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Nice! Real clean organized layout.

Clean-up crew arrived today. Acclimated and added to the tank. I put about 5% of them in the sump to help with the remaining algae on the live rock. Reef Cleaners does a good job. Well packaged and almost no DOA. Smaller pump arrived today. Installed. Noise in living room down from 30db to 20db. I'm about to mess around with electrical routing and put in power heads tonight.

White made the most sense...otherwise I would have had to use a finer grade of lumber and try to match the stain on the railing or floor which was probably going to be nothing better than "close" Its a painful realization really cause I absolutely hate painting...like I would almost rather have Mike Tyson punch me in the nads than paint.

Clean! I like the drawer underneath and the white color. And don't feel bad, you are not the only one to see a warranty tick away while something is in the box. Good job!

Well I finally picked up this project again...a year ago actually so its not like the pace has been great But its pretty much done. This will be long but I hope you find it interesting and love me for it because I need adoration and affirmation...look at me, look at me. Kidding of course, I am a DIYer and I love seeing what others do because it inspires my projects a little here and a little there...sharing is caring. Dammit, I did it again. Okay, on with the show...in the order in which it was done. In a previous life I had a 200 gallon tank that sat on a 14ga / 1.5in square tube stand that had a three-sided plywood wrap. The pre-snowpocalypse tank was just wood, this one is back to the steel skeleton cause I wanted to optimize under tank space. Honestly, this could have been a plywood box but I like to make both metal and wood dust... This is 16ga 1in square tube except for the top ring which is 1x2 tube cause I thought that made sense...probably unnecessary. 3/4in ply for top and bottom Made a drilling template with some channels for water egress Overflow fit perfectly! Rarely do I find a commercially available solution to what I want to do. The refugium/sump was no exception so I built my own version. Tank flows into the 20gal, thru socks and into a chamber that will be the home to the Chaeto and from there to the 10gal that probably wasnt necessary in hindsight but its there and there is a chamber I could use for a variety of things but I think I will just put a bunch of "pod hotels" in there in hopes that the underside of the tank can grow enough of the little buggers to be able to keep a Mandarin up top eventually. In front of that is a 5gal ATO reservoir that I made before deciding to relocate it to a closet behind the tank. The space between the 10g and stand is for a "Stir Station" for a dosing pump which is still not done As always, I like to make it so that stir station will have 4 of these and a stir pill in the bottles that will sit on the station. I bought some little hobby motors for $1.66 each and 12v motor controllers for $2 each, plus a couple of magnets each and what I am calling "the flywheel" I printed to hold the magnets...about $4 to $5 per stir spot not considering the housing. I was back and forth on drawers and decided to just do one and keep it simple...light holder mounted here as well. Got it all measured and plumbed up here. I put large check valves on the pump and again at the tank...overkill but water flows well and better safe than sorry? These were really cheap at Grainger...and thats not usually the cheap place Amazon had them at 2x the price and NOT clear...and clear is definitely better! Since my light sat in the box and ticked away its warranty I thought I would gut it to paint it to match This is the "control panel" for all the stuff...back side and front. Rather than have a gaggle of wall-warts to deal with I went with a 12v and 24v single power supply and pigtails for each device...minimizing the amount of wire under the tank. Plus, since there is a closet sharing the back wall with the aquarium I was able to move those power supplies and the UPS in there...getting all the voltage out of the splash zone! I also ended up putting the ATO reservoir in there as well. And that gets us to here...which is still a work in progress. I have removed the black power cord and replaced it with white so it blends in. The stair railing and balusters are in the way...and the wife said I cant take it out...so I put a panel there (missing in this pic) that is held in place by magnets. ...there are still things to be finished so I will update those as they are done.

Raising them up should brighten up the dark area that can be seen between them.

Lights came in. This is the fun stuff. Played around with them and I can likely make 2 fixtures work. Here they are on legs on the glass tops and the spread and illumination is great. With a canopy they will be higher off the water and get more spread. I'm thinking I have a solid plan. These fixtures are combined are 2X 250W halides and 8X T5 24W bulbs So right around 700W of light. This picture is with the stock Odyssea garbage bulbs. It will only get better when my ATI and Reef Brite bulbs come in. The plan is to replace the stock bulbs with a 20k Reef Brite halide and 2X ATI Aquablue Special and 2X ATI Actinic in each fixture. Canopy build will be this Saturday and Sunday. Tank was NOISY. So, I worked that last night. One pump was too big and loud. Replacement in bound. Pump swap dropped the noise 15 db. I'll deal with powerheads and wave makers later this week. And yes, there are fish in this tank. Even though they are camera shy. You can strain and see a dotty back in the bottom left and the lemon peel angel in the middle right. None of them like this tank move chaos.

That is very much like what I was thinking. I was thinking of just opening the front facing panel, but the halfway split opening clamshell is even better. This will be my Saturday project. Need to get the lights mounted in there and hidden. They should be in today.

Keep in mind your sailfin will likely get over a foot long. For your canopy, I've always thought the clamshell design works well. Lights can be mounted up high so with the cover open there's easy access.

