180 peninsula build

[Pntbll687]

I was finally able to pick up my 180 peninsula tank after it being delivered about 3 weeks ago. I couldn't have it delivered to the house because the delivery company couldn't guarantee a straight truck, a regular cab and trailer won't fit down our road.

So yesterday was busy. We picked up the tank, stand, and built a riser to get the tank even with a short wall that divides the two rooms.

Tank

It will be in the garage for a little bit until I get the floor reinforced, and the stands in is final place.

I am not a carpenter by any means, and have never built anything that needs to be substantial. I am pretty handy when it comes to diy stuff around the house (light fixtures, toilets, sinks, even put in a wood laminate floor myself) but my wife wasn't confident in my ability to make a stand.
Ended up buying a be marineland stand and building a 15" riser to get the stand to the correct height.

The bottom will be wrapped and painted to match the stand once everything is in place. I used the same method seen on countless YouTube videos on making stands. I did add some additional support, and there are 5 crossbeams on the top frame to make sure the weight from the sump is evenly distributed.

Now some may say that I should have just built the stand and ignored my wife. Would it have been nice to have a custom stand, sure, but I have to live with someone else who has opinions. Don't take that the wrong way, I value my wife's opinions, and in the end this is just a hobby and would turn around and sell everything tomorrow if she was that upset about it.

Now comes the fun part. The doors on the front of the stand are tiny, like I can't for a 40 breeder through them. My plan for the moment is to drop in a 40 from the top as a sump and a 20 high as the ato reservoir.

Hopefully I have more updates tomorrow!

 

[Peace River]

I'm glad to see that you started this thread. I look forward to watching the details of how you set up the tank and then seeing this new tank mature! One quick minor observation - are you planning to put a shield or cover on the outlet that is close to the tank?

 

[Pntbll687]

I'm glad to see that you started this thread. I look forward to watching the details of how you set up the tank and then seeing this new tank mature! One quick minor observation - are you planning to put a shield or cover on the outlet that is close to the tank?

I wasn't planning on it. That outlet will not be used for the tank.
There's two outlets in the wall the stand is against

 

[Devaji]

heck yeah I love peninsula tanks. perfect spot for one too!

option/thought. maybe you can reinforce the inside of the stand then make the doors bigger so you can slide in the sump?
i know those stand can be a PITA when it comes to sumps. yes you can add it through the top but if you ever need to chance it out you will hate life. but if it;s a new 40br for the sump I bet you could get quite a few years out of it. but you never know when you might want need a bigger fuge or different layout.
just a thought

I dig you riser. DIY stands are easy but mine never come out looking amazing I totally understand why you agreed with the wifie after all got keep em happy so you can have your tank right! I ended up with a red sea reefer because I love there stands and tanks too but the stand was what pushed me over...haha

I would love to do a FOWLR peninsula in a 180+ I did not know aqueon make RR peninsula tanks? tell us more plz

 

[NJAquariumspecialist]

Is that a tank custom? I see the Aqueon box but confused if they make the peninsula ?

 

[Pntbll687]

heck yeah I love peninsula tanks. perfect spot for one too!

option/thought. maybe you can reinforce the inside of the stand then make the doors bigger so you can slide in the sump?
i know those stand can be a PITA when it comes to sumps. yes you can add it through the top but if you ever need to chance it out you will hate life. but if it;s a new 40br for the sump I bet you could get quite a few years out of it. but you never know when you might want need a bigger fuge or different layout.
just a thought

I dig you riser. DIY stands are easy but mine never come out looking amazing I totally understand why you agreed with the wifie after all got keep em happy so you can have your tank right! I ended up with a red sea reefer because I love there stands and tanks too but the stand was what pushed me over...haha

I would love to do a FOWLR peninsula in a 180+ I did not know aqueon make RR peninsula tanks? tell us more plz

I might reinforce to stand and open the doors, but probably not. I'll design a 40b sump, or a 55 and hope I never need to replace it. If I needed to, I would add some 2x6 or 2x4 to the corners and cut a hole in the end of the stand to slide it out.

I would have loved a red sea 650p, but that is just a tad outside my budget, and by just a tad so far I don't want to think about it.

The riser wasn't too bad to build. I'll be wrapping it in plywood and paint to match the stand. It is in the coldest room in the house in the winter, and I'll probably stuff some insulation in the bottom before wrapping.

One good thing about the stand sitting up higher is that I won't have to get on floor to work in the sump.

Is that a tank custom? I see the Aqueon box but confused if they make the peninsula ?

It is a custom tank. Aqueon has a custom drilling program. You can choose a couple different places for the overflow, or draw out where you want holes drilled and how big. It is just drilling, you can't choose custom sizes, but I couldn't go any bigger than a 180 anyway. Any LFS that deals with a distributor that carries aqueon has access to it. All they have to do is ask their sales rep for the form, the real question is "does their sales rep know about it?".

I happen to work for one of those distributors, so I knew what forms to fill out and talked to the aqueon rep about it.

 

[Devaji]

[/Quote]
It is a custom tank. Aqueon has a custom drilling program. You can choose a couple different places for the overflow, or draw out where you want holes drilled and how big. It is just drilling, you can't choose custom sizes, but I couldn't go any bigger than a 180 anyway. Any LFS that deals with a distributor that carries aqueon has access to it. All they have to do is ask their sales rep for the form, the real question is "does their sales rep know about it?".

