Suzanne May 180 Gallon Reef Build

[suzannemay]

Hello,

This is where I will be blogging about my 180 build.
Here is the work in progress..


The floor was reinforced per structural engineer specifications.

Equipment I have:
180 gallon tank right side overflow with 4 openings.
60 gallon? sump
Stand and hood
2 sea swirls..I have not validated that they work.
Unknown brand lighting system..although not energy efficient for what I want to do..so may sell it as it works fine.
One bad skimmer..that I may keep for maybe a holding tank.
various plumbing parts.

Equipment I want before I put things in the tank:
3 LED Radions--still wondering if I should use the light I have or go hog wild..
2 MP40's or possible Tunze wave maker models with controllers..still trying to decide if the cost is worth it or maybe upgrade later.
Octopus Reef Skimmer NW200
RO/DI unit
Heaters


Items to work on next:

Clean inside the tank
Sand and polish
Fix the salt creep from old.
Seal up the wood so that creep won't get worse.
Plumb it up
Check for leaks.
Add water


This should keep me busy for a while.

 

[suzannemay]

Well I tried to post the picture per the forum..but it linked the WHOLE content..hmm..

 

[pandora32]

I would go "hog wild" on your lighting as well as filtration. Pay up front for quality so 6 months down the road your not spending a bunch of money...again. Ive pretty much replaced all the equipment on my tank. The only thing left from the system i won in a raffle is, sump, tank, stand, return pump, and media reactor (which isnt hooked up at all). I replaced the entire light fixture (really wish i went to leds!!), protien skimmer, added a couple mp40 (one needs a controller). If your into saving any money, and like to do diy type projects, look into rapid leds kit. They have a complete dimmable led kit pretty cheap. As always, my opinion.

Retrofit kits - By Tank Size - 180g Tank - Rapid LED

 

[pandora32]

I looked at your light picture. Are there any markings on it anywhere? What is the wattage/brand of the bulbs?

 

[suzannemay]

The light has no markings anywhere.. There is only one marking on the long bulbs.. true actinic 96 W that says odyssea . There are 3 ballasts and I could barely read one of the halides I think says 250W blue It is double ended. It has eight LEDs...moonlighting. Everything works.

 

[NC2WA]

suzanne,

to add to what Pandora said about hog wild on lightings...I would change the order slightly.

IMO, the skimmer is the "brain" of your tank..it controls whether you will A.) Enjoy the hobby from your couch or B.) Constantly working on the tank every day or weekend cuz it has hair algae, bryopsis or something else...so in short buy the best damn skimmer your budget can afford is my advice....the second piece of equipment that I would treat the same is lighting...

in your case I would get a skimmer that is rated for at least 250-300 gallons..

 

[pandora32]

With regards to the leds, i contacted rapid led and told them the dimensions of my tank and the fact id want to keep sps at the bottom, tank is 29" top to bottom, and i like the 20k look. They emailed me back with the above link, and also what i would want to swap out to get the color i was looking for. You can trade out the led colors for other colors, more blue, less blue, more reds, whatever. And they said they dont charge extra. As for a skimmer, i bought a skimz skimmer. Great skimmer, my opinion. Should check into them.

 

[suzannemay]

With regards to the leds, i contacted rapid led and told them the dimensions of my tank and the fact id want to keep sps at the bottom, tank is 29" top to bottom, and i like the 20k look. They emailed me back with the above link, and also what i would want to swap out to get the color i was looking for. You can trade out the led colors for other colors, more blue, less blue, more reds, whatever. And they said they dont charge extra. As for a skimmer, i bought a skimz skimmer. Great skimmer, my opinion. Should check into them.

\

I checked out their website..it looks like they have one called onyx that is the whole thing all done for you? This is a very reasonable price.. From looking at the spectrum I am not sure if it would do SPS. They also have the kits that require no soldering and are fairly easy to build.. I would just wonder how to protect the wiring from salt?

 

[suzannemay]

suzanne,

to add to what Pandora said about hog wild on lightings...I would change the order slightly.

