# My 180 project



## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

I thought I was done for a while when I got my 125 up and running but then I found a 180 nearby from a guy in need of some quick cash and on a snowy evening I drove out to view the tank, hand over some money, and get a receipt to pick up the tank later....It made me a bit nervous but it all worked out.

I picked up some friends in my minivan with the rear seats removed. somehow crammed a 180 gallon tank, a 100 acrylic sump, a hood built for a 125, and 3 grown men inside the minivan. and strapped the 2x4 stand to the roof rack...The guy with the longest legs, got to drive with the seat all the way forward, my other friend got to ride shotgun with his seat all the way forward. I rode on one knee between the two seats on a forty minute drive back home where another friend met us to unload the thing.

The tank was to go in my living room which was in the process of a full remodel...new flooring, new drywall, new trim. Fortunately the drywall was up and the flooring was done, so we set the stand on an upside down rug and put the tank on it, so I could slide the thing around as I finished the drywall, put up trim and painted. Once It was home and in the room, I noticed a few things about the stand. It was too tall for me, It was built to hold up a lot of weight vertically but had very little to prevent lateral movement - I was going to build a new one. So, there it sat, empty, getting moved around as needed until I my semester finished and I had time to work on things.

The tank had originally been drilled with an overflow in the middle of one of the sides. My wife and I did not like this arrangement and wanted to repeat the dual corner overflows I had done in our 125, so...I removed the overflow, cut it in half, drilled 4 new holes in the bottom of the tank and reinstalled the acrylic as two corner overflows. The next project was to decide on the size of the sump I was going to build and the layout. I was thinking I wanted to try some plants in the sump to help in filtering but also as a safe place to grow some plants that may eventually make it into the main tank. After bouncing a few ideas around the web I got my plan. I had some tanks available with various problems that I picked up cheap, that I could scavenge glass from and a nearby glass shop to get the rest and built my 48"x16"x20"high sump/refugium (holds 60+ gallons when running). The size sump and the visual design i wanted dictated how the stand would be built. Some furious pencil work, and many many alterations/revisions later I came up with a plan for my stand. Got some wood, cut it up and started assembly with a little help from my girls.

While all this was happening I was also looking around for rocks, I had an idea of what I wanted, just need a place to find them...fortunately for me, the gas company had recently done some extensive work on a pipeline through my father-in-law's property and dropped a few a thousand pounds of rock into a creek bed to prevent erosion...I found a couple hundred pounds of rocks to my liking and washed/bleached/sunned them to prepare them. I also got a few bags of pool sand and painted the back of the tank black.

After getting the stand built, the sump put together and leak tested we moved the new stand in, set the tank on it, slid in the sump and got to work on the plumbing. The goal is to have a continuous drip system, so pipes were run up through the wall, a drain was installed in the sump. Everything was going to plan until I needed to fit a DIY spray bar. I wanted to have nothing outside of the tank except the power cord for the hood and the drip line. This meant I needed to remove a couple of teeth from the overflow to allow the spray bar to exit the overflow and still be under the tank bracing. I began by using a coping saw blade to cut the required teeth out. I then switched to a file to file out a round so the spray bar could fit. It wasn't working that well so I thought I'd try wrapping sand paper around the pipe for the spray bar and sanding down the acrylic. It worked great.

So, plumbing was basically ready, time to put in the rocks and sand starting with the rocks. I got my brother-in-law over to help me lower some massive rocks into the tank, got the rocks in was moving them around and....crash.....my heart sank. The file that I had used on the acrylic and had foolishly set on one of the cross braces and forgotten, dropped onto the bottom of the tank and chipped it. It was a small chip, but it seemed a bit deep and wasn't smooth. I didn't know what to do...time to hit the forums. Got some advice, bought a dremel, ground out the chip, filled it with epoxy, siliconed some glass over the patch, finished moving my rocks and went to leak test...after a stressful hour of filling, the repaired tank passed the leak test and it was time to get the filter running for a test of that system. It kind of worked, there were several adjustments that needed to be made.

I was going to run a herbie/bean animal type setup for a quiet, high flow filtration. But, the full siphon in one overflow wasn't doing the job and the other overflow with the intended trickle drain was drawing some serious amount of water and a lot of noise. New plan, two full siphon drains, one in each overflow, no trickle drain and a backup drain that if required would be heard through the whole house. It works. It's very quiet, some air bubble noise due to some turbulence at the gate valves but the stand isn't even skinned, that noise should disappear when I skin the stand.

I cut the poret foam for the filter, put the sand in the main tank, put the fluorite into the sump refugium, grabbed some ceramic rings from my 125's sump and dropped in a handful of juveniles males to grow out and be joined by the big boys in a month or so.

