# Starting 180 Gal FW Tank



## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

Hello All, my name is Bill from the GTA. I have the aquarium bug once again after setting up a 40 Gallon breeder tank for my son. Previous to that, I used to have a piranha/exodon tank in university. 

I have recently received my 180 gallon marineland tank and Monterey stand. (I've been having problems uploading pictures from my iPad, I'll try again in my next post)

Here is the rest of my equipment I'll be assembling in the next little while:

- Universal Rocks Texas Wall background 72"x24" - arrived
- 2 x FX6 canisters. Each filled with 2 trays of Matrix, coarse pads, chemi-pure elite or blue, and filter floss
- 1 x eheim 300w heater, or possibly 2 smaller heaters
- 1 x 72" beamswork led light. 10,000k white with actinic
- 120lbs caribsea Eco-complete cichlid sand white, may need another bag or two. 
- koralia wavemaker, not sure how many I will need, but perhaps one behind the background and one in front. 

That's pretty much it for now. I plan to overstock with all male peacocks and haps from Finatics. 

I will post pics as things get installed. Thanks for looking. Any suggestions/recommendations are welcomed from your own past experiences. 

Thanks all, great forum, great city!


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

Is this picture visible to anyone? I just see a little square with question mark.


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## lemuj (Dec 7, 2006)

Nope I don't see any pics. We have the same lenght and height...I'm interested to see the background you have. Im using the same light too..not very happy with the timer though...


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

lemuj said:


> Nope I don't see any pics. We have the same lenght and height...I'm interested to see the background you have. Im using the same light too..not very happy with the timer though...


Fixed. Now using photobucket instead of Flickr.

Pic of tank









Pic of background









Pic of background profile









I didn't get the timer with mine. Figure I'll just manually turn on and off. Do you leave the blues on over night? Or are they in total darkness for part of the night?


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## lemuj (Dec 7, 2006)

Oh nice...where did you get it from. Do you mind posting how much it cost you in total with shipping and all? I want to get into cichlids eventually but the rock scaping put me into a halt and force me in keeping my angels for now....


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

lemuj said:


> Oh nice...where did you get it from. Do you mind posting how much it cost you in total with shipping and all? I want to get into cichlids eventually but the rock scaping put me into a halt and force me in keeping my angels for now....


The background was pretty pricey...$0.24 per square inch plus shipping from Texas. I took into consideration what I would have to spend approximately in rocks (I was looking at holey rock), and with the background being able to hide my equipment behind it for a clean looking tank, that added value to me. I've seen amazing looking tanks with just a black painted back, and some nice centre piece rocks too. All personal preference I guess.

For the people with 3d backgrounds, I do have a question. I read about the importance of allowing good flow between the front and back of the tank, and to achieve this, people cut openings, and clover with some sort of mesh siliconed in place. My question is, why don't you just drill many smaller holes (1/4"?) in the same spot where you're cutting the openings? Then you don't have to replace with mesh? I plan to do this on the underside of the caves of the background. Instead of cutting a rectangle and covering with mesh...I'll simply drill as many small holes in the same footprint as where I would have cut out the rectangle. Does that make sense? Your thoughts are appreciated!

Thanks


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

Fixed the picture link problem. Please see pics above.


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## bluegularis (May 12, 2010)

why go with the actinic bulbs - you can go with much more economical t5 at 6400 k non actinic. I would only go with the actinic if I was keeping marine and corals. IMHO.

Sorry misread the t5- see you are using led's, still why go with actinic ?


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Cant wait to see this tank up. I am also unsure on the actinic, I didnt like the look of it over my Africans when i had them. But that is my personal preference. Imo since you have 10ks already I would either get more 10k, for that clean white look, or add the 6700ks like Bluegularis suggested and have a slightly more natural look. Anyways I am sure it will look awesome either way lol, 180s are a big playground.