IMO, the skimmer is the "brain" of your tank..it controls whether you will A.) Enjoy the hobby from your couch or B.) Constantly working on the tank every day or weekend cuz it has hair algae, bryopsis or something else...so in short buy the best damn skimmer your budget can afford is my advice....the second piece of equipment that I would treat the same is lighting...

in your case I would get a skimmer that is rated for at least 250-300 gallons..

So my husband bought the skimmer Octopus Reed NW200 per recommendation by barrier reef guys..it says it is rated for 212-309 gallons..is that big enough..? Is the brand we bought not good? I haven't opened it..so I could swap it out.

 

[NC2WA]

suzanne,

good skimmer..I assume your husband told them what the bioload of the tank was?

if you really want THE answer, then send a PM to skimmy. He is the guru of skimmers on the forum and has tested just about everyone on the market..he will get you an honest opinion.

 

[suzannemay]

Hmm thinking of going with the Oceans By Design Helios LED lighting instead of Radions. Always like to support local peeps. I wonder how long they will last? and how easy it is to replace if trouble arises..

 

[NC2WA]

Im sure the owners of OBD will take good care of you...if you are getting a Reefkeeper or Neptune controller, they can build it to work with it..

something to think about..

 

[Recalibrate]

Hmm thinking of going with the Oceans By Design Helios LED lighting instead of Radions. Always like to support local peeps. I wonder how long they will last? and how easy it is to replace if trouble arises..

LEDs last much longer than all other type of lighting. They also have a 3 year warranty and if something does happen they are local so no worrying about shipping and all the wait time associated with that.

 

[suzannemay]

Alright, I have spent several days sanding and preparing my tank..

I have replaced hinges, sanded one side of the tank. Still hazy.. so I am out to get some polish and buffing wheel. I was using the LifeGaurd Aquatics kit and it says not to use the polish inside the tank. My guess is that is when there are creatures in it. Since my tank is dry it will probably be fine.. However since the kit is so small..I will need to go to the auto store to get more paper to sand down s I might as well grab some polish. I still see a few scratches that probably won't buff out so I will sand and feather those out before buffing that side. We will see how it goes.

My son taking a nap after helping me out..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/suzannemay/8303696775/in/photostream

 

[TJL]

Suzanne I don't know what polish came with the kit but, if it says not to apply inside of tank you probably shouldn't. The Novus products/polishes are non-toxic and I have used them many times inside and out. You can find them at Tapp Plastics and other retailers, they come in a #1,2,3 for rubbing out scratches to buffing out a fine polish in 8oz bottles for around $5-6 each.

Cheers, Todd

 

[suzannemay]

Thanks. Seems easier than the kit I have you have to do 10 passes and it still looks hazy..

 

[mojoreef]

As an alturnative Suzan you might want to try a some micro mesh from Rockler woodworking just up around South Center. I will put a link below. When trying to take scratches out of acrylic I use just this as it goes so fine its better the creme polishes.

hope it hepls

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11435&site=ROCKLER


Mike

 

[suzannemay]

How much hand polishing does it take at 12000? Maybe I am just not rubbing long enough..it is sooooo much work.

 

[mojoreef]

When your doing it you have to go in a progression, So as an example. you start with a 600 grit paper and do circular sanding until you dont see any white lines (scratches), then you progress to the next up paper and do the same thing until you dont see any lines from the 600 and then so on and so forth until you get to the last one. If you have a deep scratch that and you are starting with a 12000 you will be sanding forever and will not get it out. SO its more of finding the right grit to start with and then working up from their.

Mike

 

[suzannemay]

When your doing it you have to go in a progression, So as an example. you start with a 600 grit paper and do circular sanding until you dont see any white lines (scratches), then you progress to the next up paper and do the same thing until you dont see any lines from the 600 and then so on and so forth until you get to the last one. If you have a deep scratch that and you are starting with a 12000 you will be sanding forever and will not get it out. SO its more of finding the right grit to start with and then working up from their.

Mike

I will try it again. I started with 1200 grit from the kit..dry sanded. This time I will try wet sanding after the first 2 grits to see if I get better results just to make sure I get the deeper scratches out.