Looks good! Cant wait to see this tank at full potential!

I have sealed wooden enclosures for my snakes with Varathane Diamond Coat. Its always held up well against split water dishes so I cant see why it wouldnt work with this. Its available at home depot and comes in many different shades.

How much room in there between the side walls and the glass? Same with the rear walls and the glass?

Just wondering if there is enough room for magnets for the powerheads is all.

Just as I as going ask where I could buy one and how long it would take to train in Tank Maintence. I guess I'll have to talk to the Mrs.


Nice Tank,

I do see a few potential problems.

Access under your dropped in sump? I would like to say no tanks leak but Water spills ARE going to happen. I see you have hardwood floor I know for a fact that they don't like water. Without a way of cleaning the spill warping is going to happen.

Room around your tank for I think as Ryan stated Magnets for Cleaning or Powerheads. I guess there are always suction powerheads??¿¿

Good luck with your Tank!! Lots of Life and Enjoyment to come hopefully everything runs smoothly!!!:mrgreen:

Fair enough, i didnt think about that, i guess all my tanks have been the trim and tempered :lol:

Nice build! It's going to look great, I love the whole "integrated into the house" look. If I had the space, I would do the same thing. Carrying over the walls' baseboards around the step that you made and maybe using drywall to cover the stand would look incredible with the "picture-frame" idea.

Update?? What changes are you making??

Okay time for a very big update...

We sold the tank, stand and sump for one simple reason: the noise. The dual dursos were obnoxiously loud and as this tank is on the main floor of the house and next to the TV, it wasn't something we could look over.

We did buy this unit to learn how to care of a reef without investing in all new equipment. I didn't want to be one of those people who bought everything brand new only to have to turn around and sell it all for a fraction of the cost because I wasn't really into the hobby. Turns out this hobby is going to be around for awhile and both of us really like it so now we aren't afraid of making investments into newer or better equipment.

So we bought a new tank and sump from a well known tank builder in Calgary and my BF decided to make the stand himself (with help from his welder friend). Everything turned out beautifully. We decided to go dual Herbie-style overflows for the new tank due to the noise reduction which was this style's claim to fame. For those of you who care to look it up, Herbie is a reefcentral member who designed the plumbing for his tank to be silent. I'm sure there are a few posts here on canreef about this style of drain and I will try to include some pics of it when I remember to take them however here is a link to the original herbie thread in the meantime:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=344892

Transfering everything over was difficult because it took much more time than I thought it would but here's how we did it:

We set up the new sump in our living room and filled it up with water from the DT, then moved all the LR into a brute rubbermaid with a heater and a powerhead. It barely fit. The livestock and the few corals we had moved into the sump and spent the next three days in there with a couple of powerheads and a heater. We set up the light over the sump for the corals and didn't have a single loss. Actually, that's not true - we found a fireworm (most likely species) living under the brain coral's base and BF killed him by stabbing him in his hole. Then we flushed out his severed remains with a turkey baster. Ever since fireworm died brain coral has been much happier.

We also saved about 60% of the water from the DT in rubbermaid containers but we ended up throwing out about 20% of it because it went stagnant as I didn't have enough powerheads for the number of containers we had the water in. So we ended up doing a massive waterchange in the process of transferring over tanks.

We set up the new stand on the platform, placed the one sheet of 3/4 in plywood on it, with a 1/2" piece of foam on top of that (foam was glued to underside of new tank courtesy of the tank builder). BF started to work on the plumbing and I began transferring everything into its new home.

That's when we decided to complicate things further and move the sump to the basement. Four major reasons why we did this:
1) Get the 80 gallon sump and its weight off of the main floor
2) Move the cords and mess out of the stand and clean it up.
3) Move the majority of the equipment to a new room which would be easier to access everything in.
4) We like to do everything the hard way

Anyways.. enough talk. Pics to follow shortly!

Hey what kind of snakes do you have? I used to breed ball pythons and cornsnakes. I love snakes.

And as for the clearance behind the tank for magnets and such.. Yes, there is enough room on either side for a magnet for a Koralia or Tunze. I can't get a vortech powerhead unless I want to put it on the front pane of glass (no thanks). I also have just enough clearance to put cords behind and on the sides of the aquarium. It's very tight.

Here's the new aquascape:

[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_3976.jpg[/IMG]

And the new sump room. Not running yet as we are waiting for plumbing glue to cure after fixing one leak (Better safe than sorry):

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_3973.jpg

Our one lonely clownfish:

[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_3970.jpg[/IMG]

And a FTS:

[IMG]http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_3956.jpg[/IMG]

looking great good job

Looks Great, but I do have a concern, maybe someone else can validate.

