180 Build "Heavy"

[+Grog]

Got braces added today, and a skin for the top and back.

Only using 3/8" as it is not load-bearing, just to help with torsion.   Left a gap in the top and bottom of the back piece so I can route cables etc.   Was good and cut holes in the top for the drains. 

Tomorrow I'll work the sump tabletop.  It will be doubled up to support the sump.  Then I'll start working on trim.

And yes, the center brace is not square.  That was resolved after the image was taken.

[+Grog]

Raining today so I slacked some.  Played around with lights.   

ATI actinic and stock Odyssea on left.   All ATI true actinic on right.  So much better coloration.  Leaving the stock bulbs in for now to test and compare.

Second picture same on left.   ATI actinic with the LEDs on about 70%.   Definitely strong!     Can't wait to hit this with a PAR meter.  I'm liking how the T5 hides the disco ball look.  I think the nem will be happy. 

[ckyuv]

Diggin the light color. Came out nice! 

[+Grog]

Got the stand completed and primed and painted.  Went with a blackish brown color.   Used motor oil is what I'd call it.    And now you know why I'm not in Marketing. 

Here is a picture of it from the back.   I left the front and sides open for now.   Will add removable panels later.   They will just get in the way during setup.

Tim and I will upsize the 75 next week.

[+Grog]

Project is moving along albeit slowly.

Tank trim painted to match the stand, bye bye woodgrain.   Tank has been moved onto the stand.   Eventually, there will be removable panels on the stand but I'm not bothering till it is all set up.   They would be in the way during the move, and probably get dinged up.    

The blue background on the tank got the best of me.   I've tried 10 different removers and it ain't budging, so I'm going to rely on GSP to hide the gaps in the back paint.  I intend to have only easy corals in here:  GSP, Xenia, Kenya Tree, Mushrooms, Toadstool, Stylo, Candy Cane, Zoas.   The one tough thing I plan to add is a Magnifica anemone as the focal.   So....   GSP and the nem get to hide the goofy background eventually.  I know people worry about GSP taking over but this is mainly a fish tank so IDK.  Also, I think the nem will keep it at bay on that part of the tank and I'm going to try to restrain it to the rear wall.

Purchased a Fiji Cube acrylic sump kit for the 40-breeder sump.   Totally happy with it.   Easy to install, it fits easily, no cutting acrylic, etc.   Came with a filter sock section, filter socks, adjustable baffle for water height, little filters and shelves for media for the bubble trap section.   Worst part is peeling off the protective film from the acrylic.   Assembled it and siliconed it in over the last day or two.   It is curing now, and I'll move it under the tank tomorrow and work on a little plumbing next week.   I had to get the sump knocked out before starting plumbing.    (Picture below doesn't have the adjustable baffle installed. It goes in the section with the blue tape on it.)

Having said that, I need a break this weekend, so I'm hitting the coast tomorrow.   No tank work after I do my water changes tomorrow morning.    Need some chill time, so going to a couple of parks and may do some fishing too.   Project can wait.  This weather is too nice to miss out on.

[+Grog]

A little bit every day...   

Got glass tops cut at a local glass shop yesterday and picked them up this morning.   Way cheaper than buying stock ones.   They are just big enough to cover the openings but I can slide them towards the center brace to get access without actually removing them.   I'd call them eel-tight.    And eel-tight will be good.

Sump is done and I put it underneath.   Fits just right.    Have lots of room to the right for gear.

I'll start working plumbing next.  May not get the tank wet again till after Panama.  I don't think my house sitter is up for dealing with a leak in the garage.  🤣

I'm happy with the Fiji Cube sump baffle kit.  It fits well and was pretty easy to install.   I should be able to have a deep sand bed and several inches of water on top of it.   I need to think of what oddities I want to put into this area.   The intent is to keep it cryptic, so maybe a non-reef safe star and the mantis may end up there too.  I'm not going to run any lighting in the sump.  No macros, no reverse lighting schedule etc.   Just a plain old sand bed and a few rocks.

One other thing I learned from my previous builds.  I didn't go with the largest sump I could fit.   I think this will work fine, and I have enough room to mess around in there.   When I had the larger sump under my 140 it was a total PITA to service pumps and clean it.    This will make cleaning filter socks, pumps, swapping rocks out all way easier.

 

[Timfish]

Kudo's on emphasizing acessability, redundancy and simplicity!  Our animals will live decades and simple systems are much easier to maintain.  And the biology really could care less about fancy designs or equipment.   (But I'd get a different house sitter )

[+Grog]

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!

[+Grog]

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.

[+Grog]

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. 

 

[+Grog]

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

[Timfish]

 

[+Grog]

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.

[+Grog]

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. 

 

[Timfish]

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.

 

 

[+Grog]

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. 

 

[+Grog]

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.

[Timfish]

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

[+Grog]

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.

 

[+Grog]

Got the ATO set up.  Installed all the powerheads in the tank and attached them to the wavemaker and labelled them.  Put all the 'gear' into a storage thingy and put it under the stand.

I need to get the lights on the timer circuits but I'm not going to run all that wiring until the bulbs come in ...      Waiting...