Hope you've enjoyed this so far and will come back for the updates as I get some things finished like replacing the white spray bar with a painted one, getting some lighting and plants for the sump, skinning the stand, building the canopy, and finally getting all the boys into the tank.


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## Demigod (Mar 22, 2013)

Pics or it didn't happen.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Here are some pics of the process - it did happen
Assembling the stand
wood for one side cut and ready to assemble.




































The new stand and empty tank.









The bulkheads from the original overflow and the new corner overflow.









Leak testing my sump (it's sitting on the original stand)









The chip...









The repaired chips 









Sealed bulkheads from original overflow









The tank now, awaiting a canopy, skin, and the big boys.









Planned skin


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## Demigod (Mar 22, 2013)

Nice! Looks like the same process I'm going through right now with my 125. Love the rocks! Can you show more picks of your plumbing and sump setup?


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## Demigod (Mar 22, 2013)

Hah! That rendering of your stand is the stand I'm building!


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Yeah, I'll get those up tomorrow. I have yet to get the drip system set up but I can definitely show you the plumbing for the tank/filter.

Hey, I drew that myself....


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## Demigod (Mar 22, 2013)

What program did you use to design the stand?


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

The skin part was done with sketchup, the frame was done in my head and on paper. It's the fourth evolution of a design i used for my original 75. It is rock solid, pretty light, and relatively easy to build if you have a couple of the right tools.


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## Demigod (Mar 22, 2013)

I found images of stands using Google Images and just did the math and built the stand.

You can see it on my build thread here: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=258037

Would you mind letting me use your skin rendering?

When do you foresee the completion of your project?


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

completion will depend on funding...Oak's what I'd like to skin it in, but cash for that isn't readily available at this time. So, it'll probably sit like it is for a few months until I can save enough for the skin/trim.

Yeah I looked at your thread just now, looks good.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Here are some shots of the sump, they're not great as I haven't installed lights.








refugium section where plants will grow, as well as where drain lines empty into the sump.









Multiple layers of poret foam and ceramic rings









Return pump chamber and drain for continuous drip system, as well as a filling hose for when I want to do a water change.









Siphon drain and return in one corner









Siphon drain and back up drain in other corner









Test Spray Bar - I'll be making one just like it and painting it black.









Gate valve to set the height of water in the overflow (each overflow has a full siphon drain with a gate valve)


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Here's a video.




The Victorian is in there on a trial basis, he was a refugee from a friend's tank. My big haps/peacocks are still in their 55 until these guys get an inch or so more on them.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Well, I moved everyone in over the last few days a few at a time. Had to remove a few trouble makers already that I thought might cause problems and did. I'll get a video up tonight when the glare isn't so bad as well as get a complete stocklist of what's currently in there, It's a lot of fish and I realize some will have to go either due to being too aggressive or too timid but for the last few hours, they've been getting along, a couple of old grudges were rehashed upon introduction of the last group but subsided quickly.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

opcorn:


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

*Peacocks*
Aulonocara stuartgranti - usissya
Aulonocara stuartgranti - cobwe island "blue regal"
Aulonocara stuartgranti - Ngara "flametail"
Aulonocara korneliae
Aulonocara kandensis
Aulonocara hybrid that looks like a "bi-color"
Aulonocara hybrid that looks like an otter point

*Haps*
Copadichromis trewavasae "Mloto Likoma"
Copadichromis borleyi - Kadango 
Dimidichromis compressiceps
Mylochromis ericotainia
Otopharynx lithobates - Domwe Is. 
Placidochromis electra "deep water"
Placidochromis electra "yellow makonde"
Placidochromis sp. Jalo
Placidochromis johnstoni
Placidochromis milomo
Placidochromis phenochilus "Tanzania"
Protomelas kirkii
Protomelas spilonotus - Mara Rock "sulfur head"
Protomelas taeniolatus "tangerine Tiger"
Protomelas taeniolatus - Namenje Is. "Red Empress"
Tramitichromis sp. "Intermedius"

*Mbuna*
Labidochromis caerulus
Labidochromis palidus

And here's a few videos....

Tank(wide)





Sump





Fish


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Here's a longer video with some better closeups, It appears that the two P. electra variants may not work out in the end (you'll see them lip lock a couple of times in the video).


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Looks great! Hope everything pans out for the tank. Did you remove the Vic? Didn't see him in this vid.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Yeah, I had to remove these 4 so far: Hap sp. tomato (victorian), Chilotilapia rhodaesii, Protomelas sp. ndiwe firefin, OB peacock. I'll likely have to remove one of the P. electras (probably the yellow makonde), and I may have to try a different Tramitichromis sp. intermedius as he and my A. stuartgranti usissya just don't get along. Growing out, I also have a Fossorochromis rostratus group to get a male from, some A. stuartgranti maleri, and some A. stuartgranti chipoka that I'll probably try once they get some size on them.


