The 180gal Family Project

[tbittner]

Nikki, have you all decided where you are going to put the tank? This setup will weigh in at close to 2,000 pounds so make sure the structure can support it.

[nikkipigtails]

Yeah, we have a long, empty entry wall when you first walk into our house. When you walk into our house, there's a long, empty wall on the right and our living room is on the left. Our house is built on a slab so it should be ok. We just need to find a new place for all the baby toys.

[nikkipigtails]

Here's the wall...

[BigAl07]

Slab is ALWAYS good! Our new house is designed so that one section is "Slab on grade" for the sole reason of the Monster Tank! Just makes life so much easier that way!

Can't wait to watch it GROW!!!

[nikkipigtails]

Yeah, we're lucky, you go 10 miles south and all the houses are built off-grade because they're closer to the water. We are prone to hurricanes in this area.

[nikkipigtails]

K...so...we ordered our lights last night. 4x400w MH/ 4x80w T5. It's not in a retro, it's all in one housing. I'd prefer the lights to be set up without a housing b/c it's easier to get to something to change/fix it without having to take it all off/apart. But...we couldn't beat the price.

We're going to get our skimmer this weekend. There's a pet store that's trying to get rid of a Nautilus skimmer. We talked to the owner and he said just to make him an offer, he took just over $100 for the last one. We went Sunday, but he wasn't there so we're going back this Saturday.

We want to order the bulkheads this week so our friend can drill it for us soon. We're going to have 2 drains, 2 returns and one CL. Any advice on what size bulkheads to use?

[BarbMazz]

Project looks wonderful, Nikki, and Olivia is the cutest little one.

Your wall color where the tank is going looks just like my bedroom color.. it wouldn't be called Sleepy Blue, would it?

Your tank will look gorgeous there, and what an entrance into the house!! I wonder if anyone will continue walking IN to the house... they might all stall right there in the entranceway!

[nikkipigtails]

Originally Posted by Dentoid

Do small tiles of mirror, like a disco ball!

Actually...I think that would look pretty cool. Just time consuming. Oh well, I'm a stay at home mom now, it's not like I don't have the time.

Currently, the sides and back are all painted and with what paint, I have no clue. Any ideas on how to get it off without damaging the glass or the silicone? We were going to use a razor blade to scrape it off but I worry about scratching the glass. Then we thought about the stuff you paint on that bubbles up the paint and you just wipe the paint off, but I don't know if it would have an impact on the silicone.

[nikkipigtails]

Originally Posted by BarbMazz

Project looks wonderful, Nikki, and Olivia is the cutest little one. thanks...she's the sweetest when she's sleeping...which isn't very often.

Your wall color where the tank is going looks just like my bedroom color.. it wouldn't be called Sleepy Blue, would it? I don't think so...when I asked my husband what preferences he had as far as decorating the house goes, all he said was "blue". LOL.

Your tank will look gorgeous there, and what an entrance into the house!! I wonder if anyone will continue walking IN to the house... they might all stall right there in the entranceway! Yeah, the cool part is that we have a sectional and one "wing" of the sectional looks at the entry wall and the other looks at the TV. It's the best of both worlds.

[nikkipigtails]

I know this is the wrong place to post this pic...but I went into my daughter's room and found this...


Oh, and I haven't gotten a response about the bulkhead sizes.

[tbittner]

Originally Posted by nikkipigtails

Yeah, we're lucky, you go 10 miles south and all the houses are built off-grade because they're closer to the water. We are prone to hurricanes in this area.

Something just doesn't seem right about using those two phrases together in the same paragraph.

[tbittner]

For the bulkheads, 10% flow through the fuge/sump would be 1,800 gph. For the drains, two 1 1/4" bulkheads would provide that plus a little more. For the returns, 3/4" is more than enough. In fact, that is a perfect size if you want to attach locline to the inside of the bulkhead because the 3/4" adapter will screw into the inside of the bulkhead.

Through the CL, you'd probably want another 2,200 gph flow. It's advisable to have two drains for the CL too so if one gets clogged, the other one can provide the flow to the pump so it doesn't burn the pump up. If these are also 1 1/4", that would be plenty. I'd make the returns for the CL 3/4" too for the reason stated above. On a six foot tank I would want 3, if not 4 more returns for the CL. This would give you 5 or 6 return holes so you can get a nice even flow throughout the entire tank.

Does that make sense?

[blue_eyes53813]

I cant waite to follow your build, Olivia is adorable... Im so glad you are starting her in reefing early... The kitten is part of the family too... Im sure it will have its paws in the tank sometime, lol

[nikkipigtails]

Originally Posted by tbittner

For the bulkheads, 10% flow through the fuge/sump would be 1,800 gph. For the drains, two 1 1/4" bulkheads would provide that plus a little more. For the returns, 3/4" is more than enough. In fact, that is a perfect size if you want to attach locline to the inside of the bulkhead because the 3/4" adapter will screw into the inside of the bulkhead.

Through the CL, you'd probably want another 2,200 gph flow. It's advisable to have two drains for the CL too so if one gets clogged, the other one can provide the flow to the pump so it doesn't burn the pump up. If these are also 1 1/4", that would be plenty. I'd make the returns for the CL 3/4" too for the reason stated above. On a six foot tank I would want 3, if not 4 more returns for the CL. This would give you 5 or 6 return holes so you can get a nice even flow throughout the entire tank.

Does that make sense?

PERFECT!! Thank you. I was waiting for a response about the bulkheads. We want to get them really soon.

And as for the hurricanes...we are lucky. My father-in-law's house is on a lagoon and the entire front caved in with Hurricane Ivan. We were only out of power for 3 weeks but we didn't have any damage. He had to completely rebuild their house. In fact, had Pensacola been below sea level, like New Orleans, we probably would have had the same amount of damage from Ivan as they did from Katrina. We are very lucky.

And the kitten...we're trying to find a home for it. We already have 3 other cats...any takers?

We're hoping that Olivia will catch the reefing bug like we did.

[nikkipigtails]

We got our RO/DI unit today. This rocks b/c this means we don't have to buy water from the LFS anymore (which is over an hour away). It's a 5 stage 100 gpd unit. I almost get sick when I think of how much money we've spent on water especially when we take into consideration how much gas costs now.