RDNanoguy's 165 gal Reef Upgrade

RDNanoGuy · #1 02-20-2012, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by asmodeus

i like it looks great simple and sexy love the lights too RD

Thanks Asmodeus! I quite like the lights too. They are the 120 watt led by blueline. 55 2watt bridgelux LEDs per fixture. They are really simple but man are they bright! The corals and clam like them alot. Probably gonna add one more and turn them the other way to cove the width of the tank better. These fixtures are a bargain @ $400.00.

RDNanoGuy · #2 03-12-2012, 03:09 AM

Well it's been really crazy the last two weeks with the move and everything else but now it's time for an update!

The new Tank arrived the day of the move so that was brought into the new house first:

Here's a closeup of the external overflow:

Then the rest of the move took place and all the fish went into a temp tank on the kitchen island:

The next day I got to looking at figuring the plumbing path and ran into a problem:

The builder used little leftover beam cutoffs to fill in the corner right under the tank. These were joined to the closest engineered beam with joist hangers with two nails in each hanger.
I really hate crappy work and there was no way these were going to hold up a 2000 lb. tank!

My solution was to erect a new sub-beam and posts to carry the load to the basement floor as seen here:

Then I built a bench to hold the sump and other fishy stuff:

More to come!

fishytime · #3 03-12-2012, 05:29 AM

your seriously gonna have to change your user name man......not in RD anymore and sure aint no nano-guy anymore

bauder1986 · #4 03-12-2012, 05:53 AM

Subscirbed! Hi Doug! You miss me?

RDNanoGuy · #5 03-26-2012, 09:31 AM

Hey Josh! you still got that nice 165 or did you sell it?

RDNanoGuy · #6 03-26-2012, 09:41 AM

Time for more Pics!

Cutting an access hole for the Piping:

All the Pipe threaded through and glued up:

Tank with the light bar and LED's in place and the overflow cover siliconed in:

Now for the fun part.... Aquascaping! I decided to go wih two mini lagoon outcrops plus an island in the middle for my GSP:

And finally, the inhabitants are in!

Here's the 3 Amigos waiting for their lunch:

More about the sump build coming up!

fishoholic · #7 03-26-2012, 01:12 PM

Looks good, I like how you did the aquascape.

bauder1986 · #8 03-26-2012, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RDNanoGuy

Hey Josh! you still got that nice 165 or did you sell it?

Yeah i sold the big guy. i went through a year there where i moved three times and it was getting way to hard to move it. I miss it alot but meh oh well. saving hardware right now for a tank up grade of my own.

RDNanoGuy · #9 03-26-2012, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bauder1986

Yeah i sold the big guy. i went through a year there where i moved three times and it was getting way to hard to move it. I miss it alot but meh oh well. saving hardware right now for a tank up grade of my own.

Bummer. That was a nice tank too. How big are you gonna go this time? Need a tank? I got lots. Haha..