Well,
As a lot of you have seen, my 180g has come down, and since it's a new year, it's time for a new tank. She was a good tank, was one of the first to run full LED, I've learned a LOT of lessons, but she's run her course and now it's time to move on.
First a few pics of the old tank.
Next up, what' I'm going to replace it with, a Oceanic 144g half circle tank.
The previous owner didn't have the original stand, so he had a cabinet maker build one, while close to being sufficient, the workmanship showed it's flaws. The entire front and sides of the stand are VERY well built, however the rear was lacking, and one of the rear supports broke. It was caught it time with no harm to the tank, but the stand needed to be fixed. So two new beefier hard oak supports were added, no knots in the wood, laminated, the wood will shatter before they come apart. Any gaps were shimmed and glued so everything is tight now, there should be no more stress points in the entire stand. I just need to cut a new back to the stand and it'll be complete.
Pics of the stand and tank as I got it:
Where the workmanship was a little light, should have been built thicker as 2 of these take ALL the weight for the rear of the stand:
The crappy workmanship that makes me want to puke:
Tank:
Stand post painting as the the stain wasn't even close to matching what's in the house:
The sump is challenging on this build with the irregular stand. With the skimmer I chose to run, I HAVE to go with a 30 breeder otherwise I can't get the skimmer body out if I ever need to service it. Thanks for the 40 breeder Wall Tank, but looks like I'm not going to be using it on this particular build. The 30 breeder I picked up had blued silicone, so I wasn't comfortable using it as it. So I broke out a razor today, and stripped all the silicone. Next up, getting baffles cut, and re-silicone everything.
Pics:
Now for the skimmer I chose, Reef Octopus DCS250-INT 10" Internal skimmer rated for 400g. Overkill yes, but I'm not F**king around with a skimmer this time around. I got it used but with the brand new rediesigned dc pump. Hopefully no more fried pumps which the early gens are known for.
Pics:
Pics of the 30 half Hex Acrylic I'm using as a temp holding tank:
I think that's enough for now, more to come soon.