Carey's Final Reef Upgrade- 180g

[carey]

OOps, almost forgot.

No pictures of the new fish yet, the tilefish is still in hiding and the lawnmower has found a crevice somewhere cause I cant find him right now either. lol Knew I shoulda taken photos while they were still in the bag.....hehe

[mr_X]

Is the 220 31" tall? That's a mighty deep tank IMO. My old 265 was 31" and even with a 6" substrate, I hated it.

The filefish I have is Acreichthys tomentosus

[carey]

I believe its 31 inches deep. The 210g is 29 I think. Would those 2 inches make you go with the 210g over the 220g? or do you still consider that really deep? Do you think there is any advantage with the 210/220 versus a 180g? I wouldnt think there should be any stocking difference and other than the extra water volume I can't think of any advantage other than saying "oh I have a 220g tank" lol I guess just wondering what you would go with.

[mr_X]

I would go with the 180. You aren't going to use the 6" at the top of the tank anyway....get a bigger sump if you need more water volume.

[carey]

Thanks so much for your opinion, I really appreciate it. I was almost 100% sure I was gonna go 180 but when I saw that display tank today it got me second guessing myself. lol

[JustinKBreen]

Originally Posted by carey

I believe its 31 inches deep. The 210g is 29 I think. Would those 2 inches make you go with the 210g over the 220g? or do you still consider that really deep? Do you think there is any advantage with the 210/220 versus a 180g? I wouldnt think there should be any stocking difference and other than the extra water volume I can't think of any advantage other than saying "oh I have a 220g tank" lol I guess just wondering what you would go with.

Carey, I went with the 220 over the 180 because of the extra water volume and I wanted it to be high enough so I didn't have to crouch down to see inside. I love my tank but is a pain in the butt to clean and placing corals down low isnt easy, I get in up to my armpit and can barely touch stuff with my fingertips. I love the way it looks and the chromis stay up there giving different layers. The tang and flame angel and the wrasses also visit up there too.

I know you've had a theme of making it easy to work on so maybe the 180.

[carey]

Thanks Justin. Several people have mentioned the lack of ease there is in working with the 220g. A few people say go for it cause it does sound cool to have such a large tank but I dont want any regrets.

[Masoniac]

My LFS has a 220 set up. When they set it up they wated someone with long arms to aquascape the tank of course that was me. Even with long arms it sucked I was practically inside the tank to put rocks on the bottom.

[Cichlidjon]

Carey,

Ate you doing CL for the 180?

[Cichlidjon]

Sry "are" lol

[RJT]

I have a 220. I bought some extra long grapples that I use to move things around. I have no regrets. There were $15 on eBay. They are strong enough to pickup rocks.

[carey]

I am prepared to buy the tank brand new if needed but will be scouting craigslist of course for a deal. lol New the tank is about $700 or so, drilled woth dual overflow. Now I know there have been deals for $700 or less even on full setups for a tank that large but sometimes they are there and sometimes you cant find one. lol

[carey]

Originally Posted by RJT

I have a 220. I bought some extra long grapples that I use to move things around. I have no regrets. There were $15 on eBay. They are strong enough to pickup rocks.

I have some long tongs that can pick up rocks already BUT the length of the tongs is so long I have trouble with it because of my small arms. LOL Plus there is a finesse to placing corals and I prefer to do it with my hands, you get so much better placement and feel with your actual hands. hehe

[carey]

Here is a video of the skunk tilefish I added yesterday. Really short one. The long video of all my tanks is currently uploading to youtube so I will add that when it's done.

Skunk Tilefish - YouTube

[redsea]

Originally Posted by carey

Here is a video of the skunk tilefish I added yesterday. Really short one. The long video of all my tanks is currently uploading to youtube so I will add that when it's done.

Skunk Tilefish - YouTube

Very cool! And the Tang Gang doesn't seem to be bothering him!

[carey]

Nope, he wasnt bothered by anyone which makes me happy. But he went right back into hiding after he ate. Hope he gets used to the tank soon, he is awesome to watch swim.

As promised here is the whole video of the tanks

Updated Video Of Careys Tanks - YouTube

[redsea]

Great video! I had a Dottyback in my 55g up until Hurricane Irene in 2011. She was my only fish that didn't make it until I purchased a generator.

Dottybacks have attitudes, but their colors are amazing. I may try one in my next build (which I want to start really soon.).

[carey]

Will be watching and waiting for your next build thread Red! I loves me a good build thread! lol

yeah, that dottyback was mean in the biocube. Sh epretty much killed my wheelers goby and almost got the chalk bass too before my b/f said enough is enough and took her out himself. He never really gets involved with the salt tanks other than to help me do water changes by turning the pump on and off for refilling and emptying. lol She was that mean that he couldnt stand it. She doesnt get chased by the tangs either, she must have shown some dominance with them for them to not bother her. They always chase the smaller fish, now they have the lawnmower blenny to chase around. lol

Thanks for viewing the video, I appreciate it.

[redsea]

No problem, I love videos/pictures of people's tank. As we always say, us fishkeepers live vicariously!

[Cichlidjon]

Man what an awesome vid!! Can't wait till I start! Just out of curiosity with all your tanks combined how much water are you using to top off?