Lost my mind....or, here we go again!
 

So after 2 years of struggling with my tank, I'm shutting it down. Right after I get the new 180 set up, which will be a couple of months. I just bought a complete system locally, but will need to drill the tank and build a new stand to fit my gear.

Question for all the 180+ crowd...what did you do that made the setup nice, or what would you have done different?

I've got 2 Tunze 6100s on a controller, ER skimmer, big DIY Ca reactor, Zeo already.
Things to look at are drain locations, 1 or 2 drains, durso vs herbie, stand concepts, etc....anything you can think of that I might not have?

when i had my 180 i noticed the need for a very large water bin for both fresh and salt:) 20g water changes every week or so

My tank is in the basement on a concrete floor. Hello brute on wheels, I love it. Go for the herbie if you can, I have a stockman (can't fit a durso in there :( ) and its the loudest part of the tank. I wish my tank could be retrofitted for a herbie (can't/won't, next tank).

My tank is in wall and I wish I'd left enough room on the sides for placement of magnets for powerheads (its a very tight fit), I can't move my wavebox forward enough in the tank so its only half held on by the magnets (a bit precarious but so far so good).

Sounds like you're set, can't wait to see thie one set up :biggrin:

This one will be in the livingroom, upstairs, so hopefully it doesn't decide to go downstairs. I'm thinking a 7' wide stand, which gives me edges to sit stuff on and spreads the weight a bit more. I'll probably look at a 75g sump underneath. I lose my downstairs sump, but can probably plumb my topoff in full time, no more jugs!!
Noise will be a concern, so I'll look at the herbie setups, haven't been there before. MAG 12 or so return in sump to dampen vibration, currently my whole house vibrates from the pump downstairs.

Christy, I may need a few more frags -lol

+1 on the large water containers.

I wish I had the room for a larger sump. Mine is 70g and I would love the space of a 100g or even 120g.

Ya, not hapy about losing my sump, I'm running a 125g now and love it. Who knows, I might be able to fit that under the stand.

Large water containers won't fly, I don't have room to store them while not making water. I use a 20g tub now, so that should cover water changes (I hope)

I think that any of use that are over 100 gals have all lost our minds :crazy: but it is so hard to resist. My DT is only 165 but with the sump I am at around 230 total. The one thing I still need to do is get a dual stage controller and should have an ATO so I don't have to top off 5 - 10 gals every other day.

Topoff tanka dn mix tank on a high stand right under the living room floor? Plumb into them through a cold air return?

I really approve of the last straw/the first straw mentality. If it IS broke...go bigger! Looking fwd to more. Are you supporting the floor?

LOL, I was going to comment earlier. I'll have frags galore for you when you're ready :biggrin:

External overflow unless you need the tank up against the wall. I HATE how much real estate my internal overflow eats up out of my 280g. :(

Center overflow, or coast to coast. (External or internal, either way). That way if you go wavebox the wave will be minimized at the overflow and sloshing is minimized.

Leave enough space over top of the overflow. Especially if you go with a non centered overflow and you have a wavebox.

I think Herbie > Durso. Durso really only good for reducing gurgling noise. Herbie is quieter and makes microbubbles pretty much impossible since there is no way for air to enter the plumbing. Well, except for the skimmer anyhow and anything else, but at least the overflow intake is submerged completely so it can't draw in air.

There's another kind of overflow system whose name I can't remember but it's basically Herbie extreme. You need 3 holes for it. That might be something to look into.

Beananimal. I've never really gotten the point. I think Herbie is the shiz.

I'd totally love to have a coast-to-coast next time around. Take the thinnest sliver off the surface and if it's wide enough and you're not trying to force 10,000 gph through your sump you really don't need eggcrate or anything on the overflow.

Can't plumb anything thru floor, unless I can convine my tenant to keep tubs in her livingroom -lol
I'm not supporting the floor this time around, I did with my 155, and found I didn't need to. This one will be up against a wall, overtop a support wall, probably over a slab where a fireplace used to be. It should be ok.

