New Aquarium

Hey All,

I am going to be upgrading into a 180 gallon flat back hex tank. Currently, I am running a 55 gallon bow-front. What I am planning on, is using the 55 gallon as my sump/refugium. I would like some opinions on my equipment choices:

Protein Skimmer: Red Sea C-Skim 1800, w/ Hydor SELTZ L30 Pump

Bio Filter: NextReef SMR1 Solid Media Reactor, w/ Hydor SELTZ L40 Pump & NP Bio-pellets

Chemical Filter: NextReef MR1 Monster Media Reactor, w/ 2 Hydor SELTZ L30 Pumps, D-D RP-100 ROWAphos Phosphate Removal Media, & D-D ROWA Carbon 500mL Filter Media

Refugium: 55 gallon bow-front aquarium w/ 8" deep sand bed (any suggestions for media/sand would be nice - I was thinking Miracle Mud)

Return: Eheim Compact+ 5000 Pump

For the refugium I will be adding some 10" baffles around where I plan to place the Skimmer. Adding a shelf to the top of the baffles for the Skimmer to sit on. Under the Skimmer I plan to place all of the pumps. The Bio & Chem filter will be outside of the Refugium, and the return line from the Skimmer will be dumped on the opposite side of the refugium. Eventually I plan to add a calcium reactor but, I must wait for my wallet to be able to afford one. Here is what I was thinking of if I had the money for it.

Hydor Performer Calcium Reactor 750, w/ D-D ROWAlith C+ 6K Calcium Reactor Media, & Deluxe CO2 Regulator with 5 lbs CO2 Tank

Thanks to All who reply,
BioFreak

 

Sounds good, be sure to post pictures of your progress

 

Pictures would be wonderful.

Your plans sound good. the only thing I noticed is that your filtration will be a bit repetitive, which is not needed. A refugium makes for good biological filtration. if you go this rout then I think your 55g tank will be a good size tank to use for this. It is large enough that you will have a decent effect on nut rent export and also culturing pods, should you want a fish with a specialised diet, later down the road.

GFO and carbon in reactor(s) are good for phosphate and nitrate export. Chemical filtration - but many people who run biopellets have found that the pellets remove the need to also run GAC and GFO. Some people ultimately ended up removing their GFO and GAC reactors, while few people kept them on-line.

I have not heard many people using that protein skimmer - probably because it is so large. But red Sea is a nice brand. I think you should be fine.

 

Thank You both,

I will definitely post pictures of the whole set-up once I have it. I am also looking at buying an Orphek PR156 LED fixture. Any comments on this would be great too.

 

That's a very high-end fixture. I have heard lots of good things about them. Too much $$$ for me, personally. But they are nice.

For a 180 you may need up to 3 fixtures. Start with 2 and see what kind of coverage you get. The actual fixture is 24" L X 10" W. Coverage will depend on the angle (120 or 90 degree) of the LED optic lenses.

 

Oh, sounds like a nice upgrade! Don't forget to post pictures!

 

Yeah, thanks for the info Seano. I plan on running a single 120 degree until I can afford 2 of them. And place my corals carefully under it probably putting my Ricordeas near where the light starts to fade out as they don't need much. I should have the new tank by the end of this week or next. I will begin posting pics of my current setup tomorrow. And the upgrade as it goes.

 

Somehow I missed that the tank will be a hex. Unless the footprint is large compared to height then you should be just fine with two of the pr-156 units.

 

The only thing I didnt see or missed was what type of powerheads you are running?

Pictures are a must

Welcome to the forum

 

Change in Plans

Hey guys, I need some help...

There has been a change in plans, my wife no longer wants the tank becuse she found a better deal. We are now upgrading even larger. We are going to be upgrading into a 240 gallon rectangle tank, with a canopy and stand, for the same price that the other tank was. As I stated before, I had a good idea of what I was planning for the sump but since there will be so much more room under the larger tank I am now planning to have a fuge seperate from the sump. I am going to have a 55 gallon fuge with bulkheads in it that will feed into the sump.

My questions are this, what would be a good skimmer on the lower price size? I am thinking of a Reef Octopus.

What would be a good light choice for it, as I now it will be a while before I can afford enough LEDs to run an 8' x 2' x 2' tank? How much of these lights will I need? I am thinkg of having 6-8 watts/gallon of standard lighting prior to upgrading to the LEDs. I know light is essential but, currently the most difficult coral to raise that I have is a hammer coral, other than that I have ricordea and polyps (buttons and green stars). So, I know I can go way under the recommended watt/gallon rule.

I also need to know what and how much water flow pumps I should get. I am planning on getting EcoTec VorTech pumps.

As I have never had a tank anywhere close to this size, I know it will be a little more work in some areas, less in others. I also need help on all basic equipment, like heaters and media reactors. What would you do for equipment if you were given this tank for free? What all would you buy, and what order would you purchase it in? I am planning on making approx. 3 seperate equiptment purchases around max $1k.

Thanks