Carl's 180 reef build

[Reefnoob84]

It's picked up a used aga reef ready tank and 3 250 watt mh an 72" dual vho hood for 300$ gotta build a stand/canopy. Pics to come!

 

[EriksFish315]

Great following along.

 

[Reefnoob84]

I need some thoughts on transfer. I need to put the tank in where the 75 is.

 

[Reefnoob84]

Here's the tank

 

[Reefnoob84]

The lighting I got was a retro style light. The guy who I fit this from is a fish store owner. He has 3 mogul 250 watt metal halides 2 72" vho actinics. The ballast is a hamilton unit that controls all the lights and 2 fans in 1 unit. Sucker is heavy! I think I'll save the hardware and mount it in the canopy I'm going to build. I've got about 100lbs of live rock in my dt and another 50 in the sump/refugium. And another 30-50 in a can be processed. So I think I'll be ok as far as that's concerned maybe another 20-30 lbs in the future. I have a aquac ev-180 already running on my current system if need be I'll add another in the future.

So for now I'm soaking the tank right now in some city treated water tomorrow I'll drain half and mix in some vinegar and top off.

I'm going to build the stand out of 2x6 for the perimeter and support it with 4x4 posts notched to fit. I plan on building it with an overall dimension of 8'6" x 2'4" and 40 inches tall incase I go bigger in the future. It will fit my current sump a 55 custom drilled and baffled.

 

[Reefnoob84]

Tank scrub down vinegar mix tomorrow it will get pressure washed

View attachment 82290

Bottom of stand

 

[jjamontan]

I'm excited for you!

 

[Reefnoob84]

Started thinking of stocking.
I have already the following

4 inch naso tang
2 inch blue hippo
4 inch tommini
2 tomato clowns
2 false percs
Flame angle
Engineere goby

Assorted cuc

What else do you guys think?

 

[jjamontan]

Look in to all of the different flashing wrasse's there are some very cool ones like the carpenter wrasse.

 

[Reefnoob84]

Thanks I'll check into those.

I still need some thoughts about transfer and such. Like I stated before this tank will be going where my existing tank is now. My sump is in a different room so I can disconnect the tank and run in closed loop with itself. I do have a hob skimmer but it's a pos.

I'll be taking all the lr out an putting it in the new tank. So should I be okay with the cycle is my main concern? Just moving everything other in a day?

Or should I setup the new tank put sand and water in let it set overnight then put all the lr and critters in?

I suppose I could leave the 75 temporally setup but I have to move it well out of the way.

 

[Reefnoob84]

Also the tank is about 10 years old. It's holding water as of now but should I strip it and reseal or go the if it ain't broke don't fix it route? The silicone doesn't seem to be in too bad of shape. It was just a frag display.

 

[BHead707]

id hate for you to get it all setup then not long after have to reseal it :/, but it may have been resealed recently if it looks in decent condition still

 

[Mpfaff77]

I'm all for the do it while you can approach. Once fish and water in you wont be able to drain and reseal. If looks good why not just put another bead of silicone over top of old just because.

 

[Reefnoob84]

Yea I think I'll atleast strip the visible inside sealant. I don't want to disassemble the entire tank. I'll take off the overflows so I know I'll have a good seal.

 

[Ibrahim]

Yea I think I'll atleast strip the visible inside sealant. I don't want to disassemble the entire tank. I'll take off the overflows so I know I'll have a good seal.

Nooo!! Just add silicone over the existing silicone. I've seen many tanks leak after they have been resealed.

 

[Reefnoob84]

Nooo!! Just add silicone over the existing silicone. I've seen many tanks leak after they have been resealed.

Well **** I guess I can't go with black then like I wanted to

 

[Ibrahim]

Well **** I guess I can't go with black then like I wanted to

It's your choice. If you really wanted to then go ahead and do it. Just do a TON of research. It's not so hard to do seals on small tanks but with large ones there is a big risk whether you seal it or not.

 

[Reefnoob84]

Yea your right. On another note the wife and I agreed on a rockscape. We're going to do a 2 island type setup. On one side it will resemble a reef about 30 miles west of key west. It looks like a hand from above so were going to try something similar but with 3-4 finger type areas coming off the back glass and the other a narrow tall almost volcano type island on the other side. Every time I aquascape I try to make as many caves as possible. So this should turn out amazing!

View attachment 82342

A quick artist rendition

 

[Reefnoob84]

Yea your right. On another note the wife and I agreed on a rockscape. We're going to do a 2 island type setup. On one side it will resemble a reef about 30 miles west of key west. It looks like a hand from above so were going to try something similar but with 3-4 finger type areas coming off the back glass and the other a narrow tall almost volcano type island on the other side. Every time I aquascape I try to make as many caves as possible. So this should turn out amazing!

A quick artist rendition

That would be the top view as if looking down on the tank.

 

[Ibrahim]

Looks great! I hope you can get it the way you planned.