"Beananimal" ok thanks. I couldn't remember it and it would have taken easily 2 minutes of googling before I stumbled randomly across it.

I agree, I think Herbie's are completely it. I'm not sure what this beananimal has to offer over Herbies, but I thought I'd at least bring it up because there is nothing worse than finding out after the fact about something else you could have considered.

I'm just reading the link to Beananimal system, not sure how that works yet. For that matter, I don't know how Herbies work either, I've always used stockman style, but they do give off some noise.
I was going to drill the bottom, but coast to coast does sound appealing, although that pushes me out from the wall, which I was trying to avoid.

Thoughts on internal vs external plumbing??

Cool! hopefully I'll be able to get things to grow with the new system, and can trade you some back!

Stockman and Durso are really identical ideas, just different shapes.

You could go coast to coast with an internal overflow and still drill out the bottom. You'd just have to have the coast-to-coast part like a bridge and then in one (or both) of the corners still your traditional overflow tower (I'm not sure what to call the box part).

Sort of like an upside-down U (well, a squared off U anyhow).

Quite a bit of fabricating for that, and I'd lose more space than just standard internal stacks. Although smaller than what I've used in the past, so that might work. Even a single stack with room for 2 or 3 pipes, a T rather than a U

Sounds workable. :)

the beanimal and herbie are the same.. kinda like durso and stockman Brad, but the herbie is the way to go. depending ont he flow you want you won't need as many bulkheads.

since you have to drill the tank anyways I would recomend an external overflow with yor herbie sertup in that. nice and clean inside the tank.

go to HD or what ever and buy some unfilled travitiene tiles for your bottom, that will give you a beige sand look. but a couple more tunze..

why did you want a new tank? more room?

oh and the most important thing.. make the stand big enough to store everything underneith and make the doors lockable to keep the little one out of chemicals and such.

Steve

+1 on external i did it on my 50 cut the notch myself not too hard just keep the bit wet i love the extra room inside the tank. if i can figure out a way to do external on my future 120 i definately will.just means i have to cut a hole in my wall which i am ok with .... the wife not so much. so i may have to go internal. which is still better than hang on back which is what im currently using

if i had to redo my 180
i would buy a stand instead of make one
external overflow
beanimal
fish room or at least 2 containers one filled with live rock and one just sw so i can do quick water changes

Why buy vs. build? I'm pretty good with a saw, so other than time, I think I save a lot and get the strength I need.

External overflow is sounding better all the time.

:shocked!:. you going to actualy finnish this stand if you build it?:D

Steve

Of course. I already have the cardboard ready :)

You definitely get a lot more flexibility out of your stand if you build it yourself. It doesn't have to be crazy. A stand can be quite simple and easy to build. You can always do it in stages too. Build the frame to a point where you can mount the tank, and then skin it later.

External overflow gives you more room precious real estate inside the tank :)

Well, no, I have to finish it before the tank goes on, or it will never get done. See reference to cardboard above -lol
Since I'm doing a 7' stand for a 6' tank, I'll need to build it myself. I want to try and stuff my 125 sump in there, and a store bought will not accomodate that, I'm pretty sure :)
Yes, I'm thinking external for sure now, just gotta figure it all out to minimize the space required behind the tank.

well my stand cost me way more than I thought it would cost and it took up alot of my time and it still not finished and it was the hardest part of the project.

if i did the stand again it would be metal with thin wood for the panels because the wood holding the stand up takes up alot of space.

but then again on my stand I did use laminate which was part of the headache. you can even get a counter top built at like home depot, then buy panels from ikea. just gota find correct size panels or build the stand to the panels.

i saw a professionally built stand at oceanic corals and even with a $1500ish price tag, i still wanted because my stand is still not perfect, and its a headache trying to "fix" it.

