New 180G Project HELP Wanted!

[Bacchus_fl]

With my renewed passion for the hobby I really want to start coming to more meetings so that I can personally introduce myself and learn more about others tank setups. Unfortunately I can't come to the meeting Saturday because it is the same day as my fantasy football draft party at my house.

I did print out the membership form and will be sending it in when I get back from my business trip. I may not always be able to participate In meetings since I live so far away but I want to support the efforts of ORCA. Hopefully I will be able to make the September meeting. As soon as I know what date it is I will schedule it.

 

[Bacchus_fl]

It's ALIVE!! The tank is running. (at least temporarily) So we were able to pull it off with very few snags which was good but it is still far from complete.

It took us 5 hours with 5 people to break it down and load it up. Took up an entire u-haul truck with no room to spare. Brought it back 2.5 hours to Deland without a hitch. Wheewww! That was the part I was most nervous about. I was so focused on the move I forgot to take pictures.

We barely got the stand into the house. I thought we were going to have to completely remove a slider. After we took about 5 pieces off of the stand we got it in. That was as far as we got Saturday. Sunday we completely unloaded, put the tanks in place, got the fish into a temporary 30G long, and took a big dent out of the temporary plumbing. I wasn't able to get a 75G sump built in time so I had to plumb it to the 180G sump that it came with. The thing is massive!

This thing was too big to fit through a sliding glass door let alone the interior doors.

Two of the best helpers a guy could have!

Make shift home for fishies

Today we were able to get it running and finished baffling the new 75 sump. I still need to water test it and have it drilled for the dart return. Once that is complete I will redo the plumbing to make it final. Fortunately I can still use most of the more difficult pieces.

I am going to let it run for a day or two with the sand and rocks that it came with. I also have it draining through a filter sock, a large bag of carbon and the skimmer. Then I'll do a water test and see if it is okay to start acclimating the fish. I am sure it is probably fine now but I would rather be safe.

Now the big hurtle is transferring my current tank to this tank. What makes it so tricky is that I have a brown flat worm problem and I want to make sure I nuke them all! I was thinking about removing the corals and rocks and soaking them in separate tubs with flat worm exit, which works great. The problem is the other times I used it I lost fish so I would prefer to leave them out of the equation. The easiest thing to do would be to nuke my current system with a couple rounds of FW exit but I don't think I can get my fish out without ripping it apart anyway. I already built a light rig to put the corals under in tubs so I can give them 2 doses over the next couple days. This will also give me time to build the new light rack.

Let me know your thoughts, this is my next step!
After that it is simply adding the equipment ( the controller, the light rack, fuge light, closed loop, plus the calcium and PO4 Reactors.) I'm sure lots of little tweaks along the way. Last but certainly not least is the cabinet but that might be a couple months. I would rather it stay nice and open while I tune it up.

Thanks for checking it out and I'm open for any advice or suggestions!

Jason

Here is the photobucket link if you want to see some of the other photos. I was so busy I didn't even think about taking pictures enough. I'll do better from here on out.

http://s648.photobucket.com/albums/uu206/Bacchus_fl/?newest=1

 

[iLLwiLL]

wow, what great progress! if you need any help next weekend, let me know.

~Will.

 

[boydx6]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15559981#post15559981 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tangers
cstires in the orlando area is a amazing stand/canopy builder!

Jason, cstires does great work, I have seen his work up close. Glad you were able to get it home without any problems.

You should keep the 180 sump where it is next to the tank and build a cabinet around it and use it as a desk/frag station. Looks like you are well on your way to a great setup.
Stephen

 

[Bacchus_fl]

Alright so I finally have a chance to breath and post some pics. We have made allot of progress since my last post. I am coming to a stand still until I can find somewhere to get a 3.25" hole drill in my 75. I really hoppe that I will find a place in the next couple days. Let me know if you have any ideas at all.

Here are the pics, let me know what you think.

125 Breakdown

Corals in tubs under light rack

Fish from my tank freaking out in the bucket

Let There Be Light!!! This was after I just finished the light rack which is hung from the cieling. I have since added the 3rd MH and will be adding the moon lights soon.

Clowns under Atinic

Left side under atinic

Center

Right

 

[Bacchus_fl]

Radom tank pics under 2x160 VHO 3x400W MH

This is the little cove on the left side. Notice the cave just behind it. This is one of my favorite parts of the tank. Thanks to iLLwILL for the help and great idea

This is one of the pass throughs to a large cave I made behind the rock for the fish to escape to. I also ran the closed loop behind the rock. Each side has one output pointed forward lower in the tank and one pointed straight across the back. In the back one is and the other low.

I can't really start mouonting the rest of the equipment until I get the sump in place. I also need my electrician out here asap to run more power.

Thanks for checking it out!

Jason

 

[Bacchus_fl]

Yes!

We finally got the new 75G Sump plumbed.

My friend Jake and I spent most of the day Sunday working on the plumbing for the sump. I'm really happy with the results, although, there are a few tweaks to be made. First, I should have made the skimmer baffle a little higher to help more with the bubbles but that isn't that big of a deal and easily modified. And we ended up with 2 leakes. They are both very slight and easily remidied.

I am also having a little problem with ick on my purple tang but I will make a seperate thread about that in the disease forum. I can use all the help I can get.

Here are some of the pics:

Here is when we first set it into place. I was happy to see it slide in easily.

All four overflow pipes are drains which we have at a 3/4" slope to the right side of the tank. From there it drops into this Split drain all of which is 2" pipe. It allows me to add double filter socks easily.

Here she is running

I am currently using the fuge section as a frag tank. I branched a t off the main drain to allow me to control the flow into that seperate section. I will be adding another 50lbs or so of sand and plenty of macros. Possible a mantis. I'm just not sure it is a good idea even if it took a miracle escape. What do you think?

I am also using the center return section for some large frag rocks right now. Which is the reason for the egg crate over the return. I am going to clean that up and just use the center for additional liverock and some frag racks that I will mount along the edges.

I'm also going to suspend the sump light from the bottom of the stand.

Now I have to start adding the equipment. The one item that is new to me is the calium reactor. I have the instructions for how to hook it up but I need to know more about how to use it properly. Can anybody share a thread if they know of a good one about this or fill me in a little.

I was also able to get the dedicated circuit run. So once I have the equipment in place I can start cleaning up all the wiring. Then it will be time for the skin. I'm excited about it!


Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!

Jason

 

[Pacific Reefs]

Wow this is looking sweet! Great job...you put a lot of work into that.

 

[Bacchus_fl]

Thanks Pacific Reefs!

It has been allot of work and fortunately most of it has gone pretty smoothly but it definitely takes allot of time.

I still have allot to do but it is starting to come together. It is great not to have that giant 180g sump in my room anymore!