MischiefManaged
New member
Haven't really posted much on here before, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.. I should start with, "Hi, my name is Mandy, and I'm addicted to salt water fish tanks" :wave:
Last year I set up a 180 gallon display with a 90 gallon basement sump. After six months of horrific algae issues I've learned two VERY important things:
1. Never start a saltwater tank with city tap water
2. Never put more than 10 elbows in your return plumbing.
So, I've completely torn down the entire thing, and am starting over from scratch.
Here's a "Before" shot:
and a close up of the lovely flat worm infestation:
Sad, isn't it??
This tank was previously destined to be a home for my herd of H. erectus seahorses, but after much thought and consideration, I've decided that I just can't meet their flow requirements in a six foot tank, while keeping it clean at the same time. This 180 will now become a mixed reef tank, and the horses will be moved to my existing 65 gallon mixed reef: (After all the fish and bad corals come out)
The plan is to make my current 90 gallon a sump, and also add a standard 55 gallon in as the refugium. I originally wanted to make the 90 the refugium, but the new skimmer I purchased is too big for a 55 gallon tank :lolspin:
I had some fellow reefing friends come over and help me drill the 180 for a closed loop. I'll be using a Reef Octopus Water Blaster HY-10000w recirculation pump for that. This thing is a beast! It's got a computer chip in it to shut the pump down if it senses anything wrong, is 97% efficient, and is just pretty darn awesome. Will definitely solve my previous "not enough flow" issue...
I also upgraded the skimmer from a Eshopps PSK300 to the Super Reef Octopus 6000sss and also purchased the waste collector with auto shut off. Between the skimmer, and closed loop pump we'll call that a tax return:
The return pump from the basement is an Iwaki MD70RLT:
The tank it's self is an All-Glass reef ready standard 180 gallon tank with 2 overflows on the back panel. It has a 6x2x2' footprint. Each overflow is drilled for a 1" drain and 3/4" return. I'm going to be using 1.5" plumbing to help with flow, because even with a beast of a return pump, I hardly had any flow. I'll also be replacing elbows with flexible PVC. :thumbsup:
As far as lighting goes, I'm going to use my existing 72" Nove Extreme Pro until I can get it, and my old skimmer sold to fund LED's.
I've got lots of work to do, including a muriatic acid dip on the existing rock to rid it of all the nasty bound phosphates and such. I've already purchased new sand, and am going to be getting rid of the glass tops, and making mesh tops for it. Hopefully we can get this thing rolling in the next couple of weeks.
Last year I set up a 180 gallon display with a 90 gallon basement sump. After six months of horrific algae issues I've learned two VERY important things:
1. Never start a saltwater tank with city tap water
2. Never put more than 10 elbows in your return plumbing.
So, I've completely torn down the entire thing, and am starting over from scratch.
Here's a "Before" shot:
and a close up of the lovely flat worm infestation:
Sad, isn't it??
This tank was previously destined to be a home for my herd of H. erectus seahorses, but after much thought and consideration, I've decided that I just can't meet their flow requirements in a six foot tank, while keeping it clean at the same time. This 180 will now become a mixed reef tank, and the horses will be moved to my existing 65 gallon mixed reef: (After all the fish and bad corals come out)
The plan is to make my current 90 gallon a sump, and also add a standard 55 gallon in as the refugium. I originally wanted to make the 90 the refugium, but the new skimmer I purchased is too big for a 55 gallon tank :lolspin:
I had some fellow reefing friends come over and help me drill the 180 for a closed loop. I'll be using a Reef Octopus Water Blaster HY-10000w recirculation pump for that. This thing is a beast! It's got a computer chip in it to shut the pump down if it senses anything wrong, is 97% efficient, and is just pretty darn awesome. Will definitely solve my previous "not enough flow" issue...
I also upgraded the skimmer from a Eshopps PSK300 to the Super Reef Octopus 6000sss and also purchased the waste collector with auto shut off. Between the skimmer, and closed loop pump we'll call that a tax return:
The return pump from the basement is an Iwaki MD70RLT:
The tank it's self is an All-Glass reef ready standard 180 gallon tank with 2 overflows on the back panel. It has a 6x2x2' footprint. Each overflow is drilled for a 1" drain and 3/4" return. I'm going to be using 1.5" plumbing to help with flow, because even with a beast of a return pump, I hardly had any flow. I'll also be replacing elbows with flexible PVC. :thumbsup:
As far as lighting goes, I'm going to use my existing 72" Nove Extreme Pro until I can get it, and my old skimmer sold to fund LED's.
I've got lots of work to do, including a muriatic acid dip on the existing rock to rid it of all the nasty bound phosphates and such. I've already purchased new sand, and am going to be getting rid of the glass tops, and making mesh tops for it. Hopefully we can get this thing rolling in the next couple of weeks.
