Build Thread Tsing's 180 - WIP

SingAlongWithTsing

SingAlongWithTsing

Community Member
    • Build Thread
    Jan 1, 2023
    52
    89
    SoCal
    Upgrading tanks so I might as well start a new journal here lol. Hopefully I get everything done by the end of the year.

    Check List
    [X] Build the stand
    [X] Build the light cabinet / support structure
    [X] Build the light shroud
    [ ] Fit/affix the Black ABS wall
    [ ] Build the sump
    [ ] Plumb
    [ ] Pull out control like the one from Redsea
    [ ] Hardscape
    [ ] Plant

    Equipment List for the 180
    - Hand me down 180 gallon acrylic tank with a blue background from my dad.
    - Abandoned 60 gallon acrylic tank from my uncle. Will be welding acrylic baffles and turning it into a sump.
    - ABS Black background, will be siliconed with ASI Black Silicone (they said it works on acrylics so it's a gamble)
    - My old DIY CO2 Regulator
    - My old ozone cone copy cat CO2 Reactors
    - 3x Netlea AT6 Pro
    - UNS Soil
    - My old Jebao DCP 8000 as the main return pump.
    - My old Jebao DCT 6000 as the CO2 reactor pumps.

    Pics of the old 125





    All the 2x4s (actual dimensions 1.5" x 3.5") we're ran through a tablesaw to cut off the rounded edges (bringing it down to 1.5" x 3") just to make things easier to fit.


    Yeah I know I have a corner clamp but it cracked after like 8 years lol.


    The rabbet cuts / detail will come into play later when the stand gets a final coat of BEHR Limousine Leather MQ5-05.

    Cut out slots in the access boxes for the optional knitting mesh. The knitting mesh is just to block bugs from getting in to whichever box I'm not using






    Hit up CKFishWorld last week for some wood


    Quick 5 min scape
     
    Last edited:
    100+ hrs total so far in terms of milling, sanding, cutting, and assembling. not sure how much went to painting cuz my dad volunteered for that lol




    Tank is 72 x 24 x 24
    Stand is 74.5 x 26.5 x 36
    Light cabinet is 74.5 x 13.75 x 75.75
    Ceiling is just really low

    pre-planning the drains and yeah i know the box is reversed lol



    Probably just bgonna re-use a bunch of the old return plumbing from the 125 and order replacement slip fittings for the cepex valves

    3x Netlea AT6 Pro on 2x 72" x 1" steel angles. The angles are screwed together with 4x 1/4" threaded rods and and a couple of nuts



    kinda regret going with 1 large central overflow box instead of 2 smaller corner ones but hopefully the black abs sheet will make it less noticable
     
    First of all good to see you here my friend!

    I love following a new build thread, especially large ones like this. My goodness you have a LOT going there.

    This looks like a fantastic start and I am very much looking forward to following along and seeing where this goes. The old 125 was always one of my favorite tanks, and I expect no less here.

    Keep the updates coming!!
     
    KarateQuat said:
    Hey youre a local to me since I live near CK fish world, glad to know a local hobbyist here
    Click to expand...
    If you can call a 40 min trip local I guess LOL

    Finally got the ABS sheet in.

    Black ASI silicone sticks to acrylic just as well as other silicones from what I can tell but it doesn't stick that well to ABS.
    The weldon will melt the ABS and can possibly have a bit of runoff? (not sure what would be the correct word here) but it will bond it to the acrylic.

    The ABS sheet was suspended to what the front of the tank would be with an old jebao wave maker and gyre I had laying around.
    Ran the perimeter and the overflow holes and then some big x's and zig-zags with the weldon.
    Removed the magnets and dropped the sheet down on to the back of the tank.
    Used a couple of J-rollers to smooth out the sheet and then promptly laid the foam and bricks on top.

    Sides have a bit of a gap, think I might use black ASI silicone to hide em. Hopefully that'll be enough to prevent any water form getting in the back in case I missed any spots with the weldon.





