Picked Up My 180 Gallon Today! 6x2x2

[jgray152]

This tank is huge compaired to what im used to.

For $800 US I got the glass tank, custom stand and hood, lighting, fx5, 3 power heads, 2 300watt heaters and 80lbs of crushed coral. I couldn't pass the deal so as many times as I had to push off the pickup date, I was able to get it today. I had to leave me house at 6AM to drive 3.5 hours to the guys house, pick it up, and drive 3.5 hours back.

I have to clean it up which will take a few days and I still need to make room for it but I will get pics of it soon

 

[dthoffsett]

This tank is huge compaired to what im used to.

For $800 US I got the glass tank, custom stand and hood, lighting, fx5, 3 power heads, 2 300watt heaters and 80lbs of crushed coral. I couldn't pass the deal so as many times as I had to push off the pickup date, I was able to get it today. I had to leave me house at 6AM to drive 3.5 hours to the guys house, pick it up, and drive 3.5 hours back.

I have to clean it up which will take a few days and I still need to make room for it but I will get pics of it soon

No fair! I'm insanely jealous! Nice deal.

 

[jgray152]

haha. You wouldn't believe all the BS I had to go through to be able to get this tank. Maybe I will post this "story" some other time.

Basically, it works off of the "if your supposed to have it you will get it and if not you won't" deal. Well after everything was going in the wrong direction it felt like I was not suppose to have it. I decided to fight for it though, I tried and tried and tried and I GOT! hheheheh.

I have large plans for this tank. The hood I had to finish since the guy started building it but never got around to finish it. Im going to put a styro background in the tank. The 2 300watt heaters that it has I will use for now but im going with 2 HYDOR 300watt inline heaters. Since they are for use on 5/8" tubing, im going to have to split the 1" tubing from the Fx5 into 2 5/8" tubing for the heaters and than merge them back into a single 1" tube.

Since I will be using inline heaters im also going to set it up so that I can hook a hose to the output of filter to the heaters and have a slow flow from the hose to fill the tank up when doing water changes and the water should be heated up to a safe level before it enters the tank.

 

[SJ2K]

Pictures?

 

[fishyfreak]

I just bought the exact same size tank, it's beautiful and it brings a tear to my eye every time I look at it, fortunately it was only 30 mins away but it wouldn't have mattered, there were no lengths I wouldn't have gone to get it. Once my wife saw the gleam in my eyes she new that was it! I told her not to worry, she'll always be a close #1

 

[abzorbd]

Awesome. I can't wait until I can afford a bigger tank. I have a 55 right now. With as much as I want to go bigger, I wonder how I ever did it when I only had my 20 and then 30.

 

[waterdrop]

wow, that's huge!

"Since I will be using inline heaters im also going to set it up so that I can hook a hose to the output of filter to the heaters and have a slow flow from the hose to fill the tank up when doing water changes and the water should be heated up to a safe level before it enters the tank. "

I would expect cold tap water to be too cold for the Hydors to heat up in one pass. Will be interesting to hear whether you can adjust this to the correct trickle, but then again maybe this will be easy since even starting at 50 or 75% of a 180G would mean a huge stable temp mass of water the cooler water is flowing in to.

waterdrop

 

[jgray152]

Ya I don't think I would be able to go full flow from the hose through the inline heaters. Im hopping I can find a slow flow and atleast get the water temp up to 50*F or higher before entering the tank. I think it will help having the 2 inline heaters splitting the flow and heating it up better than all of the cold water going through one heater. Thinking of getting some water flow meters so I know exactly how much is flowing and kinda do a chart, flow rate vs. temp increase. I also hope that since its such a large body of water, a simple 25 40% water change shouldn't drop the temp that much and keep it within safe levels.

I just bought the exact same size tank, it's beautiful and it brings a tear to my eye every time I look at it, fortunately it was only 30 mins away but it wouldn't have mattered, there were no lengths I wouldn't have gone to get it. Once my wife saw the gleam in my eyes she new that was it! I told her not to worry, she'll always be a close #1

Yup, my Fish tanks are #1 to me, my gf is just like you said, almost #1 hahaha.

Awesome. I can't wait until I can afford a bigger tank. I have a 55 right now. With as much as I want to go bigger, I wonder how I ever did it when I only had my 20 and then 30.

