Tvu's(Josh) new 180 gallon build (1 Viewer)

[tvu]

Several weeks ago the wife out of the blue said she wants bigger fish after staring into our DSA 110g 5 footer. Obviously I said bigger fish requires a bigger tank then unexpectedly she suggested getting rid of the unused dining room table and make the room into a sitting area with a big tank.

I immediately posted the dining table set for sale and sold it the next day before she could change her mind [emoji16]

So out goes this

And preparations start for this

Originally I was thinking an 8 footer but that would only leave a foot on each side. A 7 footer would be too custom a size so I ended up on a standard 180g of about 72x25x24.

While I wait for the tank build (going on 6 weeks) I took advantage of some Labor Day sales and some used pumps from the forums.

So far the build looks to consist of the following:

PA 180g eurobraced drilled for ghost overflow

Synergy 20" GO with 3 1.5" drains (bean animal)

Ecotech Vectra M1 return

2 MP40Wes for flow (likely will add something else, maybe gyre in the center)

3 Radions (not purchased yet)

Ecotech RMS rail , slides and hanging kit

Trigger Sapphire 39 sump

AquaMaxx Q-3 skimmer

Apex Classic controller

Tropic Eden reef flakes sand (thin layer planned)

Dry Tonga Branch, Pukani and shelf rock

Grey and blue PVC plumbing


After consecutive days of deliveries for a couple weeks the wife asks what the heck I've been ordering lol

While I've been waiting at least I have time for preparations

Started some of the plumbing (I hate plumbing, leaks are the worst)

Started messing with rock and cycling with extra unused nano skimmer

Staring at an empty space where the tank should go makes for wanting to do something productive so I started on this control panel

The tank may be here next week ( I hear possibly Wednesday later in the afternoon). Anyone want to help get it inside my house?

To be continued.........



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[Regg]

What area you in, i really wanted to go planet but i couldn't get no quotes back

 

[tvu]

I'm in Katy but can't change my location in TapaTalk.

I asked a couple stores and they said they'd get back with me but never did. I didn't get a chance to ask another store that previously ordered my DSA since the guy wasn't in that day. My wife knows a store owner in Dallas and he ordered it for me and bringing it down. PM me for the person that ordered my previous tank.


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[FarmerTy]

I like your style with having the dining table sold by the next day. No takebacks!

Looks like you're putting together a great system!

 

[Regg]

Good deal im in Katy as well text me when you ready 7135017890, i went with SCA

 

[tvu]

ATX when it comes to our reef tanks we take things serious [emoji16]. I've read most of the forum discussions and have great suggestions and examples to work from such as diesel, d2mini and many others including your threads.

Regg thanks for the offer. I hope I can take you up on that. Just won't know when the tank is coming in advanced and maybe just a day before.

I also looked into SCA and got a quote from Steve. Seems his prices have considerably gone up now that he has more business. Also he said drilling for ghost overflow is custom and would take 12 weeks for delivery.



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[Regg]

It's close to 12 weeks, that wasn't a big deal since i was curing my dry rock and gave me rime to get a few more things, my tank should be here in the next couple of weeks now, i did get a quote from miracles and steve was a grand cheaper so i went with steve

 

[Clownfish Chris]

Drilling a tank is easy. Have the pieces sent, and I would have no problem helping you put it together. We did Steves in a couple of hours.

 

[tvu]

Chris I'm sure there's not much to drilling a tank but not everyone has the right tools nor wants to take the risk of cracking an expensive tank [emoji3]


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[tvu]

Waiting for a tank really sucks. Can't dry fit plumbing or anything since I don't know what the stand is like aside from a picture.

Anyways, felt like I had to do something so I threw in some bio-spira to quick cycle my rock a week ago. I tested my water and ammonia is way down and nitrates up. I also saw phosphate at 2.0 ppm. I know this will cause a slight new tank bloom so I decided to run some gfo in the hopes the algae bloom may be reduced. Call me crazy but that's the theory anyways.

I also grabbed the skimmer from my unused tank and replaced the nano skimmer with something more powerful.

