My new 260G system building process!!

[kuora4]

So I started posting things in this forum not long ago, and I decided I should share my project with you guys... I know you'll give me valuable insights.

So this is my second tank, I had one a couple years ago and had to close it cuz I was moving from Canada to Colombia. I had a 60G tanks with a 15G sump... now, I'm going to a 180G display with an 80G sump and fuge.

The Idea is to have a cube-ish tank, this is the build so far (in the pic). Tomorrow I'll place the front glass, and during the week I'll finish the glueing process... The base of the tank will have drawers and compartments, that still needs to be built...

Now.. the plumbing will go from the living-room through the wall to the fish room in the back (notice it ill goes under the floor passing another room in between)

this is the main display plumbing

this is where the sump goes.

 

[kuora4]

Now the cool stuff..... EQUIPMENT!

Filtration:
- Reef Octopus RO-PS 5000 internal skimmer with self cleaning head
- BioTek Marine media reactor (for carbon or phosban)
- BioTek Marine biopellet reactor

Controlling Syntem
- Apex Gold controller
- Apex DOS system for dosing
- Apex PMK for monitoring PAR values
- Apex WXM for the radions
- 2 APEX WAV powerheads
- Vectra M1 pump
- Hanna checkers (Mg, Ca, nitrates, PO4)

and the other beasts...

 

[kuora4]

And the lights will be 2 or 3 radions pro... I'll just have to wait for the first 2 to arrive and start checking PAR to see if I need the third one...

 

[akis28]

great build!what are the dimmensions of the cube an the glass thicknes?

 

[jsker]

How is the progress going?

 

[kuora4]

great build!what are the dimmensions of the cube an the glass thicknes?

The cube is 1m3, and the glass thickness is 2cm... It makes it look smaller than the actual size!...

 

[kuora4]

How is the progress going?

So the build is going pretty well... It took me a couple weeks to get everything running... The down part is that the aquarium base is not yet finished, so my apex and all the modules are a mess now... But i'll have time to organize it later...

I installed 2 WAV powerheads, but I believe I'll have to get the third one, because I want a bit more flow for sps corals... I'll show you in a video.

Dumping the sand in

First aquascape attempt

Looks after installing the radions


I picked up some mangrove seeds on my last trip to the beach, now they're growing and I'll will transfer some to the refugium.. Note they were all seeds, I didnt bring any with roots...

These are the ones for the fuge...

Here's the sump... Still need to work on details, install the reactor, install the controller on the wall and the plugs.. Etc...

 

[jsker]

Wow, what a great update. With this hobby, it is always something

 

[revhtree]

Looking great!

 

[kuora4]

Ok so here's how the thing is looking after a couple weeks cycling... I had the diatom bloom, now I'm in the green algae bloom... Kinda hoping to see it end soon.. It's annoying but necessary. One thing that is bothering me in the past two days is that the water is really cloudy, the skimmer is working perfectly, I'm just curious to know it's normal that cloudiness.. Never happened to me before. Could it be an effect of starting the biopellet reactor?

I also added about a week ago 3 mollies (don't worry the ammonia was down to 0 at that point) they seem to be really happy... 2 of them are females and delivered already tons of babies... It now looks like a kindergarten in there...

This is the hair algae growing... The nerite snails don't seem too interested in eating it

Babies in the display

 

[revhtree]

This is going to be a great tank!

 

[kuora4]

Ok.. So I went through a bacteria bloom which was really crappy cuz I couldn't see anything in my tank for about 10 days... And now the green hair algae is visiting to stay... I've have it for about 4 weeks now... I know it's all part of the process but hell green hair algae is annoying... Can't wait for it to go away...

 

[litebulb]

Looks great. I have an issue with hair algae in my 65. There is hope eventually

 

[nelson69]

Use dr.tim waste away for the and dr.tim one and only nitrifying bacteria for cycleling the tank. Go check those product h use the bacteria for the cycle of my tank it clycle in 5 days

 

[Brian Kim]

I see you are getting a lot of sunlight coming through those large windows, that could be causing your algae issues imo
BTW, very nice set up and nice condo

 

[kuora4]

Yah, tons of natural light, can't really do much about that unfortunately... But I think it's getting better now.... All the water parameters are on the right spot now... I guess I just need to wait some more time for the algae to weaken and introduce some algae hungry animals...

Thanks guys for the comments

 

[kuora4]

So I was away from the forum for a while, these are some update pics. Ill be posting some more later on! The tank has been through some changes, all fo the better.

 

[kuora4]

I hadn't posted anything in a while, but I might as well get some pictures up to see the change... here is the tank 9 months after the last post, with nothing new in it, just regular coral growth

 

[sebastian903]

hey you have such a nice tank! i live in Colombia as well and have had a reef tank for many years, its pretty hard to find livestock here huh?

saludos

 

[c.poindexter]

That is an awesome set up. Glad that you shared your build and through the process showing what can happen through the cycle and how it will end.