JD’s 180g

[jd22]

Hey All, I’ve always wanted to do one of these so here we go. I’ve been in the hobby off and on since my parent’s bought me my first freshwater tank about 30 years ago (ouch). I took a long break and restarted after college taking the opportunity with every move to start a new tank. I started with a 72g bowfront cichlid tank, then a 30 gallon saltwater tank, then a 40g breeder saltwater, currently a 90g FO saltwater, and now a 180g! I’ve been mostly fish only with corals few and far between. I seem to have a bit of a white thumb when it comes to corals and have never had much luck keeping them long term but I’m hoping to give it another go.

Here are some shots of my current 90g (which will be for sale very shortly!):


Current stocklist:
1 Clownfish (side note: I’ve had this fish since the 30g, survived each move, and I estimate he is about 11 years old as I got him as baby)
1 Yellow Prawn goby (estimated 8 years old)
1 Sailfin Tang (4 years old)
1 Royal Gramma
1 Foxface Rabbitfish
1 sixline wrasse (may take the move as an opportunity to get rid of this guy, bully)
1 Timor Wrasse
2 Fire fish

New Tank Specs/Equipment:
180g Marineland tank, stand, and canopy
44g Trigger Systems Sapphire Sump
75 gpd RODI unit
120 lbs live sand
25w UV sterilizer
Apex Controller and ATO system
1 MP10 from the 90g (will need to add something here)
1 ecotech return pump from the 90g
3 95 watt Chinese LEDs (I will probably upgrade these at some point but had to save some money somewhere)
20 g brute ATO
55g brute mixing station
Several heaters

The sump was from bulk reef supply and the first one came poorly packaged and was cracked near the top along with some of the probe holders. BRS was awesome to work with and sent me a new one immediately which came unscathed. I think the first one probably holds water well enough as long as the water level isn’t too high. I’ll be posting for sale along with the 90g.

The tank is being delivered soon and need to get some rock to get the rockwork going. I did buy one piece I saw that I really liked and will make the centerpiece.

 

[jd22]

The tank and stand were delivered by the Optimum guys and look awesome, it was difficult to get level given the unevenness of the tile but we got there. We are repainting the basement but they weren’t able to do the full job until after I needed the tank delivered so they did the areas we won’t have access to.

 

[shanepike]

Looks great!

 

[civics14]

looks good, but that is a large gap under the stand to get it level. Make sure to use a lot of shims all around, even on the backside.

 

[jd22]

Very good eye, Eric (helping me with the install) and I corrected this shortly after and it’s level with composite shims everywhere.

It’s been a busy last week as I need to get this setup and running so I can break down the 90g tank (ps someone buy it) before our closing next week.

Eric came by the last two Saturdays to help with the plumbing and electrical stuff. He’s been steering me right.

Ive been working on the rock work which was fun and I think came out really nice but man I think I spent a fortune on epoxy/mortar. Maybe I was over doing it or using it incorrectly but I used a lot on the left side. I’m going to fill in the right side, some of the front, and sump with live rock pieces from my 90 to short cycle this thing.

Also started filling the tank which will take 3-4 days.

 

[project1004]

It make me wonder why some reefers would put the UV on the drain-line instead of return line. My brains tells me that it makes sense to make the water go thru the filters before contact the Uv tube instead having all that gunk go thru the UV first... I’m sure it will dirty up the sleeve faster as well and its effectiveness. And how do you control the flow rate?

 

[jd22]

It does seem the consensus is to put it on the return, however, I plan to have a refugium so the idea was to keep from zapping all of those critters. I don't know, maybe I'll change it at some point and yeah the maintenance will be a little bit more.

 

[project1004]

Make sense!

There is a debate as if having a Refugiom is beneficial to our reef tank. I find this to be true when the tank is new. They do tend to fight for nutrient and trace elements.

 

[jd22]

Finished up the plumbing and electrical on Sunday and the tank fully filled over night.

I figured out the levels in the sump, kicked on the return and threw the salt in at lunch today. I’ve never made my own water and I thought the return pump alone would be enough to mix it, I was wrong. Came home to caked salt on the bottom so went to Pure Reef and picked up the second MP40. I was going to wait on that to save money since it’ll be fish only for a while but oh well. Took me a bit to break up the salt and get it re-mixed to 1.025

After that put the sand in, I tried to avoid a sand storm by placing the bags in and then cutting them but that was a pain and not really working so I cut the top, placed them in, dumped and then moved it into place. Not really sure there is a good way to do it without some dust.