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

Bluegularis: Hi, thanks for the comment. To be honest, I don't know why I went with the blue lights. When I bought the small marineland kit for my son, it came with LEDs that had the blue as well. I just thought that was what people turned on at night, so the tank wasn't in total darkness. As for economical, the whole 6 foot fixture was only about $80 new i think? When the tanks set up, I'll see how the lighting looks. And post pics. 

Tropicana: I have seen pics of your German Rams, they look amazing, one of my favorites too!


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

So I've drilled holes (1/4 inch drill bit) into my background today to allow water to pass through. I did 2 main clusters; one on the right side and one on the left side. The 2 intakes for the 2 fx6's will be behind these. And then some random holes throughout. here are some pictures. Let me know if you think they'll be enough or I'll need more?

Right side face on









Right side underneath (approx. 28 x 1/4" holes)









Left side face on









Left side underneath (approx. 26 x 1/4" holes)


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## Jamblor (Dec 21, 2010)

That is one awesome looking background. Looking forward to the whole build!


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

installing the background today. some have msg'd me asking how thick the background is. heres a pic










its really flexible and easy to bend. just difficult with one person alone. so I decided to uses racheting straps to curve the background and slide in through the double brace. there wasn't much room to work with from the top. i lined the inside of the tank with cardboard, then put the one end of the background in, and the rest slid in pretty easily!










Here is the background in its final spot. getting it in was one thing...i don't think it'll ever come back out!









Now, for the rest. 2 fx6's, 2 eheim 250W's, 2 buckets of Matrix, 120lbs of eco-complete cichlid sand...i think i'll start with fitting the fx6's...


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

many LED lights have a moonlight feature which is a few blue led's. The atinic or however it is spelled is for salt water and will probably look very bad over a fresh water tank.


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

pyrrolin said:


> many LED lights have a moonlight feature which is a few blue led's. The atinic or however it is spelled is for salt water and will probably look very bad over a fresh water tank.


Thanks for the clarification pyrrolin! I thought they were moonlights. The description made it seem like they would be good for freshwater cichlid tanks. I guess marketing will say anything for the sale. Here was the ad description

*****

$100US
LED 72" 0.50W HI Lumen LED Aquarium Light Freshwater Tropical Fish Tetra Cichlid 168x LEDs
LED 72" 0.5W HI Freshwater Bright LED by Beamworks 4th Generation

The Beamworks Freshwater Bright LED fixture provides a high quality, energy efficient light fixture that replaces the typical single tube fluorescent light. Use the 10000K white LED during the day and the Actinic Blue 460nm LED during the night. The Beamworks LED is a sleek and contemporary light fixture that will make any other aquarium light look boring. Long lasting LEDs with no bulb replacement required.

Dimensions - 71.50" x 5.00" x 1.00"
Brackets add 0.65" in height
Includes 168 LEDs
7700 Lumen
Super energy efficient .20 watt LEDs
154x 10000K LEDs
14x Actinic 460nm LEDs
Slim and contemporary light design
2 mode on / off function for day and night use
Mode 1 turns on all LEDs
Mode 2 turns on Actinic LEDs only
Extendable bracket - 72" - 76" max extend
Extendable bracket - 180 - 169 cm max extend
Splash guard
110V - 220V


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

If it is just a few blue lights as in enough for a moonlight effect and they don't stay on and effect the colour of the light when the main light is on then I would say they used the wrong wording and should have said moonlight.

the salt water actinic blue bulbs help balance the colour of a salt water tank. Without the extra blue light, salt water looks very yellow. The blue counter acts the yellow to give a truer look.

Basically play with the light and if you like the look then great. Being a cichlid tank, you won't be growing plants so the light is just for viewing the fish. If you are happy with the look and the price, then all is good.

If when the light is on, everything looks blue, then you have a problem and it is a salt water light. I used an actinic bulb for a couple weeks when one came with a used light system I got and OMG, the algae that grew was crazy!

