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Well this arrived today. As big as it is I understand peoples reasoning with going with retrofit setups. But for the price I couldnt beat it. I could of bought 2 of these units for less then a retro setup would of cost me. Didnt expect the ballasts to be so bulky:confused: I will have to rethink my canopy a bit. Lights look good fired up though. Its on legs for now until I get the hood built, then I plan on hanging them. Never having halides before I am wowed at how bright they are. Only being 10k coralife 250 watt bullbs, im impressed. Im guessing I will up the bulbs when these wear out. Which should be good since I dont really plan on having any serious corals for a bit. Good news is my electrical circuit I ran to the tank worked, I wired it all up last night and all my outlets work, no smoke:D . And last shot is just some sponge growth I have on some of my rock.

What a bout moisture and the foam board? I was thinking the same thing but was curious. Lights should be here today so this week is the canopy with any luck.

So I have been sick with a nasty cold all week so I didnt get much accomplished. I did get all the wire ran to the fish tank. Also running 220 to my hot tub, so ran it all at the same time. That was a chore. So now I have a breaker dedicated to my fish tank. Sump seems to be working pretty good. THe bubble issue has settled quite a bit. I turned down the flow a little, but I think it just needed to settle. Now to my rock work, which is killilng me. honestly just have not felt well enough to work on it. Today was the first day all week I even did more then check water levels and feed my fish in the other tank. But I cant seem to recreate that exact pillar under water. It was entirely to heavy to do in one piece. I tried:eek2: . i did a second pillar just playing around with some driveway markers that I was told on here work pretty good. Not bad, easy to work with. But now I just have a few big piles of rock to sort out. Either way its rolling pretty good. Im still not getting any kind of cycle. The ph is down, but Im guessing thats because I dont have lights up yet. Funny story. So I ordered my lights from Dr. foster's like two weeks ago. The next day they call me and say they dont have anymore and there not gonna get any. They cancel my order:mad2: I check there website last week and I see they are still advertising them. I call and the lady says "hmm, thats odd it says we have negative quantity". No go. So this week, I check, there back up there, for giggles I ordered them, and what do you know, there shipped and on the way:rolleyes: "were never getting them again". Dont trust the customer service I guess. So in a few days Ill have my lights, finish my electrical and see how it goes. Anyone got any ideas about aquascaping?

Oh no, went that route the first time. I just filled it up with tap water to do a leak test and see how things worked. I used RO/DI to fill it. Its all I use anymore. Im bought ready to build some kind of insulated box to go around the pump. Its a bit more than annoying. I turned the flow down a bit and that seemed to cut it down some.

So I have ran into a couple of snags. Or rather annoying things I guess. My pump is really loud. I realize once I have the walls up it will be muffled more, but not really sure how much. I placed a bit of foam padding under it and re attached it to the plywood and that cut a bit of noise. Second, the huge amount of flow that is being put out is causing serious micro bubble issues. The entire tank is filled with micro bubbles even after running through the baffles. Im thinking maybe a sock on the end of the one return will help a bit. The return into the refugium I did a pvc TEE and drilled holes in the bottom to disperse the flow a bit, but it is still really pushing the water. Last, Im not sure of the break in period of ASM skimmers, but it doesnt seem to be doing much at all. I dont really have any thing to really pull out of the water, but I was told even with no bioload you shoud get something. Im guessing since I used marcorock and fully cured live rock from one tank to this one Im not going to get much die off and my cycling will be a bit quicker. I have yet to have any ammonia or Nitrite spikes at all. PH is a tad low, but seems to be coming up. Anyone had similar issues with there set ups? Any suggestions? Thanks

Im a bit bummed out. Dr. foster and smith just screwed me out of my aqualite elite I was gonna buy and I found that PFO was just down the street. Went down there to find it and was sadly dissapointed. Bummer.

So I just find out that PFO is located right down the street from me. Then I read that they went out of business. Anyone got any info on them?

What was the negative, if you dont mind me asking? I heard from some one on RC that it raised the ph or something and to cure it for some time. The new stuff is supposed to be "precycled". Not sure what that even means. Im soaking it in saltwater just to get all the dust and stuff off it right now. My tanks gonna cycle for a bit anyway, so Im not to worried about it.

