Carey's Final Reef Upgrade- 180g

[redsea]

How exciting! The hard part of the shopping is now over!

[Sniperhank]

All walnut! So jealous you get such deals around you.

[agrasyuk]

very nice! i soo want a large tank too, can't wait to finish the section in basement for it . my vote is also for wallnut, i really like wood. my black 55gal stand will be replaced with wooden one at some point for sure

[Gregcoyote]

The MH works fine with fresh bulbs. Watch the tank temperatures. Sounds like a great setup for the bucks.

[Fishman007]

Originally Posted by carey

Today was a big day! Went to look at a setup and it's "the one"!

So I will be picking up my 180g tank and toys this week. The tank is drilled in the corners, it comes with old school halides, they look like huge mogul bulbs, has 2 ballasts for the lightds and it has 2 VHO bulbs as well. There is a custom sump, looks like a 55g tank and a skimmer, a g2 ASM. Skimmer will have to do for now but it should be fine. ALso comes with the return pumps and other pumps. ALl for $500 which I think is a great deal. Oh forgot to mention the like 300lbs of live rock he has too. lol The setup has TWO canopies, one that isnt too high and the larger taller one you see.
My first question I guess is should I use the black stand I bought already or go with the walnut finish complete set? I figured I could paint the canopy black, not sure how the paint will adhere though. Has anyone done that before and how did it work out?

There will be a ton more updates as now we have a tank! LOL

Wow... I feel ripped off one a 60g cube i got last week... It came with a 10g sump, the tank was drilled, and then really nice metal halides and a ballast for 250$... But looks like a cool thread so im following! (sorry to hijack but did i get a good deal?)

[carey]

Sounds like a good deal fishman, half of what I paid. lol As long as youre happy with what you got then its a good deal. lol

Now that I have the setup i have a zillion thoughts! Here are some things I'm on the fence with or just completely have no clue.

There is a dsb in the tank now and its not pretty. My advice to others would be to toss the sand and go with new, but is this the best way to go in this case? I dont want to go dsb if given a choice this time around, just enough for some gobies and y pistol shrimp to be able to dig.

I'm still not sure which stand to go with. You all suggested the wood one and it is alot nicer than the black one but all my other tanks are black. I do have light wood colored pergo floors though so I guess it can match that. Just not digging the idea of painting the canopy.

I'm starting to work up a list of fish so I know what order to introduce everything. Clearly the tangs and the most likely 2 more tangs I add will go in last. I was thinking a copperband first and then I was thinking of taking my 60g down and adding those "happy" fish at that time as well. But that leaves me moving the mandarin and I'm not sure I wanna do that. What do you think?

I know that was a long one! Sorry for the length. I am sooo excited, may go thursday and start transporting the live rock too! Cannot wait for this weekend!

Thanks for reading

[Sniperhank]

Carey, one thing I've realized over time is how nicely stained wood can warm up a room. I say give it a shot!

As for the dsb, do you think it is salvageable? If it is, maybe it's time to think outside the box and not only keep it but to think about something you can keep in one that you might not be able to otherwise (this is all w/I seeing it of course). Jawfish maybe?

[Qube]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Carey, one thing I've realized over time is how nicely stained wood can warm up a room. I say give it a shot! As for the dsb, do you think it is salvageable? If it is, maybe it's time to think outside the box and not only keep it but to think about something you can keep in one that you might not be able to otherwise (this is all w/I seeing it of course). Jawfish maybe?

I agree with keeping the wood look. Walnut is gorgeous! My guess is it will really set it apart from your other tanks and really make it pop! Not that the size wouldn't do that already...

[Sniperhank]

BTW carey...25 dollar sailfin tang from saltwaterfish.com...

[carey]

lol, sniper, not ready just YET! lol

So in regards tot he dsb, how should I work it if I were to use the existing sand? WOuld I transport it with the sand in the bottom and then what? Wont all the nitrates and other nasties be released with all the moving around?

