Upgrade to 180 from 75 on a budget. :)

[tat2z_21]

So I am trying to upgrade from my current 75 AGA to a 180. I plan on doing all of the wood work and I am pretty excited. Really trying to put a little more thought into this then I did with my current tank. Last time I did this I just threw everything together and hoped for the best. Well it turned out good, but it took alot of tweeking. So I plan on doing this one right and would really love for your guys's inputs.

So to start I will begin at the top. The hood. I plan on doing a suspended wooden hood that will house 3 250w 14k pheonix bulbs. The hood will be just tall enough to cover the 3 reflectors. Slim. Length of the tank and obviously as wide. To eliminate most of the weight, all of the ballasts will be remotely stored in a fan cooled compartment in my stand area. I will also house 2 48" T12 VHO actinic's. I think that they should supplement the lighting nicely. This hood will be a basic box with ornate trim work and molding. (I hope)

As far as the tank it is your traditional 180 AGA monster. It has the two overflow's and plan on a durso design. Only design I know of. So if there are better over flow designs out there please let me know. I have a total of 208 lbs of live rock. (about 130 in my 75 and 78lbs in the tank in my garage. It is covered in hair algea though and would like some ideas on how to get rid of it)I would like to keep it up against the back wall like my tank now. I would just like to have more swim room available in the front. I currently have about 100 lbs of crushed coral from my original tank and bought four 40llb bags. (Not sure if this will be enough to cover the entire length of the tank.) I will probably get one more bag. I stole an idea from a member on here to paint the back. I want to fade the blue into a black. I know that most of the black will be covered with rock but I still think it will add a little depth. I was going to have a total of four koralia 4's, two on each side angled slightly different. I will have four of these powered by 2 chasing DJ light controller

http://www.123dj.com/lighting/controllers/sf4005.html

that powers 2 pumps in a chasing motion. And the same for the other side. This controller is programmable from 1 minute to 15 minutes duration. (I might even have an extra koralia on each side always on for a constant.) I believe that this will help with the random flow. I just like that I can change the duration of the chase. I can have one programmed for one minute, and the second one for 6 minutes.

Now for the stand. It will be a traditional frame. Wrapped with oak, and trim to match the hood. This time I plan on weather proofing the inside. Any recommendation on the type of paint needed would be helpful. Since it is a 72" cabinet, I will have plenty of room for my refugium and other required equipment. I will have 3 doors on the front, two of which will lead into the refugium equipment area and the third which will be my air cooled electronic station. I will house all of the ballasts, and power cords. I recently purchased an aqua controller and plan on having this recessed into the cabinet face, for viewability. I am planning on converting a 55 gallon tank into my sump because I am afraid that the Eshoppe refugium I have right now will not be sufficient. As far as a return pump I will be running an ampmaster 3200 that I got from another member on here. This will be split to feed both overflow areas by PVC and tee'd into two 1" loclines to assist with the flow. I have a ball valve connected to the output of the for regulating the output. I am just wondering if this back pressure will shorten the life of the pump

So I know that was long and drawn out but hopefully everything will be going as planned. I will be picking up the tank this weekend and will beable to start on the build. As I get started I will take pictures, that way you guys can tell me where I am messing up.

 

[bigblue141]

Use a "T" and regulate your flow to your tank by increasing the flow to your sump off the output of the pump.

Several people use white epoxy paint for the interior of their cabinets.

Call me and I can get you hooked up with contractor paint at the milky water prices home depot and others charge. (DON'T BUY THE JUNK FROM SHERMAN WILLIAMS!)

Everything else looks like you have it planned out very well. Hit me up if you want an extra set of hands to help or get in the way depending on the project. You know us "AT'S"

 

[tat2z_21]

Yeah I had planned to use a ball valve to control the output, which would ultimately regulate the flow through the sump. Hopefully. I am just worried about the back pressure on the pump.

 

[tat2z_21]

Hey I might need some of your help for the big move. The thing weighs a ton. I will let you know when I get so that if you can we can plan.

 

[TotalVapor]

Everything sounds great but I would not use anything to turn the Koralia's off and on. They will become loose and noisy very quickly. They are not made for that at all.

I had some I did the same idea with a aqua controller jr. within a week or two I could not stand the start and stop noise from them. I left one to turn off at night and on around 6am it stopped working after a month.

If you want random flow find a cheap used sea swirl and mount the Koralia to the sea swirl. There are several mods on the internet that should you step by step. Some mods do not even use a sea swirl, just a motor for a microwave turn table and parts from home depot.

 

[tat2z_21]

Would it be a safe assumption that the original Koralia's are able to operate with the variable voltage from the controller. It looks to be the only difference is that it is set in the middle of the magnet instead of offset. Just wondering.