Got the rest of my rock today. Not as many huge pieces but lots of medium pieces. Good looking rock. Must say, Im pretty happy with Marcorock. Ordered on monday morning last week. Shipped out a few hours later. got the first box friday. Second box got left behind in utah for some reason and didnt get it until today. Eitehr way, 1 week to get 100lbs of rock seems pretty good to me for 10 bucks shipping.

Dont get down there to much. But might be able to meet you in clackamas or something some time. Its fairly light weight so its easy to move. Shoot me a pm when your gonna be in the area and if I still have it Ill try and meet up.

I tried that, holes wouldnt line up without making it obvious.

Thanks appriciate the comments. I got a long way to go still, but really wanted to get it cycling. i just read about the aquamend today. After I bought the other crap. Any curing time on it at all?

Ugh, so this weekend has been a challenge to say the least. Im still waiting on my second box of rock to show up(scary). i added sand(I should of waited for the rock, but I can work around it), I started adding water last night. Added 100 more gallons today. I went ahead and through the cured live rock I had in the tank. I figure I will pull it out and work my rock work when I get the rest of my Marcorock. I think im bout good on water once I finish adding my rock. Now for the fun part. I decided to test out my pump to see if I had any leaks. I didDOH!. Turns out I forgot to tighten down a union. Now that was a freaking mess, water everwhere. Then to boot the dual flow accelerators on each side were pointing upwardDOH! again. needless to say I had some major clean up to do before the wife got home(wife). After I tightned and fixed everything I ran the pump for a few just to get some water through it. All seems good now. Keeping my fingers crossed. on another note, I picked up some Marineland HoldFast to glue my rocks together. Give it a D+ at best. Says it will bond rock in 30 minutes. 6 hours later I go to check it and comes right apart(scratch). Guess I will have to drill and use some rods. Should of been my first option anyway. So heres a few pics of the tank with water in it. And my pillar with the crappy Holdfast on it. Please dont laugh, im trying. Ill get there sooner or later. I did order my lights. Dr. foster and smith had a great deal on Aqualight Elite Metal Halide/Compact Fluorescent Fixtures. 72inch, 3 250 watt MH with 96 watt antics.

Turned my 55 gal tank into a sump for my new 180 gal tank. So I dont need the stand.

Its an ember blenny.

still have this if anyone is interested. Its the one you get at Petco. there about 130 or so new. Used it for about 4 months.

https://www.marcorocks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=62&HS=1 Its about 2.40 a pound. You cant beat the shipping costs either. 10 bucks flat rate.

Well I got half of my Marcorock this morning. This is pretty amazing stuff. For some reason FedEx was slower on the second box. So probably have to wait till monday on that one. I made a nice tower out of a few pieces that almost seem to be made for each other. Im thinking im going to keep that one. A++ so far on the Marcorocks.com. Ordered it monday morning, they shipped it out a few hours later, got the first box in less then a week. Not to mention they only charged 10 bucks for shipping on 100 lbs of rock.(rock2).

Drop me a pm if you decide on the rock again.

Man what a bummer. But like you said, now you can go bigger. That stand is awesome by the way.

Great pictures. What did you use to stack your rock? Acrylic rods? Glue?

well boredom kicked in so I filled it up. Good thing, I had one of my return nuts not tight and had a leak.DOH! So i was able to tightnen that up. What a PITA it is to fill and drain a 180 gallons. As you can see I got the base framed for the wall. Still toying with options for the top. im thinking that is gonna be a pain.

Got the plumbing all glued up. Chief, I missed your post and glued away. I see what you were saying, but I didnt do that. I did manage to get everything glued and in place. All parts are easily removable with unions, so taking the pump off or anything like that will be a cinch. got the wall framed around the base this afternoon. ill post some pics later. I think Im ready for some test water(scary)(scary). maybe tonight, maybe in the morning, its getting late. Will update soon.

Good idea, thank you. Im sure I can find something to that effect.