Rhodes19 180 Build

[Rhodes19]

Well, the heater has been on for over 32 hours and has brought the temp up from 64 deg to 77 deg. Its been hovering at 77 deg for a while so I am thinking I may have to get a second heater to get the temp up to 80 deg. During the Winter we usually keep the house around 68-70 deg. During the summer one heater will be enought. May have to get a chiller at that time.

Oh, evaporation. It has already gone through 3g of water already. Wow, won't have to worry about running a humidifier during the Winter!

 

[Matt0676]

Hi Matt,

Thanks. We spent some time sitting in the kitchen and just staired at the set up. My wife likes how the light shines through some of the holes in the rocks. Wait until I get some real lights up there. It was almost overwhelming. The biggest tank I have ever had up until now was a 55g. Have fun with your 180 build. I know I have enjoyed mine and have learned alot in the process. Have you started a thread yet?

I agree, I think the rock is going to look awesome when you get your lights up! In regards to my build, I am going to pick up the 180 later this week so I will start my thread then. I have a TON of planning to do before I start to press forward. Sort of my version of measure twice, cut once. I want to make sure I get it as close to right as I can the first time.

Is there anything you would change or didn't think of?

 

[Rhodes19]

I agree, I think the rock is going to look awesome when you get your lights up! In regards to my build, I am going to pick up the 180 later this week so I will start my thread then. I have a TON of planning to do before I start to press forward. Sort of my version of measure twice, cut once. I want to make sure I get it as close to right as I can the first time.

Is there anything you would change or didn't think of?

Actually, there is!!! LOL I thought of posting a list later but some of the things I would do differently are, making the stand with side doors instead of one solid piece so I can have access to the sides, making a coast to coast overflow for the back of the tank and drill it for a BeanAnimal's silent full syphon overflow. I have a RR tank and thought I would be good to go but the splashing/bubbling noise in the sump is loud because I am pushing a high water/air rate through 2 1" stand pipes (biggest bulkhead in overflow). If I cut the pump back most of the noise goes away but so does the flow. I think I would use an submersable pump instead of an external pump. The plumbing would be easier to do and I would have more space available under the stand. Also, with a submersable pump, I could have set my sump fuge up with a center return chamber (more flexable design I think). I think I would go with flexable tube next time instead of pvc. Installation would be quicker and easier and without any 45/90 deg turns. Get more than 500w heater/s. My 500w heater can't get above 77 deg (house is at 68 so I think I need another heater. Oh, another thing I would do differently is to use threaded/threaded bulkheads instead of slip/slip. I glued pvc into the under side of the bulkhead so if I ever have to pull it out, I will have to cut the pvc and either replace the bulkhead of splice the pvc where I had to cut it. In the overflow side, I just fitted pvc into the top side of the bulkhead and I do get some leakage between the pvc and bulkhead where if it was threaded, there would be less chance of leakage and I would have a more solid joint that could be easily be removed.

Wow, thats enought for now. I didn't think my list would be that big. LOL I hope that will give you some things to consider as you go through your build. I do have to say, even though I would make some changes, everything I have done is working. Just need to start fine tuning a few things. HTH

 

[Rhodes19]

looks good

Thanks lwolfe, I appreciate it.

 

[DolphinLVR]

How's the Tank coming along Rhodes?

 

[Rhodes19]

How's the Tank coming along Rhodes?

Hi Dolphin,

So far, so good. No leaks, the two heates I have are in sync (or very close to it), I put socks on the overflow lines and that has helped with some of the big bubble noise, and I am planning on moving in as much live rock I have without coral on it into the 180 to kick start the cycling. Frankie suggested I tie the 2 1" drain lines together into one bigger drain line and that may help with the noise as well. I'm thinking of going to either 1 1/2" line or 2" line. If pies are square, then by going from a 1" pipe to a 1 1/2" pipe will double the area for water flow and reduce the turbulance. The question is, where do I want to start the bigger pipe? Closer to the overflow or before it gets to the sump? Decisions, decisions....

