Decided to up my reef game a bit. I found a 180 gallon tank on craigslist about a month ago, so when i pulled the trigger on it I decided to build this into a room. The room is going to be my man cave, as my 1 year old has taken over our living room with toys and noise! This build is going to be slow and I am going to as a lot of questions about best practices.
On to the tank - it is a 180 dual corner overflow drilled on the bottom, looks like 3/4" and 1" holes. The guy I got the tank from decided to cut the plastic supports off when he was running it, so I searched and searched for a new one, but nothing that size was found. I talked to a Artisans and they suggested i get a new tank, then i talked to Lazy and he searched for a new top for me, but nothing in that size is made. With that news i was not about to buy another tank, so I made a new top with pine 1x3's and stainless wood screws.
here is the top completed and glass cleaned
on to the stand, the stand is a custom stand the guy who had the tank built, it is pretty solid in construction and wont be seen when it is all said and done, so i took the doors off of it and that game me another inch or so to get the tank closer to the wall i am building.
Ok so the wall was started 2/2/16 in my basement, this is an area I usually use for working out and sorting out my car parts from a car I am restoring. I felt this would be the best area to have an in wall tank, the benefits of it are a floor drain, access to the backside of the tank, and it is under the steps so hanging lights will be pretty easy.
leveling everything, the tank has a slight lean to the back of it, it is not much maybe a 1/4 inch but i figure this will help the over flows a bit... maybe.
ok so next is the back of the tank where i will access the sump/fuge/skimmer and what not. there is probably 4-5 ft between the furnace and tank, so getting things in and out wont be an issue.
I picked up this sump last night, it is a Proflex 4 sump, it has 3 filter socks, a fuge area and area for the skimmer (came with a big coralife cone skimmer), my question here is. Id like to add a separate fuge next to the sump, what is the best way to pump water in and out of these two, should my return pump be in the sump or fuge?
and fuge
Ok on to the lights i got with the tank, I got 2 6ft lights with the deal, 1 is a t5/halide/led, and the other is a Compact Florescent. I honestly dont plan to run either of these lights as i like LEDs since they are so easy to use and cheap to maintain. If and only if i were to run the halide/t5 what other equipment will be required (a chiller?)
Rock i plan on getting is some dry rock that i can seed with bacteria myself, i have purchased really expensive rock before and was not impressed, i have also purchased used rock before and that was ok, but still not 100% impressed. I currently have a 55g tank that is up and running but has majano's in it so wont be using much of that rock to get this tank cycled.
Sand suggestions?
Home
Help
Login
Register
