Ksfulk's 180 gallon Pennisula Build

[ksfulk]

So Ive finally started getting enough of my equipment together to begin building my "dream" reef tank. I bought this "non-standard" acrylic tank in the spring and its been sitting in the garage ever since, just waiting for the overtime checks to pile up enough to start the cashflow on this bad boy. I had/have three big components coming in this week, so I figured I'd start a build thread and share the blunders... errr my experiences for others to enjoy.

So, to start, a brief description of the tank. Its a un-named 3/4" acrylic pennisula style 180 gallon tank measuring 60" x 24" x 30". The tank is drilled for a 2" and a 1 1/2" drain and a single 1" return. Below are a bunch of random pictures I took to try and get a feeling for the tank itself. Sorry its not all pretty, but Im keeping it wrapped until Im ready to get stuff wet.









The stand is quite large for the tank... the previous owner had the tank sitting at "eye level" which is apparently above 4' tall. This complicates matters for me slightly, as Im placing this tank in the same place as where I have my current 70 gallon tank - which is in the basement... complete with drop ceiling.



So, I'll need to cut down the stand a bit in order to make it work. I was able to play around with Google Sketch and mock up a decent idea of what I have to do in order to make things fit.



This also is going to create some other problems down the road, as the canopy is within an inch of the drop ceiling, so theres not a whole lot of "wiggle" room. Im not entirely concerned with cutting the stand short, as Im not really planning on much of the equipment to go underneath the stand - instead, Im going to substantially increase my water volume by using a 150 gallon rubbermaid stock tank and run all the plumbing through the wall into my utility room. I already have my water mixing station setup in there, so its not much of a stretch to setup the sump in that room either. This gives me the opportunity to get the rock and water conditioning while Im still in the working stages of the project.





Equipment

Controller
Neptune Systems Apex AquaController

Heater
Finnex 800w Titanium Heater
Eheim Jager 300w Heater

Filtration and Media
Vertex Omega 150 Protein Skimmer (x2 at the moment)
Avast Marine Works K1 Kalk Stirrer
Avast Marine Works Sea Bones Calcium Reactor
Avast Marine Works Deluxe Auto Top Off System
BRS Dual Media Reactor (GFO and Carbon)

Pumps
ReeFlo Snapper/Dart Hybrid 3600/2600GPH
Sicce Syncra 1.0 and 1.5 pumps for media

Lighting

250w Metal Halide pendant (x2)
175w Metal Halide pendant

Im still waiting for the Reeflo to show up from BRS later this week, but I did get my order from Avast and BRS today! Its pretty exciting to get all this cool stuff. Never had a reef controller before, Im really looking forward to playing around with this thing. Im also having some issues with the lighting choice. First off - the halides arent really pendants. The former owner had the moguls attached to a 2"x 8" and strung up above the tank. This is bad for several reasons - no glass = no UV protection from the lights, and no splash protection for the bulbs from the tank as well. Second, the canopy is only 19" tall, the moguls hang about 8" down... Im afraid it'll fry the livestock - not to mention how much heat these guys will add to the water. With the tank being in the basement, I dont have a whole lot of options for air circulation either. I think what will probably end up happening, is I'm going to start working a bit more overtime in order to save up for 3 AI Hydra 52's and use those as my lights. Ive been reading a lot about the Hydra's and I really like what Im seeing. Still... $1500... Oye.















Anyhow, as I start putting things together, I'll update this thread. I just needed to get it started first! Once I get the pump, I can start planning out the plumbing.