My first reef tank.

With alot of research I am currently planning on the set up for my very first reef tank, it will be a 180 gallon display tank with no substrate just live rock and a 70+ gallon refugium/sump. I will be putting live rock that has been in running systems for atleast a year, also sand for the refuge that has been running in a tank for 3+ months, and will hopefully be getting 3W LED lighting for the display tank.

I am looking for any other suggestions on what to do or any tips you've had from your experience when starting up a tank. I do have attached a diagram/blue print on the plans for my tank

 

Welcome to 3reef.

 

If your overflow pipe is going straight in your refuge your going to have a sandstorm. I would put your skimmer in first section, fuge in second.

Your "Some kind of light" can be 2 CFL 6500k bulbs. Pretty cheap and grow algae well. The sell them at lowes.

 

I would switch few things with sump. You return and skimmer would ideally be in separate sections for bubbles getting back in to tank from skimmer.... You can T off your overflow from display tank and put ball valves on both drains. You can send one line to skimmer section on far left the. Send other line to Refugium and slow down flow a lot with ball valve should be slow turn over into Refugium. Then move your return pump into middle section. Create a bubble trap with baffles in between skimmer section and return(middle) section. There is a similar design on melevsreef.com. I actually use this design for my sump as well. Google it.