Leme give you a few hints about how to deal with the 180Gal.
1.) No bucketing water! Will take you all day and you'll go through house water heaters every year haha.
2.) Find a spot and don't move it!
3.) Prey to God your floor will support it! My fllor sagged when I had my 55 where it was. There was about a 3/8" gap between the floor and the baseboard for the whole time I had the 55 gal. Right after we moved it, the floor has come up that amount! Im installing some steel posts under the floor before I put the 180Gal in its spot.

This tank must weight about 400lbs or so maybe a little less. Looks like 3/8 - 1/2" glass.

I moved my 55 gallon today with my GF. That was a chore!

 

[jgray152]

So I was doing some more thinking and researching and mygut feeling is that the inline heaters just may not cut it. So im thinking of use a tankless water heater from Titan Water heaters. http/www.titanheater.com/tankless_water_heater_inside.php

They are designed to be resistant to mineral deposits. I could use the N-10 model since its 110v and not 220v. Although I can wire up a 220v model. $250 US for the heater. Lil pricey but seems like the only way I can fill the tank safely.

 

[kj23502]

Wow!! I'm excited for you!!! Let us know how it progresses!!

 

[jgray152]

Thanks! Im excited as well! I just still need to get it in my room some how and suport the floor haha.

The powerheads I decided im not going to use so if someone wants them let me know. They are rated at 20watts each which means they probubly consume about 30watts each thats 60-90watts of continuous power for 1200 total GPH. lil much. Each is rated at 400 GPH. So I found some real strong power heads that put out from 600 GPH @ 8 watts and one that puts out 1200 GPH @ 11 watts. I think I found a 1500 GPH power head at 8 watts as well. Im looking into wide dispersed power heads. Not jet engines. Don't need thrust lol.

Looking into lighting as well. Im wanting to go with the IceCap retrofit kits. One kit is about $312 for a kit that will hold 4x 2' T5 bulbs. I may go with 2 kits that will hold 2x 2' t5 bulbs so I can put each on a timer.

 

[adamgreen240]

nice find mate!! Cant wait to see the pictures!!

 

[jgray152]

Ok so here is a crappy picture of the tank that I took with my cell phone. You can get an idea of what the tank looks like. More pics will come shortly I hope.

It will be a couple months before I am able to put fish in it. It will probubly be 6 months before I buy the powerhead, lighting and heating for it as well. So for now I will have to use what came with the tank which will work for now.

There is one very large problem I see in my near future.... I live with my mother right now. Next year after paying off a bunch of bills, I hope to get my own apartment. Who the hell is going to allow me to have this 180 gallon swiming pool in an apartment!! haha. It will have to be the first floor and I may have to pay for flood insurance hehehe.

 

[waterdrop]

So I was doing some more thinking and researching and mygut feeling is that the inline heaters just may not cut it. So im thinking of use a tankless water heater from Titan Water heaters. [URL="http/www.titanheater.com/tankless_water_heater_inside.php"]http/www.titanheater.com/tankless_water_heater_inside.php[/URL]

They are designed to be resistant to mineral deposits. I could use the N-10 model since its 110v and not 220v. Although I can wire up a 220v model. $250 US for the heater. Lil pricey but seems like the only way I can fill the tank safely.

Have you talked with the Titan people about your application? Since they are designing their units to be whole-house water heaters, the assumptions might somehow be different. I would just talk to them. I mean, they say they sample input/output temp diffs 21 times per second, which sounds outstanding but it would just seem like a good idea to verify things since with aquarium-specific heaters the designers know you want to maintain constantly within a degree whereas with home water the steadiness of the output temp might not be thought of as a needed parameter. Just a thought.

Your tank looks/sounds really fun! ~~waterdrop~~

 

[jgray152]

I am only using the heater to fill the tank and not to maintain the water temp. Sorry for the confusion, should have been a lil more clear . I will use inline heaters to maintain the tanks constant temp but the Titan heater will be used to warm the water from a hose or cold water supply to a safe acceptible level before entering the tank.

I figure using the Titan heater would be better than using warm water from our hotwater tank which probubly has deposits, which I have been using anyways for a while now.