 

[Rhodes19]

Well, today, under my wife's artistic " " guidance, I moved about 40 lbs of live rock from my other tanks into the 180. So now we have rockscape 4.0

Here are some pictures.

Front standing.

Tank sitting.

Actinics only.

Left side.

Right side.

Center.

One of the caves.

Deli shrimp basking in the light.

I think this is the best rockscape so far. I still have about another 30 lbs of live rock to put in but they all have corals on them so they will go in after the cycling and algae blume is over.

 

[Rhodes19]

Well we lost our down stairs heater yesterday afternoon and this morning the room temp was 59 deg. Surprisingly, the tank temp is holding steady at 77 deg and the heaters are not even staying on constanly. Sweet.

 

[PaPa_Johnny]

very nice! I like the way you are coming along with this, thanks for sharing . I bet the evaporation went up just a wee bit with the cooler room temp? Can't wait to see how this turns out!

 

[huskysglare1]

That's an amazing stand and tank you have. However, those rocks are hideous you'd gotta do something about those rocks. Don't be offended, it's just my opinion.

 

[mod0522]

My initial thought was the same, sorry Rhodes. However my perception has totally changed. Huskys, envision it all colored up and fully stocked! I really think its going to turn out beautifully! Keep us up to date Rhodes.

 

[Rhodes19]

very nice! I like the way you are coming along with this, thanks for sharing . I bet the evaporation went up just a wee bit with the cooler room temp? Can't wait to see how this turns out!

Hi PaPa Johnny,

Thanks. Its getting there. I was amazed at how much evaporation there was. The tank came with 2 glass covers that I put on leaving one section open (2 cross braces, 3 openings on top). That seemed to help reduce the amount of evaporation for now. Once I start putting fish and coral in, I'll remove the glass for better gas exchange.

 

[urastame]

Looks really nice rock scape 4.0!

 

[Rhodes19]

That's an amazing stand and tank you have. However, those rocks are hideous you'd gotta do something about those rocks. Don't be offended, it's just my opinion.

Hi huskysglare1,

Thanks, the stand was fun to make. My rocks are hideous? LOL No offence taken. What is it about the rocks you don't like? The shapes, texture, they way they are stacked, all of the above? Once the cycle is over, I'll be moving my fish and corals into it so the rockscape will change again but not by much. Once the coralline takes over it won't look gray. I have some in my other tanks and you almost can't tell. Actually, their hideousness will give me an excuse to get more corals!!!

 

[Rhodes19]

My initial thought was the same, sorry Rhodes. However my perception has totally changed. Huskys, envision it all colored up and fully stocked! I really think its going to turn out beautifully! Keep us up to date Rhodes.

Hi mod0522,

Et tu? Just kidding. I appreciate all the feed back I can get. When it came to design/artistic stuff, I skipped school. I wanted to make sure I had some good flow through the rocks and bigger spaces for larger fish to hid in. The rock isn't pretty like real live rock but it will be hard to tell over time.

 

[Rhodes19]

Looks really nice rock scape 4.0!

Thanks urastame. Once the rest of the live rock goes in we'll have rockscape 4.1

 

[urastame]

look good so far What are the future plans?

 

[huskysglare1]

Maybe because they're gray and the structure looks a little weird. hehe. or It could also be that i am Islands type guy, but i'll keep in touch with your progress. I really admire your stand. what an amazing piece of art.

 

[Piranha_Owns]

nice work, stand is amazing

 

[AkaSlyGuy]

I emailed you, but thought I should ask the same thing here in case someone else down the road needs the same question answered. I am about to build a stand for this same size tank. I am following the same design you used for the base of the stand. My tank has the same kind of overflows yours has with 2 holes in each back corner. My question is this:

Did you make the 2x frame the exact dimensions as the tank (plus tank trim) or did you oversize the frame a little as long as the frame of the tank sat square on the top frame? I was wondering if by making the stand the exact size of the tank you had any issue with the bulkheads being too close to the stand frame? I hope I made that clear enough.

Joe