Returning to what I love - My new 180 Rimless

[jbanks]

Greeting fellow RC members,

Unfortunately, I had to take a break from the hobby three years ago. After moving into my current home, I made every excuse as to why I should not get back in to the hobby (Cost, Time, possibility of disasters, etc. we are all too familiar).. What I realized, is that when something is part of you, you can't deny it..

With the passing of my father in March this year and with me undergoing some surgery in the same month, I had a lot of time to sit home and think... Also, I remember how my Dad loved my tanks over the years and how he could sit and look at them for hours.. He was completely fascinated with my first reef tank.. The longer I was home healing, the more I became inspired to get moving on a new tank.. I got really interested in the Rimless( or brace-less look).. So, after looking at a couple of tank builders, I decided to go with a local builder (1000 Island Aquarium) here in New York that has been around for some time with a pretty good track record... The tank is aprox. 180 gallons and the dimensions are 48 X 36 X 24 High.. The tank is built from 1/2 inch glass with starphire panels on the front and right sides... The builder used 1/2 inch glass rods as a brace for the bottom of the tank as well as the four corners from top to bottom. It was an interesting concept and gave me a little more comfort going rimless, which in all honesty, I was terrified about.. From the front of the tank the extra glass rods give the appearance of a 1" thick tank.. For lighting and after a bit of a struggle on which fixture to go with, I decided finally to go with an ATI PM 10 Bulb fixture, which will suspend from the ceiling (Thanks go to SunnyX for suggestions on lighting and bulb combos and just pure inspiration).. Originally I ordered and received an Aquatinics Solar Flare, which was super bright, but I had real concerns with it having enough coverage for my tank, which will be primarily SPS... My Power Module should arrive by the beginning of next week and then the real fun begins.

First off, I will share a couple of pictures of my last reef(120 gallon) which was taken down in January of 2006. This tank was my pride and joy and I had just gotten it to the point where all it had to do was grow out. It would have been incredible within a year of the following pictures IMHO :LOL:







Now for the new Tank..

In construction


Delivered and empty


Manifold design for sump and future applications thanks to my Buddy AlixDay (also an RC Member)


Another shot of the sump with my Deltec 851 Skimmer(Did a fantastic job on my last tank)


Side view during freshwater test (yesterday evening)


Some goodies waiting to be installed (Vortech MP40s with a an Icecap Battery Backup)


Front view during freshwater test.. Please excuse the smudges while I'm getting things together :smile:


Please help me out as I go guys... All suggestions and comments are welcome..

[eskymick]

It should be an awesome reef. Sounds like you took the time in planning and purchasing to do it right. I look forward to following your build thread.

[jbanks]

Thanks eskymick,
As in the past, I'm finding that you can never plan enough! LOL. I'm looking forward to it being fun though...

[Logzor]

Great looking build! You must be pumped to be starting up a new tank after all that time.

I am actually kind of fearful of having to tear my tank down in the near future. I will be graduating soon and who knows what will happen or where I will be.

It is good to see that you can bounce back like you were never apart from the hobby.

Good luck and we look forward to seeing this progress.

[kretzkiller]

looks great..

[jbanks]

Lozgor,

Thanks, I really am excited... Taking my tank down was one of the hardest things I had to do.. I guess that's the reason that starting up again is so much fun Congratulations on your upcoming graduation...

Kretzkiler,
Thank you..

[Ian]

All the weight of the tank on those skinny legs make me a little nervous....

It should be a great build though

[Jay Fortay]

Wow, I totally agree with Ian!! Thats 3/4 of a ton in water weight alone, Before you get going I would replace those little peg legs with 4x4s. Just my .02 though.

[Jay Fortay]

great looking tank BTW.

[MSHUR]

Looking great buddy!!!!

[swhaley40]

Nice..... A rimless 180 with a powermodule and vortechs is tough to beat! Look forward to seeing it.

[jbanks]

Originally posted by Ian
All the weight of the tank on those skinny legs make me a little nervous....

