lilchris's lil'180 Build

[lilchris_357]

Hello, finally after a 7 year hiatus from the hobby due military obligations, I convinced the wife to let me set up another aquarium. Once I got the “I don’t care” seal of approval from the boss, I seized the opportunity and quickly found a tank. I know how expensive this hobby can be and I wanted to try and do things on a "budget," Ha!Ha! Does that word even exist in this hobby? Originally I purchased a very nice used DSA 105 rimless tank from a local reefer. Then I came across a Facebook ad in a local group where a fellow reefer wanted to downgrade and he was looking to trade his LeeMar 180 for something smaller so I quickly contacted him and long story short, I ended up with a 180 Lee Mar tank w/Eurobrace and center overflow.


Just to caveat, I started this build last year, October. So I’m just playing catch up in with this build thread. Another thing I want to say, my goal for this is to have patience and stay thrifty or on a budget, at least with the equipment. My last tank (back in 2006) gave me so much grief with water chemistry that I’m surprise I want to get back into the hobby so with this tank I want to focus on water chemistry and stability as I want to ultimately have a SPS dominate reef tank.

With that said, let’s get into the equipment that I have for this beast. All equipment I've purchased so far is used. "Budget?" hmm

Filtration:

EShopp RS-300 sump/refugium

Aqua C EV-240 (using this type of skimmer due to wanting to try Zeovit system)


Water:

Spectrapure Maxcap 90 GPD RO/DI System w/booster pump

Lights:

LED/T5 Hybrid

2 Hydra 26 non HD

1 Hydra 52 non HD

4 54w T-5s

Flow:

Reef Octopus Diablo DC-10500 return pump


TUNZE Turbelle 6105 x 3

TUNZE Turbelle 6095 X 2


Reactors:

Aqua C Calcium reactor (got for a great price)


Avast Marine Vibe 2L

Avast Marine Kalk stirrer K2




Controller:

Apex Classic

PM2

ALD

Breakout box


ATO:

Tunze Osmolator 3155

Temp:

Finnex 800 w heater (a bit overkill for this and for my location. Not sure if I will utilize it)

 

[Preme]

Sounds like a great build!

 

[lilchris_357]

Sounds like a great build!

Thank you Rex. I hope it will be.

 

[Maritimer]

Looks like a pretty sweet setup coming together!

Hope it all works in perfect harmony.

~Bruce

 

[lilchris_357]

After approval of getting the tank, I had to find a spot in the house for it. If you know about houses in Arizona almost all of them have what is called a Grand room. This room is normally the first room you enter when walking into a house from the front door. To me it's pretty much wasted space unless you want to have multiple living or sitting rooms. We have a mini grand room so guess where the tank is going. This room is carpeted so that has to go. Not going to put a tank on carpet. So we got new tile in. It was a win win for me and my wife. She got new tile and have a place for my tank. Next will be paint.


My next big task was to get another stand built. The stand that came with the tank was not in the best condition. You can see it in the above pictures. I quickly seek out the carpentry skills of my coworker “OB” and we immediately framed out the stand.


OB is a beast with a table saw and a Kreg Jig. The frame is complete now time to start skinning it.





After we skinned we started working on the doors. We are doing 3 flush mounted doors that I can take completely off if I need to get under the stand. Two front doors plus one side door.


The side door is the dry side that will house all of my electrical controllers and APEX modules.



The opposite side compartment has adjustable shelves that will hold supplies.



Stand is complete at least the initial build. Still have a few minor details and a ton of sanding. Next is the canopy.



Not much on the canopy. It was built in a day. It will house 2 Aqua Illumination Hydra 26s, 1 AI Hydra 52 and 4- 54w T-5s. I’m still trying to figure out how to secure the LEDs to the canopy. I’m thinking of buying the AI Ext rails and mounting them in the canopy. Of course I will have to cut them to fit. Anyone have any suggestions please chime in.


Now on to the tedious task of sanding, painting and staining.

 

[lilchris_357]

Looks like a pretty sweet setup coming together!

Hope it all works in perfect harmony.

~Bruce

Thanks good sir. I hope it works out as well.

 

[lilchris_357]

Update:
Very busy weekend with my boys and their basketball tournament and fundraising event so I didn't get much done on the stand. I was able to get the inside of the stand , doors and canopy painted as well as the electronic compartment. I used UGL Latex base Drylock to waterproof the inside of the stand. Not sure why I used it or how it's going to stand up to saltwater. I quickly learned you have to put it on pretty thick and I applied 2 coats. I think i'm happy with it? As far as the canopy, I just put 2 coat of latex paint and called it the day.

