Saltwaterfish.com › Forums › Saltwater Fish Forum › Reef Tanks › BTLDreef's 180 Tank Build
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

BTLDreef's 180 Tank Build - Page 2

post #21 of 281
Thread Starter 

THE TANK IS RUNNING!!!!!! YAY!!!!!

 

waterrunning.jpg

 

tankfull.jpg

 

I was working very hard as you can see:

tworkinghard.jpg

post #22 of 281

Nice!!

post #23 of 281

bout time we got an update!!!! thumbsup.gif 

post #24 of 281
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude View Post

bout time we got an update!!!! thumbsup.gif 



LOL, have you ever tried to fill a 180, with a 30G refugium and a 30G sump? Half way through, my RODI unit stripped where it attaches to the sink, so it's been hell trying to get water into this tank. We finally gave up this weekend and started buying the water from the LFS. The guy felt so bad for us lugging the buckets back and forth that he started to just give us the water for free. He also knows that we spend an average of $200-300 in his store weekly, so I guess he can throw in some water for free, LOL. About 5 trips later, the tank is full.

 

All the plumbing held overnight, no leaks, YAY!!!

 

Fish go in next Friday/Saturday.

post #25 of 281

Some guy on MR is looking to trade a 7'' Black Tang.  Would look nice in the new tank :)

post #26 of 281
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cryptics View Post

Some guy on MR is looking to trade a 7'' Black Tang.  Would look nice in the new tank :)



I'm maxed on tangs for the tank already :-(  I had really wanted to do an Achilles, but my Naso is just not nice to newcomers. The Yellow Belly Hippo took quite the abuse from her when it was first introduced, and I just can't give up my Naso, it's my baby, she eats from my hands, etc.

post #27 of 281

LOL.....you would laugh at how I filled up my 225G......I used tap...I KNOW....this was before I even knew what ro/di was LOL

 

I filled 5G buckets with water and stirred in Instant Ocean salt.....and dumped them in the tank..up and down a step stool....

 

YUP....It took ALLLLLLL DAY

 

I laugh about it now ...my back didn't then

post #28 of 281

ya im dreading the 75gal....cant imagine anything like 100gal or over?!?!?!?!....

LOL i love how the guy at the store was like F it, take the water...c u in 10 min lol~!

post #29 of 281
Thread Starter 


 

Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer View Post

LOL.....you would laugh at how I filled up my 225G......I used tap...I KNOW....this was before I even knew what ro/di was LOL

 

I filled 5G buckets with water and stirred in Instant Ocean salt.....and dumped them in the tank..up and down a step stool....

 

YUP....It took ALLLLLLL DAY

 

I laugh about it now ...my back didn't then



Trust me, I considered using tap. Our tap water isn't that bad, and it definitely crossed my mind when the damn RODI stripped on us. If I didn't have to get everything moved so fast and was giving this tank a full cycle, it would have been filled the rest of the way with tap water.

post #30 of 281

Used tap on my first tank too 'before we knew.' Actually it was partially filtered, used the water dispenser from the refrigerator. Taped a cut up soda bottle to the door that kept it running and aimed the water into a cooler used to dump into the tank. Ended up wearing out something on the fridge and it started to leak. Definitely one of those live-and-learn moments laughing.gif The waiting game filing the tank is the worst. Remember on my 240, I started marking the water levels, just to see if there was any variations or anything, I was so bored...

 

 

Won't be too long now though! thumbsup.gif

post #31 of 281
2011-06-12_14-43-36_416.jpg
2011-06-12_14-43-45_159.jpgI
refugium almost done.
post #32 of 281

wont water get on those bulbs? or salt creep....

 

post #33 of 281
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1guyDude View Post

wont water get on those bulbs? or salt creep....

 



That's what maintenance is for, LOL. They have water proof end caps on them, so I'm not overly concerned about water. It's the refugium, so there's little to no water movement/splashing that will be going on in there. We actually had these laying over our 155, just placed on the center braces when we were running single ended halides, and other than some salt creep that just required a weekly wipe down, it wasn't too bad. Eventually we'll probably put a glass panel between the bulbs and the water.

post #34 of 281
Thread Starter 
Fish are all moved and the 155 will be getting shut down until I'm ready to do my FOWLR, which will NOT be any time soon. Everyone took the move well and ate dinner.
post #35 of 281
Thread Starter 

Pics taken with phone right after I just fed some algae sheets if you're wondering what's floating around.....

 

180fts.JPG

 

 

ftswithref.JPG

 

leftside.JPG

 

 

rightside.JPG

 

 

acanblastogarden.JPG

 

chalice.JPG

 

clam.JPG

 

post #36 of 281
Thread Starter 

I don't know why some photos show up and some don't, so sorry for any duplicates:

leftside.JPG

 

 

rightside.JPG

 

 

happynaso.JPG

 

I have to get a better picture of these guys, Captain America Palythoas:

cptnamericapalys.JPG

 

 

Someone is very angry with me:

clowninanemone.JPG

post #37 of 281
Thread Starter 

minicarpet.JPG

 

 

mintcloves.JPG

 

 

photo.JPG

 

 

harlequin.JPG

 

 

rbta.JPG

 

 

tricolornana.JPG

 

 

tracyphyllia.JPG

post #38 of 281
Thread Starter 

I can't make up my mind no whether or not to keep my 3 PJ Cardinals. I've grown to like that they are basically nocturnal and add live to the tank at night darting around. They were boring to me for the longest time, and of course, now I'm starting to like them.

 

Thoughts?

 

I'm definitely getting rid of the Yellow watchmen goby, flame angel and Fridmani dottyback, but I don't know why I'm having such a hard time with the PJs. I get attached to my little fishies and it's hard to send them to someone else.  We got rid of the Maldives Lyretail Anthias tonight. We gave them to the guy who sold us this tank. He upgraded to a 400+G tank, I think they'll be happy in the new setup and I know they went to a good home. I hate giving away my babies to people that I don't know. I cried giving up the anthias! LOL

post #39 of 281
Thread Starter 

So now everyone pray that I don't wake up to a disaster or dead fish/corals/inverts in the morning. It's 3:45am and we just finished moving things over!

 

What do you think of the rock work? I think my husband did a great job!

post #40 of 281

I think it looks great TL - nice job,

New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Reef Tanks
Saltwaterfish.com › Forums › Saltwater Fish Forum › Reef Tanks › BTLDreef's 180 Tank Build