It should be a great build though

Hey Ian and Jay, Thank you both for noticing I forgot to include that part of the build.. Those legs are actually Iron Tubing connected to a 10 inch Iron Platform.. With the stand dimensions being 4 feet by 3 feet, I could only have the wooden stand built 27 inches or there was no way it would fit through my Bilco door and down into the basement. With the Iron frame, the stand sits 37 inches high, which was the exact height I wanted. Sorry about leaving out that small detail

Mike,
Thanks!

SWHALEY40,

Thanks, I'm pretty excited about it keep checking for updates as the weeks come

[kev apsley]

great looking build! Welcome back!!!

[Ian]

Originally posted by jbanks
Hey Ian and Jay, Thank you both for noticing I forgot to include that part of the build.. Those legs are actually Iron Tubing connected to a 10 inch Iron Platform.. With the stand dimensions being 4 feet by 3 feet, I could only have the wooden stand built 27 inches or there was no way it would fit through my Bilco door and down into the basement. With the Iron frame, the stand sits 37 inches high, which was the exact height I wanted. Sorry about leaving out that small detail

I hoped you would say something like that

...on with the build!!!

[maroun.c]

1/2 inch glass, rimless on a 180 guess thats a first...
Looks interesting.
I don't quite get the sump design where the water is lower in the skimmer partition that both the sides next to it (struggling with this after a skimmer upgrade) so can you please describe how water flows in there? do you have water supply to both sides or how does the water go higher netween skimmer and return without waterlevel getting higher in the skimmer section?

[reefnfun]

i was out for 3 years and missed it too. Icame back better than ever. Have fun, just don't keep track of how much it all cost. Take care

[jbanks]

Ian, I'm just glad I had a good explanation

Originally posted by maroun.c
1/2 inch glass, rimless on a 180 guess thats a first...
Looks interesting.
I don't quite get the sump design where the water is lower in the skimmer partition that both the sides next to it (struggling with this after a skimmer upgrade) so can you please describe how water flows in there? do you have water supply to both sides or how does the water go higher netween skimmer and return without waterlevel getting higher in the skimmer section?

Hey Maroon.c,

I know the recommended glass thickness is 3/4 inch for my size tank, however, my builder has used the bottom and corner bracing for several other tanks with no issue.. I'm a bit of a skeptic myself, but not enough to pay the extra price when I know 1/2 inch with bracing is working for others.. I also saw a post by RC member Stunreefer, where he is using 1/2 inch as well on his 180 deep water coral tank so, it's definitely not a first... I'm not an engineer and really can't defend it one way or the other, so wish me luck... As for the sump, I think you were tricked by the photo angle. All four chambers in my sump are pretty much even... If you look just to the right of the skimmer, you will see an elbow going into the sump... That's my drain.. The skimmer is being fed from the manifold (green tubing). The water is being returned by a Reeflo Dart that is turned down due to too much flow and not enough head pressure to tame the 3600GPH it puts out... I think I over did it a bit with my return pump... How are you feeding your skimmer and how strong is your return, You return pump along with the the size of you drain and return holes will have something to do with how fast your sump receives water andf pushes it out.

ReefnFun,

Thanks for the encouragement! Thank goodness for old equipment that I can re-use like my skimmer and calcium reactor.. Even with that, I have already stopped counting. LOL.

[jbanks]

Originally posted by kev apsley
great looking build! Welcome back!!!

Thanks Kev!

[maroun.c]

Originally posted by jbanks
[B]Ian, I'm just glad I had a good explanation






Hey Maroon.c,

I know the recommended glass thickness is 3/4 inch for my size tank, however, my builder has used the bottom and corner bracing for several other tanks with no issue.. I'm a bit of a skeptic myself, but not enough to pay the extra price when I know 1/2 inch with bracing is working for others.. I also saw a post by RC member Stunreefer, where he is using 1/2 inch as well on his 180 deep water coral tank so, it's definitely not a first... I'm not an engineer and really can't defend it one way or the other, so wish me luck... As for the sump, I think you were tricked by the photo angle. All four chambers in my sump are pretty much even... If you look just to the right of the skimmer, you will see an elbow going into the sump... That's my drain.. The skimmer is being fed from the manifold (green tubing). The water is being returned by a Reeflo Dart that is turned down due to too much flow and not enough head pressure to tame the 3600GPH it puts out... I think I over did it a bit with my return pump... How are you feeding your skimmer and how strong is your return, You return pump along with the the size of you drain and return holes will have something to do with how fast your sump receives water andf pushes it out.

