Tony's 180 Malawi Setup

Allright, so after having the tank sit in my back yard since August, the 180 gallon reef-ready finally saw some action this weekend. Mad props to my dad and Michael O'Shay for some long hours yesterday in putting the thing together. Also props to Charlie (charlutz) for the awesome DIY wet/dry thread and the rest of the CCA crew for their advice.

Without this club, this tank would have either never gotten built or built for a whole lot more money.

Cheers!




**Lesson learned: Paint the tank when it's warm outside or be subject to back-to-back nights of consecutive wicked head rushes and lost brain cells.



**Drilling the holes in the drawers for the tower was the most time-consuming part of the process (besides shopping). I drilled several hundred 1/8" holes in each of the two drawers (small to reduce noise per Charlie). Ended up finishing the job with my heavy-duty Dewalt plug-in drill after I burned through two 18V batteries. lol.



**Note bio-balls ended up in the 2nd drawer to keep them somewhat dry. Third (submerged) drawer was filled with scrubbies.



**Holes in the back of the tower to discourage a dead area behind the tower in the sump.



**Bathtub testing of the sump.



**Took 4 different dollar stores to find the right kind of scrubbie pad. Thanks Maria (my wife) for finally finding them! 60 for $10.


**Last look at the 110. All the fish were put in temp tanks or isolated in 5 gallon buckets for the day, depending on their attitude. Especially aggressive fish are being separated from the group for 24 hours to give the smaller fish a chance to get a foothold and establish a pecking order.


**My basement in chaos.


**My dad and I taking 5 mins to watch the end of the Pittsburgh game.


(continued...)

**Me and Mike (discusnafricans) trying to avoid a trip to the emergency room. The 50 gallon Rubbermaid lid was cut in half to facilitate working in the sump after installation.


**Tank in place, awaiting plumbing hookup. The stand actually goes nicely with the cedar trim in my basement.


**Plumbing complete. We did as many connections as possible before the tank was in place. Tightening hose clamps gets pretty rough behind a sump, unless you have multiple double-joints in each arm. (This shot is looking down through the tank's bottom)


**Not so sure this is OSHA-approved usage of a step stool.


**The final rock layout was all Mike. He showed me how to place rocks more naturally, without creating the blocky, horizontal "cichlid condo" that I'm used to building.


**At about 1:00 last night, I finished adding the fish. I started with smaller haps that I was growing out and then added my not-so-aggressive guys from the 110. My three roughest characters (the male bumblebee, venustus and auratus) are in their own tanks in the fish room and will be added tonight.


**The six newly-added 4" Protomelas spilonotus were actually schooling with one of the red empresses for the hour I was watching them last night. Pretty wild. Though I suspect they won't, I hope they continue to do so for a bit longer after the water clears.




**All the fish were colored-up like mad... including the alpha spilonotus. Awesome coloration for a fish that size. He was never this color in the grow-out tank.



As you can see, the tank is very cloudy from the sand. I checked this morning and it had settled significantly.

A little bit of me would like it to stay cloudy for a bit longer. While it screws up pictures, not seeing the back glass gives a sense of looking out into infinity.

Anyway, thanks for looking. I'll post more pics as it clears and the fish get settled.

Tony

SubMariner said:

Excellent!:sign0173:

Thanx for sharing Tony))

To bad I wasn't involved with the Tony Project...HA!:sign0191:

Can't wait for part 2...:jumpy:

RM

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Part two two complete. Sorry I didn't call you, bro! I suck.

Thats awesome man! I was glad to help, and glad that trip to the emergency room didn't happen. If OSHA showed up, we definitely would have been shut down, but we escaped with all our fingers and toes. The fish look happy, and the alpha spilonotus is going to be a stud if he's already looking that good.

very nice man now put more fish in it

Looks great!

Looking good man, post up some more pics once its cleared up.

Niiice looks good tony. Ill have to add a spilonotus to my want list thanks to you!

Cartel said:

Niiice looks good tony. Ill have to add a spilonotus to my want list thanks to you!

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Those guys are home grown, so I may be able to come with a male for you. They can get to be 8"+, but look awesome and are pretty peaceful. Although not a great shot, heres a pic of the dad. You can't see his yellow forehead, but he was gorgeous (RIP).

very nice Tony!

Usin drill without safety goggle and stepping stool - OSHA might not like that too much haha..But I think they can write you up drinking while working with tools

DiscusnAfricans said:

Those guys are home grown, so I may be able to come with a male for you. They can get to be 8"+, but look awesome and are pretty peaceful. Although not a great shot, heres a pic of the dad. You can't see his yellow forehead, but he was gorgeous (RIP).

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Nice def want you know the deal lol let me know.

Lookin sweet! I'm excited to see the finished product.

Yeah, I need to post up some pics. I'll take some tonight and post em.

Gr8 Job Tony and Mike. More pic plz

Nice setup! Great job on the w/d.

I didn't know John Locke was your dad :happy0100:

Great work guys, here's to years of enjoyment.

Looks good Tony.

Lets see some pics!