180G Office Reef Tank

[freezetyle]

based on your tanks from the passed, If your in charge of this one, Its gonna be bad ass. Glad to see you building a tank again Josh

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by lockrookie

following along wellcome to the 2012 180 club lol

This will be the biggest tank I have had.. Pretty excited, while it is an office tank, I'm making sure that I am the only one doing maintenance on it, feedings.

Originally Posted by Royal Aquariums

Exciting, so this means you can go all out on equipment then? Lol

Umm not quite.. I do have to keep the costs down as much as possible. Lighting I am picking up used, because it was far to much new. I'm down Dry rock to save on cost (and hopefully nuisance pests).

Originally Posted by freezetyle

based on your tanks from the passed, If your in charge of this one, Its gonna be bad ass. Glad to see you building a tank again Josh

Thanks Jon.. I almost need a refresher course I've been awhile from tanks for so long. (2+ years).

[fishoholic]

The Nac-7 skimmer is rated up to 90g, pretty small for a 180g plus sump. I have a nac-7 running on my 34g cube/20g sump, a bit overkill but I figure if I ever upgrade to a 60g cube I'll be ok skimmer wise.

Also starting with mostly dry rock will take 6 months to over a year before becoming live rock. My advice is to stock the tank like you only have 20 pounds of rock in it or use mostly live rock and only a small amount of dry rock.

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by fishoholic

The Nac-7 skimmer is rated up to 90g, pretty small for a 180g plus sump. I have a nac-7 running on my 34g cube/20g sump, a bit overkill but I figure if I ever upgrade to a 60g cube I'll be ok skimmer wise.

Also starting with mostly dry rock will take 6 months to over a year before becoming live rock. My advice is to stock the tank like you only have 20 pounds of rock in it or use mostly live rock and only a small amount of dry rock.

I'm not sure where you got your rating but both Bulk Reef Supply and Bubble Magus' website would seem to disagree regarding the skimmer rating, and every other website I have come across that sells the Nac7.

http://bubble-magus.com/en/productShow.asp?id=972

Meshwheel cone protein skimmer
BM-NAC7
Capability : 500L-700L (130G-185G)
pump:atman ph2500 (made in china)
Pump power: 28W, 220V 50Hz /110V 60Hz
air intake : 500L/H
Dimensions: 240×200×510mm( 9.4" * 7.8" * 20.0 ")
cylinder: Max 9"
Water Level :9.5"-11"

Yes it is still a bit on the low end for this tank, but I have to work with the budget I have unless it comes out of my own pocket.

The NAC77 (rated at 210-315) would be ideal I think, I just don't have room in the budget right now. I may change this or try and persuade an increase in budget but it's not a top concern at this point in the build.


I realize Dry rock will take longer that usual and for most of my tanks in the past, I have usually let the tank sit longer that a normal cycle anyways before any heavy stocking. I haven't even started to think about stocking yet to be honest.

Right now my main goal is to get this up and circulating water and seeding as soon as possible. I can keep the rest of the office staff at bay regarding stocking until its ready as none of them have a clue about the biological cycle/filtration involved in a salty tank, they will just have to be patient and listen to my advise.

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by JDigital

I'm not sure where you got your rating but both Bulk Reef Supply and Bubble Magus' website would seem to disagree regarding the skimmer rating, and every other website I have come across that sells the Nac7.

I bought the Nac7 from Dave and both Doug and him told me up to 90g. So I took their word for it, most sites will over rate their skimmers so it's usually better to go with the low end of the rating. However I do tend to overstock/feed my tanks a bit so maybe they were taking that into consideration when they told me up to 90g.

Originally Posted by JDigital

I realize Dry rock will take longer that usual and for most of my tanks in the past, I have usually let the tank sit longer that a normal cycle anyways before any heavy stocking. I haven't even started to think about stocking yet to be honest.

Right now my main goal is to get this up and circulating water and seeding as soon as possible. I can keep the rest of the office staff at bay regarding stocking until its ready as none of them have a clue about the biological cycle/filtration involved in a salty tank, they will just have to be patient and listen to my advise.

Good to hear, I know a few people who go full speed ahead with dry rock and run into lots of issues later, glad you're aware to go slow. Should be a nice tank for everyone at the office to enjoy

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by fishytime

ok......splain all the fancy cuts in the sump

According to Dave, they are something he has been trying out on sumps to help reduce bubbles/microbubbles by forcing the water to travel the length of the baffle panel. I originally went in with a straight for over/under/over design, but the logic in his idea seemed sound and I don't believe it cost me any extra so I decided to give it a try.

Skimmer will go on the left side (of the first pic), return pump in the middle, and live rock (and possibly a 2nd skimmer on the right).

Originally Posted by sphelps

Pretty sure I invented that use to call them space saver baffles

I understand the idea behind Daves explanation of this design, not sure how they save space though? Do tell!

Originally Posted by fishoholic

I bought the Nac7 from Dave and both Doug and him told me up to 90g. So I took their word for it, most sites will over rate their skimmers so it's usually better to go with the low end of the rating. However I do tend to overstock/feed my tanks a bit so maybe they were taking that into consideration when they told me up to 90g.:

Even on the low end I am looking at 135G of that rating.. with the opportunity of having a NAC 6 helping out as well (freebie with the lights from GreenSpottedPuffer). I missed out on my chance for a NAC66 yesterday in the marketplace unfortunately!

Originally Posted by fishoholic

Good to hear, I know a few people who go full speed ahead with dry rock and run into lots of issues later, glad you're aware to go slow. Should be a nice tank for everyone at the office to enjoy

The last thing I want is this office smelling like a crashed tank!

[JDigital]

Picked up a few more things last night from Concept Aquatics.







This RO/DI unit looks pretty badass! Looking forward to setting it up this weekend.

Water Blaster HY7000 Return Pump



80lbs of Sand


Coralife Salt. Enough for 300G worth of water.


Vertex Refracometer


Misc Plumbing:



Stopped off at Home Depot tonight and got the rest of my plumbing, a Timer Power bar. Then stopped off at schuns place to grab a Koralia 3 and 250W heater. My ballasts and pendents are somewhere between Vancouver and Calgary according to UPS' shipment tracker (not that I am in a rush for them anyways)

Picking up my overflows tomorrow from Concepts' and hopefully my dry rock if the shipment comes in. Then Saturday it's time to start drilling and plumbing.