180 Gallon Reef Tank build!

[Itaysworld]

Hello everyone,

After many years of day dreaming, many months of debating and endless hours reading books and online materials, and after reading the great threads on this forum I finally started on my 180 gallon (6ft x 2ft x 2ft) reef tank build.

Currently all the plumbing is complete. I just finished the closed loop and overflows. Tested this morning and unfortunately found a leak in an elbow. Sand and Live Rock is coming in during the week. I can't wait!



I've had fresh water aquariums most of my life, but the largest tank I owned was approximately the size of my sump in this build!

Since this is my first saltwater tank, I'm having a local, family owned pet store help me with the plumbing and specifications

I am posting the detailed build on my personal page, I hope you all don't mind checking out the regular updates and pictures there. I find that I have more flexibility in posting and manipulating format over there.

Here are the specifications of my build:
* 180 Gallon glass tank (6 x 2 x 2 feet) with 2 cornerflos (681 liters - 183 x 61 x 61 cm)
* 72″ Aqualight Pro Retrofit Kit with timer
* Hardwood cabinet and canopy
* Pro Clear Flex 300 Sump
* 2 300W Heaters
* Bermuda 5C Protein Skimmer
* Oceans Motions 4 way flow regulator
* Mag Drive 9.5 Pond Pump
* Reeflo Dart Pump 3600 GPH
* 320 lbs of Atlantic Coral / Aragonite Sand (145 kg)
* 150 lbs of Bali Alor Live Rock (68 kg)

I look forward to getting to know you and discuss my tank and progress as I finish the build and start the cycling and curing process!

The details of the build can be found at: www.itaysworld.com/blog

And here is a list of URLs on project so far:
http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/01/2...-tank-project/
http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/04/0...ing-very-soon/
http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/05/2...-finally-here/
Build Day 1:http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/05/2...ot-a-good-day/
Build Day 2:http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/05/3...stand-is-here/
Build Day 3:http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/05/3...more-plumbing/
Build Day 4:http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/06/0...r-test-falied/

Thanks for reading and nice to meet you all

Itay.

[Itaysworld]

Well, It's sad to respond to your own thread, specially if nobody else has done so since your post...

But here we go... I just finished aquascaping the tank and have the water coming in the next few minutes.


Here's a full tank shot, and you can see the rest of the pictures at:
Reef Tank - 202 Lbs Of Live Rock Are In!




Thanks and look forward to some feedback/comments.

Itay.

[Conesus_Kid]

Looking good!

What are your livestock plans?

[jmjohnson]

please dont add fresh water and mix the salt in the tank while the rock is in there.

[Itaysworld]

Originally posted by jmjohnson
please dont add fresh water and mix the salt in the tank while the rock is in there.

Oh! no no no!

That would be an unfortunate mess
My LFS is delivering around 170 gallons of saltwater any minute now.

50 gallons of 'old' salt water from his system... already cycled
130 newly mixed saltwater

Just got off the phone with the guy. Was filling the tanks on his pickup truck and coming over!!!!!

CAN'T WAIT!

Itay

[ccorpse27]

"cycled" water wont really do much for you.

[Itaysworld]

OK! Tank is full and cloudy!



Here are some updated pics to check out:
http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/06/1...arium-is-full/

I don't know why my LFS recommended the 30 gallons of 'older' water, but its all in now.

Skimmer will be turned on tomorrow. We're missing a couple of key PVC adapters to finish it up

LET THE CYCLING BEGIN

Itay.

[Itaysworld]

Originally posted by Conesus_Kid
Looking good!

What are your livestock plans?

Thank you!

I haven't made my list yet... I tried to keep the livestock planning out of my mind for the time being because I know I have a long cycling process ahead of me. It's my only defense against losing my mind during this period.

I definitely want a number of tangs, trigger fish, a pair of clowns, some gobies and blennies, wrasses and some smaller schooling fish. I would like lots of soft and stoney corals and a good number of inverts. I'd also like to get a miniature puffer.

I know it sounds a bit vague, but I will be coming up with a more specific and definitive list as the time approaches.

For the time being, I'm watching the cloudiness subside slowly, expecting my Reef Keeper Elite to show up as soon as they ship the pre-orders they took, and looking forward to starting my water tests.

Thanks for the responses - I will continue to post updates as things progress.

Thanks, Itay.

[Itaysworld]

Hello -

I'm at work right now and would like to get some advice prior to getting home...

I only filled the aquarium this past weekend and need to add more water.. the mag drive pump sponge is not covered and I'm getting air mixing in...

I have an RO unit that is brand new and I haven't mounted it yet. I understand I need to let it run for about 6 hours discarding what it produces in order to get all the particles and debris out of the unit first.

