180g in wall build

Well I recently decided to take a new job in Cedar Rapids so I'll be having a fun move from Des Moines to my new home in North Liberty. I caught the new construction early enough so I was able to specify that I wanted an aquarium built into the wall in the basement with the backside of the aquarium in the utility room (thanks to my fiancee for understanding this want/need). So now I'm planning on moving my 125g SPS reef into this new 180g in wall aquarium. Unfortunately the move is about 90 minutes away so I'm not sure strategically how the move is going to work out. But here's what I'm planning on as far as equipment (most of it is currently being used in my 125g):
180g acrylic 72x24x24 (new)
55g glass sump (new - well new for me... thanks tomAtk)
H&S A150 skimmer
Ocean Runner 6500 as the return pump (1800 gph)
2 x Vortec MP40w - I may end up getting another vortech to place along the back
Will start off using my 2x 400w MHs while I figure out how to build a DIY LED system (thank you JB for your help so far!)
CalcRx - can't remember the brand or what it is rated for but it is definitely more than enough for my 125g (thanks jtesdall, it has worked quite well for me so far)
I run a zeovit system and will probably have to upgrade to a larger zeovit reactor
I will try to take a little bit of the substrate off the top of my current setup and will be using new oolite for the rest - only going about 1.5" deep, so probably 120-150 lbs
I will be adding maybe 40 lbs of rock to the 200 lbs I have in my 125g. I'm going to go for a more open look than what I have right now
Does anyone have any thoughts on anything I'm forgetting or any advice on how to move everything?
I just swung by the house to check out how the hole in the wall is coming along and here are some pictures.

Hopefully this will support the 1800 lbs or so!

Thanks for any input!

 

Well I got my first DIY LED panel put together.  2 more and I should be good to go.  Can't believe I haven't shocked or burned myself yet!


I'm running 20 XP-E Royal Blue, 4 XP-E Blue, 6 XP-G Cool White, and 6 XP-G Neutral White on 3 dimmable drivers.  It's impossible to capture how painfully bright these things are!

 

Getting close to the move date and trying to get all of the equipment arranged. I currently run 2 MP40w ES powerheads in my 125g. Am I going to need to get another MP40 to place on the back wall in a 6 foot 180g? I guess another option would be to move two MP40s to one side and get an MP60 for the other side... but I would prefer to avoid spending $700 on another powerhead at this point if I can avoid it.

Thoughts?

 

I would rather not go back into filling an aquarium full of koralias. Before I went with my 2 MP40s I was using 8 koralias and decided I didn't like the look of all of the wires and powerheads.

Since the tank is 24" tall and I have oolite substrate do you think an MP60 would cause a massive sandstorm if I didn't dial it way down?

 

Okay this is the big weekend for the tank move! I have moved everything from my Des Moines apartment to my North Liberty (by Iowa City) home except my aquarium... so it's time to get serious. My new 180g is ready to go up onto the stand built into the wall once I drill the holes for the overflow plumbing. I have a 55g from the petco sale ready to go as my sump. So here's my tentative outline for how I'm going to make the move:

Tonight/Thursday: Get tank installed and plumbed together, do a leak test.
Friday/Saturday: Fill with saltwater (about 35g will be from old tank), add new substrate , and get basic equipment running
Sunday: Transfer all the rock and livestock (may need to have them in rubbermaids for a little while)

I'm hoping that moving my current zeovit system and keeping the rock submerged will allow me to hit the ground running as much as possible during this move. I should have enough salt ready to go if I notice NH3/N02/N03 getting out of whack.

Does this seem plausible or am I missing something that's going to cause me a huge headache?

Thanks!

 

The aquarium arrived and we managed to get it downstairs and out of the box:

Got my foam pad with holes drilled for the overflows:

Got the aquarium on the stand:

Got the plumbing taken care of:

 

Not a stupid question... it's something that people go back and forth a bit on actually. But it's to help evenly distribute the weight across the bottom of the acrylic. If there are any imperfections on the surface of the plywood it can create an undesirable pressure point on the bottom of tank. If you have a glass tank with a floating bottom you generally don't want to use foam, but for tanks with a bottom that sits directly on the surface of the stand it is probably a good idea to put foam underneath.

 

Here we go... time for the leak test.  There were 42 pvc connections so I was a little worried.  Thankfully things held up!

Drained it back down after the leak test, added the oolite substrate, and started refilling with RO/DI.

Action shot of the fiancee taking care of the 4 part salt mix.

Water was a little cloudy...

Unfortunately it was still extrememly cloudy when we got all of the rock and livestock transported from Des Moines to North Liberty... but I took a leap of faith and hoped they wouldn't mind too much.

By the next morning I was stunned at how clear the water was.

So far there have been no losses after a couple days, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed!  I have to rearrange everything still.. we just tried our hardest not to crush any corals when we placed everything in there originally since we couldn't see anything.  There is also quite a bit of base rock sitting in the sump at the moment.

 

I've heard that there have been several outages over the last few weeks but fortunately we have been spared so far. We live in the new Cedar Springs area across from South Slope Communications. I don't know if it makes a difference if the power is from Linn County or Alliant or something. But I agree, a generator probably wouldn't be a bad idea just in case.

 

Things are really coming together!  So far so good.. I've only had one small acro frag bleech on me.  Moving over 100 miles into a new aquarium I was definitely concerned about a complete crash.  Still keeping my fingers crossed though!
Before Aquascaping... Rocks and corals were just placed in there with hopes of not crushing anything:

The major aquascaping is done, just need to place several frags and small corals located on the bottom front of the aquarium:

Got everything placed, however it is currently lit with a spare 175w MH clamp on and a 65w PC actinic:

Got my two 400w metal halides mounted... they are a temporary solution while I'm finishing my last LED panel:

Rear view of the tank with the suspended pendants:

You can see I need to figure out the flow on the rear MP40.. the sand doesn't want to stay put:

Full wall shot:

I'm planning on getting my Zeovit system started back up this weekend... I just wanted to make sure to get everything relocated and stable first before trying to do anything too complicated.  Also still need to get my calcium reactor going.. just need to find a local place to get my CO2 tank refilled around here.

 

Thanks for the feedback! I'll try to get some new pictures up soon. Unfortunately my SPSs don't have much of their color back yet... the move really browned a lot of them. I'm hoping my zeovit system will help pull PO4 back under .04 pretty soon here.