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180gallon Community/Planted Tank

32K views 161 replies 30 participants last post by  kacairns 
#1 ·
Well a couple of weeks ago I decided I would buy a 180gallon drilled tank from King Ed Pet Centre and will be picking it up soon. Last Saturday I started to work on getting the room ready that it will be going in, cleaning it out, applying a couple of coats of kitchen/bath paint and of course as soon as I was done that I immediately started building my custom stand for it. Stand is made out of 3/4 good 2 side oak, doweled and stapled with a Cherry stain and 2-4 coats of semi gloss clear coat depending on what part of the cabinet it is.

I have a good idea what I'll be stocking the tank with, not set in stone yet, but I plan to have the tank up and running for 2-3 months with just plants and maybe a small school of neon tetra to begin with while I fine tune everything.

My son helping to put in the dowels for the dry fit of the cabinet pieces



Clear coating the cabinet pieces after staining



My two little helpers they weighed down the top as I screwed it down to the base



Due to where the fish tank will be located in the house I had to make the cabinet so it was multiple pieces. Left and right sides where shelving can be installed are separate boxes and I've used 1"x1" corner brackets to tie the kick plate, the top support and the counter top all down to each other. All hidden unless you get on your back and lay down inside the cabinet. If I need to in the future move the stand all I have to do is remove a few screws. The centre shelf is where I'll be placing the sump and can easily be removed as well. I still plan to put doors on at least the centre of the cabinet to hide the sump and possibly on the sides where the shelving are but all depends what I have left for material once canopy is made and sump doors are done.
 
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#4 ·
Thanks charles

I was figuring on having 50 or so cardinal as part of the final inhabitants of the tank.

Maybe I will try a fishless cycle save some money and not risk harming the fish
 
#5 ·
do a fishless with store bought anmonia. Works well.

I have worked and setup a tank like yours but with a little different biotope. Instead of fully planted (I have to service it, so I don't want to spend hours trimming plants), we do a river bank look with rocks and branches and a big long trunk of wood across.

For the fish, we have 200 cardinals, 100 rummynose, 100 pencil, 200 hatchet, 100 cory, a few rams here and there, a few plecos, and 2 angels. The angels are there to keep the small tetra to school tight together. It looks very neat when you see a ball of cardinals move around in two groups whenever the big angels are coming by.
 
#6 ·
Why not get a Friend to Seed your Tank for you? I just helped a Friend of mine seed His 120 Gal. Tank and on First Day threw a Doz. Guppies in,3 weeks later Water Parameters are near perfect and the Guppies have been breeding. I just put some of my already seeded filter media (Whisper Filter Pads) into 2 of His Aquaclears and squeezed some of the pads into the Water Column,it's a great way to get a Tank started,I've done it many times with nothing but great results.
 
#7 ·
That is another option I was considering, although a fishless cycle will be a learning experience to so I might go that route. The wife is due end of October so theres no rush for me getting fish into the tank, and I plan let the plants grow out, do modifications and so on for first few months to get everything ironed out. Then I can turn the 29gallon tank we have into a hospital/quarantine tank.

I will probably be adding co2 and possibly a either a drip or a dosing pump for ferts. I think I'll probably go with a drip system as I can hide it in the canopy and would be cheaper as well
 
#8 ·
Tank is in the room now plus sump. Now I have to see how much energy I have to do the plumbing as moving that sucker took almost everything I had with the corners I had to go around, standing it up on edge to get it through the door into the room and so on... Oh well minor drywalll repairs and painting to be done at least I didn't have to take out studs/door jambs like I thought I might!

 
#9 ·
lol .....minor drywalll repairs. Nice to see ya finally got it Kevin...look forward to the updates. The stand looks great. Very envious, wish I could fit that size tank in my place
 
#11 ·
Well the wife decided to have her water break at 33 weeks into the pregnancy so I haven't had much time to finish the setup, she gave birth on Sunday morning to a beautiful little alien, errrr daughter at 33 weeks 5 days weighing 4 pounds 2 ounces.

I managed to get a few hours of work in today before the migraine came on so thought I'd update this.

Start of the lighting into the canopy, yes I know part of it isn't stained! I ran out of stain for that last little bit :(. When done it will be running 3 rows of white, 2 rows of blue and 2 rows of red all setup to different timing


I decided to make life easier and setup a 44gallon trash can to age water, I've put a sump in the bottom of it and hard plumbed it. I've set it up so that the inlet hose can be placed in the tank to remove water from the tank, or left in the bucket to remove water from the bucket. Outlet has a 2way splitter on it one with a 20ft hose and other with a 6ft hose. 20ft hose can be run to sink to drain for water change from tank and can hookup to faucet at sink to refill the bucket. Other side of the splitter has a 6ft hose that can just be run into the tank when refilling from the pre-aged water in the bucket. I siliconed the sump the bottom of the bucket and placed a 3/4 pvc frame inside the bucket to act as a brace for the sump which is zap strapped to it and as well support a sheet of egg crate so hoses can be neatly rolled up when done and stored in the bucket top out of the water.