I haven't used any LED lights yet, only CFL, T8 and T5ho due to being a plant man.


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## tranceaddict (Apr 3, 2011)

I'd be a little worried that some fish/fry might get stuck behind your background through those holes?


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

tranceaddict said:


> I'd be a little worried that some fish/fry might get stuck behind your background through those holes?


Hi Tranceaddict, the holes are pretty small, but if anything were to get back there, then yes, it would be a PITB to get them out. the only possibility would be for fry to get back there I guess, but I plan to have an all male stock. hopefully we're accurate at picking them!!


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

Everything is up and running!

- Each FX6 is circulating each end of the tank. Intakes are behind the background. Returns are in front of the background. The return on the left sticks out a bit, because there was no section of background closer to the glass. the glass lid is unable to sit flush. because of this. will have to think of something, not a huge deal, just sticks up a tiny bit.

- heaters are placed right beside the intakes behind the background. this was one of my concerns that the display side of the tank wont be heated accurately, but the 2 eheim 250w's are working perfectly. calibrated and set to 80 degrees, and its right on.

- 120 lbs of sand was a good amount. even though the eco-complete says not to rinse, I did anyway. just a light rinse and not a total wash. water was pretty clear immediately. but next day I decided to add the clarifier that came with it anyway, and its pretty clear now!

- I'm using about 4 litres of Matrix in each canister. I rinsed a handful at a time, and sifted all the small rocks out. since I am not bagging them, I am worried they will work their way to the canister impellor. it should be okay though. I rinsed and sifted pretty thoroughly. out of 8 litres of matrix, here is all that fell through, and probably some down my drain...










one more pic with the lights on









I am doing a fish-in cycle. I borrowed some fish from my sons tank. 5 guppies and a barb. they've been in all weekend, but still barely any detectable ammonia. I am also dosing with seachems stability.

going to visit betz's stone yard on kennedy, to see if they have any stones that would look nice. any recommendations as to type of rock that might look good in here? nothing huge, probably just a few smaller ones along the bottom.

also going to visit finatics soon to start planning stock!

thanks for following along.


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

Bought some stone today. its actually petrified wood. I don't know much about it. I quickly googled it while was there, and for the most part, it seemed like it was suitable to use in aquariums. the stone yard didn't have much to choose from, so I went with it. I wish it were a little darker in color. the pickings are slim at this time of year. i'll use this for now until I find something better. the large piece on the left has some sharp edges i'll try to chip away at it.

will a simple wash with a brush be enough? I don't know if bleach will affect it, or vinegar??

anyone seen this rock used in tanks? like or no like?


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

Here are the rocks in the tank. This is my first attempt at rockscaping. I think it looks too symmetrical. I might just lose the middle stone, or buy some more smaller ones.

the color turned out okay. got darker in the water. what do you guys think of the petrified wood?


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## Jamblor (Dec 21, 2010)

I'd say move that smaller one out to one of the sides. But other than that I think it looks great.

True petrified wood has been silicified during formation so it should be pretty inert similar to any quartz based rock.


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## paulof (Dec 4, 2009)

The tank looks great so far. Love the stone and background!

Paulo


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## SKurj (Oct 26, 2011)

Beauty tank, great job on the décor simple but works!. Love the dimensions of a 180g (have one meself) I run a 4ft Edge LED on mine but I keep CA cichlids and prefer it not so bright.

About the Fx6's.. did you just fill the baskets with the matrix?

on my 180 I am running an Fx6 and a 2262 and an AC110, fx6 with fluvals ceramic tube things in the baskets, and the 2262 with foam and their bio tube things. But I have been curious to give matrix a go sometime..


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## tranceaddict (Apr 3, 2011)

looks dope.


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## spas (Jan 12, 2012)

Very Nice build!!!

I have been using Universal Rock backgrounds for a number of years. What I found no matter how much circulation you have back there you get a lot of buildup over time.

