Twisteds 180- the final upgrade

[twisted]

Well this is the beginning of my new adventure. over the next week ill be setting up my new 180! It's taken 2 years of bugging the mrs to let me have a certain wall in the house after she turned down the monster tank at the last minute...lol...
the tank is reef ready, wheat oak stand/canopy and will have a 20 gal sump and a 46gal bowfront fuge underneath. i plan to remove the door that the fuge is in and have that hold cheato, xenia, 30 lbs of liverock and will be barebottom since the maroon will not be invited to the 180 the fuge will also be his home. he is the biggest pia and is lucky i like him as much as i hate him.
i dont plan on adding too many other fish to the tank other than a school of firefish and a few more anthias.
today i ordered
160 lbs argonite sand
80lbs live sand
75 lbs marco dry rock
i also plan to use the sand from the 45 fuge thats hooled to the 45. there is about 80 lbs in there. its only about 4 months old so i dont think it should cause too much issue in the new tank.
the 20 gal sump will hold a c skim 1800 and the gfo reactor. it will have a float valve on the overflow pipe and also an emergency overflow just in case the valve fails. the overflow will empty into a resorvoir with a battery backed up pump to return water to the main tank. i plan to keep my icecap light and if the sides seem too dark ill add a powerbrite or something on each side but i think the icecap will do the job.
if you follow my 75 thread, you know you can expect LOTS of pics since im even more stoked about this build.
Anyways, just wanted to get this thingy started! ill get some pics up starting delivery day!

[Jessie Nicoletti]

so am i understanding your maroon will be under the main tank in a 46 bow in a cabinet ? hmm could you set it up next to the tank on its own stand so u can still see him ect

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Oh... This is gonna be good...

[Original Fin]

Eagerly awaiting the pics. Woohoo!

[twisted]

so am i understanding your maroon will be under the main tank in a 46 bow in a cabinet ? hmm could you set it up next to the tank on its own stand so u can still see him ect

no, he wont be getting any special treatment. if i had the room, i....na, i wouldnt....he had his chance to shape up...lol...he'll be happy down there with some xenia, and some of his gsp. there are many times i wanted to go spear fishing or just plain fishing for that sob, and id'a thrown him on a piece of bread and some ketchup and ate his a$$. he has broken so many corals and chased so many of my wifes favorite fish into the nem, hes lucky he has a tank at all....

[twisted]

Eagerly awaiting the pics. Woohoo!

tank will be here between noon and 2 today! im getting real excited! ill take pics when it gets here and placing it and post them tonight. Madison is getting pics with her grandparents today and it will complete the making all the g-parents happy since they have all had their turn...lol

Oh... This is gonna be good...

yeah, it will. i just cant wait to see this thing. my boss's friend had it and never set it up. he said it was a beautiful and not the cheaper tank stand combo. only a few more hours!

[twisted]

It has begun! just a quick pic, i gotta take the wife to the mall now...lol.. yeah, it came with doors

[okiestranger]

thats awesome. im looking for a new tank as well not having any luck try to find a tank in small town oklahoma. lol any way know any good sites for ordering a tank?

[Chasman]

Looks nice Twisted. You will probably get that up and running before I do. Lol. Is that going to run a full siphon drain with a back up?

Look forward to your build.

Chasman

[twisted]

Heres where im at
tank is full and salt level is .026
sump is installed and fired up. did a power off test and water stopped 3" from the top of the sump
160 lbs of sand arrived today and is in the tank.
80 more lbs will be added when i break down the fuge on the 75 the day before i move the fish and corals over
installed the doors on the stand and things are looking good!....other than the cloud in the tank...lol
rock arrives tommorrow!!!!!!!!!
i post some pics on saturday

[twisted]

heres a few pics of my progress.

[Chasman]

Twisted

I can't believe you got that tank up and running in 5 days! I've been screwing around with mine for two months.

Looks great though. What kind of sand did you use, and where did you get it from. Thats one of the last things I need to deal with for mine.

Chasman

[metalhead]

Sweet!

[Nemo's Buddy]

It has begun! just a quick pic, i gotta take the wife to the mall now...lol.. yeah, it came with doors

Sweet! I wish mine was going to be that big!
I'm looking forward to this coming together.

Mike

[twisted]

Twisted

I can't believe you got that tank up and running in 5 days! I've been screwing around with mine for two months.

Looks great though. What kind of sand did you use, and where did you get it from. Thats one of the last things I need to deal with for mine.

Chasman

hey chas . igot the rock and argonite sand from marco rock. the sand is nice but a little finer than i realized but ill deal with it. here is some of the rock

[Chasman]

Twisted

Rock looks nice. I did check out their sand and decided it was a bit too fine for my liking. I'm sure it will work though. I think I'm going to use Agramax Select or Seaflor Special Grade.

Chasman

[twisted]

so, heres the update.
after a big mess with the sand, i ended up draining the tank and getting it out. i got a bum batch of it that was mostly silt. today was a big pia. i got everything done and cleaned out and am about 20 gal away from turning on the pumps. i spent the day making water and running all over buying ro water. i got pretty lucky with the highest tds level being 3. the sand was a nasty job removing. i had about 3 or 4" of this stuff in the overflow boxes and...it was everywhere. Marco Rocks is taking care of me on this and sending 50 to 75lbs of rock to reimburse me. ill add a sand bed a little at a time unless i come across some cash. this mess took the rest of my funding after buying lots of water and another bucket of salt. i got a mag 8 from a friend and really like the water flow it gives. heres some picks of round 2...
this is what was in the tank

refilling

today was a long day

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

You weren't joking! More like mud than sand. That's good that they're taking care of you though. Here's hoping to no more setbacks .

[Chasman]

Twisted

I found more than one guy on another forum that had the same experience as you with that sand. Sorry you had such a mess on your hands. That's what convinced me not to get it and now that you have experienced it too I will definately go for something a little less fine. I'm sure you will get it worked out though.

Chasman

[twisted]

hey guys! things have been real busy around here getting this mess straightened out. the tank is back up and running with all the bad sand out and a new sandbed of aragamax and black and white live sand from carib sea. Marco Rocks took good care of me with the mess and sent me some really nice dry rock and some pieces of some premium cuts. despite all the mess and work in draining,cleaning and refilling, im still very pleased with my experience with marco rock. people make mistakes and these guys made it right the best they could. and i gotta add, if you are looking for some nice rock(I know ive highly recommended BRS rock and still do) but Marco has some really nice stuff too so check them out. For customer service, they are both companies that are second to none in customer satisfaction! ill get some pics up when the dust clears. should be tommorrow eveningish at the rate its clearing. by then, i should have all the new rock in and locked down