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[FarmerTy]

ATX when it comes to our reef tanks we take things serious [emoji16]. I've read most of the forum discussions and have great suggestions and examples to work from such as diesel, d2mini and many others including your threads.

Regg thanks for the offer. I hope I can take you up on that. Just won't know when the tank is coming in advanced and maybe just a day before.

I also looked into SCA and got a quote from Steve. Seems his prices have considerably gone up now that he has more business. Also he said drilling for ghost overflow is custom and would take 12 weeks for delivery.



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Don't know how I missed this post! We take things seriously and we know when to strike when the opportunity presents itself! [emoji4]

For the rock reading 2.0 ppm phosphates, I'd highly recommend you continue running and swapping in new GFO until the level stays consistently under 0.1 ppm. A good way to test for me was to kill the reactor and see what the phosphate level is the next day. While I don't know the history of the rock you are using, it appears to be leaching a lot of phosphates and that's not something you want to start your next tank with.

When cycling and curing rock, I do something very similar to what you've done up to this point. Throw in some bacteria to quick cycle and also treat with lanthanum chloride (or GFO) to reduce phosphates until they stop leaching out of the rock. Be careful if you go lanthanum... just make sure it is rinsed off well from the rock or drip it into a 10 um filter sock (ebay) so the flocculant doesn't make it into the main system. It can be lethal to fish and potentially corals at high enough concentrations.

 

[tvu]

I got a call yesterday with good news my tank will be here some time next week.

Purchased a 20L with $1/gal special at Petco over the weekend for QT and it's been seeded and set up.

The journey still seems so long....


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[Reefahholic]

Looks like you're off to a great start!

 

[tvu]

Finally the tank is here tonight. It's pretty darn heavy and took 4 of us to lift it into the stand.

For the price I paid I was expecting a better quality made tank. Planet Aquarium silicone seems suck *********! The Eurobrace doesn't look so good. Pretty crappy and put to shame by the "Made in China" SCA tanks.

I'm surprised they are ok with shipping out subpar workmanship knowingly to customers.

After waiting 8+ weeks it is what it is at this point and it's what I have. I don't think I'll ever buy a tank from them again though.

Well only other thing I managed this evening was getting the ghost overflow on. It's a bit difficult for 1 person to hold it and screw in the bulkheads unless you tape it in place 1st.

Up next is removing the front center door brace to get my huge sump in, dry fit and cut the PVC plumbing.

I have 2 new fish in QT for a week now. At this build rate I hope they won't stay longer there past the planned 30 day mark [emoji20]


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[FarmerTy]

Man that bites about the seams! I've always heard good things about them. Maybe someone had an off day.

The tank itself looks sharp! Can't wait for this to come together!

 

[Cody]

That first picture is the most elaborate selfie that I've ever seen haha

 

[tvu]

Cody at least the tank is better looking than the selfie on it [emoji16]


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[tvu]

Well I noticed a couple other things.
First I ordered the stand to be 36" but it's sitting about 39".

I wanted 1" return drilled but they're 3/4". Is 3/4" standard? I've never had a tank drilled before. This will cause my plumbing to be a little awkward, leave some unused plumbing parts and force me to buy more.

Anyways, got home late but did get the sump into the stand. Didn't know I had to take the center brace to get the stand in. They could've designed it a little easier to do probably. Also if I had known I would've done that before putting the tank on. I learn something new everyday I guess.

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[jqsquared]

This build is awesome!!!! More pics!!

 

[jqsquared]

I treated my pukani to a muratic bath then used LC to rid the phosphate while the rock was soaking in trashcans. I literally just poured it straight in, no messing with filter socks at that point. ATX is right in tank you would want to capture it. After desired phosphate reduction I then setup a series of buckets with fresh water (not RODI) and dip/swished every last rock through a series of 5 buckets changing the water out after every two or three rocks. Seemed effective to get the flacculent off. Was a big PITA, although, in this hobby I always feel like its either $$$ or labor...or occasionally both. At 2.0 your going to burn through GFO real quick on a 180g worth of rock. My 2 cents worth.