I'm not sure I mentioned this about the stand choices, but the black one is from a fish store and is about 36 inches tall while the walnut set is about 30 inches tall. The ASM skimmer thats included looks to just fit under the stand. If I were to upgrade the skimmer at a future point I was thinking that stand would be too short.

And a thought on the future fish, I was thinking of getting the black tang, NOT the $700 one but the fold rimmed black tang that the site with the 20k fish was on. Then maybe a sailfin locally

Here is the black tang I'm thinking of

Gold Rimmed Surgeonfish

And does anyone know anything about these tangs? Can't say that I've seen any locally

Mata Tang-(2")

[Hondatek]

The gold rim is the same as a white cheek tang . I have had mine for over a year and a half and it is one of my favorites . More on the difficult side compared to a yellow tang and very closely related to a powder brown tangs. Once established they do not like any new fish being added but after a few months they calm down.

[Fishman007]

Originally Posted by carey

lol, sniper, not ready just YET! lol

So in regards tot he dsb, how should I work it if I were to use the existing sand? WOuld I transport it with the sand in the bottom and then what? Wont all the nitrates and other nasties be released with all the moving around?

I'm not sure I mentioned this about the stand choices, but the black one is from a fish store and is about 36 inches tall while the walnut set is about 30 inches tall. The ASM skimmer thats included looks to just fit under the stand. If I were to upgrade the skimmer at a future point I was thinking that stand would be too short.

And a thought on the future fish, I was thinking of getting the black tang, NOT the $700 one but the fold rimmed black tang that the site with the 20k fish was on. Then maybe a sailfin locally

Here is the black tang I'm thinking of

Gold Rimmed Surgeonfish

And does anyone know anything about these tangs? Can't say that I've seen any locally

Mata Tang-(2")

The gold rim looks great! It would really eye catcher!

[carey]

So the gold rimmed is aggressive then? I was thinking of adding all the tangs at once after I add the happy not aggressive fish. Or is he too aggressive do you think
?

[Hondatek]

I wouldnt consider them aggressive but I wouldn't consider them peaceful either.
The most aggression I have seen was the first month or so after I added a new fish and while he was pretty mean he did calm down after a bit. I think in your situation it would be fine . I added more fish after the white cheek has been in the tank for a year so he was well established .

[Gregcoyote]

My tangs all spar all the time. The episodes are short lived and somebody always retreats. That's surgeonfish for you. The looser needs a safe place to get away to fight again another day. It's when they get pinned down or chased into a too small crack that scales get damaged.

[carey]

So then am I just lucky with my tangs? The three never ever fight lol. They do not tolerate any larger fish going in the tank though. If its small like the dotty back they dont seem to mind or even the melanurus wrasse when I added him. Anything near their size tho and they are nasty. lol

Any thoughts on the deep sand bed guys?

[erichm20]

I've only heard bad stories about trying to reuse sand an I think it would be especially tough with a dsb. I could be wrong but there's probably more crap to worry about than the shallow bed. That said having to replace that much sand, few hundred pounds I'm guessing, on the other hand with a big build it would be great to save wherever possible and you did mention taking it slow you could let it fully cycle. It's not like you have to get your fish in there right away.

[Gregcoyote]

I am cheap, so I would wash it really well and use it over. There is no difference in using the old sand or aragonite that is well washed and new sand. Both will build up bacterial fast. I suggest a bed of 2-4" banked into deeper areas for sand sifters to work. I have my sand moving a lot from the engineer goby, wrasses and others.

[carey]

I've gone the sand rewashing route in the past and it almost killed me. Took sooo long and it really bothered my back. I can get sand for $8 per 40 lbs brand new aragonite. Should I just spend the $40 bucks or so or go through rewashing. I thought maybe I could just move it with the sand in place and then leave it to settle. Is that not the case?

[erichm20]

Well $40 is def worth just starting fresh but it would be nice to not have to clean or dispose of existing sand so I say go for it. I have no research to back this up but I say you leave just enough water barely be cover the sand so it's still really saturated. You'll obviously have a release of all kinds of nasty sh1t but I'm sure a lot of the "life" in the sand will remain just put some water lr and power heads in there right away.