On my build I'm doing now I'm doing the same thing leaving a 6" "shelf" around the tank , I'm doing granite for the top and dry stack stone for the stand, it will be built in two halfs in case I move sometime:)

How are you handling the weight? I"m thinking I need an internal frame that covers 24' x 72' to support the tank. Essentially another vertical support 6' in from the corners...

don't tell him that, it took 5 years last time and he sold it befor he finnished it :mrgreen:

Steve

hey Brad, if you going to make it longer than the tank, why don't you build the overflow on the end. you can always make a dark plexy or wood cover for it to hide the piping. or is there something else your concerned about here?

Steve

Having that extra space on the side of the tank is great for putting fish stuff on. Very convenient.

Use a herbie or at least durso system. Much quieter.

I have glass tops on the 165g and it really reduces my evaporation. Thus I can get away with just a 5 gallon bucket of topoff for the auto topoff system. Easy enough to fill and stick back inside the stand as needed. I find with the glass tops, I only need to top up my ATO bucket once a week or so. My 210g reef, in contrast, evaporates at least 2 or 3 gallons a day. Huge difference.

I also love the 24" width of a 90g wide sump, compared to the 18" of a 75g.

Yup, the tank I got from Chin has the overflow on the end (external actually). Depends on how the tank is situated. I mainly look at one side and the front of the tank anyways. It has a mod Herbie drain.

The tank that busted had a single large corner overflow box with dual 1" drains using a durso system. Roughly 12" x 6" x 6". Worked well before the front pane broke. Had to keep the tank about 5" to 6" off the wall though to accommodate the plumbing in the back.

Damn, my 90 gal evaporated that much a day after I put a chiller on it and took the fans off, befor it was 5 gal a day :mrgreen:

for sump width there is a disadvantage to 24" wide as well as benifits. if your stand is 24" wide thats 6" less space to place things infront of it.

so lets say he puts a 6" wider stand so there is a ledge around the tank. underneith if there is a 24" wide sump that leaves about 3" of room, if it is a 18" sump then he has about 9" of room to place a Ca reactor, chemicals, tools, ect..

I think now when I do another tank I will take my widest chunk of out of sump equipment and build it to acomadate that.

personaly I would make the stand with a front ledge of 8" a back ledge of 2 or 3" and ends about 8" larger also. this would give you 12" of usable room aprox infront of a 18" wide sump which would be able to acomadat almost anything you want to throw under there.

Steve

how big is the 125 Brad? I can't remember off hand.. only how heavy it was :wink: and is there a reason you can only go 7 foot long or did tyou just thing 6" on each end?

to bad you don't come this way at all, I actualy have a shop I can work in now :wink: :mrgreen: not in the driveway like our last stand build :redface:

Steve

The 125 is 60x18x24 (which makes it a 115?). Not sure I can fit that in, but I'll design for it initially.
I don't want the overflow off the end, as both ends are exposed to the room equally, and symetry is important. I'd rather lose 3 inches off the back

Weights def a concern with a 200g tank plus around 300lbs of stone and 100g sump not to mention liverock etc.

I'll be making the stand out of 2x4 first to support the tank, I'll be using 3/4" plywood plus 2" s&m foam for the tank to sit on. then I'll be building walks from 2x6 on the outside of my 2x4 frame to hold my stone and create my shelf. If I build from just 2x4 with the shelf it won't support the tank as it will be wider, so my plan is to build framed walls and supports for the tank then build a stand from 2x6 in two halfs that will fit around the interior stand like two horseshoes :) then just granite for the top cut to fit around my tank in two halves also :)

Just picked up the first load of equipment and rock, filled the van completely. Still have a bit more gear and the tank
Noticed the tank has a tempered bottom, so that limits my plumbing options.
For those using external overflows, is your tank trimless, or how have you dealt with that?

I just cut away the trim where the actual overflow is.

Steve