    Check List
    [X] Build the stand
    [X] Build the light cabinet / support structure
    [X] Build the light shroud
    [X] Fit/affix the Black ABS wall
    [ ] Build the sump
    [ ] Plumb
    [ ] Pull out control like the one from Redsea
    [ ] Hardscape
    [ ] Plant
     
    solo moved the 180 back to its new stand



    buffed out what I could on the would be sump


    baffle install




    drilling for the plumbing





    14hrs to do the sump (buffing, cutting, install)

    had to route out a door on the side to get the sump in, didn't want to uninstall the center structural leg and reinstall


    and yeah almost set the stand on fire lol, think the router got gummed up some caulking

    plumbing install









    + another 36 hrs for cutting the side panel for the door and getting the plumbing right
     
    Now this is a build thread! Wow Henry, I dont know whats more impressive here the planning or the execution.

    I bet those Netleas are gonna look sweet. They $hould!! Curious to see them over a real tank. Im on the fence between one of those or Week Aqua for my 75p

    Laughed at "solo moved the 180 back..." haha. Lucky it was close..
     
    Getting the reactors in


    Plumbing

    Co2 Pump to Reactor 1, Main Pump , Reactor 2 to Main Pump

    Splicing the Hydros Flow Sensors in


    I decided to go with the 1" versions due to the min and max range. Rest of my manifold plumbing is 3/4"

    Cable organization


    Paneling and doors front the side of the light cabinet



    Getting into the 10" space to tighten the bulkheads

    and yes my arms were long enough to reach all of the overflow's bulkheads lol

    FTS kind of


    Techinically the tank is ready for water but I have to fight Fedex and eBay cuz my pumps got delivered to the wrong house.

    Planning on building 2 48" x 18" x 75.75" cabinets to go on the sides of the light cabinet.
    Not too sure about the 18" depth yet tbh. 15" Would be good enough to cover the light cabinet and the small gap between it and the back of the tank.
     
    Burr740 said:
    Now this is a build thread! Wow Henry, I dont know whats more impressive here the planning or the execution.

    I bet those Netleas are gonna look sweet. They $hould!! Curious to see them over a real tank. Im on the fence between one of those or Week Aqua for my 75p

    Laughed at "solo moved the 180 back..." haha. Lucky it was close..
    Click to expand...
    Ngl I screwed up a few times on the plumbing, maybe I should total that up at a later date lol.

    Dude Im so glad I installed the caster wheels on the work bench. Cant imagine trying not to bump into anything on the way to the stand.

    Got 1 PAR reading for you lol

    PAR Reading of the 3x Netlea AT6 Pro

    Test conditions


    Approximately 36" (33" on tape + 3" from the housing) from the bottom of the tank to the bottom of the diffuser.

    3/8" Acrylic center brace, with some scratches


    Default settings from the factory


    Result


    Now to solve how much I lost because of the brace

    Approximately 13" between light and the top of the brace. Approximately 517 PAR



    PAR meter directly underneath the brace, approximately 397 PAR



    397/517 = 0.7678916827852998

    so approximately 23.21% loss from the brace lol

    so maybe if someone had a similar set up with a braceless tank they'll be at 178 PAR at 36" ?
     
    What are you thoughts and impressions of the Netlea AT6 lights so far? I think they're pretty new in the US and haven't heard much feedback
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Art
    rzn7z7 said:
    What are you thoughts and impressions of the Netlea AT6 lights so far? I think they're pretty new in the US and haven't heard much feedback
    Click to expand...
    I'm looking at these too and comparing to the Week Aqua a430 Pros. Would love your thoughts. Thanks.
     
    Only things I can say so far:
    Packaging was well done, lots of foam.
    There's a manual on/off touch sensor on the short side of the light, personally I would prefer a button or switch instead.
    PAR Spread seems pretty even at factory settings.



    Built the box for the Controllers when I get em.





    If the box gets too hot I'll cut a slot for a vent on the side door and probably poke a few holes through the box.
     
