I got the sand from Marco rocks. Its Bahama Aragonite sand. Very nice sand and cheap shipping. Great guy to deal with..

http://www.marcorocks.com/

 

[J4Life]

Thanks Dave I will have to remember that site when I move over to my 180 gallon. Got an older Oceanic that is built like a tank sitting in my basement just calling out to me.

 

[reepks]

Great looking tank....cant wait to see what it looks like when your all done

 

[reefscape15]

Neoz - That tank is really coming out nicely! I am glad you have the patience to wait on filling it up. I think it also gives you a lot more time to look at just your rock, and if you want to move some stuff around, you have a few weeks to a month to get things where you really want them before you start adding live stuff. The rocks are awesome, and I actually like the shape of them a lot more than all the LR that I have in my tank. It will look so awesome when they start encrusting with coralline. As cully said, you will most likely have some algae blooms and diatom issues for the first few months, but it's nothing to worry about. Around about 4 months was the first time I personally had to deal with cyano, and in my system it lasted for about 2 years on and off. I started with no skimmer, and after adding that and a HOB fuge, my cyano has never returned. So, if you run into that, just check in with us here before you try anything drastic. It takes quite a bit of time for any problems to diminish, as it also takes some time for a tank to become mature. But when people like yourself take the time and do it right, all that is waiting for them is a beautiful reef! I can't wait to see that thing get filled up. Let me know if you want some frags when your ready, and i'll give you a list of what I could get for you.

 

[Neoz]

Thanks reefscape. Other then a few Zoa's that came with a piece of rock and a few little little starfish looking things on my glass, there isn't anything else alive in there. So how does the tank actually mature? I have some live rock but not as much as I would like. I'm 10 days in and still no ammonia spike. Still reads zero. I test for that Calcium and Phosphate. When can I maybe expect to see a rise? I test every 5 days.

Oh and frags... Yes frags are good

 

[itchytickles]

I know you said that you have a few zoa/s and little starfish, but did you do anything else to 'kickstart' the cycle? for example a lot of people throw a piece of shrimp in to get it going. It wouldn't seem like it would cycle without doing anything, but maybe it does.

 

[reefscape15]

It should be okay with the little bit of LR in the tank. And if i'm not mistaken, didn't you also get some sand out of another person's tank to seed yours? That too will also help. You could put a few crabs in and just drop a flake or two in every few days. If you are starting completely from scratch, you would need to get more food in and eaten to get the cycle going, but with some LR and LS it doesn't need all that much. Ammonia usually spikes around 4 weeks, but it could vary a week or so either way. Nitrites should spike around 2-3 months and nitrites around 4-6 months. After that, you tank should be considered fully matured, given you don't have any crashes or major algae problems within that time

 

[Neoz]

Thanks for the information Jim. No I didn't get any live sand. Just the live rock.

My tank has been running 12 days now. Still reading 0 for Ammonia. I test every 3 days. So Ammonia really takes 4 weeks to start showing? Then I shouldn't be testing every 3 days correct?

One more side note, the glass on the front of my display is showing signs of green growth. You can sure see it. Looks like little green fuzz. My wife wants me to clean it off Don't see it on anything else just the glass.

 

[reefscape15]

it takes about 4 weeks to peak. It may start showing anytime, but will jump rapidly near it's peak. That just sounds like early hair algae or diatoms maybe. It's nothing that will be harmful, but when you have new tank glass, it takes a few stages of different algaes to colonize it before it starts being encrusted with coraline