lazy's 180 reef saga

[lazyreefer]

After many delays and events, I am about to start my 180 Gallon Reef tank. I'll will be transfering moist of the live stock from my currrent 29G reef.



The tank is used 180GReef ready AGA tank with custom stand, canopy and a lifereef sump. I picked these up used from Joe Burger (JBNY at reef central). As of now I am looking at mixed reef. My wife is not a big fan of SPS ( "you spent how much on that stick?!?" ). Lots of fish is a must though. The tank is in the living room so low noise level is also a must. Also I would like to keep everything as simple and low mantaince as possible (I'm pretty lazy haha).

Equipments:
Protein Skimmer:
I have already purchased a Skimmer from House of Fish (top notch service from Jim and Russ). Its is a B<st1>ermuda</st1> aquatics BPS-8C. IT comes highly recommended from both Russ and Jim so I am giving it a shot. The skimmer is rated for up to 600 gallons so I am sure I would have plenty of skimming power and nasty nog from this skimmer. The skimmer will be driven by Mag 18. The Skimmer is HUGE! I never had such a big skimmer before. From the initial measurements, It looked like it was going to fit in the stand I bought and it did but (there is always something) there is not enough clearance for the collection cup to come off. After looking at some options I might just cut the bottom of the stand because there is plywood covering the bottom and it should give me about 2 more inches to work with. I have not used the skimmer yet but the built quality is awsome. glued very nice, edges are all nicely polished and everything fits very well. I will post the lighting, water movement and sump plans tomorrow.. wife beckons my presence :inlove:


here are some pics.

 

[noodleman]

fill that sucker up already

 

[romain]

You got the famous JBNY's tank!

 

[jhale]

Wow JBNY's tank, make it proud

 

[House of Laughter]

Tea, rock on man - that bad boy looks awesome - I can't wait to get one on my tank soon. Sho us the bad boy all hooked up and running.

Gook luck with it

House

 

[Tonyscoots84]

congrats and good luck.... gonna look great...

 

[pecan2phat]

Geez Tae,

I helped break down JBNY's tank a while ago and you still haven't cleaned it up yet :lol2:

 

[reefman]

wow, 29 g to 180 g; quite an upgrade dude. choose your equipment wisely since noise will be a factor. good luck!

 

[DEEPWATER]

srry but its too freaking hard to concentrate on your tank when your beautiful avatar is bouncing like that :wow: :lol:


Looks good ,the tank and the avatar

 

[romain]

For those who didn't know JBNY,

RC TOTM 2002/9

 

[masterswimmer]

Tae, you picked that up last Saturday, and it isn't setup and filled yet? J/K
That's gonna be a sweet setup. Can't have much better karma with a tank than one from JB. Keep us updated.

Russ

 

[lazyreefer]

Hey Guys, Thanks for the encouragement! Its going to be hard to match JBNY's level of dedication and care.

This weekend was a lost cause due to server malfuntion that needed TLC over the weekend at work. I did manage to get 3 buckets of salt from Warren so I am that much closer hehehe.

Progress so far:

1. The tank has been cleaned up a bit more.
2. Got a used tunze 6000 and 6100 with single controller for both.
3. Cut out a portion of the stand to fit my skimmer (Nothing to compromise
the integrity of the stand. Just cut some plywood that was covering
the base of the stand. gave me 4 more inches to work with)

Things left to do.

1. Get pluming parts.
2. Figure out what I want to do with lighting
3. Water movement
4. Get more live rock
5. Decide on the landscaping
6. Get Styrofoam from home depot to put between stand and tank

Well thats what I have so far. let me know if you see something That I should add.

hopefully I can get this project finished by end of the month.

Thanks for looking.

 

[romain]

I will post the lighting, water movement and sump plans tomorrow..

Good start! But where's the pictures you promised?

 

[herman]

Dude, I really like the old style corner overflows. So much nicer than the giant mega flow overflows. I have a 120 with the same overflows. The space is tight but you will be able to fit everything in there no problem. This is my third tank with the same overflow. When you get the plumbing and are making the durso I have found one thing to be espacially usefull. The bulkhead is 1" and the top section fron the T and up is 1.5" just use a reducer with slip fitting. Its very very silent.

 

[lazyreefer]

Thanks for the info Herman!

 

[lazyreefer]

Sorry about the plans, got side tracked by work I will try to get them in today

 

[masterswimmer]

Tae, you've got a whole cheering section here. :party:
Let us know if you need any help.

swimmer

 

[bad coffee]

I like the quote from the wife!

She can hang out here with us LPS lovers anyday!

B

 

[lazyreefer]

Here is some pictures that I took after cutting the base of the stand.

I also went to HD to get styrofoam board to place between the tank and the stand. Question - is 1 inch styrofoam enough?

Also It seems like the sump is a no go. It will not work well with what I have. I am going to world class aquarium to tomorrow to see if they can build one for me. anyone know if there is anyone local (queens) who makes custom sumps?


anyway, I should also order most of my plumbing parts tomorrow.

More updates to come tomorrow

 

[lazyreefer]

So after some wheelin and dealin, here is what I got

1. New sump built this weekend (pics on bottom). My uncle was able to make this for me so I lucked out. The sump is made from a 30G tank. There is a section for refug. on the right with 2 2" bulk head for return pump and skimmer output. added 5 baffles to get the air bubbles out. you think 5 baffles are enough? at most the sump will handle 1200 GPH.

2. got all my plumbing parts in (well almost waiting for 2 more ball valves and I should be able to start gluing).

3. bought tunze stream 6100 and 6200 with single controller for each for $450 shipped!

4. bought a reeflo snapper for return pump. The returns will be connected to 2 X 3/4" sea swirl

5. got a JBJ ATO for top off - heard good things about it. any one have bad experience with it?

6. for lighting I will be using 2 - 250W 12k reeflux and 1 400W 12k reeflux with mag (pfo) ballast on spider reflectors.

7. I am still debating if I should go BB or SSB. Any thoughts on which I should go with? The tank with have lots of fish with mix of SPS and LPS

8. 5 of my friends are going to come over tomorrow to help lift the tank up so I can place styrofoam board under the tank (it took forever to plan this).

so hopefully this weekend I should have at least somewater in the tank.

I have about 150lb of dry base rocks that I want to use as LR but it seems like I might not have enough. I think I might go buy some from reeferrocks.com next week. Soon as i get some water in the tank i will post some pics!