Not sure when I'll get around to actually getting around to aquascaping as it could be upwards of a month before the baby is home from the hospital but I'll keep updating as I do things =)
 
#13 ·
This is third child, I've had no time because I'm playing Mr. Mom right now on top of working 40+ hours a week... wearing thing and I'm coming down with a cold now that kids are in school :(
 
#15 ·
Nice start. Too bad I didn't see this thread earlier. If you're going to fully plant this tank and stock it lightly, fishless cycle is a waste of time as the plants are a net consumer of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and will consume those products in that order. So when you add the ammonia in, the plants will just take it up. Just put the water in and scape it and plant it with lots of plants, make sure temp, pH is stable and there is no chlorine and add the fish.

Here's an article that explains why this works. Cycling a Planted Tank | Rex's Guide to Planted Tanks
 
#17 ·
I have since decided not to do a fishless cycle, by the time I get around to having this fully setup I don't want it not to be stocked for any longer then needed! Time to go and read, and educate myself more. Thanks =)
 
#16 ·
Just through on the doors and put in the diy spray bar that I made I have a couple of holes drilled pointing to back of tank and most pointing towards front. I made it to replace the megaflow twin flow that came in the kit as I didn't like being limited to the bends I could make using it. I've linked both of the inlets in the tank and I drilled out using 3/16 bit to create same area that the original megalflow twin flow had. I noticed with the extra 3 feet of 3/4 pipe that was now in the tank that the pressure going through the pipe wasn't as great as it needed to be and also the pumps in the sump were almost sucking it dry and sending air up the tube from time to time. Easily solution was increase the amount of water in the sump. I slowly increased the amount of water in the sump until I hit the point where the pumps would run without sending air up the pipe from time to time and then turned everything off and let the sump fill with what was in the overflow and marked the level on the sump. This solved the pressure problem as well which was caused by not enough water being sent up from the sump from "running dry".

Doors were all cut from same piece of oak so the grain runs from one door to the next... sure cost me a extra $55 for the sheet but doing it right for the best look is what matters to me =)


I can change the angle of the pipes as I only glued together certain parts and others are just pressure fit. This will allow me to put the holes fully in the water to prevent too much surface movement for future co2 addition.


 
#19 ·
Doors were all cut from same piece of oak so the grain runs from one door to the next... sure cost me a extra $55 for the sheet but doing it right for the best look is what matters to me =)
It's worth the extra if it's going to be a piece of furniture and not just a prop for the tank. We did our kitchen cabinets this way and everyone notices how the panels run continously across with aligned grained. A very nice look. I very nice setup. May I ask why you opted not to create a "lip" on the top of the stand to cover up the frame of the tank?
 
#18 ·
Congrats on the new baby. They sure do look like Aliens when they are born. LOL. Especially when the are pre mature.

Your tank setup looks great. Cant wait to see how it turns out. I always enjoy watching the DIY builds. Looks like lots of work but Im sure the pay off in the end is well worth it.
 
#21 ·
I see. I don't have the trim on my 125, as I didn't know better when I got back into the hobby, but my tank and stand are both black so it doesn't stand out. I never hoisted the tank into place on the stand. Rather, I left the stand in the middle of the room and put the tank on it and then ran all the electrical and plumbing (canister filters) behind and then just slid the whole thing into place and filled it. You don't have as much room in that space though, since my tank is in the playroom/office in the basement.
 
#22 ·
Well had a little time today to work the canopy, didn't get my connector cords for the sunblaster t5ho, waiting on those so I can throw the canopy on and test the lighting/setup the timing.

I thought about how hot the canopy will get with all the lighting running in it, so I've drilled a couple of air intake holes in the back of it, which will also serve as entry points for the power cords. I also routed out 3 holes in the top of the canopy that will hold 3 antec smartcool 120mm fans. They are thermally controlled so as the canopy gets hotter the fans automatically spin faster. I was going to just use some left over case fans I had, but I haven't cheaped out much now why not spend a extra $60 and go the extra mile.... Will be spliced together using speaker wire and a old 12v power adapter from a phone.



I've also finally figured out what media I will run in the marineland sump and set it all up. I've purchased and cut down Lifegard Aquatics Aquamesh Filter Material (Grey) to fit the tray, 1 piece was able to be cut into 5 so I'll be able to switch out and do deep cleans on the old ones if ever required rather then just a quick rinse. That will be first stage, 2nd stage I've purchased SeaChem Purigen and placed it in "The Bag" to cover the bottom of the 2nd tray. 3rd tray is Bio-chem Stars on one side and Pot Scrubbers on the other. Would I purchase the same sump again? No, if you've got the ability to make your own sump, it is definitely the better way to to go. Plus much cheaper! I only bought it for 1) looks, 2) I knew baby was coming so wanted 1 less thing to do to get it all setup.... and baby decided to come early so my #2 is pointless!



