About 6 years ago I broke down my 180 gallon reef as I needed to move into an apartment which didn't allow aquariums.
Pic of Previous Aquarium:
I set up a small 12 gallon in my office to hold me over, but never really had the time to enjoy it at work, and the small size was very limiting.
Fast forward 6 years and I have gotten married, bought a condo, and very recently, had a son. When dating my now wife she would love to lay down and watch the slow movement of the reef in the 180 gallon. After we bought the condo we had talked about the possibility of getting a larger tank. Being budget conscious I kept an eye out for a turnkey used setup. A few years later while sitting home changing diapers and holding bottles two weeks after my son was born, it happened. I came across the perfect setup. Great dimensions, starfire, rimless, all great equipment, and for a price that almost felt wrong. So I handed my wife the kid, got a van and a friend, and went to pick it up.
The purchase included:
110 Gallon Leemar Rimless Starfire tank 55x26x18 with corner overflow
Stand
35 gallon Artfully acrylic sump
Artfully Acrylic mesh tank cover
Vertex Omega 180 Skimmer
Ecotech M1 return
2- Vortech MP40QD
2- Radion XR30 Pro
2- Heaters
Apex Controller with power bar
WXM Module
2- ecotech battery backups
BRS Dual chamber reactor
Big Jaebo pump I use for water changes
Hospital tank with HOB filter
25 lbs of live rock
The stand was a little water damaged, and since this is being setup on the second floor, I built a new stand to be sure it was sturdy. I also wanted to include a separate compartment for electronics to prevent corrosion. Stand is built from kiln dried 2x4s from home depot, jointed and planed down to get straight and true boards. Baltic birch plywood (left over from other projects) is used for all the flat panels. The electronics compartment also adds rigidity to the structure. All the 2x4 joints are dominoed and pocket hole screwed together.
View from the right side with all the electronics mounted. I added an opto relay triggered off the 0-10v of the Apex to engage the feed mode of the M1 vectra. (since ecotech wont let their return pumps talk to the apex)
With all the plumbing in place. I put a shower pan liner in the bottom of the stand to waterproof it. Adding the electronics compartment meant there is not enough room for my 5 gallon ATO tank. I'm contemplating running a line through the wall, and using a larger 10-20 gallon tank in the closet behind the wall. The return pump feeds through a manifold with 6 valves, one for each of two returns, then four for various items in the sump. One is for the current media reactor, then I'm planning to add a algae scrubber and calcium reactor in the next year, plus a spare. The overflow had a 3/4" and a 1 1/2" bulkhead. So I set up a herbie style overflow, with returns through cpr aquatics return jets hooked over the back glass.
I quickly built the stand so I could get the tank setup so the parts weren't filling our dining room anymore. In my rush I didn't skin it in any finished panels. My initial thought was to do magnetically attached panels, but I'm thinking with a baby that in the next years will learn to reach up and pull on things, that may be a bad idea. So I'm thinking a basic surface mount hinge with some door panels, but I'm not sure yet.
I combined the rocks from my old 12 gallon, the ones I got with the tank, plus another 30 lbs i got by trading four BTAs at a LFS. I think I have just enough rock for the display. There is also some rubble in the sump. My old tank had sugar size aragonite, but I'm working on swapping it out with caribsea special grade so I can have high flow and syphon the substrate.
Pic of Previous Aquarium:
I set up a small 12 gallon in my office to hold me over, but never really had the time to enjoy it at work, and the small size was very limiting.
Fast forward 6 years and I have gotten married, bought a condo, and very recently, had a son. When dating my now wife she would love to lay down and watch the slow movement of the reef in the 180 gallon. After we bought the condo we had talked about the possibility of getting a larger tank. Being budget conscious I kept an eye out for a turnkey used setup. A few years later while sitting home changing diapers and holding bottles two weeks after my son was born, it happened. I came across the perfect setup. Great dimensions, starfire, rimless, all great equipment, and for a price that almost felt wrong. So I handed my wife the kid, got a van and a friend, and went to pick it up.
The purchase included:
110 Gallon Leemar Rimless Starfire tank 55x26x18 with corner overflow
Stand
35 gallon Artfully acrylic sump
Artfully Acrylic mesh tank cover
Vertex Omega 180 Skimmer
Ecotech M1 return
2- Vortech MP40QD
2- Radion XR30 Pro
2- Heaters
Apex Controller with power bar
WXM Module
2- ecotech battery backups
BRS Dual chamber reactor
Big Jaebo pump I use for water changes
Hospital tank with HOB filter
25 lbs of live rock
The stand was a little water damaged, and since this is being setup on the second floor, I built a new stand to be sure it was sturdy. I also wanted to include a separate compartment for electronics to prevent corrosion. Stand is built from kiln dried 2x4s from home depot, jointed and planed down to get straight and true boards. Baltic birch plywood (left over from other projects) is used for all the flat panels. The electronics compartment also adds rigidity to the structure. All the 2x4 joints are dominoed and pocket hole screwed together.
View from the right side with all the electronics mounted. I added an opto relay triggered off the 0-10v of the Apex to engage the feed mode of the M1 vectra. (since ecotech wont let their return pumps talk to the apex)
With all the plumbing in place. I put a shower pan liner in the bottom of the stand to waterproof it. Adding the electronics compartment meant there is not enough room for my 5 gallon ATO tank. I'm contemplating running a line through the wall, and using a larger 10-20 gallon tank in the closet behind the wall. The return pump feeds through a manifold with 6 valves, one for each of two returns, then four for various items in the sump. One is for the current media reactor, then I'm planning to add a algae scrubber and calcium reactor in the next year, plus a spare. The overflow had a 3/4" and a 1 1/2" bulkhead. So I set up a herbie style overflow, with returns through cpr aquatics return jets hooked over the back glass.
I quickly built the stand so I could get the tank setup so the parts weren't filling our dining room anymore. In my rush I didn't skin it in any finished panels. My initial thought was to do magnetically attached panels, but I'm thinking with a baby that in the next years will learn to reach up and pull on things, that may be a bad idea. So I'm thinking a basic surface mount hinge with some door panels, but I'm not sure yet.
I combined the rocks from my old 12 gallon, the ones I got with the tank, plus another 30 lbs i got by trading four BTAs at a LFS. I think I have just enough rock for the display. There is also some rubble in the sump. My old tank had sugar size aragonite, but I'm working on swapping it out with caribsea special grade so I can have high flow and syphon the substrate.