No need to defend it at all What I meant is that I was impressed with a 180 rimmless and 1/2 inch glass. On my 150 Tank build they used bottom internal glass bracing and still top rims along the length and 3 cross bars... Thanks for the sump explanation,
As for my sump, I have 2x1inch drains draining in the skimmers partition then water overflows in the return part where a 1000 G pumps it back some of the water is drained in my refug on the other side and overflows back to the return pump section. My new skimmer (Hurricone Cat 1) did not fit in the skimmers section and had to be put momentarily in my return section which causes 2 problems: Skimmer overflow when water level goes off afer a pump stop/ restart
as well as microbubbles pumped to the tank... still have to find some final design to fit the skimmer which should be in 8 inches of water and then raising the water in the fuge is easy with pumping water in it directly however would prefer to have higher waterflow in teh return section without causing that to affect level in the skimmer section. Hope this makes any sense without pics...

[soccerbag]

Sorry to hear about your father. That's never easy. On a more positive note, the tank looks great. Looking forward to seeing it all setup with the T5 in place. Looks like you're making some good progress. I'm jealous over those Vortech's. I hear they're really nice.

Craig

[TriggerHappyDude]

Awesome first tank, great start on the new one, can't wait to see it grow...welcome back!

[jbanks]

Maroon.C
I see your problem... You may want to message RC "MELEV" he's really good at sump design and may be able to give you some ideas to deal with your issue.

Craig
Thanks, you for your kinds sentiments. It's not easy... It's a day by day process for me. As for the Vortechs..... that coin jar in the closet went a long way for me Not only do they move a lot of water, but the spread of the flow is what amazes me... I'm not too crazy about the humming sound that they make, but I am sure I will get use to it... I just set them up last night. I'm experimenting with how to place them. Right now, I have both of them on the same side(left). the undertow is great... I may try to move one to the back right hand side. I don't want to see the wires on the viewable side if I don't have to... One thing that I am experimenting with is placing at least one high enough so that if the power goes out and the battery back up kicks in, that the water level will be close enough, where the Vortech will create a whirlpool over it and suck air into the water. With out introducing air, I think the Battery Backup would be useless..... I have read that simple surface agitation may not be enough to add ample oxygen to your tank.

Trigger
Thanks Bro..
I just added sand and the Vortechs last night... I am planning to get the Aquascape done tonight and then I will post some new pictures

[Rick A B]

Very Nice

[Jay Fortay]

Good to know on the iron peg-legs. Looking forward to seeing your new pics.

[jbanks]

Thanks Rick!

Here are some pics of the aqua-scaping as of last night... I can't wait to get my lighting fixture so that I don't have to use my flash, which shows every smudge... Personally, I feel that I am void of any artistic qualities (LOL), so aqua-scaping is always a struggle for me. Here's what I've come up with so far..

I used about 120 pound of cooked rock.. My Rock came from my best friend Monte(RC member BBMCRAE) who took down his tank a few months ago... Between Monte with the Rock and my Buddy Alex who helped me with the plumbing, I saved a huge amount of dollars. Thanks Guys!!!! You are the BEST!

I also mounted both my vortechs, which are both currently on the left hand side. It's difficult to see them with the black background and without a lamp over the tank... Not sure yet if I'm going to keep both on one side... I already started thinking about supplementing them when the time comes with my Tunze 6010 and 6100 from my previous tank on a multi-controller if need be... It's always nice to have a backup plan or in some cases overkill in this hobby However, once the tank gets crowded, it may benefit from the additional flow.. we'll see how the Vortechs do first alone...

Next up is ordering some Brightwell products to help with the cycle..

Front view



Front to left side


Side view


Front to right side