I recently made some changes to my filtration on my 265 and had to move the back round a bit and the HUGE chunks of detritus (aka crap) that came floating out was amazing.

Take Care...


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

Since last post, I've just moved the rocks around. Here is a top view.










And I've started adding fish!! I will post my stock list, but here are some pictures first. I'm so happy with the way it's turned out and the way the tank and equipment are running! I love seeing how the fish have moved the sand around.

There are 37 fish in the tank now.


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

SKurj said:


> Beauty tank, great job on the décor simple but works!. Love the dimensions of a 180g (have one meself) I run a 4ft Edge LED on mine but I keep CA cichlids and prefer it not so bright.
> 
> About the Fx6's.. did you just fill the baskets with the matrix?
> 
> on my 180 I am running an Fx6 and a 2262 and an AC110, fx6 with fluvals ceramic tube things in the baskets, and the 2262 with foam and their bio tube things. But I have been curious to give matrix a go sometime..


Hi SKurj, happy new year. In my FX6's, I use the 2 black coarse pads that came with the filter, and sandwiched in there, I have a bag of seachem purigen. the other two baskets I have filled full of matrix. approx. 2 litres per basket. seems to be working fine. I would like to add some polishing pads. I just wont want to have to change it every couple of weeks. I used to use biomax, but thought I'd give matrix a try. supposedly I never have to replace my matrix.

bill


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

Here is my stock list. I've stocked 48 fish in 3 rounds. I was trying to stock only one of each fish, but somehow ended up with some multiples. I think I got confused with the names since some have different names for the same fish. 

Most are showing signs of starting to color. The next few months will be fun to see the colors coming in, and actually being able to identify the fish. right now most look silver with black dots on their sides. Anyway, here is what is in my tank. after a couple months, I will weed out and replace ones I do not like. Probably starting with the mbuna and yellow belly.

PEACOCKS
1x German Red
2x German Super Red
1x OB Peacock
1x OB Peacock Orange
1x Strawberry Peacock
1x Eureka Red
1x Eureka Red Albino
1x Ruby Red
1x Dragon Blood/Fire Fish
1x Ngara Flametail
1x Mbenji Peacock/Blue Regal
2x Sunshine Peacock (1 is WC)
1x Lwanda (WC)
1x Blue Neon (WC)
1x Malawi Butterfly (Otter Point)
1x Sulfur Head Peacock
1x Flavescent Peacock (WC)
1x Lemon Jake/Mamela
1x Bi-Color 500 (WC)
1x Orange Peacock
1x Walteri

HAPLOCHROMINES
1xBorleyi (Kadango)
1x Red Empress
1x Kalingo (Livingstonii)
1x Elecrtic Blue Hap Ahli
1x Aristochromis Red Top (Lithobates)
2x Taiwan Reef
1x Taiwan Reef Albino
1x Giraffe Cichlid/Kalingo
1x Quads (Mbenji)
1x Mbenji Blue
1x Borleyi Eastern (Narangu)
1x Mara Rocks Sulfur Head
1x Tangerine Tiger
1x Mloto Ivory Head
1x Iceberg/Hap Ahli/ Electric Blue
1x White Lip (WC)
1x Fire Blue
1x Super VC-10

MBUNA
1x Yellow Lab
1x Tropheops Makokola
1x Elongatus
1x Jalo Reef Afra

VICTORIA BASIN
1x Yellow Belly Albert

PLECOSTOMUS
1x Gold Nugget L-018


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## piranhaBill (Aug 8, 2014)

my favorite so far is this wild caught bi-color 500. his colors are really nice, and this cell phone pic doesn't do it justice.

others I like are:
- German Super Red, already colored up, living up to its name.
- Sulfur head and Lithobates are a couple of my favorites too. their stripes on their heads are starting to come in.
- the White Lip is funny. my wife says it looks like it just ate a jelly donut.

They'll all be nice once the colors start to show.

What are your favorites???

Thanks,


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