It looks like you have ABS elbows (black parts at top of photo) with PVC piping. Is this so? I do not think you can glue those 2 together successfully, as the glues for each are different. Can anyone else validate my claim, if this is the case?

You are right. ABS and PVC should generally not be used together however this is a non pressurized line and we used a cement that bonds to both plastics. It is safe in this case. We consulted a plumber friend of ours because our local plumbing supply store was sold out of the PVC fittings we needed and we didn't want to wait the extra 7-10 days to bring in the elbows.

Cool, good to know. What glue do you use?

That looks fantastic! Love the sump in the basement too. Fish list?

Btw, we just got a ball python, I do not love it....:twised:

Transition glue I do believe

Something like that.. I don't know what kind ATM because we borrowed it from plumber friend - he took it when he left.

We also silliconed around the seams of the ABS-PVC just for extra insurance.

WHAT? How could you not love a BP? What kind is he? He'll grow on you, there are beautiful and lazy animals. Like *most* snakes the bigger they get the better they get, and the funner they are to handle (exception would be an anaconda or Burmese python).

Fish list is very open..

So far I want a pair of clowns (have one true perc)
A Cobberband Butterfly (I hope I can keep one successfully)
A Purple Tang
A Yellow Tang
A Sailfin Tang (Can I even keep all these tangs together in one 180?)
and I'd love a clam - Maxima most likely - but I'm not sure I can keep one successfully as I am slowly going LED and dose prodibio. It's my understanding that clams need nitrates and right now mine are at zero.

Also I really love mandarins but I don't think I will have a healthy pod base if I have a CBB and mandarin in the same tank.

I'd love a miniature sea turtle but apparently you can't get them.

I also really like Flame Angels but I'm not sure how that would work in a reef set up. I don't want to be limited on what corals I can choose.

Good start to fish list. I had a flame angel, he left the corals alone but I didn't have it long! Would love another one! Sea turtle - that'd be so cool! Can't remember if it was in this forum regarding a discussion on mini dolphins, penguins etc...

I have a clam and this is the one thing that's making me nervous about the transfer....mines happy and growing, I would give your tank more time and then go for it!

ABS to PVC
 

Just thought I would clear something up for those of you thinking ABS to PVC is a good idea. Although it will work fine for a drain line it's better to choose one type and stick with it. You generally do not want to match ABS to PVS because it would not pass a plumbing inspection. Also you shouldn't be mixing and matching PVC and ABS for pressurized lines under any circumstances.

For a fish tank that's not going to be sold with your house - no biggie

For DIY renos - not a great idea.

Very nice looking tank and sump you have! I like the black backgrounds myself but I have to admit that blue one of yours looks awesome! I see you have done your skimmer research also!:biggrin:

looks great. a lot of work that pays off

Funny that you mention... we were [thisclose] to going with a black background for this tank but I ended up changing my mind at the last minute. I haven't regretted it in the slightest. The colour palette we'd chosen for our house is on the darker side and I felt that black background may have been a bit too dark. The blue brings out the color of the corals and fish almost as well as the black would.

As for the skimmer.... this is by far my favorite piece of equipment I'd purchased for this tank. I bought it gently used from another canreefer and luckily for me the gentleman who owned it before me (and the gentleman before him) took excellent care of it. It was pretty much brand new and I saved myself hundreds off of the retail price tag. I do not regret this purchase at all. There's a very good reason why these skimmers rarely show up for sale in canreef's classified section. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time I guess. It is a bit oversized for this 180 gal but at least I don't have to worry about adding too much livestock in the long run. It is kind of laughable that all it's skimming for ATM is one lonely clownfish and a few shrimp, :lol:, but at least my mind is at ease. We all know that means the world in reefkeeping!

I have to agree with you on the Super Marine being my favourite piece of equipment also although my Radions are close! Mine is the 200 model and presently doing an awesome job on my 120g before it gets put on my 180g. I was told by a few people that I wouldn't notice much of a difference over my Alpha cone but its a huge difference so it was money very well spent.

Added a couple fish:

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_3986.jpg

And a sump picture:
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_3991.jpg

Just a small update. We started getting the stand done. The door/stand cover is drying in the garage ATM.

In this pic you can kind of see our newest addition, a beautiful sailfin tang we got from another canreefer (Thank-you, he's fitting is very well)

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4103.jpg

Here's a blurry closeup pic:

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4088.jpg

Wow, that looks so beautiful!! What a great set up! Love the sail fin, red coral had one I was keeping an eye on, but sold....:sad: how's the CBB doing?