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## TYS0N (Jul 8, 2013)

Jealous! My 180 has a fair bit to go until it is ready. Looks great! opcorn:


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Added a few more fish, removed a couple, they seem to be getting along after a couple of days...there's some chasing but nothing over the top and no biting that I see.
Diatoms are spreading, hoping to get some algae here soon, dropped in a longfin bristlenose and he's already diligently at work. I'm hoping he won't be able to keep up with the algae growth and I can get a nice field of algae on the rocks. If he's too good I'll just move him to the refugium.

Here's a video: 




Updated stocklist:
Peacocks
Aulonocara stuartgranti - usissya
Aulonocara stuartgranti - cobwe island "blue regal"
Aulonocara stuartgranti - Ngara "flametail"
Aulonocara korneliae
Aulonocara kandensis
Aulonocara - some sort of red variant
Aulonocara - hybrid that looks like a "bi-color"
Aulonocara - hybrid that looks like an otter point

Haps
Copadichromis trewavasae "Mloto Likoma"
Copadichromis borleyi - Kadango
Dimidichromis compressiceps
Otopharynx lithobates - Domwe Is.
Placidochromis electra "deep water"
Placidochromis electra "yellow makonde"
Placidochromis sp. Jalo
Placidochromis johnstoni
Placidochromis milomo
Placidochromis phenochilus "Tanzania"
Protomelas kirkii
Protomelas sp. "Steveni Taiwan"
Protomelas spilonotus - Mara Rock "sulfur head"
Protomelas taeniolatus "tangerine Tiger"
Protomelas taeniolatus - Namenje Is. "Red Empress"
Tramitichromis sp. "Intermedius"

Mbuna
Labidochromis caerulus
Labidochromis palidus

Other
Longfin bristlenose pleco


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Tank and fish look awesome. Good luck moving forward with the group.


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Nice job on this project....enjoy!


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Updated videos (switch to HD)
with my phone:



With our video camera:


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

Beautiful fish. Lots of color and variety. Share some closeups of some of those. They look exquisite.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Somehow I missed the video. Looks great, man.

Who's Mr. Boss as of right now?


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

I had to remove/reintroduce the VC-10 when he took second spot....but the undisputed king is the Red Empress, a few have their rivals and many of them just try and get along. It's going a little better than I was expecting, but I've got about 10 more fish in there than I was thinking of adding which may be why it's working. I may have to, for the sake of the tangerine tigers health, remove him as the red empress just won't leave him alone. and my prettier half insists on keeping the red empress (he's also not fond of the C. borleyi but at least tolerates his presence). I should get another video, a lot of the little guys are starting to get some color now too.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

video update


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## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

They are growing up and colors are coming in nicely on them. What is the fish at 1:14 in the center of the pic...very pretty colors


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

At 1:14 the orange fish is a "red peacock" and the yellow striped one moving in is a picked on Protomelas "tangerine tiger".


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Looking good!

Do you have an auto feeder going? I watched it on my phone through the forum so not the best quality and tough to tell.

Show more of your D. Compressiceps. I love that fish...


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Auto feeder? No, feeding these guys is the best part. Also, it let's me see if everyone's eating.

I've got a few more fish to add, that are either growing some or in quarantine. They include: Scianichromis freyeri "white knight", a few Aulonocara startgranti "maleri island", a few Placidichromis phenochilus "tanzania", an Albino Aulonocara "eureka red" (for my wife - personally I don't care for albinos) and a trial of Pseudotropheus acei "ngara". I'd like to keep the numbers up where they are as I remove some of the extras.

The red empress is still on top and does not care for the tangerine tiger or the red fin borleyi but he's a little more tolerant of them than he had been, they are both very aware of where he is but seem to be doing alright. I just got my drip system up and running so that should save me a lot of time on the water changing end.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Update, had to remove some fish and add some others. The tangerine tigers both turned out to be female, removed any other fish I was not 100% sure was male (one of the labs may be female but noone seems to notice if it is). Added some duplicate males from growout tanks, and a couple new editions and a breeder male who was too prolific. I still have some others growing out as well. Just trying to get an idea of who is likely to work long term. Here's a video from tonight.


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

Looks like they are all doing great! What is the medium sized fish with the sort of red cap that appears at around the 3:50 mark, flaring and flexing? He's got awesome color...


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Protomelas spilonotus -mara rock (sulphurhead) he's the offspring of a breeding group I had.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Another video update (1080p).


