Green Light on the 180

[sticky]

I was given the green light on the 180 gallon upgrade. Now onto building the stand and hood. Hopefully by spring I will be ready for the transfer and only have 1 tank to look after. I will do a diary of the 180 process.

S.

yahoo!!!!!

[Barky]

sticky where did you purchase your 180? are you planning a built in? I would like to combine my 75 & 90 and have been looking at a 180 to build in. Good luck with your project. Brian

[sticky]

It will be a stand alone. I have not purchased the tank yet but I am going to get it from Aquatic World in Oconomowoc. I am going to start on building the stand.

My plan is to combine my 75, 55 and my frag growout system. I need to consolidate into a larger system just for maintenance issues.

[Barky]

I was just looking at thier site for prices, my 2 tanks came from them. are you looking at the one with 2 corner overflows? I'm also not sure on dimension of the tank would like to go 30" wide and 18" deep if possible. 24" has been hard to clean glass without standing on something to be comfortable. maintenance issues are the same reason here also , keep me posted on how it is going. have you considered zeovit system for filtering. I have it on my sps tank now for 2 yrs. and the colors are unbelieveable very simple and lots of support at zeovit .com i see the tank of the mnth. at reef central just started on it also. talk later Brian

[sticky]

You will need to tell me more about the zeovit. Right now I am fighting a caulpera outbreak in my 75. Been running phosban and harvesting and I am still having issues. Getting ready to pull the rock and scrub.

[Barky]

any time on the zeo system. If there is one thing that I have learned about that system is Low nutrients, a very good skimmer, good lighting, and R.O. for makeup H2O.

[specsirl]

lol...I too have been looking at using zeovit on my sps tank. Maybe we can all share ideas...barky's right...zeovit.com is a great place to learn.

[sticky]

I am always skeptical of the new ventures....but always willing to learn. I have seen some beautiful tanks just running two part additives and plenty of light and water quality.

[Barky]

sticky I know how you feel, but I had to do something as I was not getting good color and growth out of my sps. I wasn't sure if the zeo was working right away my tank had been running for 4yrs. and they said with a older system it would take longer to depleat all of the nutients out verses a new sytem. also 6mnths. into it i changed lighting from single 250 MH to dble. 250 MH and then things really started to change for me. the system has less additives with the basic 4 plus some sps additives if you wish. with your new setup I highly recomend the zeo system you will be very amazed. To give you some idea right now I add 1drop of zeo food 1 drop zeoback, start 2 .50ml , amino acid high concentrate3 drops, coral vitalizer 3 drops and 3 drops of potassium iodide twic a week, I change my zeo rock out in the reactor every 6 weeks 1 bag of that and the carbon is changed at this time also this about 1 cup of carbon. I did change my skimmer from a aqua c to a euro reef skimmer as I felt the euro skimmer was a better skimmer. and my system has inproved 100%. any time you would like to see my set up let me know I can give you directions here to Dubay. When ever I can help feel free to ask. Take care Brian

[sticky]

I would love to come and see your system as I am on the fence in regards to the ZEO. I would be interested in operating costs of the zeo system as well.

[Barky]

Any time would be fine with me, let me know what works out for you and I can send a pm to you with directions, once you see a zeo system running i think it will answer all your ?'s. Brian

[sticky]

Going to go get the 180 (hopefully ) tomorrow.!!!

[Barky]

All right!!! Have a safe trip, if you go today. :)

[sticky]

Made it safe and sound....worst roads were here starting out...then all rain by Madison and then thunder at Milwaukee. Anyways back here now and I have a ton of corraline algae to clean off the glass. Does anyone know any tricks? I don't want to scrattch this baby up as this will be the tank for a long long time.

[Barky]

If not mistaken you could try soaking in vinager and water,but filling a 180 would be hard try mixing in a spray bottle. a plastic card like a credit card works you won't scratch verses single edge razor blade

[ronkent]

Now its a race to see who gets set up first:D

[sticky]

Yeah but I need to build a canopy and stand......but it is good to have a cousin that is staying with you be a union carpenter!!!

I am figuring by next month...then I can start taking the last two systems down. I will need to use them as holding tanks for all those corals going from the 75 to the 180.

You know the story....alot of water to make too. Need to go and buy some more garbage cans.

[ronkent]

yea i figure i need 2 more garbage cans. also still need bulkheads and plumbing. still contemplating whether to use hard or soft plumbing. still need to finish stand. i will probly be about a month also.

[specsirl]

good luck guys! Let me know if there is anything that I can do to help.

[Barky]

sticky how is the coraline coming off, I was told vinegar & H2O works the best another Idea was CLR and rinse with lots of water. Brian

[ronkent]

I talked to him at work today and he hadn't even started on it. He said its on their pretty thick.

[sticky]

All clean tonite....vinegar and water and some plastic scrappers from the foster and smith frag swap. Tomorrow it is off to menards or depot for lumber.

[Barky]

good to here the tank came clean. good luck on the stand building!

[sticky]

I will start taking some pics...at least it will be documented then.

[ronkent]

So how did your lumber hunt go? I made it to M&M and found the nylon nuts and bolts i needed plus got my silicone while i was there. 100% silicone, says its fda approved for food use so it must be the real deal right? of course now its too late for me to start that project tonight so i guess ill have to wait till tomorrow.

[sticky]

Lumber hunt went good...making a list now. Going to make the doors instead of buying pre built....save almost $200. The silicone as long as it has no mildew or fungicide stuff should be okay. I have always used the GE II silicone from HD.

Looks like I am going to Menards tomorrow or saturday as the oak is on sale through sunday.

[ronkent]

All of the other types of silicone said they were mildew resistant. This one did not. I also just looked up the MSDS on Dow's site and it appears to be just silicone and solvent, which we know evaporates as it hardens.

[Barky]

Where are the pictures??

[sticky]

Well, I have some fragging to do tomorrow. I will see if I can figure out how to get some pics on here. I am sure ron can help me if I can't figure it out.

[ronkent]

i can help ya if ya need.....i got the acrylic brace mod done today. looks like it will work.

[Barky]

steve so how is the tank building coming along? have you had a chance to view the zeovit site at all? if you would like to see my setup let me know i'll pm phone #. you mentioned about fraging some corals what type? sps or lps or softies.

[sticky]

I just got done fragging some zoos, softies and shrooms. This week I am going to work on some lps. I have some galaxia and hammer that is getting a little too big...oh yes I also fragged some palys.

[Barky]

Steve what do you do with all your frags? what do you use to attach your frags to ,type of glue. how do you frag zoos and shrooms?

[sticky]

I sell or trade the frags I make. I use regular gel superglue. I have some home made plugs I made or I just mount on rubble liverock I have. Mushroms are a little tricky and so are zoos. I have never forced a sroom to spilt....I usually wait for them to split then move them to another oiece of rock or plug. The zoos can be removed from the rock they are on with careful work and glued to a rock. It is easier said than done but once you get the hang of it, it is easy.

S