I also added a reefkeeper lite controller and 2 power bars to the system. This little gadget is amazing with all its settings. To do what I wanted with lights and all the other plugs I need I'd have to spend $100 on power bars. I paid just over double for this controller and the extra power bar from J&L and would highly recommend it



Should have connector cords by mid-late week I hope for the lighting so I can free the table in the living room to start planning the aquascape and maybe do a diy background/decorations. Kids are excited, I just wish I had more time right now!

I'm also planning on adding co2 using paintball canister and a drip system for ei dosing which I'm just going over in my head right now. It looks like I should be able to do a 20oz paintball canister co2 with solenoid for about $150 when all said and done.
 
#23 ·
You're going to be paying a lot to get those paintball canisters filled, to dose a 180 gallon with CO2. I run a 20 lb tank in my 125 gallon LED lit, low light setup and it lasts me a year. When I ran higher light it used to last me 6 months. You sure you want to be filling paintball canisters every 2 or 3 weeks?
 
#24 · (Edited)
Lack of room for a 20lb tank right now. I have a bunch of things I need to sell such as left over laminate and so on that are taking up precious space in the room. In fact the trash can is sitting on some plywood that is on top of some of that laminate! Once that stuff is all gone I'll have another 3ft x 4ft area of space in the room to do what I want. I do plan converting over to a larger tank when I can, and selling the laminate and other stuff would of course give me the funds to do so =)

Just a quick question, what do you have your bubble count at on your 125gallon?
 
#25 ·
Just a quick question, what do you have your bubble count at on your 125gallon?
I have never run a separate bubble counter, so I can only guess. I also inject at 2 points: 1 is an UP atomizer and another is a Rhinox diffuser. On the diffuser side, I'm doing maybe 1 bps, so I'm guessing I'm putting about the same amount in the atomizer. I ran a drop checker for a long time but when I when low light I just cranked the injection rate way back. I have a bit of bba here and there so my injection rate is a bit on the low side, but I'm happy with it as I have quite a few plecos over 7" in there and I don't want to choke them out.
 
#26 ·
Few hours more of work done, getting closer to going live. Lighting is now all setup and programmed in the Reefkeeper Lite controller. Lighting is Giesemann Pure Actinic and AquaFlora plus the 6400k white that come with the sunblaster kits.

I've currently set the Actinic to come on at 8am - 10am, AquaFlora from 9:30am - 6:30pm with the 6400k going on from 11:30am - 4:30pm and Actinic once again from 6pm - 8pm. I'm sure I'll be adjusting to less exposure time once system and plants are all up and running, guess it will be trial and error =)





Initial planning of rock and stump, the beautiful stump was purchased from bluebarry awhile back and all the rock came from IPU




Finally my attempt to do a 3D great stuff piece for the tank... first 2 cans worked wonderful and expanded identically, third expanded 5x what the first two did so didn't come out as I'd hoped! Painted with Krylon Fusion Camo, Khaki, Olive and Brown. I've grooved it out so I can plant on the top shelf I created and in the lower bowl area. This was created to hide the wires running down the back of the tank from the canopy



Just waiting on solenoid to arrive and then I'll be able to setup my co2 setup and just trying to figure out what I'm going to use for a storage system for my fert mixtures for my drip system. As soon as those two things happen I'll be ready to get the plants!
 
#30 ·
Thanks IceBlue. Just to make John more envious, I couldn't resist finally getting something in it. I got sick of waiting for everything to be "near perfect"!.

The Great Stuff project was a great disaster! I looked wonderful with HC 'Cuba' surrounding Alternanthera Reineckii 'Purple' on the top shelf and Echinodorus Tenellus planted behind it on the lower bowl area but even with over 10 pounds of gravel on top of the display, gravel over top of the edges of it leaving only top portions of the build ups showing, edges of rocks sitting on top of the eggcrate core of it and silicone to the bottom of the tank, it still wanted to float!

I quickly had to remove it with 1/4 of the tank full of water and threw in the 2nd stump I had that I didn't plan on using so didn't pre-soak it... of course its floating in the tank now but when it decides to sink, it'll fill the void left, or help fill. I must now get another bag of eco-complete black to get more then a 1/2" of coverage in that area!

Rocks are all from IPU, stumps I bought from Bluebarry awhile back and plants are from King Ed Pets, which I picked up this morning. $100 on aquaflora plants, they look wonderful coming out of the containers but stem plants lack stems for planting which made things a little harder. I plan on letting everything grow in especially the drawf hair grass as to cover bottom of a 180gallon would be expensive off the bat!








I got sick of dividing the plants! Especially the dward hair grass and Echinodorus tenellus! Sure you can tell by clumps of it here and there at some points.

The failed great disaster piece


Happy Thanks Giving everyone!
 
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