Setting up new 180g...

[scottkel]

Well, i finally made the jump... When my 75 gallon setup started coming apart (cheap particle board stand) and it looked like it was begining to become unstable, i had to take it down FAST - to be on the safe side. I DID NOT WANT TO COME HOME TO 75+ GALLONS ON THE FLOOR...

So - we started looking around and we decided to go to a 180 - either custom (glasscages.com) or other - we ended up with the Perfecto 180 with dual driller overflows and returns (72x24x24).

I had a 2-175w MH with 2-96w PC retrofit kit mounted in a custom hood (which is all for sale mow - hint hint!)

I decided to go with 3-250w HQI MH Pheonix 14K and 4-54w T5's all mounted in a canopy... I al looking at fan options now just to pull some of the heat out of the canopy.

Here are some pics that I have been taking throughout up to date.

 

[scottkel]

Tank when we first picked it up...

 

[Blindmelonbob]

[welcome]

 

[scottkel]

Added new sump - AGA MegaFlow 4

Started to plumb...

Filled with water...

 

[scottkel]

I made a temporary hood to house the lights temporarily...

Installing the lights in the REAL hood...

 

[scottkel]

Tank where we are today... Please note that all of these pics were taken with my camera phone so the quality isn't very good... I will post some better pics when I get a chance...

 

[scottkel]

thanks BMB...

 

[nugg91]

everything looks great! how are you liking those powerheads??? i had looked into getting one but hadn't heard much about them.

 

[scottkel]

I really like them - they are the Hydor Koralia 4's... I have two of them - one mounted on each end and they hit in the middle causing good water movement that varies in direction...

 

[frederickk]

Nice looking!

 

[zach0660]

looking great, keep us updated

 

[scottkel]

Here are a few updated pics to date...

 

[scottkel]

 

[scottkel]

 

[scottkel]

 

[drummereef]

Very nice, the tank looks fantastic. Just a heads up though, you might want to consider removing the bio-balls at some point as they can start to give you nitrate problems. Just use your live rock as the bio filter.

 

[scottkel]

Thanks for the heads up...

 

[Mr31415]

I did not believe the guys about bioballs and nitrates... Well almost a year after I started my tank I am seeing the light. See, I filled my overflow chamber with bioballs as a cheap wet/dry trickle filter and ofcourse to silence the water fall.

However, with time it became absolutely a garbage dump. Anything not microscopically small got caught in them - and now you can even smell the decaying matter. I will remove all of them and replace it with a standard durso standpipe.

Lesson learned the hard way.

 

[scottkel]

i will have to take a look at this... its starting to sound like this will definately be an issue in the future...

Has anyone else had any experiances with this situation: the bio-balls turning into a bad system...?

 

[supateddy]

Very nice tank. Can't wait to see it in a few months. I love the picture of the clownfish.