I also moved over a couple of pieces of live rock from the old tank which is starting to look rough. It’s been running on a MP40 and heaters for the last two weeks and it’s showing. I did a 10 gallon water change but assuming everything looks good tomorrow on the 180g I plan to get the sand in its final place and
move everything Wednesday.

 

[siege]

Make sense!

There is a debate as if having a Refugiom is beneficial to our reef tank. I find this to be true when the tank is new. They do tend to fight for nutrient and trace elements.

Only if you're trying to grow macro right away. Then, for sure, a big mass of chaeto or caulerpa will suck nutrients out of the system way too fast, especially if you have it under a pink/fuschia light.

As it stands, I've got a ma-hoo-ssive diatom outbreak in the fuge that is almost completely and entirely contained there, with next to none whatsoever in my display - thanks almost certainly to the ~13 hour reverse lighting schedule it's on. Side benefit, they're producing oxygen bubbles like crazy during it's "day" period, and ORP is staying in the 370's.

Granted, my system is still spooling up. I've had the 'fuge running (with no macro) since maybe after a week after putting water in the DT, and it got an entire 16oz bottle of pods from Dinkins. The first tiny bits of macro went in this Saturday (~2 weeks after cycle completion) when I brought home corals from the event. Despite a little bit of GHA in the display from some of the live rock I got from @shanepike (and a few more bits than came in on the corals this weekend), it's almost all gone from the DT now, and there's none in the fuge at all.

And beside all that, it's a safe harbor for a pod population if you have (or are adding) any livestock that predate on them. Not to mention the benefit of the extra water volume for parameter stability.

All in all, when properly managed, I can't see a downside to having a refugium except maybe the plumbing headache if it's not built into the sump. Personally, I'm finding the remote "display" refugium - meant to be stocked with things that either support or at least don't predate on pods - to be well worth the effort. The fact that it's hosting/containing my diatom bloom is an unexpected side benefit.

... man I think I spent a fortune on epoxy/mortar.

Got any of that epoxy left over you want to get rid of cheap?

 

[jd22]

I got antsy and moved the live rock and the animals over last night. Everything went pretty smoothly and everyone made it into the new tank but moving the animals always stresses me out and breaking down the tank makes a mess. Everyone made it into the new tank pretty much unscathed, including my 11 yo clownfish, except I noticed an injury to my Sailfin Tang when I put him in the new tank.

He was pecking at the rock last night and eating but this morning he’s not eating, breathing really heavy, and not really closing his mouth at all. I checked ammonia and it’s zero so I don’t think it’s tank issue plus everyone else is fine. I’m also using prime/stability for the first week just in case. I imagine he probably injured it further on the rock last night. I tried to feed some medicine to prevent infection but it was too late and can’t get him to eat anything. He’s still swimming so maybe it’ll heal and be ok. I’ll be sad if I lose him as he’s the third oldest fish I have at almost 4.5 years old.

Side note: does anyone know how to make the apex clock and local time match in fusion? It was right when set up but now I can’t make it right.

 

[project1004]

Congrats on an upgrade! Your apex probably needs to do an update.

 

[jd22]

A few updates, got everything situated and has been mostly going well.

1) the Sailfin tang pulled through and has fully recovered and eating like a pig.

2) Everyone made the move but after two days I quit seeing the two firefish and royal gramma. I never found any bodies but had written them off after about a week not seeing them but today all three came out randomly so no losses in the move.

3) with no ammonia and the upgrade. I couldn’t wait and loaded up on some new fish. Added a tomini tang, powder blue tang, naso tang, cleaner wrasse and two neon gobies. All have been in now for over a week with no issues. I don’t usually quarantine but when I add new fish I dose prazipro, kanaplex and metroplex for a week.

4) I did make one pretty big mistake, I was moving my old mp40 and trying to navigate the controller through the backside and dunked the whole thing in the water, totally fried it so going to have to replace that one. I tried taking it a part and drying it out and all the things but I don’t think there’s any hope for it.

just did my first water change with the new system and hitting the diatom bloom now so going to chill for a bit and let the tank settle in before trying some corals and a few other fish.