Marty's 180g [My Elusive Shrimp]

Discussion in 'Show Off Your Fish Tanks!' started by Marty, Feb 7, 2013.

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  1. Marty

    Marty Stylophora

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 2008
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    Location:
    Seattle area
    Hello again, I am just getting back into the hobby after having to give it up for a while.

    My wife used to run daycare and one of the children was highly allergic and asthmatic. We discovered that one thing that can trigger him was our fish tank, so we had to give it up. :(

    She has since moved on from that line of work, so we are begginning an in-wall build as part of remodeling. This is the thread I will use to track my build from start to finish. I'm going bigger and better for this build. My 72 gallon bow-front was cool, but we want a fully integrated and stable system.

    I have not ordered my tank yet (180 gallon, 72x24x24, pre-drilled with two corner-flows) mainly due to storage considerations, not have a purchsed the 65 gallon sump/refugium I am planning, but I have purchased my lights. =)

    We have 3 sets of 24" Panorama Pro LED Fixtures on order, here are the specs and photo:

    [​IMG]

    • 3 x 12,000°K White Panorama Pro Modules (Mfg# 8222) with (12) 12,000°K White LEDs each
    • 3 x 445nm Blue/Magenta Panorama Pro Modules (Mfg# 8226) with (445nm Royal Blue & (4) Magenta LEDs each
    • 6 x 11.5" Reflectors
    • 2 x Inline Dimmers w/ on & off control
    • 2 x 60W LED Transformers
    • 2 x 3-way Splitter (for independent control)
    • 2 x 24-hour Timers
    They are back-ordered at Foster's and Smith until the 28th, but this going to be a slow build, at least to start.

    More to come...
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2014
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  3. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    Sounds like a well planned and thought out build.
     
  4. RedGambit

    RedGambit Giant Squid

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    Welcome back and let me know how you like those lights, they where the lights i was tempted for my new tank but ended up getting 120W taotronics.
     
  5. Marty

    Marty Stylophora

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    I hope so, trying to get it right this time. Made many mistakes on my first set-up. :)

    I will definitely give some feedback on these. I'm excited to try LED this go round instead of MH. Hoping heat and power bill go down. :)

    So here is the future home of my tank from the viewing side.

    [​IMG]

    We are remodeling this room to be a home theater, so the reef tank will be a beautiful touch. The wet room behind is an old office. We are converting it to a larger laundry room/reef wet room/canned good storage. The plan it to install a filtration system in there next to a wash basin so I can do all water changes easier and more cost effectively.

    I also plan on installing a humidity sensor and high power bathroom fan to keep moisture levels below 50% in the space, but with the LED fixtures, hopefully, evaporation will be reduced considerably.
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2013
  6. Likeajeenyus

    Likeajeenyus Bristle Worm

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    Sounds good. Just curious, since you haven't ordered your tank yet, whats your plan on flow? Closed loop or submersible? Now would be the time to add some strategic holes if you go closed loop and avoid ugly cords and power heads.
     
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  7. Marty

    Marty Stylophora

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    Truthfully, I'm about a month out from ordering the tank and haven't thought too much about flow other how many gallons I'd like to cycle through my 'fuge. I'm not too experienced with flow, but on my old tank (72 g bowfront) I used 4 powerheads pointed to get a bottom to top, circular flow around the tank.

    As of yet, I'm not sure which way to go or the pros and cons of either. Thanks for planting that in my head though. (I'll get me reading tonight) ;)
     
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  9. Likeajeenyus

    Likeajeenyus Bristle Worm

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    Well from the research I have done there are a many factors if your going full blown reef or FOWLR. From what I have learned, if you are going to run a skimmer, you really only need to match what you skimmer is rated for/can handle. There is no sense in having 3,000 GPH running through your sump.

    As for the display, I've heard a turnover rate at 40 times per HR!! Crazy flow.

    IMO, I love closed loops due to the lack of cords. If I were to do a "do over" I would have drilled more holes to disperse the flow and added an Oceans Motions wave maker. I don't know what your budget is, but usually tank manufacturer charge like 20 bucks a hole + bulk heads. I like the Reeflo pumps not a bad price and they are energy efficient. The wave maker alone is 500 bucks!! But its bad @SS


    Again, don't quote me on anything this is just my knowledge from all the research I have done on topics from forums like this.
     
  10. Marty

    Marty Stylophora

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    Excellent, thanks for the info. The more I read about closed loops, the more impressed I get. The plumbing side of it is still sketchy to me, but the internet is always my best friend. :)

    Wow, 40x flow is crazy flow, I was shooting for a minimum of 6x flow, but with a closed loop and sump/fuge I could probably do much better than that.

    The budget is pretty healthy at this point, but I'd like what's best for my tank on a "reasonable" level. I'll check out that pump and some plumbing options.

    Thanks, again.
     
  11. Likeajeenyus

    Likeajeenyus Bristle Worm

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    Definitely research...research... and more research.
     
  12. Marty

    Marty Stylophora

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    So drawing on what I have read of a closed-loop system, this is what I am kicking around at the moment. I have not calculated head pressure or pump size requirements yet, but here is what I have...

    [​IMG]

    So as you can see, I am looking at having a closed loop system and each end of the 180 gallon tank.

    The good thing about having an in wall build is having side plumbing options.

    A one in outflow near the middle and two returns through a squid to simulate some random flow.

    There is also a going to be a outflow for the sump and a return back from each corner over-flo box. So if I can get 1000 gph from my sump/fuge, with a "close to that" skimmer in the sump and another 1400-2000 gph from each closed loop I should be looking pretty good for flow and current.

    I will probably tuck some powerheads into the middle behind the LR to stir things up a little.

    One more thing, I will probably use a split return tip on each of the four CL returns for more directional randomness.

    Clearly I need some more education on this, but so far I like this concept and putting the CL pumps on the bench top near the tank will help reduce head pressure?

    These calculations are still a bit fuzzy to me, but i am getting there. :)