Plan to start, and attempt to finish, the canopy this weekend.  (lofty goals)

This is all good progress.  I can walk in my living room and my dining room table is clear. 

A bit of a diatom bloom.  Don't want that and bad algae to get out of control.   Turned halides off.   Only running actinic T5 for 12 hours daily.  Ordered some 'specialty' snails and urchins for the tank.  Due early next week.  The good news is that I feel comfortable leaving the tank with my wife with instructions of "feed it 2x a day" at this point.   I didn't feel that way last week.   It is in as good of shape as I can expect.   

Going to Palacios Sunday so likely no updates on this build till next week.  

Grog

[+Grog]

Only have one Reef Brite halide, still waiting for the others to come in.  (I ordered a three year supply.  I'm paranoid, and will order another few years' worth next paycheck.  I don't want to be without a source of bulbs in the future.)

Anyway, I decided to make the lack of bulbs into an opportunity for comparison.

Here are pictures of stock Odyssea bulbs and good name brand bulbs.    I've always disliked the Odyssea colors now I have pictures side by side.     BTW: not only are the colors horrible but their quality is bad as well.    I've seen T5s have the metal crimp leads pull out, and the metal caps come off.   ON NEW BULBS!    Also, today when I replaced the one halide bulb in the fixture with the Reef Brite bulb, the ceramic on the stock Odyssea bulb just fell apart.   You can see in the image that the ceramic had a delamination sort of issue, an internal crack or void.  Not good at all.   Even if you are OK with the colors from the Odyssea bulbs I would recommend against using them.    Their fixtures have come a long way in build quality and reliability than they were a few years ago, but the bulbs are still trash.

Here is an image of stock T5 Odyssea actinic vs ATI Aquablue Special and actinic mix.   Not really a fair comparison as the ABS brighten it up.   But the Odyssea bulbs are very Windex with a slight green.   ATI are less so.  Odyssea left, ATI right.  If I wasn't going to put any coral in this tank, I'd be happy with just these T5.   This is the same mix I run in the 40 breeder.

The last image shows the tank with T5 and halides running with the ATI on right and Odyssea on left.    ATI is much more of an as advertised 20k, blueish white.   To me, the Reef Brite halide almost has the same spectrum as the ATI T5 mix, just more power.   The Odyssea has a yellowish greenish tint.  Not blue to my eyes.   But, in actual brightness the Odyssea appears much brighter.  Maybe because of perceptions of the wavelengths?   

Overall, I much prefer the Reef Brite bulbs.   I've used those, Phoenix, Odyssea, Radium, and Plusrite and I have to say that I am very happy with these.   They are 4X the cost but worth it.  The color is good, and PAR was up at 3000 near the surface when Tim and I measured a few weeks ago. 🤯

Not many choices for halide bulbs these days.  I'm glad that one option is a good one, even if they are pricey.   I'm sure the vendor is going to wonder when I order another 18 of them in two weeks.    

And yes, the diatom bloom is real.

 

 

[Timfish]

Nice comparison!  FWIW ours eyes are more sensitive to green light than blue, outside of the quality issue the oddysea lights may be fine for a lot of corals.  (And I was pondering your preferance of MH over LEDs and it's kinda like my liking my old 6.2 diesel over my friend's model Y )

[+Grog]

All my bulbs came in, so now I'm running 20k Reef Brite halides for 6 hours a day.   The T5 mix is ATI actinic and ATI Aquablue Special with 4 of each.   The right side looks a little yellower but that is a bit of an illusion.  1.) That bulb has been running for longer so it's more 'burned in'.  2.) That side had the lights on all week, so the diatom bloom is much more prominent over there.

The filter socks are pulling a lot of stuff out of the water.  Much easier to deal with than a HOB filter.

Hollywood Stunner got moved from the 40 breeder, it needed some breathing room. Also, added some GSP to the back wall, a large plug of Night Eyes zoanthids, pulsing Xenia, and a toadstool.  The 40 is basically becoming a Galaxea tank. 

I'm going to wait a few weeks and then I'll add some plating montis.

Zero progress on the canopy or front panels for the stand.    The good news is I did get a BUNCH of stuff moved out of the garage and I can actually work in there now.  So, even if it is raining, I may get some of that done next week.

FTS

[+Grog]

New stuff today.  Lots of frags, and I'm not taking pictures of a bunch of frags.  But the highlight is the LTA. (I love nems.)  Mainly a seafoam green but there are some reds and purples in it.

It came in looking GOOD.   Took me a while to get it in the right spot and flow but now it is adhered!   It is pretty much stuck down now, and chilling in the halide sun. 

The clowns have not found it yet...  Kind of hoping they leave it alone for a week or two.  The nem is about 4-5" across.  

Second picture is some palys I got in as well.   Advertised as blue but look purple under my lights (typical that items don't match the photos....).   Either way I'm happy.  Very cool looking.    They are sitting in the 40 for now but I'm not sure if they belong there or in this tank.  My first thought was the 40, which is why they are in there but I'm leaning towards adding them here.  Way better coloration than other purples I've had like Purple People Eaters, etc.  It is a happy mistake being purple and not blue. 

[Timfish]

Nice looking LT anemone!