I happen to work for one of those distributors, so I knew what forms to fill out and talked to the aqueon rep about it.[/QUOTE]

this is so good to know! wounder why this is not more common knowledge?
so are you saying 180 is the largest they can do peninsula style? like could they do there 220 or bigger? I know that was the largest you could go just wondering what is the biggest I could get

yeah a new 40br sump should last years and looks like you have a plan just in case you do need to get it out.
I think I might be just as excited for this built as you are...

 

[Devaji]

oh if you dont mind sharing what does a peninsula 180 run someone? and what is the lead time from when you order it to pick up?

 

[Pntbll687]

oh if you dont mind sharing what does a peninsula 180 run someone? and what is the lead time from when you order it to pick up?

Since I work for a distributor I got a great deal on it (paid what the company I work for would charge an lfs for it) and then got my employee price on the stand. I'll just say that for everything (tank, stand, wood, box of deck screws) I came in just shy of $1200.

Lead time was quoted at 8-12 weeks, but it was done in 6 if I remember right. It wasn't long at all. I had to let it sit at a warehouse for another 2 weeks until I could arrange help to go get it.

And I'll check the program tomorrow, but I believe the largest tank they offer is 210, and that can be drilled peninsula style.

And the best part about it is the tank comes with the standard aqueon lifetime warranty.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Looking forward to seeing this progress and love the idea of a riser to simplify things. Also, happy spouse means happy house lol.

 

[Pntbll687]

Looking forward to seeing this progress and love the idea of a riser to simplify things. Also, happy spouse means happy house lol.

That's right!

The wife was actually impressed with what I came up with.

She almost lost her cool when she saw the raw wood, she didn't know I was going to wrap it. Once I filled her in the was much happier.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

That's right!

The wife was actually impressed with what I came up with.

She almost lost her cool when she saw the raw wood, she didn't know I was going to wrap it. Once I filled her in the was much happier.

You have to work her up to full DIY slowly lol. At least I had to with my wife lol.

 

[Pntbll687]

Well, life got in the way the last two weeks.

But I did get the floor supported with some 2x6's, got the sump and ato container in place.

I went with eshopps RS-300 sump, and a 20 high as my ato container.

I'm not a refugium guy, so I'll just be running a skimmer with 8 liters of matrix media in the sump.

My brother is coming tomorrow so we'll get the tank in place and it will be like actual progress is being made

 

[Rollman]

Great tank, excited for you!! I’m working on a 180 Aqueon myself. Following along.

 

[Pntbll687]

Good the tank in place today. It only took us one try and about 5 min to get it done.

Hard to believe the tank behind it is 10g more volume of water.

Gotta go to the hardware store later and get some hose and clamps to finish the plumbing.

 

[Pntbll687]

Started moving everything over today.
New sand, corals in a temporary tank, bio media moved over in sump with skimmer and now starting to pump water over until I can get to some rocks

 

[Pntbll687]

Well....

Everything is moved. And the tank is running.

The scape came out ok. I couldn't do too much rescapping since I needed to move the livestock over.

All the rocks on the right side have some gsp on them. I wanted to keep it separated from the rest do it doesn't go crazy and cover everything.

I would take a pic with the lights on, but I can't . In moving I went ahead and spilled water on the power strip the lights were plugged into. I've taken all the cords and power supplies apart and dried them. I'll grab a new strip tomorrow and see how it goes.

Now to sit and wait for coralline to cover the new rocks and everything to grow in again.

 

[Pntbll687]

Here's some doors with the lights on.

Gotta move some coral around and glue the frags in place.

Over of the lights came unplugged, that's why the tank is dim near the wall. I'll take care of that tomorrow.

The large leather coral near the end of the tank will be going. It's almost 2ft across when fully open, and just too big so this point.

Anyone near North East PA can take it. I'm willing to give it away at this point

 

[Pntbll687]

Finally got around to covering the riser the stand is on.

I used melamine board painted black. The board said it was 3/4in but it was closer to 1in. I had to order 1&1/8th quarter round trim to get it matched up.

Had a BAD algae outbreak for a few weeks. I bought smaller pellets than normal for the auto feeder and thought I adjusted the door closed. Yeah, I turned the door fully open. Dumped a while pouch of prophets into the tank. I scooped out as much as possible but it was too late.

I did about 200g with of water changes over two weeks to get it under control. I just have a little cyano on the overflow now so I'm not worried about it.

I need to frag up some of the coral. I'm not into having allot of different corals, so I'll just be spreading out the Duncan, trumpets, and hammers I do have.


Also upgraded my RO unit from 4 to 6 stage. This was one of the best investments I've made. Before I was getting about 150g from one canister of di mixed bed resin. Since I've switched to triple stage, I've made over 200g of water and you can see where the anion resin is at. There's no change so far in the cation or mixed bed.

And if anyone is looking for a booster pump I highly recommend the aquatic life smart buddie booster. Took my pressure from 45 to a constant 100psi. Has the solenoid and auto flush built in, all I needed was the float valve.

And I use the hang on valve to make 5g at a time. I don't have storage near the unit where I can have a water mixing station. I carry the bucket to the garage where it gets dumped in a brute can.

 

[Devaji]

nice job on the tank I was thinking about this build the other day.
gonna say that 180 does look sweet!