My question is... can I buy mineral/distilled water and add it to the tank? I don't have anything but liverock right now. I'm at the very beginning of the cycle.

I'm not too worried about the salinity/spec grav right now, but is there a reason I shouldn't buy a big jug of water and add it until I can get my RO up and running?

Thanks! Itay.

[hulley]

You'll be fine with the jug of water. I have a similiar tank with the Bermuda 5C skimmer also.

[hulley]

Do you have recirc mods done on your skimmer?

[Itaysworld]

Hey Hulley -

Thanks for the message. I picked it up on my mobile as I was entering the store. I came home with 5 gallons of distilled water.

4 seemed to do the trick. The water level is much better and the pumps are running as they should now.

I suspected distilled water would be OK, but wanted the confirmation of someone who knows what they are doing/talking about.


As far as the skimmer, yes, I made a recirculation mod. I added 2 eheim recirculation pumps to inject even more air and create more microbubbles. I'm very pleased with the outcome. I will post a close up picture in a little bit (need to take them first).

How do you like this skimmer? Has it worked well for you?

thanks again! Itay.

[InsaneClownFish]

I'm looking forward to seeing more...my upcoming tank will be a 180...best of luck!

[Itaysworld]

Thank you InsaneClownFish! I'm very excited about this project.

Hulley, here are the pictures I promised. Tank is definitely starting to clear up. Yesterday it became reaaaaally cloudy with a bacteria bloom caused by a bottle I added (can't remember the name of the bacteria concentrate) to help jumpstart things...

More pictures and details:

http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/06/1...er-is-working/









Thank you, Itay.

[hulley]

To be honest in the beginning I really liked the skimmer, its worlds better than the ASM I had before it, but now I'm less than thrilled with it. I cant seem to find the "sweet spot" anymore and now that my tank is a little more than medium stocked I think I'm over-working the skimmer. I should've bought the 8C or another skimmer. My tank is BB so skimmer performance is very important. Actually with you having a DSB skimmer performance is just as important too. You'll probably have better luck with yours having a recirc mod. Good luck!

[Itaysworld]

Hey guys,

For those of you who have cured rock in your tanks, cycled a new tank... how long does it take for the smell to dissipate?

I still have a mild stench in my house and wanted to see if after 5 days of being filled, with the closed loop moving a lot of water, and 4 days skimming, it should still be there or if there may be something else going on.

The smell level has definitely dropped since the first day, but it seems to have leveled off and isn't going anywhere.

Thanks, Itay.

[Jflip2002]

The smell is usually a sign of die off. As long as it smells, youre probably cycling, and even after that you're still probably cycling a little lol.

[Itaysworld]

Originally posted by Jflip2002
The smell is usually a sign of die off. As long as it smells, youre probably cycling, and even after that you're still probably cycling a little lol.

OK- I figure as much... I hope things hurry up and die!

My wife deserves a medal

Here's another 100% noobie question - how wet should I be skimming? I have been playing with the ball valve pipe from the mag drive to the skimmer to adjust up and down.

Right now I have it skimming very slowly, where micro bubbles rise and stay in the neck (not sure if neck is the right term, but I'm referring to the riser between the bottom chamber and the collection cup) of the skimmer for about 30 - 40 seconds and every minute or so a little bit of foam "spills over" into the collection cup.

I've also had it much more fluid where I get the bubbles to spill over almost constantly.

What's the way to go? How should I adjust it (considering I'm in the beginning of the cycle and curing my live rock?

Thanks in advance!

Itay.

[ReefEnabler]

the subject of "how wet to skim" is much debated around here, and it really boils down to preference.

many people prefer to skim "dry". This usually means that the waterlevel is lower in the skimmer, and only the nastiest gunk makes it up top. Your skimmate will be nearly BLACK if you are skimming dry with alot of nutrients in the system.

and other people prefer to skim "wet". This usually means the waterlevel is higher in the skimmer, and more bubbles make it into the collection cup. As a result, the skimmate is not quite as dark, but much more is produced. I think that some people believe that you will actually skim alot more of the nasties that way, and I think that is true. You also potentially remove alot of water, so its a good idea to keep an eye on the tank's salinity and not rely on auto-top-off too much. Not an immediate concern you just don't want to slowly drift.

The whole dichotomy of 'wet or dry' is a bit of a fallacy, since there is really anything and everything in between the two extremes. Personally I adjusted my skimmer to only pull dark dry skimmate since I don't have to change the collection cup as much, or overskim beneficial plankton etc...

But in response to your build:
your plumbing looks great! I'm surprised you did all that with so little room to work with.

your aquascape looks like it will be cool

I feel ya on the rock curing. I'm curing a bunch of liverock in my garage right now, and ammonia levels are around 1.0 or so, and the smell is there, so its definitely cycling

btw, do you have ammonia/nitrite/nitrate test kits?

