Paul's 180 Gal Peninsula Tank

[presch52]

Hello from Sacramento!!

I have been lurking on this website for a few years now and I currently have a 72 gal bowfront that I have had since 2005 and I am in the process of starting my new tank.

The current setup is shown below. I haven't decided if I am going to keep the 72 or break it down. One of the main reasons for breaking it down is having a pretty big electricity bill with both tanks up and running and I am a little concerned that it might suffer from lack of attention with the new one.

The 72 gallon main tank houses a number of fish including a Vlamingi tang, Foxface, a blue tang, purple tang, 2 clownfish (mated pair), a cardinal, mandarin, neon goby, goldenhead goby, tailspot blenny, and a hawaiian wrasse.

I do not have a great selection of corals in this tank as I was mainly trying to get my feet wet, so to speak, in getting my first tank up and running and learning some things about reef tanks. Now I am looking forward to having a larger tank and experimenting with different corals and fish in the new one.

[presch52]

One of the things I didn't like about the 72 was that it is set up in the entry way of the house and didn't get a lot of attention on a daily basis. The new 180 gallon tank is being set up in the family room and is being used as a partial room divider.

The new 180 gal tank was acquired from John over at Your Reef. If it looks familiar, it was one of his 180 gallon display tanks he originally had when he first put the store together. He ended up changing the configuration of his store and I ended up being in the right place at the right time and he knew I was looking to upgrade my tank. Of course that was about a year and a half ago and I am now just getting the tank up and running.

Of course, this new tank would not be up and running if it weren't for a couple of people. My brother-in-law, Curtis, built the stand for me....from scratch. He loves wood working and this was his first big project. Not bad for his first major project.

The second person I need to thank is Sean, from Exotic Aquarium. Sean has been working at my house for hours on end helping me put this monster/money pit together. I say money pit, and you all know I am right, because originally the tank had a glass sump. Well, after pending 6 hours at my house plumbing and getting the sump installed, it ended up having a leak from one of the bulkheads. I thought it would be wise to tighten the bulkhead....to stop the leaking....and I ended up cracking the glass sump. Not good...I was crying for days...well, not literally but I was pretty upset at myself. So, Sean came over the next week and we ended up putting in an acrylic sump and re-doing all of the baffles and drilling the new holes.

The last person I have to thank is my wife, Sara, of course. She has been very patient and tolerant of this whole process. I actually have to say that she may actually love this thing better than me as she gets excited buying corals and fish for me. She has already kicked in a lot of the parts and supplies for this tank, so I have to give her some props for helping me out. It is nice having a supportive wife.

I have attached several photos of the tank including an overall shot that shows the stand Curt built and the rockwork that has already gone in. The rock is a mixture including tonga rock with a piece of branching rock, and some base rock that I picked up in the form of some shelves to cap the larger main pieces.

[presch52]

Here are some of the photos from the bowels of the monster.

The sump is a Tru-Vue acrylic sump that I snagged from Exotic. Sean and I worked on getting the baffles put in...alright, he did most to all of the work but I looked good standing there watching him work his magic.

I have a Euroreef skimmer in the first compartment, my refugium in the 2nd compartment with some Miracle mud and the third compartment is used for the return to the tank. I have heard good and bad things about the Miracle Mud, but I thought I would try it and see if I liked it.

I have two Reeflo Dart pumps on my tank. One of them runs off of the third compartment of my sump and returns the water back to the overflow of my tank where it splits into two Ocean Motions Omni Flex Nozzles, one on either side of the overflow. The second pump runs a closed loop system in my tank. I have a drain in front of the overflow in the main tank that drains to the pump and it is returned to the main tank on the opposite side of the tank in the form of two Ocean Motion Flex Nozzles pointing back to the overflow. You can see the closed loop in the attached pictures.

In one of the pictures, you can see a piece of plexiglass on the drain line of the closed loop. The plexiglass is being used as a shelf over th pipe, which will house my calcium reactor and CO2 tank, that I will be ordering shortly. More on that below.

[presch52]

So, here is some of the equipment I am looking to purchase sometime in the future.

First, and most importantly, my light. I have debated on the type of light I wanted to put over my tank. I debated between getting an LED light or staying with metal halide. I have decided to purchase a metal halide fixture with T-5's built in along with some moonlights, because I like watching my tank after my fish have hit the sheets.

Here is the fixture I was looking at:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=20394

It's a Marineland Pro Lighting system that has 3 150W 14,000K HQI lamps, 8 39 watt T-5 lights, and 6 moonlights. One of the reasons why I like this fixture is the price was reasonable compared to some of the more high end fixtures, as cost is a big part of my decision.

The only concern I have about this fixture is that it is only a 150 watt metal halide fixture. I like the fixture overall, as it is well built, has only one plug and it has a built in computer that you can program the different settings and times. The T-5's are great as well. I have seen this fixture in person and it puts a lot of light out and the quality of the build is heavy duty and absolutely superb.

Another piece of equipment I am looking at getting is a calcium reactor. Originally I was looking at buying a Geo reactor, but I realized it's footprint would not fit under my cramped tank because of all of the plumbing and my large sump. So, I am now looking at getting a Korallin reactor, which will fit nicely on the plexiglass shelf I made for that particular equipment.

I am also looking at getting a controller and looking and the ReefKeeper Elite System. This will probably be one of the last purchases I make because I feel the other equipment is just to darn important to have over a controller.

I will also probably look at getting a UV sterilizer for the tank as well as a chiller to counteract the heat of the metal halides. I am hoping I can get away with not having to buy a chiller until next summer comes around and save some money going that route.

So, that is a brief synopsis of what I am looking to accomplish over the next few weeks. I appreciate everyone's input and advice, as I still feel very new to this hobby. If I don't answer replies very fast, I apologize as I am pretty busy with work and taking care of my responsibilities around the house....honey do list:)

Paul

[Freak_of_Nature]

So far so good!
Looks like this will be an interesting thread!!

Keep the pics coming!!