My 180g Thread

[c0nspire]

Come a long way since i started This thread

Tank Specs:
180g 63x24x27
50g sump under stand
2 250w MH 20,000k
1 400w MH 14,000k
Laguna 2150 return pump
Coralife Circulation pumps
DIY protein skimmer air driven, fed by a mag7

I bought this tank from a fellow locally who was using it as a single specimen tank for a volation. cleaned up the stand, and the tank, had to remove all the lighting from his hood and put it into a new one, It came with 175w bulbs and ballists but I decided to upgrade too 250's, so now i have a PFO dual bulb ballist to sell.

So my cycle finished last week, and Ive finished introducing my fish from my 55g tank and 30g sump (broke that down and need to clean it out, will either use it as a specimen tank or just store it for a rainy day)

Funds where quite low after i finished getting it all together and running so i did a DIY skimmer. 6" pvc body, overall height is 34", the reaction chamber is 28" tall. Its a counter-current with a mag7 feeding it and a 3 air pumps (2 coralife luft pumps and 1 whisper1000) powering the wooden blocks.

I am currently considering removing the bubble tower from the skimmer section as its trapping a lot of dietrus above the water level (refer to picture)

anyways, on to pictures:
the old hood

and the new

full of goodies

finished hood

finished stand

 

[c0nspire]

skimmer stuff

after 2 days of running

here is my skimmer section, dt tank overflow on the left, skimmer return on the right

the fuge and the return section

looking in through the left side of the stand, electrical section and looking at the fuge

I am currently working on a DIY moon light setup, probably 10 led's powered by a 4.5v inverter that i have.

I will post pictures tomorrow showing my light cycle and livestock. the 3 lights come on in 1 hour intervals with the 400 in the center and the 250's on either side. each bulb stays on for 9 hours, 7 hours with all 3, 12 hour total light period. The tank hood as well as the stand have fans that fun on a timer for the 12 hour light period to help keep the temps down.

bonus picture of my porc. puffer since he likes to roam around at night, too bad hes nocturnal since id love to watch him swim around during the day

 

[duncantse]

Whoa, that's a lot of dry skimmate you got there.

 

[c0nspire]

Whoa, that's a lot of dry skimmate you got there.

yeai gotta figure a way to moisten it up so that it will flow out of the collection cup into a jug. I think ill have to raise the standpipe some more so the bubble tower isnt as tall and the water level is higher.

 

[carpenterman23]

I like the little puffer..

 

[c0nspire]

hes not 'little' about 5-6" long at the moment. when he inflates he is midway between a softball and a basketball. He got caught in my haddons carpet anemone and was fully inflated, had to save him and then i took the carpet in for credit the next day.

Ok so i promised the rest of the pictures.
This is my tank full light period. Its hard to tell what it looks like in camera shots from the dawn/dusk cycle so I wont post them.

my foxface rabbit fish - 6"

the lipstick tang - 3"

bicolor angel - 3"

my lawnmower blenny - 3" and fat

dwarf lionfish - 6"

maroon clown - 2 1/2"

Klein's Butterfly - 2 1/2"

Brain Coral

Frogspawn

There is also a white ribbon eel, but he has made himself at home under the rocks to the right of the overflow and usually only comes out when hes hungry

 

[c0nspire]

my eel (ted) decided to come out for dinner tonight so i snapped a couple pictures of him.

Everythign has been running great so far, Im just getting ready to go out of town, had to train my in-laws hwo to test the water and the feeding schedule, and top ups, Hopefully it will all go smoothly while im gone

 

[James404]

Looks good so far, that isn't a frogspawn though, its a torch coral.

 

[duncantse]

Awesome fish you got there

 

[c0nspire]

Looks good so far, that isn't a frogspawn though, its a torch coral.

Oh, thanks, the branching frogspawn looks very similar to me.

 

[b85511]

Lots of nice colorful fish.