Oh he's great! Couldn't be happier with him. He's my favorite fish. Ever since I was a little girl and I got a little national geographic copperband butterfly figurine from Dairy Queen, I've always wanted one. I just wish they would get along because then I would have about 10 of them :)

He eats mysis, bloodworms, mussels sometimes and plankton. I can't get him to eat pellets or flakes unfortunately but as long as he eats I am happy. Thanks for asking! :biggrin:

Just a little update:
 

Woke up at 6:30 AM on my only sleep in day this week. Great. So I took a few photos of what's been going on around here:

Painted the cabinetry for the stand and didn't like the color:
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4109.jpg

So I decided to paint it again with a bit more character:
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4128.jpg
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4127.jpg

Got a new RO/DI unit from BRS:
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4124.jpg


And here's a pic of the three amigos for fun. They just woke up in this pic. I guess I'm the rooster today :) :
http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4131.jpg

I'm gonna say it again, wow! That's beautiful, love the final look of the stand! You must be so happy with how it all turned out! I've been thinking of doing my stand lighter as well, haven't decided yet! I've also just got an ro unit, added a tds meter and water coming out is 0, going in is at 114.

Now to start loading it up with fish and corals! Your 3 amigos need some buddies!

the stand does indeed look killer!.....love the "aged" look

love that stand too! Im going to be starting mine soon for the 225

how about some details on the cabinets? are they permanent or stuck on with Velcro/magnets. what wood did you use ect.

Also +1 on picking the right skimmer there is no better

Thanks! The skimmer is still my favorite piece of equipment on this tank, although the radion is a close second.

As for the cabinetry:

It's one single piece of MDF. Took some moulding and glued it on to make the appearance of doors, drilled half way through on the back side and put 4 of these magnets in:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Pcs-N42-1...ht_2104wt_1141

We used carpenter glue to make the magnets stay where they were supposed to and placed them strategically to all 4 sides of the metal stand for maximum safety:

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4142.jpg

These magnets are a bit overkill but I will rarely need to go under the main display because my sump is in the basement. I also have a little one who gets involved with everything so I wanted something strong enough to keep him out until he's old enough to understand not to hang off of the handles and risk having the whole piece come crashing down on his head. Safety first!

Anyway if anyone was interested in some of the magnets I have 5 left over. Hubby broke one testing the strength of them, it smashed into another magnet with such a force that is shattered. Watch your fingers when working with these!

After the magnets were in and the glue dry I painted the cabinetry. I wanted a cream color to go with our kitchen cabinets which are directly across from the tank. It didn't turn out a very nice color so I redid it by mixing a slightly different color out of the original cream paint by adding some leftover paint from the main walls in the house and brushed it on sparingly. I then mixed another darker color and cut it with water to make it spread not as thickly. Brushed that color on too, and you can see the final result turned out kind of rustic looking. I like it, I'm happy.

Total project cost for the cabinet piece was $65 not including the magnets or tools to cut it. The company that built our cabinets quoted us $700.00.

Here's how the tank looks in the room:

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4139.jpg

Now we just need to finish the fireplace and the rest of the neverending home projects :rolleyes:

Looks GREAT! I love the rustic look, it compliments the rest of the room quite well.

That Is EXACTLY what I was planning!! Thanks for the post now I need to get to work (after skiing this week lol)
I don't think there is overkill for the magnets you don't want it falling down or sliding ect. stronger the better (just a little more dangerous)

how long did it take to get the magnets?

I am jealous of the Purple Tang, and Copper.

Looks fantastic, glad you upgraded from your "In Floor Sump" to the basement route I think this will pay off greatly in the future, and have alot less head aches!!

Think you need a few more radions :mrgreen: $$

sub man lee valley has the rare earth mags in stock all the time i have my 12lbs sledge hammer hanging in the shed with one for the last couple years no issues or signs that it wants to fall lol it takes a good pull to get it off the wall

I think it was less than a week from that seller but if you need some I have 5 left I'd sell for cheap. I thought we would need 6 or so magnets but after seeing how strong of a pull these guys have 4 is more than enough. I have to pull pretty darn hard to get the cabinet front off.

I totally agree. Not having to bend over and crawl underneath your tank to do maintenance is great.

What do you mean about the radion? Don't you think one is enough? I get a 6 foot spread with this baby! Haha yes more are on their way soon. For the record I'm getting by surprinsly well with only one of them. I might just get one more and leave it at two and save myself the extra money. We'll see.

My main priority with this tank now is increasing the flow. I'd noticed I have far too many dead spots for my liking. I've ordered a few more goodies that should be arriving within the week to help me with that problem.

Got a present in the mail today:

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/IMG_4183.jpg

yaw yaw.....das tunze is guut:mrgreen:....I love mine for the pointability and they are near bullet proof!.......good choice