The tangs and the lunare have the zoomies in the new tank. Looks like they are loving the room to 'stretch their legs'. The dotty backs are fighting way less. Almost to zero now. The wrasse was breaking up the fight. Strange behavior but it really looked like he was stopping the fight. Getting schooling behavior out of the chromis. I'm happy with the larger tank and looks like the fish are too. I want to keep the hair algae out of this tank. It looks good now and it needs to stay that way! Didn't hesitate and ordered a 180 Gallon clean-up crew from Reef Cleaners. I've always have had good dealings with them. Only CUC I need to add is urchins and peppermint shrimp. Only one urchin n my old tank and it looks sad. When we did the move, I only noticed a single peppermint shrimp too. Not sure where the others went to, or if they have been eaten by the triggerfish..... But the cleaning crew is on the way. I'll likely put a few of them into the sump. We didn't put sand in the sump. Old rock that had algae went there after scrubbing. I think a few of the crew down there will help that out a lot. I know this thought is a bad one... But I think I have room for more fish.

The tank cleared up overnight. I'm liking the 'shelves'. It will be good for coral placement. Triggerfish is digging the holes in the Texas holey rocks... I did some testing today. Put a halide fixture over it to see how I liked it. I liked it. So, I pulled the trigger on 3X 24" halide T5 fixtures. Adding another 250W halide to each side will make it look nice. I was very reluctant to go with 3X halides but that is what it will take to look good, so that is what is being done. I like the Odyssea fixtures, but the ballasts and bulbs are trash. This pic is with a Reef Brite 20k bulb. I'll run those in the new fixtures. The plan is to run the Odyssea ballasts for a little bit and replace with another ballasts. FWIW the Reef Brite bulbs are packaged super well. No worries about a broken bulb in shipment. Going to build a sort of a canopy next. The idea of how I want it to look is still percolating in my brain. I want to elevate the lights off the glass for heat and spread reasons. Also, I don't want the legs of the fixtures on the glass so I can open up the top and feed, clean, scape, etc. (And I'm tired of burning my arm on the halides.) I'm definitely going to add some exhaust fans to the 'canopy'. And.... I want to hide that light spillage you see in the picture. I want a block in front of the fixtures, so I don't see the halide anywhere but the tank. Details to follow as I work this out in my mind. I'll probably wake up at 4:00 AM with the full drawing in my head.

The fix worked. Tim and I got the 180 moved in today. Thanks man!!! Here is an initial shot. I'll get another tomorrow when it is cleared up. Lot of the fish went hiding. Clowns? They don't care and popped right out. Grog

This build thread is locked. You can follow Grog's systems in his new build thread and his 40 gallon below:

Tim and I resealed the center brace. Interesting note: One end of the center brace did not have any silicone in the butt joint. Only caulking around it. So, IMO the original build was not done correctly. But, it held for 30 years like that, and finally gave away. We caulked the butt joint, have it clamped into place, and caulked around the seams. I'll recaulk after. Glad I had a few tubes of the ASI silicone left over from the seal. Bar clamps keeping the tank from bowing. Top clamps to keep the brace up against the trim.

Insert Bee Gee's Tragedy music here.... Filled the tank. Started taking water out and adding sand.... I was done. Went inside for a drink. Came outside to close the glass lids so it doesn't evaporate so much, and splash everywhere. Center brace popped! 😬 Got two bar clamps on it now. Drained 75G of water out. Gonna silicone it at lunch. That was the one silicone joint I didn't redo. Figures.

Forgot to do the FTS. Tank ain't perfect but I'm happy with where it's at. Tomorrow it will get a 10% water change and that caulerpa will get pruned big time.

Added a gold torch back to the tank yesterday and it is opening up. Hopefully, my euphyllia funk is gone from the tank! Oh, there is my monti and the blue crab (crab bottom right under the monti's rock.). His color seems to be sticking. Galaxea has a name now. Bob. Don't know why but Bob seemed fitting. The Night Eyes zoanthids have really adjusted to the tank and are spreading fast. Other side of the tank, they are filling in gaps in the rocks.

Bad pics are good! In a few months once the ecosystem stabalizes in your "Heavy" build the before and after pics will help show how things can improve.

Hi, I’m building a 40B tank and would be interested in a pair in a few weeks if you are thinking you’ll have some. Molly

Hi, I’m interested in a $10 piece if still available. Molly

Hi, I’m interested in a frag. I’m only 6months in on reefing but I’m doing well with my tank and I have a tiny twig of Lazy’s Blue birdsnest that is growing like crazy. I’d like to get another now that I know I can keep SPS alive. You can text SIX 78 SEVEN seven 8 three zero two eight and we can figure out when. I’m in south Austin off Slaughter.

Tank being shut down. This is my final update on this thread. All livestock is going into the Heavy Build next Saturday. Also, I've added a final FTS of this build. And yeah, the hair algae is bad. Ongoing issue but I'm dealing with it. I'm ok with sharing the bad pictures and not just the good stuff.

Not going to post a picture as it basically looks like last time. But it is plumbed. Filled with water and running. It will replace the 75 next weekend. Woot! Progress. Liking the filter socks. They drop the noise level big time. Need to trim about 1/2" off of my stand pipes and drill some siphon breaks in the return line assemblies. Other than that it is ready for the move on Saturday. Thanks for the help Tim!

It would be awkward using a drill press on a tank and messy running water to keep the bit cool. I've used wood jigs in the past and they're certainly easy to make but there's been enough of a gap with diamond bits there can still be a bit of an angle. Drilling from both sides has given the best results but there's no room to do that in this tank. Drilling real slow also works better but I get impatient :/