The 180gal Family Project

[BarbMazz]

Pink is definitely her color! What a doll

Sounds like you got a lot of good things done the last couple days. I'll bet when she starts to sleep through the night that you will, too.

[tbittner]

Gorgeous young lady! Must take after her mother.

For the baffles, remember that they won't have them much pressure on them EXCEPT for the one that the pump sits in. And if you have an ATO up and working, even that baffle won't get that much pressure on it. There will be close to equal pressure on both sides of the baffles. The baffles are used to break up/isolate bubbles and to keep the fuge contents contained while still allowing pods to swim over to the pump section to get pumped up to the tank.

While water proof is obviously desirable, it's not absolutely, positively necessary.

[nikkipigtails]

Thanks, guys...she's so perfect!

Anyway...I decided to post a picture of the sump so far. This is actually a picture of what will be the back of the sump (because the silicone looks crappy from this side). Everything's still being propped up.

Sections from left to right...1st section is the skimmer section with bubble trap in the back corner. The next 3 baffles are the seconde bubble trap. The section after that is the return section. The last section is the refuge. I still have to glue a strip of eggcrate to the top of that baffle. The drain directly above the skimmer section will drain into the first bubble trap. The drain on the other side of the tank will have a ball valve to allow tank water to trickle into the fuge and agitate the water surface. The rest of the water coming from that drain will empty directly into the skimmer section. The water from the skimmer section will go through the next bubble trap and into the return section. We'll eventually intall a phosban reactor, a kalk doser, etc. I haven't figured out where we're going to put an auto top off yet, in the beginning we'll just have to do it manually. I'm looking into a couple different options. Right now we're just concentrating on getting it up and running so we can put our fish in the home they deserve. We're going to go look at some live rock and some other stuff this guy is getting rid of because he's getting out of the hobby and moving.

[Dentoid]

Nice job Nikki!

[nikkipigtails]

Oh...and our lights STILL haven't come in. They were shipped from South Carolina on March 4th and they only had to come to the gulf coast. I emailed the guy on Friday and findally got a response today...since we haven't received them yet, they're going to ship a new set priority overnight tomorrow. I can't wait! Everything's finally coming together.

[mywivestank]

I think it would be a good idea to go with 1.5" bulkheads for the drains so if you want to plumb larger you will have the option. If not you can just put reducers on it.

[BarbMazz]

I think it looks really good, nikki! I've seen worse jobs with silicone, that's for sure.

Your plan sounds the same as mine was when I was going to have the sump tank in the stand under my DT, so it must be good . Are you going to put some LR rubble in your bubble trap? I was going to try that to see how it worked.

You're definitely getting much closer! Has Tommy seen it yet?

That little cat plaque you have in the background next to the door? I have the same thing, except with dogs!

[tbittner]

Looks great, Nikki! Now go get some sleep!

[JoJo]

Hey nikki & family, i'm just catching up on your thread. it's a good thing you're getting Olivia into aquariums early, she'll always an interesting subject when it comes time for the science experiments in school. my dad started me when i was 6(only FW though). sound like a good plan you're executing, i kinda got lost, did you keep the 1/4" gap between the baffles and sump walls or did you wedge acrylic between them? i had mine cut with a 1/4" gap on both sides because i talked to a couple of people who's sump burst do to expansion/contraction of the baffles/sump walls

[nikkipigtails]

mywifestank: we are going with 1.5" drains and 3/4" returns

Barb: Yes, we're going to put some LR rubble in the first bubble trap. We're interested to see how it works too. From everything I've read it works really well. If you think about it, people replace their bioballs with LR rubble so I'm assuming it performs the same function in the bubble traps. Tommy hasn't seen the sump yet. He's working out of town again. He should be back late Friday night.

JoJo: I cut strips of acrylic to wedge in the gap. The baffles were cut so uneven that on some there are 1/2" gap on both sides and some are 1/4" gap on both sides. Even with the spacers in there, there's some space between the spacers and the baffles. Hopefully it wil be enough.

Olivia's only 3 months old and she already loves her fish. I'm hoping it will pay off. I can't wait to consolidate the tanks...it means a lot less work for me.

Oh, Terry: I got 7 hours sleep last night. I think it's because of the weather. I always sleep when it rains, I'd never make it in Seattle. I don't know what to do with myself right now.

[nikkipigtails]

We got our lights today, well, half the lights. We ordered a 4x400W MH/4x80W T5 with moon LEDs retro. We got the reflective housing, the MH bulbs and one of the ballasts. We're missing all the T5 bulbs, the UV shield and the other ballast. This thing was shipped over 2 weeks ago and never came so he priority shipped a new set on the 19th so they tried to make it right, it just looks like we're just missing another crate. Maye it'll ome tomorrow. We're going to get about 100 lbs of LR tomorrow. YAY!

[tbittner]

Well, THAT will keep you busy all weekend.

[thelastmucci]

in best Mr. Burns impression..."excellent"

[Dentoid]

How are you going to sleep tonight? Sound exciting! Have fun, can't wait to see the new LR.

[thelastmucci]

me either..looking forward to pics first thing in the morning.