 

[lilchris_357]

ON another note, just wanted to share a few things that I have been doing to help with the progress of this build especially when it's time to get this thing wet. I have about 100Lbs of base rock in a tub curing. It's been curing for about 6 weeks now. This is a combination of Marco Rock and BRS Tonga Shelf rock from BRS. I did an acid bath on these, let them dry out and created my aquascape dry and into the bucket w/heater and power head. If you notice in the pictures, you can see zip ties. These are to assist me in piecing the rocks back the way I formed them when they were dry. Hopefully it's a smooth transition back into the tank. One last thing on the curing, the tub did go through a full nitrifying cycle. Hopefully they will will have enough bacteria on them when it time to put them in the tank. I do have some nitrates showing and very small amount of Phosphates. I have some GFO I think I'm going to run up until they go into the display.




Below is the aquascape I came up with. Those are pretty big pieces of rocks. I order 75Lbs of the shelf rock, I used all but 2 pieces. The ends have cave that wrps around the front of the tank to make it look like a lagoon. I used zipties, fiberglass rods and IC-GEL Insta Cure and accelerator to piece them together.

 

[lilchris_357]

Continuing on with some updates, I have an Exquisite wrasse, I call him Rudy. He is currently in Quarantine and has been since the beginning of February. He is on his last TTM. I will be transferring him tomorrow. This brings up a question. In TTM you have to transfer the pet in 72 hrs maximum. What's he minimum time they can stay before they are transferred. I'm asking because tomorrow is going to be difficult. At his 72nd hr (which is 4 pm), I will be at work and get home an hour after that. Should I transfer him first thing in the morning, Lunch time or wait until I get home?


I will post updates tomorrow.

 

[Maritimer]

Probably better to go a little early (lunchtime, if you can do it) than a little long. The 72 hours is based on the minimum time it takes tomonts which left the fish shortly after his arrival in that tank to encyst, develop and burst into a bunch of theronts. If you move Rudy out a little early, those little hunters will be snug in their beds - a little late and the first cysts could have burst, placing him in danger.

~Bruce

 

[revhtree]

Nice build so far and your home floors are beautiful!

 

[Scubafrog]

Great looking stand.

What brand of "wood" tile is that? I really like how you staggered the joints so it looks more like typical hardwood flooring and not tile.

 

[lilchris_357]

Nice build so far and your home floors are beautiful!

Thank you. My wife picked it out. Wasn't sure how it was going to look but I must admit it turned out pretty nice.

 

[lilchris_357]

Great looking stand.

What brand of "wood" tile is that? I really like how you staggered the joints so it looks more like typical hardwood flooring and not tile.

Thank you. The tile is the Marazzi Montagna wood vintage. I really like how it came out.

 

[lilchris_357]

Not much done on the tank yesterday. I did have a bit of an issue with the final transfer of Rudy. I was able to leave work early and get home to do the transfer. I was playing with an hour time cap to get him out of the tank. Everything was going smoothly until I opened the water bin w/fresh mixed water. The bin was pretty warm so I immediately checked the water temp and yep it was 90 degrees. Ouch! I put an ehiem pump in the bin to mix the water, not thinking of the heat it would put off , especially w/small amount of water plus a heater. So I quickly had to figure out how to get the temp down. I got some fresh RO water that was outside to mix and I put a fan on the QT tank. In the meantime I took another small container with the hot water and placed it in the freezer for about 5 mins. It brought the temp down to about 80. I was working w/5 mins so I took Rudy out and placed him in the small container and wrap ice packs around it. The temp did drop. I got him in the Qt and hopefully all is good. He's on his last leg of QT, he will be going through a Prazi pro bath for the next few days.

 

[lilchris_357]

I'm just trying to think ahead with this build. I'm wondering if I should put some kind of foam material on the top of the stand to set the tank on? On my last 90 gallon Marineland tank I used the pink foam pad. Anyone have any ideas on what to use? I came across a build thread a couple days ago and the original poster put a link for a site that sold sheet of foam material, now I can't find it.

 

[pdt7361]

What are the dimensions on your 180? I'm looking at a standard 6x2x2 180g and am planning on using the same lights as you are (except HD versions of the Hydras).

 

[lilchris_357]

What are the dimensions on your 180? I'm looking at a standard 6x2x2 180g and am planning on using the same lights as you are (except HD versions of the Hydras).

60"X30"X24" Are you going to do a build thread?

 

[lilchris_357]

I was able to get stain on the doors and shelves. I used Dark Walnut stain. Let me know if you like it or not. I will be putting a wax finish on them. I think its going to be sweet.

 

[Lninwa]

Your build is awesome. The only thing I would change is to not go with a canopy.