Its not necessary to test at this point (you KNOW its going to be high), but in a two or three weeks when the smell starts going away, start testing, and you will see the numbers drop in time.

[ReefEnabler]

btw, have you had any issues with your OM 4-way on the dart yet??

I am running the same exact combination, and the drum on my 4-way 'sticks' after running for an hour or so, and the flow gets stuck coming out 2 outlets. every 30 seconds or so I hear a loud "click". Already speaking to Paul at OM but just wondering how yours is treating you


looks like you're running locline on the outlets of the closed loop? Its funny because I was too, and Paul actually suggested that the locline might be creating backpressure and jamming the drum.

I removed the locline but obviously it didn't fix my problem any

[Itaysworld]

Thank for the detailed explanation Ryan - I kinda figured that I was asking one of those proverbial questions that everybody has slightly different take on. I'm just trying to gather as much information as I can.

At the moment I have the skimmer set to have a relatively low water level, and I'm just getting the bubbles spill every 5 mins or so.

The ball valve from the sump to the skimmer is actually closed down quite a bit, so I think that I'm not skimming as much water as I'd like to. I'm going to reconfigure the return from the skimmer to the sump so that it doesn't elbow up as high. I think I'm losing a lot of efficiency there.

I realize I don't have a great picture to show for it (I'm at work), so this is the best I could do:



I think if I lower the 'height' of where I get back into the sump, or even drill a hole into the sump and have the return go straight in I'll be able to skim better. I may be wrong (and would love to hear opinions), but I just hate to see the ball valve to the skimmer closed almost all the way - makes me think "I could be skimming more".

Nonetheless, I'm skimming, and at the current level I'm emptying the bottle of skimmate once every 30 hours or so, with icky brownish/greenish stinky water in it, so its doing something and the tank is getting clearer

Wow - I just noticed I'm rambling - enough about that! Apologies to your 'bleeding eyes'

The plumbing was really tricky, specially once it was all done and I had a leak in one of the elbows going from the bulkheads to the dart... what a nightmare that was!

I haven't checked if the OM is still moving, but will do so as soon as I get home tonight - have not heard any loud noises, so I'm hoping it is running smoothly -- it would be a real pain in the #@!! to have to remove/replace it...

These are the eductors I'm using, and yes with locline... I hope this doesn't turn into a problem.


Last but not least... I have not started any tests yet, my LFS guy is mentoring/helping me and we decided to wait a couple of weeks before starting to test things.

I just want the smell to go away! And thanks for the comment on the aquascaping - it took a while to get the bali alor rock, but I'm glad I waited. I'm very happy with the end result, though as I look at it more and more I wish I had left a little more 'open water' space... I may have to 'reconfigure' some rock at some point.

Thanks and a gold star for all who actually read this whole monologue!

Itay.

[Itaysworld]

Hello -

Small update - I have added an auto top off unit, DIY calc reactor (reusing a fresh water sand filter) and activated carbon canister to help clean up the water.

The cables are an absolute mess, but I had a long day at work and didn't have time to tidy them up. I will do it this weekend, because its driving me crazy by just looking at the pictures!

I also installed the RO unit in the garage.

Tank is still smelly, but definitely clearing up more and more!

All the pics can be seen here:
http://itaysworld.com/blog/2008/06/1...nts-installed/

And here are 2 full tank shots (full tanks, but empty still):



Cheers , Itay.

[Stenopus]

Hi,
first, you don't have anymore liverock in your system 'cos amonnia killed all living creatures on rocks. Second, you don't have to start skimmer immediately, because you don't have enough useful batteries in system if your skimmer failed or it is out of order. Don’t think if you take water from a cycled tank that you have done something big. Many mistakes in beginning of your hobby adventure.

[Sceadu]

Originally posted by Stenopus
Hi,
first, you don't have anymore liverock in your system 'cos amonnia killed all living creatures on rocks. Second, you don't have to start skimmer immediately, because you don't have enough useful batteries in system if your skimmer failed or it is out of order. Don’t think if you take water from a cycled tank that you have done something big. Many mistakes in beginning of your hobby adventure.

Way off the mark on your comments Stenopus. The guy had jumped in with both feet on this. A 180 for his first salt water Experience. There is and will be plenty of life in the live rock all the way through the cycle. Small critters bristleworms and such. I think hes doing a great job and the tank looks great.

Considering you have less than 100 posts and only 6 months experience you should be careful what you say.

Oh and Ive never seen batteries in a saltwater tank before...

Keep up the good work mate..Ill be in the backround watching the progress for sure.

[streetjudge79]

LOL... batteries in a saltwater tank.... I about fell off my chair laughing. That was funny!