The 180gal Family Project

[nikkipigtails]

lol...he was so nervous about drilling our tank for us. He's been friends with Tommy's dad for years. The first hole took 20 minutes, but every one after that took less than 5.

Oh...and we named the peppermint shrimp Patti...like Peppermint Patti ha ha ha ha

[Craig Manoukian]

Great job Nikki, looks awesome. Plumbing away, eh?

[tbittner]

My wife will be THRILLED to know that there is a shrimp with her name out there. Now I can be like Astro on the Jetsons when George got shrunk down. "Look at the shrimp! Look at the shrimp!"

Of course, she DOES hit pretty hard so maybe that isn't such a good idea...

[thelastmucci]

those holes are pretty cool lookin...I can't believe how thick that glass is.

[JoJo]

congrats on the progress.

[nikkipigtails]

lol, Terry...prolly not such a good idea.

Yup, Craig, plumbing away...but painting first.

Yeah, the glass is 1/2" on the sides and 1" on the bottom. To steal your line, Terry...this tank is built like a TANK. I'm going to paint it today if it warms up a little. If not, I'll have Tommy tape it up for me and I'll paint it tomorrow. Olivia had too good of a nap yesterday and has been up all night so I'm going to try to get a nap sometime today.

[tbittner]

Like Lynns signature says, putting a saltwater tank together and getting it stocked, isn't a race. The faster you go, the harder you crash.

So take your time. You're doing an awesome job.

[Doot77]

Congrats on getting the tank drilling all done, its coming along nicely.

[nikkipigtails]

Don't worry, Terry - we're not rushing. I don't work so I have the time to work on the tank when I want so it may seem like it's moving along faster than others. I know that's not a luxury many people have so I'm pretty lucky. Besides, Tommy and I want to work on this project together so we have to work on the big stuff when he's in town, which isn't very often. We're definately not rushing it when it comes to stocking. We learned our lesson with our first tank 3 years ago. We also want to experiment with a few DIY projects and make sure those work before we put anything in the tank.

[BarbMazz]

Just got caught up, Nikki. Looks great, and wow that is thick glass. That tank must be pretty heavy!

I like your shrimpy name; peppermint patti!

[althea2you]

tank is really progressing! great job!!! and the rocks look real nice!!

[nikkipigtails]

Thanks Barb and Sarah. The tank is pretty friggin heavy. We've got to have 4 strong guys to move it.

Update: The sump is officially finished and looking pretty strange with black silicone on some parts of it. Tommy wanted to finish it up since he hasn't gotten to do much yet so he finished it up last night.

The first can of spray paint is on the tank. We ended up going with a dark blue metallic that looks really awesome. When the light hits it the whole thing shimmers like crazy but not in an obnoxious way. I can't wait to see it all on. I didn't realize how much it would take to get it to look even on the inside of the glass. Oh, well...off to Lowe's.

[JoJo]

lets see those pics

[AQTCJAK]

looks good nikki. I would suggest schedule 80 bulk heads they are very durable & will no break or leak like the plastic ones will

[nikkipigtails]

Originally Posted by AQTCJAK

looks good nikki. I would suggest schedule 80 bulk heads they are very durable & will no break or leak like the plastic ones will

You know, we were going to go with Sch 80 then Tommy talked to someone who said not to waste the money, that he's used Sch 40 on everything he's ever owned and they've never leaked so that's what Tommy got. I don't know...hopefully we won't have a problem.