My new 180 build

[Robert_ellis]

I picked up a 68"x28"x20" setup yesterday. DIY led w/ 2 t5 to supplement color.
Will be refinishing stand and canopy over the next week or so. Start my cycle in about a week.

 

[obscurereef]

Wow! What a beauty that will be. Is that a starphire tank? Leemar? Whatever it is, it looks sweet! What are your plans for the tank?

 

[Robert_ellis]

It is a starphire on the front and right panels. Euro braced. The left panel is normal glass as the overflow on there is quite large and only leaves 6 inches of viewing glass near the front.

 

[Robert_ellis]

My plans are to be able to arrange the flow to be able to grow everything from zoa/ palys to lps and sps.

 

[obscurereef]

You'll need a lot of flow for SPS in a 180. Consider these along with powerheads:

Hydra Aquatics Twist Water Flow Accelerators MPT

 

[Robert_ellis]

Yeah I've been looking at different options. I have a 2100gph return pump as of right now that will be circulating the water just for the filter. Along with 3-4 other small to large power heads I feel I can get the large amount of random flow I will be needing.

 

[obscurereef]

Massive pump! One of my LFS has a 180 starphire tank like yours and he has 6 koralias, 2 flow accelerators, minimal sand, and lots of rock, but lots of space for fish to swim. It's amazing how much room there is! There's a lot of SPS in there and 10+ wrasses and other fish. Are you going to have a refugium?

 

[Robert_ellis]

Massive pump! One of my LFS has a 180 starphire tank like yours and he has 6 koralias, 2 flow accelerators, minimal sand, and lots of rock, but lots of space for fish to swim. It's amazing how much room there is! There's a lot of SPS in there and 10+ wrasses and other fish. Are you going to have a refugium?

The sump has a nice size refuge in it that I will be using. I need to find out what to put in the as I have never had a refuge. It will be nice though as I will be able to ditch the frag tank and have my frags in my main tank so that will cut some work out for me.

 

[obscurereef]

The sump has a nice size refuge in it that I will be using. I need to find out what to put in the as I have never had a refuge. It will be nice though as I will be able to ditch the frag tank and have my frags in my main tank so that will cut some work out for me.

My tip is don't go with sand. I used sugar fine sand and it was awful..I hate the sugar fine for how light and easily it got in the next baffle. Also had a buildup of hydrogen sulfide which can happen if you don't have something stirring up the sand (even though I had nassarius snails there). Anyway, personally had a bad experience with sand and all of the best tanks Ive seen have massive refugiums with rock rubble and chaeto. Rock rubble is a good breeding ground for pods too. Oh and nice, I'm sure it will.

 

[Robert_ellis]

So I went with Hawaii black sand... A little bigger granule that doesn't blow everywhere. Picked up 30 more pounds of rock and have a few more large prices to put in. I want more open space then rock filled space. All lot up with the LEDs and am excited to get it filled with live stock.

 

[obscurereef]

That will definitely make the corals pop. I like how clean the design on the stand/canopy looks and the little detailing. What's with the (frag?) tank on the right and extra stand on the left. Fish everywhere!

 

[Robert_ellis]

Well the "frag" tank you see is my existing 55 gallon set up eating for new tank to cycle. The extra stand is the actual frag tank stand I had plumbed in to the "frag" tank system. The stand just has a bunch of supplies I haven't moved out yet since the set up. 180 gallons of bliss is all I can tell you.

 

[Robert_ellis]

Front view

Side view

Other side view

This is the finished product as I went easy on the rock for a nice open swimming area for decent sized tangs and wrasse. Maybe a Pygmy angel or 2. But I'm just glad all the work is done.

 

[obscurereef]

That is a lot of open room. Hopefully you don't run out of room for corals.

 

[Robert_ellis]

I thought about that too but I love the open swim area I have now. Ill have coral but just not as many. Maybe save me some money.

 

[Cichlidjon]

Nice build! I'm hoping to start a 180 build soon, do you mind breaking down your lighting setup? I noticed you said earlier that it was a diy setup supplemented with T5 lighting.

 

[Aquamandan]

Wow that is gorgous. What did you do to make it look so blue?

 

[Robert_ellis]

Nice build! I'm hoping to start a 180 build soon, do you mind breaking down your lighting setup? I noticed you said earlier that it was a diy setup supplemented with T5 lighting.

I have 126 3w LEDs... 2.5-1 ratio b:w. 2-60" t5 bulbs. One blue+ and one coral wave color. Those pic are taken with all white one and blues down real low but iPhones seem to pick up blue so much more then other colors.

 

[Robert_ellis]

They are all cree LEDs with meanwell dimmable drivers.

 

[Cichlidjon]

Do you mind taking a pic of the lighting and the housing you used? Sorry to be such a bother but I really like how they look and if I can save money and get great results why not right? Where did you purchase your parts for the lighting from?