BryceM

As many of you know, I've been wanting to do a big tank for many years now. I've pestered many of you endlessly about ideas and finally things are starting to come together. This thread will hopefully be a running journal of the adventure, misadventures, algae attacks, etc, etc.

We recently moved to Idaho from Massachusetts and went through all the pains of moving fish and plants. So far, 24 or 25 fish made it and the plants seem like they'll eventually recover. Learning the new water chemistry is going to be interesting. I'm going from New England water with a GH of 3 and a KH <1 to well water with a GH of 21! and KH of 5.

We moved into a bigger house with a perfect space for a big tank in the basement. It will be directly on a concrete floor, with plumbing available in the utility room right behind the family room. I'll be pulling up some carpet to create a tile area since I've learned my lessons about splashing on the carpet. I need to do a little plumbing to bypass the water softener and verify that the floor drain will handle 100 gallons at a time, but it looks like it will work out ok.

I ordered the tank a week ago from "The Aquarium" in Salt Lake City. I spent hours looking for an Oceanic tank, but had to settle for an All-Glass 180 due to availability issues. To cover up the trim, "The Aquarium" has a cabinet maker who is putting together a custom stand and hood that should match the cabinets in the house.

The tank will be 72"x24"x24". I'm still bouncing between using 150W metal halide HQIs versus AH-Supply's 55W kits with 9,325K and 6,500K bulbs. I might settle on CF's due to the cost and my lack of experience with HQI's.

For filtration I'm trying to decide between 2 Eheim 2128 thermofilters, or a single Eheim Pro III (rated for up to 320 gallons). The single Eheim Pro III would probably be cheaper, but wouldn't be as redundant. I'm starting to realize that expenses scale up very quickly with big tanks, so trying to contain costs is probably pointless, but it deserves at least a some consideration.

I'll probably use an additional in-line pump to provide some extra circulation through a spraybar and to run a 3" PVC CO2 reactor and UV if I ever need it. I'm still trying to decide between a Milwaukee and a Pinpoint CO2 controller.

Fish will be a big school of congo tetras, a school of rummies, a school of corries, some otos, maybe some shrimp if the congoes will leave them alone, a few rams, and maybe a few threadfin 'bows or marble hatchetfish.

Substrate will be Soilmaster Select - Charcoal, since I happen to have 200 lbs of it in my garage. Plants will be mostly slow growing species including Crinium calamistratum, Blyxa auberti, Blyxa japonicum, various Crypts, Cyperus, Anubias, Lobelias, Lysimachia, Java fern, hopefully an HC foreground, and a few strategic clumps of stemmies to round it out and consume all my free time. It will be interesting to see what will survive in this hard water.

I guess I need to get a call into Manzanita to see what they can come up with for wood. I'd like to soak it for a while before it goes in the tank.

Pictures will follow as soon as the tank and cabinet are done. I'll show some of the plumbing and tile work so you can laugh and cry along with me.

Also, any advice regarding equipment would be appreciated. Mistakes at this scale can be costly.........

shewey

Hi Guaiac_boy,

I also have a 180 gal project in the pipeline, however I am probably a few months away before it gets off the ground. I have done research in the areas of lighting and filtration etc for a 180 so I will be interested to see how things work out for you.

With respect to lighting, I was thinking of going with 3 150watt HQI's which gives 2.5watt per gal. What are peoples thoughts on this? I think it will be ok providing I don't go for any plants which have high light requirements.

Good luck and keep us posted with your developments.

Mark.

BryceM

2.5 wpg for a 180 gallon tank is high lighting by almost any standard. The watts/gallon rule really breaks down for small and large tanks. 2.5 wpg over a 180 is probably similar to 4 wpg over a 20g tank, all other things being equal. If I went with HQI's I'd do it exactly like you...... one 150W HQI per 2' seciton of tank. You should be able to grow anything under that.

shewey

Thanks for the info. Lighting for a 180 is certainly a tough decision. Now I am wondering if 3 150's is overkill for the type of plants I am looking at growing.

