New Custom 180

[Ruu]

Well after about 8 months of planning / waiting, I now finally have my new tank in place in the basement (where it is probably never going to leave). It is starphire on 3 sides, and has a full length external overflow on the back, and it has been sitting on the main floor of my house for the last 2 weeks waiting for the muscle to move it. Anyway, its an OceanImage tank and stand, and it is the largest thing that would fit down the stairs. It would have been in-wall, but it could only have been 60" long, and I would have had to move gas and water lines, so a stand it was.

Shown next to a 54 corner for scale, and it is a foot away from the wall right now so that I can work on the plumbing. I'll try and post pictures as it progresses.

Dave



http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h38/dbeaumon/P1010091.jpg

[alex93se]

Looks great, can you take some pictures of the silicon work and the overflow?

[Sonia Taro]

Chris does some nice work. He will be building my next tank

[Jay4Robin]

Looks like my system. Chris is a true pro.

[Ruu]

OK - more pictures then.

1) The canopy fully opened (the doors work as well, obviously).

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h38/dbeaumon/P1010099.jpg

2) One of the seams (the inside is a little dusty, since it has been sitting around upstairs).

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h38/dbeaumon/P1010102.jpg

3) the external overflow. There are four 1.5" bulkheads to play with on the back. Since I am only planning on running about 500 gallons/hour through the sump, I'll have to step that down a little.

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h38/dbeaumon/P1010116.jpg

I'll be putting the sump together over the weekend I suspect.

Dave

[tm613]

very nice...what are your plans for skimmer, pumps, etc?

[Ruu]

Skimmer - Not sure right now to be honest. Since it is going to be a load-bioload tank (no fish bigger than a pygmy angel), I'll probably stick with my trusty little Euroreef for a while and then upgrade to a bigger ASM at some point in a few months time.

Return pumps - A pair of Eheim 1250's is all I'm planning on using for flow through the sump. Not running huge flow through there has always saved me trouble in the past, and makes for a much quieter and more efficient tank overall.

Flow - I'll start out with the TS24 streams kit, and then we'll see. Hopefully I won't need any more than that, but this is a bigger tank than I am used to.

Lighting - Pure T5 setup. I already have 5 on Icecap ballasts with a mix of SLS and Icecap reflectors ready to go. I will add at least another 2, possibly more, but I won't know that until I have the tank with rock and water in it, and I can really evaluate the "look".

Dave

[tm613]

I just ordered a Reef Octopus to replace my smaller Euro for my 180. I'll post my results. Seem to be a better skimmer than ASM...

I am with you on low flow through a sump...I use a T4 through the sump and am using Streams in the tank