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

Wow - that White Knight Ahli really pops against that black background! I think the fish and tank look great, so please don't take this the wrong way, but I think you would benefit from removing about 1/4 of the fish in there (the littler ones, and the ones that haven't colored up very well). I understand that most of the little ones and those that haven't colored up are still growing and will most likely develop into nice fish, but you have a good number of beautiful adult males in there right now, and I think all the other ones keep them from showing as well as they could. It's kind of like listening to a beautiful piece of music on AM radio with a lot of static and background noise - you could get it to digitally remastered quality by removing the static... That's just my opinion, though - I still really like your tank with all the fish that are in there now.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

I agree totally, that there are too many fish in this tank. Some of the extras are brothers to the colored up ones, some are breeding males hanging out here, and others are still growing. The extras have slowed down some specific aggression which is why i'm not being too hasty in their removal.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Love your tank. Regarding the auto feeder comment from several months ago- it appeared the food was falling out of nowhere since I couldn't see anyone feeding them.

I hope you make another spray bar and paint it black


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## miDnIghtEr20C (Aug 13, 2013)

This tank looks great. Nuff said.


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## cprings (Sep 10, 2003)

Awesome tank. I love the looks of those rocks.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Had a member from my local club come show me how to do DIY LED strip lights and put some of those on the tank to replace the fluorescent shop light I had on it. After some adjustments, I really like the LED.

Here's a video: (1080p) the stocklist is in the description - it's very crowded.





I'm in the late planning stages for a 12'x3'x2' plywood tank for these guys so they shouldn't be this crowded for much longer.


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Stocklist:
Haps
Buccochromis nototaenia
Chilotilapia rhodesii
Copadichromis borleyi
Copadichromis trewavasae
Cyrtocara moori 
Dimidichromis compressiceps
Othopharynx lithobates
Placidochromis phenochilus 
Placidochromis electra "deep water"
Placidochromis electra "makonde"
Placidochromis johnstoni
Placidochromis milomo
Placidochromis sp. "jalo"
Proto. taeniolatos
Proto. similis 
Proto. kirkii
Proto. spilonotus "tanzania" 
Proto. "sulphurhead" 
Proto. "taiwan reef"
Proto. "taiwan reef" albino
Sciaenochromis fryeri
Sciaenochromis fryeri "white knight"
Tramitichromis sp. "intermedius"

Peacocks
Aulonocara stuartgranti "ngara"
Aulonocara stuartgranti "usysia"
Aulonocara stuartgranti "cobue"
Aulonocara kandensis
Aulonocara "lwanda"
Aulonocara hybrid x2 (thanks to aquabid)

Mbuna
Labidochromis caeruleus
Labidochromis pallidus
Pseudotropheus saulosi (on trial basis)
Pseudotropheus acei "ngara"


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Tank is looking great.


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

The LED lighting Is A Definite Improvement. I Think The Fish Are Looking Good, Too, And Are Growing/Coloring Up Nicely. Thanks For Updating!


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Made some big changes in stocking this weekend as there was an auction I was going to and figured it'd be the quickest most convenient way to move some fish out. Some of my more timid fish had been getting sick or just not looking comfortable. I basically went though my stocklist removed all the fish that were listed as "mildly-aggressive" on the site's profile section (kept my wife's favorite fish "red empress") and stuck with only the "peaceful" fish I had. Since doing so, my peacocks have really started to show color and it's only been 2 days. there's a lot less chasing. My borleyi and empress still "display" a lot to each other but that's being going on for over a year and they never engage in anything more than displaying and a bit of chasing. After a couple of deaths due to stress where I didn't catch it in time, and a large clear out sale, here's my current stocklist.

Stocklist:
Haps
Buccochromis nototaenia
Copadichromis borleyi
Copadichromis chrysonotus
Copadichromis melas
Copadichromis trewavasae - may add one when It grows large enough
Dimidichromis compressiceps
Fossorochromis rostratus
Othopharynx lithobates - may add one when it grows large enough
Otopharynx tetrastigma "intermedius"
Placidochromis phenochilus "tanzania" 
Placidochromis electra "deep water"
Placidochromis johnstoni
Placidochromis sp. "jalo"
Proto. taeniolatos "red empress"
Proto. spilonotus "tanzania" 
Proto. "sulphurhead" 
Proto. "taiwan reef"
Proto. "taiwan reef" albino
Sciaenochromis fryeri "white knight"

Peacocks
Aulonocara baenschi
Aulonocara stuartgranti "ngara"
Aulonocara stuartgranti "usysia" - still recovering in hospital
Aulonocara stuartgranti "cobue"
Aulonocara stuartgranti "maleri maleri"
Aulonocara stuartgranti "maleri chipoka" - still recovering in hospital

Mbuna
all have been removed

This would put me at 25, and I will keep on eye on the ones who look similar, as they may or may not get along in the end (ex. the baenschi and the two maleri and the usissya)

I'll post a new video tonight of everyone when the glare isn't so bad. (and I still haven't painted the spray bar). Also, it looks like the plywood tank I'll be building in the future will not be the future home of these fish. These guys will stay in this 180.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Looking forward to the video


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## lilscoots (Mar 13, 2012)

Video as promised. (in HD)


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