    Building the hardscape support

    Weldon 16 + egg crate



    Got the wood in the tank some how lol






    Soil, about 2.5" in the front and back left, sloping to about 4" to the back right





    Used the miniblower used for cleaning keyboards to get any aquasoil stuck in the crevices of the wood out


    Transferring plants from the 125 to the 180








    Need to do something about that mass of windelov javafern on the right.
    Got some reineckii mini, chai, rotala jungle juice, mini trident java fern, and bolbitis heudelotti coming in the mail.
    The chai is just gonna be an experiment
     
    Bad news: 5 days after planting some of the buce started dropping their leaves


    Ngl seeing the red ones fall was kinda soul crushing lol


    Could be cuz I took too long to fill the tank or cuz it's basically from transferring from the old tank to the new one.
    About 40% of the substrate is old aqua soil.
    Maybe the tank didnt finishing cycling as fast as I thought it would even with all the media from the old set up?
    They went from being in 160 PAR to about 300 (guess-timate, will double check later).
    Dosing routine is still the same Tropica Clone mix that I've been using for 2+ years.


    Got my Hydros Pro pack in the mail today


    I screwed up and didnt think about thick the XP8 would be when I was building the box lol


    Luckily all I had to do was take a flush-cut to shorten the power brick support bracket and move the the front panel back by like 1.5"


    Installed some cabinet lights too


    Used some left over ABS for the door stop portion, no more banging the back of my head on the sharp end of some L brackets lol


    Some readings from the Hydros APP

    That's my end of day pH. Still have to degas a cup of tank water to see what my pre-CO2 injection pH is.
    And yeah the temp is accurate, I have to figure out how to get fans to blow across the access holes but the brace is getting in the way.
    The Jebao EP-10000M surprisingly performed weaker than I thought, this was at the full 100%. Idk if it's cuz of all the fittings, the long run on the right end, or cuz of that weird double elbow joint I had to make between the sump and manifold.
     
    Think this was all like 3+ weeks ago
    Changed the plumbing going into the manifold, think I only got an 5%~8% improvement on flowrates


    Plumbing the reactors to the main return pump


    Some time last week

    Buce's recovering



    Rotala H'Ra or colorota? trying to carpet


    Plants from my emmersed tubs finished converting
    Bacopa Caroliniana


    Limonphila (Hopefully its hippuroides lol)



    Orange Juice from Aquarium Plants Factory


    I ordered some chai from them too but it died cause I think my tank didnt fully stabilized at the time. Might try again in a few months.

    Some messy shots at my 8~9pm setting


    Lot of stems are leaning over on the left side, gonna have to figure out what's up with that later. Idk if my lights are too strong or the flow rate is too high.

    Finally moved the Denisonii barbs in. Same 4 from the the beginning of my journey in 2015 lol



    Hardware side:
    Im glad I set up the coralvue hydros stuff, wouldnt have noticed my Burkert 6011 solenoid wasnt working correctly.


    Not sure how the negative side got burnt but it's been 8 years too.
    Have a new clippard DV 2M-12 coming in the mail but it might take around 10 days according to clippard.

    Misc stuff:
    Put together a plastic shed to shove all my old aquarium stuff in there.




    Built a wood rack and tablesaw outfeed table too


    Gonna be using the the outfeed table to build the side cabinets for the rest of the room.
     
    Some random progress shots






    Built some cabinets








    And yeah moved the hydros system to the top of the cabinet cuz the former control box area under the stand was getting a bit cramped, plus i was worried about the heat building up in there.

    Not too sure about what to do with the 22 gallon rimless; I know it's gonna be low tech though. Might get a fijicube AIO overflow filter and dunk it in there cuz I dont like the look of a HOB filter being on there. The UNS Delta 90 I might consider cuz it'll blend in with the white wall.
     
    @SingAlongWithTsing I envy your handy skills, man. Great work and looks fantastic.

    Uber maintained plant scaping is beautiful, but less maintained, natural looking aquariums speak to me also. Your tank gives me very natural vibes. I think the Japanese call it wabi kusa that loosely translates to appreciating the beauty of imperfection.

    How is the Hydros system doing?
     
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