jthao's 180g tank build journey

[jthao]

here's a few pics of some of my new toys that I just got:

controller for my heater/chiller:


I thought this would be cool to have, along with my refractometer:


this will help me to top off and dose kalk:


here's my new tank, it's not really new, it's used from another reefer, tank was built by midwest customs:


And here's my most recent toy, and my favorite of all of them:

[jthao]

Any comments??? pls do!!!

[vietcu]

For a college student with no money, you sure are buying a lot more stuff than someone who works full time with a wife and kid . Good build so far, keep up the good work.

[jthao]

thanks. I really don't have money, that's because I spend it all on this hobby. But at the same time I don't have to pay for rent or support anyone besides myself (which includes fast food and starbucks). You guys that have kids, a mortgage payment, and are still able to have a nice tank, I bow down to you guys!!!

[spleen93]

Make sure that you put unions (preferably true union ball valves) in front of each leg of the OM as well as on the input to the OM so you can remove it to service it. Otherwise, you'll be cursing your plumbing when it seizes up on you.

And I agree about the spending of money. Wow!

[jthao]

yeah, I already cursed myself for not putting them on there the first time, cuss when I found out it wasn't working and I had to take it apart, I had to cut my plumbing.

[jthao]

alright.... some progress finally. so here's what I did so far. I sealed up all the holes for the closed loop. I just used 1/4 inch acrylic black sheet to cover the whole back from the inside. and used 3/8 inch hole cutouts to fill in the back. didn't take any photos of that, but pretty simple. I also covered the overflow boxes with 1/8" acrylic sheet to match the back. so now I have black back, instead of blue. Here's a few photos with the tank with water and live rocks in it.

[jthao]

here's a list of new stuff I got:
2x 6101s
1x vortech MP40 (not wireless, darn!!!)
aquacontroller III

I decided to go tunzes because the closed loop was disaster for me. I spent a week (everyday after work) to plumb it, and when it was all done, I had to cut it all up. So I am done with plumbing!!!!!!!

Also I decided to go with BB because I think it'll be cleaner, less debris/less cleaning hopefully.

So here's a few questions: I need some opinions/ inputs on what you guys would do/use if you were in my position:
Two sump ideas, which one to go with??:
1) 75g integrated sump/refugium/return section (aga 75g tank w/baffles) and return via an eheim 1262 into chiller then up to tank (no seaswirls).
2) 40g sump and separate 20g refuge with DSB and return via a sequence snapper into two seaswirls and T'd into chiller and back into sump. (but more plumbing, I'm shying away from this idea because of plumbing that I don't wanna do)
Another question is how much more flow do you guys think I will need to do an sps dominant tank?
Will 2x 1.5" drain holes be able to handle the snapper? will 2x 1" hole be able to handle a 1262? and will the 1262 have enough head pressure to go from sump to chiller (right outside the stand) up to the tank?

sorry for all the questions, my tank is up, but I don't have sump/refuge/skimmer in yet because I can't decide on plumbing/ which route to go with sump/refuge/ and return pump. So my tank sits with 200lbs of lr and 80% filled with water w/6 chromis. I want to get it going, any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks!!!

[jthao]

man, I've changed from so many ideas....... I just noticed from going back and seeing what I've done so far, that I've changed my mind a million times already with everything (tank, sumps, refuge, what kind of flow, etc, etc...)
I guess it's because I want to do it right the first time around, I don't want to have to regret certain things and want to redo my tank later down the line.

[PaulieWalnuts]

i am the same way...with the closed loop and the return and the refuge... i would do the 75...but with a skimmer section, return, the DSB, the refuge....run a drain to the skimmer then the other if only have 2 to the refuge(ball valve it and let it drain into the DSB into the return.

good luck.
-matt

[jthao]

thanks paulie.
anyone else care to chime in?? help pls!!

[Jim_S]

I think the snapper is way too much flow through your sump.

I'd do it with the 40 as a sump, then fill the 20 up with a DSB and have it drain into the sump.

Feed the dsb with a T off the return. You don't want too much flow through your sump though. Trust me. You're better off having the flow in your display via Tunze or VT.

[PaulieWalnuts]

what do you need help with seems to being going great...did you say you had a skimmer if not i would go with a Octopus 200 nw its only about 200 and rated for 250 gallons i think...it is 10.5x15inch. so will fit perfect in the 75g and will not take up much space and leave plenty for the return. fuge, and dsb

[jthao]

hey jim, care to help me do some plumbing diagrams? I don't know where to start. if I have ?s I'm gonna call you for help.
paulie thanks for the info on the skimmer, but I think I'm going to stay with my euro reef cs8-3, I really wanted Jims euro reef RC180, but I'm broke. So I'll use what I have at the moment.
thanks for the inputs guys!!

[spleen93]

Eheim 1262 as sump return to chiller and back to tank should be fine - I have that exact same setup.

[jthao]

thanks spleen. I'll do that then.

[Jim_S]

Originally posted by jthao
hey jim, care to help me do some plumbing diagrams? I don't know where to start. if I have ?s I'm gonna call you for help.
paulie thanks for the info on the skimmer, but I think I'm going to stay with my euro reef cs8-3, I really wanted Jims euro reef RC180, but I'm broke. So I'll use what I have at the moment.
thanks for the inputs guys!!

Call me anytime buddy. You got my number still right? If not, shoot me a PM

I'll be around all weekend... Grillin and chillin.... and watching my tank

[jthao]

thanks jim, you're a great help!!
man, you always have the finest chicks as your avatar!!!
And I don't even know how to change my avatar!!!

[jthao]

alright, plumbing all done.
I have the 75g tank as a refuge/sump.
the two drains drain into the skimmer section, one of the drain (left one, if you're looking at my tank) has a T off into the skimmer as a feed (euro reef cs8-3RC) and the right drain just straight into the section.
the next section is going to be lr rubbles filled all the way up to the top of the baffle. the next section will be a 4-5" sand bed with chaeto filling the rest of the top up to the baffle. and last is the return section. Return is via an eheim 1262 with flex hose into 1/3hp artica chiller next to the tank outside the stand. out of the chiller it goes to the back of the stand, and T's off into the left and right return from the bottom of the overflow. that's about it.

check out a couple of pics I took, let me know what you guys think:

[jthao]

here's the skimmer in action:

[jthao]

left side of tank:



middle:



right side:



full tank:



from the right angle:



the fish follow me where ever I go!!! I guess they just want to be on camera!!

[jthao]

let me know what you guys think so far, any suggestions to what I should change?? any critique is welcome.
btw, I think I'm getting like 800gph return so it's like a little less than 4x turnover through the sump. is that good??

[Jim_S]

Sweet bro! Nice work

Now its time to hook up all your toys

[jthao]

thanks jim. as you can see I changed my rockwork thanks to your tank, I kinda copied it a little. haha.

[jeff209]

good job josh i tought that you would never put that thing up and your new plumbing looks a lot better than your oringinal