 

[tat2z_21]

Hmmm thanks for the heads up. I know that everyone on here is going to recommend the MP40's but I have 5 kids that probably need to be fed this month.

 

[Chichas01]

I agree about the controller. It will probably damage the Koralia's. There is a controller for the Koralia's, but from what I can remember, the 2 pump-controller package is close to the same price for a single MP40. You also have the option of going with MP20's if you really want the Vortech's which can late re upgraded to MP40's.

 

[sandswhitson]

Don't buy Korallia's for a tank this size if you want to do SPS. You won't be happy with the flow from them. Also as has been said you can't use them on a controller or timer they will break within a couple of months. The newer Korallia's can be ran on a controller but are pretty spendy for their quality. If you want to look into a couple of different overflows check out RC and look for "BeanAnimals silent and failsafe overflow" another one is called the "Herbie method" I don't remember the details of each but do know they both are quiter then the "durso" method.

 

[tat2z_21]

Sweet thank you for the info on the koralia's I was looking at the "new controllable korallia" and thought that would work. Looks like I might be using what I have for water flow.

Sands thanks for the info on the herbie method.

 

[johny99]

I tried to use Korallia's on my 110g with a wavemaker and they didn't last very long before they kept coming loose.

 

[bigblue141]

Just give me a call and we can haul it in my truck. You'll want an old blanket or something to insulate the tank from the truck bed. The cardboard is not enough. My uncle found that one out the hard way. Broke his brand new tank on his way home. I'm sure it had nothing to do with his driving in Salt Lake City Rush hour traffic.

What happened with the CL idea? That would be cheaper I think and it'll get you all the flow you want

I like the Koralia's in my tank. I leave them on all the time and just have their paths crossing each other. You can see the nice random current flow on my corals. My "Ghetto" spray bar is working really well to keep everything off the sand. Only thing that's a pain is I have to pull it once a month to clean the powerhead.

You might even want an "AT" to help with your wiring

As for the Koralia question, I imagine they use quite a few more windings on the variable pumps to allow for a variable input to control their flow.

 

[bigblue141]

To get rid of your hair algae... Borrow a rock at a time to me and I'll let my Tangs clean it off.

I'd go with 72" VHO Actinics.

"Ting" off your return pump to your sump will not add any back pressure to your pump. It will decrease it overall.

 

[tat2z_21]

Hmmm I will probably need your help with the moving of the tank. I do not have a truck and it would help out alot. The problem being is the stairs coming up to my house. Not sure if you remember the 90 degree stairs. It is going to be a blast. So I was thinking the same for the tee off of the return pump. I just think that there will be an issue with water overflowing if I put the tee before the ball valve, because all that I will be blocking will go directly back into the refugium and well there will also be 1200 gph from the overflows. I am sure that the ampmaster would be able to clear that. My only worry is at 4ft head pressure combined with the several 90 degree elbows i will lose some power.

 

[tat2z_21]

Oh yeah, and as far as an AT wiring, there are not enough boxes for you to change in this build so I will take it "One wire" at a time.

 

[tat2z_21]

Oh and I do not have hair algea in the main tank, it is in the frag system I have in the garage. I didn't have any hair algea out there and then the heater blew a circuit in the garage over night in the middle of the winter. So when I got up to check on them everything was frozen and dead. I did several new water flushes. 3x100 gallons a day to get the parameters somewhat back in order from the die off. But all I got back from it was a couple of zoo's made it, a toadstool leather, a gargonian, and all of the hermit's. Then came the explosion of hair algea. My cheato can not catch up, there used to be a 24" x 24" area crammed with cheato so thick that it was like a sponge. Now it is dwindling away because the hair algea is using up all of the nutreints. I was going to just pull the rock out, and dry it out. But there are still corals left on it and just can't pull myself to do it.

 

[bigblue141]

Or maybe it would be easier coming in through the back door? That is a strait shot, isn't it?

Offer is still good for one rock at a time and I will let my little creatures eat it away.

I also have 100 hermits coming in from Les (I hope that he's not sold out of them yet...)

 

[tat2z_21]

Yeah the back door isn't going to work either because it backs up to Swantown and an even steeper set of stairs. I think the best thing to do is the front door. I have to measure though and make sure that it will make it. As far as the rock goes I am thinking of just drying it out. I would hate to put this stuff in your tank. It is pretty bad.

 

[bigblue141]

Either way. I think the tank is only around 300 pounds isn't it Lemme know when and where you need some help.

 

[bigblue141]

Instead of drying out all your live rock you should have brian order in a couple of lettuce nudi's for ya.