Cheers,
Mark.

dennis

WooHoo! I look forward to living vicaroiusly through you on this Don't worry about the Gh and kH. My new Mass well water is Gh 24, kH 4.5. The only plants I lost in the move were Ludwigia arcuata, Pogostemon helferi (cry) and Tonina sp but I think they succumed during packaging and moving and were almost dead when I planted them. As of now the only plant I am having trouble with is Rotala vietnam, not supprising really to me. I have an intense love hate relationship with it, it's very pretty but I can never grow it. I hate that! Even Eriocaulon sp is growing well and happy in that water.

Good luck!

BryceM

Just an update..... The tank is finally here!!!

We picked it up in Salt Lake City last weekend, and with the help of a few people who used to be my friends, it's now in the basement. This sucker is heavy. I still need to do some plumbing, and I'll be removing some carpet to create a tiled area, so for now it is sitting in the middle of the family room. I talked to the guys at Manzanita today and for some reason they hadn't shipped my order yet. They say it will go out today.





The next quest will be to poke around the mountains here for some nice rock. I went on a little drive a few days ago and found some areas that look promising. Having just enough knowledge of geology to be dangerous, I'll take a bottle of acid with me, just to make sure I'm not gathering up huge quantities of limestone.

More later........

turtlehead

I think the guys at Manzanita are really busy, I had to call a couple of times for them to pick up the phone and puting the order for them seemed rushed, but I understand. Now that more people ate setting up tanks with the wood they provide, they have to be very busy.

dennis

Looks good Bryce! That woman looks tiny compared to the tank You should take a photo with all your kids in the tank, I believe that is standard procedure for large tank journals at the reef forums.

The stand and hood look sharp though if I may critique one thing, I would see if the hinges can be switched to allow the door to swing open and rest flat on the top. Right now that just looks like a headache waiting to happen.

Keep an eye on Manzanita.com. In my expereince, if they rush the quality goes down. I have never understood the buisness concept of being sorry about mistakes due to work load. If the load is more than you can handle on time, you either need to hire more people or take fewer offers, or figure out how to get the work done as promised without sacrificing quality. Sorry for the rant in your thread.

Exciting updates GB!

SnakeIce

I happened to be at my lfs when their equipment supplyer rep was in the store. Ebo jager heaters are now owned by Eheim and according to him the return rate on those heaters is 40% or more since Eheim bought them out. The Ebo Jager is the heater in the thermofilters. His recomendation was the Hydor brand heaters.

I don't know for what reason he is seeing that many Ebo Jagers being returned. It could be user error or they could have quality issues they didn't have befor Eheim bought them. The thermofilter can be run without the heater since the heater and filter are on separate power cords.

BryceM

I agree with you about the canopy hinges, but the way he did the trim, there doesn't seem to be any other way to do it. The lids do seem to stay up ok on their own, so we'll see how it goes. As for Manzanita, I think I'll call later today just to "get the tracking number."

I'm still trying to decide if I like the canopy. It's high enough that I should be able to work inside the tank even after the lights are installed. My only worry is poking the back end of my big tweezers up into the electronics or into a fluorescent tube. ZZZZZZZZZap. But then I compare it to the space available over my 46g and I think it'll be ok. I will need to add a piece along the back once I get the plumbing figured out. I just can't stand to loose fish over the wall.

See what you think about this equipment. I keep changing my mind on a few items:

Eheim 1260 pump for circulation, DIY CO2 reactor, & possible future UV. There will be a 1" suction intake and a DIY PVC spraybar that will run along the length of the tank against the back wall, partially burried in the substrate. This is the best idea I can come up with to ensure even CO2 distribution in a tank this big.

Two classic 2217 Eheim canisters for filtration & a bit more current. I can't see much advantage to going with a thermofilter since they're so $$$. It's hard to go wrong with classic eheims. My big concern here is that I'll end up with a total of 3 intakes & 3 returns. It'll take some planning to hide that mess. 1" intakes can easily look ridiculous in a nice 'scape.

I appreciate the info on the heaters SnakeIce. I've liked the Ebo Jager, but maybe I'll look at the Hydors. Something in-line would be nice, but I've heard that these don't usually work very well.

Lighting - I've got this figured out in my mind, but that's a topic for another day. For now..... HQI's 150Wx3 with about 1 wpg T-8's to supplement.