Orly's 180 Reef Build

[OOrtiz]

Hello all.

I was pretty heavy in this hobby from 2008 - 2010 when I had to tear it all down and sell it due to an out of state move. I have 180 mixed reef along with a 48" X 24" X 12" shallow reef/ frag tank, and a 58 gallon cube all plumbed together. Living in Orlando, FL I had a ton a LFS's near me that help fan the flames of this addictive hobby. Bought a lot of stuff from WWC when they were just a couple of years into it and had lots of nice stuff. They actually came to my house and bought everything from me including tearing the tank down when I had to move. Heart breaking to see it all go.

Fifteen years later, for my birthday earlier this year, my wife suggested I get a tank and start it again. I didn't know if I'd get into it again so I purchased a RS 170G2. Shortly afterwards I purchased a used RS350G1, and a month later a new RS425G2. She told me to go BIG right from the beginning, but of course I didn't listen. She was right and a couple of weeks ago I too delivery of a WB 230.6. Love the tank and love the 6' X 2' X 2' format like I had back in 2010.

For now, I will post a couple of pictures of back in my glory days of my tanks and shot of the new one. I hope to keep this updated as i start my reefing journey again.
Old tank 2008 - 2010.

New tank. First bucket of water went into it on 10/8/25.

I will list current equipment, stock, and some more detail of how I got to this tank. Thanks for looking all!

[IMG alt="MegabiteOG"]https://www.reef2reef.com/data/avatars/m/246/246845.jpg?1761064128[/IMG]

 

[OOrtiz]

So here's how​

A ton of work had to happen to get the new Waterbox 230.6 tank into where it was going to be placed in the house. First, I had to relocate the RS170 to the dining area of the house as there's where my wife's anemones and clowns were. Then I had to to move the RS425 as well. I decided to move all of it (minus the sand) into the RS350 I had decommissioned to the other side of the room for convenience. Just had to move the desk out of there.

After moving all of the water, rock, and livestock I then proceeded to build the stand to get it in place and also inspecting the tank while still in box before moving it into the house.

With stand built, I went ahead and ordered 80lbs of dry special grade sand and 75lbs each of live sand and premium live rock from Gulf Live Rock which would be here on Tuesday. I hired some movers to come in and move the tank from the garage onto the stand on Monday.

I left about 6" of space between the tank and the wall giving me some room to work back there. I've made the mistake of putting it too close and couldn't get behind there to do much of anything.

With the tank in place, it's time to put the plumbing in with some equipment and fill the tank to get ready for the live sand and rock I ordered. I rinsed out the 80lbs of dry special grade and put it in the day before the live stuff arrives.

I went to the airport and picked up the live rock and sand first thing Tuesday morning. I was very impressed with the packaging and the product and went ahead and put it in the tank.

Now with the sand and rock in it, it's time to start putting the rest of the equipment in before moving the livestock from the other tank. Needless to say there's a lot of wire management that has to happen as well. I also transferred the rock I had in the sump of the old tank and 30 gallons of that water to the new tank.

The next day (10/9) I checked parameters in the new tank and already had a good amount of nitrates and phosphates and no ammonia so I proceeded to moving all the rock and livestock. The corals were showing some signs of stress along with the fish, but almost all corals made it and only had one fish casualty as I was working on the tank. Yellow Wrasse decided is didn't like his new home and jumped out (see video below). R.I.P. my friend.

After moving everything in I started on organizing things and after a couple of days of changing socks, I went ahead and put the Reefmat in.

Today, the tank is doing very well and everything is settling in. Fish are happy and the corals are recovering nicely. Color is coming back and have great polyp extension on most.

 

[OOrtiz]

By the way, that's why I have a few items for sale on here. Happy reefing all.