SL's 180 Gallon build...

OK everybody, I just picked up my 180 gallon tank. It was used for freshwater and I am running it for saltwater. It came with the tank, stand, fluval fx5 filter, driftwood, angelfish, and a 55 gallon tank. Needless to say, the driftwood, angelfish and the fx5 with not be used in the build. The stand will do for now, until this spring, where I can get outside into the garage and build my own stand. The 55 I will be using as my sump/refuge. Will be buying some glass or acrylic from home depot/lowes soon here, and section off the 55, as soon as i get it cleaned. This build will be a slow build, since I will be on a budget. Although I do not plan on skimping very much. Just a slow process on getting the things I want or wanna build. As for the 180 gallon...its dirty...gotta be cleaned, will be working on that for a while. This tank has a pretty thick piece of glass across the middle. Pictures will show it, im not sure if this will pose a problem just yet...we will see. As I am new to this hobby, and I have never owned a fish tank or anything close to this size, any input from the advanced and experienced would be greatly appreciated!!!
Here are my ideas for the tank and equipment.

RO/DI system
Skimmer (not sure which kind yet)
Return pump (not sure which pump yet)
Lighting (thinking i will make my own LED fixtures)
Sand (a very fine sugar sand a couple inches deep)
Power heads (I really like the mp40's, but maybe some koralia's)
Bean animal overflow...I dont see a tempered sticker...;D
The stand I plan to build will be custom, although I am stuck on a couple color combos.
1. All black stand
2. Gunmetal grey and with flat/matte finish doors
3. Black stand with stainless steel doors
Im thinking a matching canopy as well.

My first couple purchases will be the RO/DI system, a refractometer, an ATO unless I choose to DIY.

This will be a learning experience for sure, and I plan to make as little mistakes as possible, as im sure everyone has said before...but they happen, i understand that. I plan for this to be a FOWLR tank for the mean time, but I see some very nice corals, and would love to upgrade to corals in the future, so I am looking to do as much as I can now to prepare.

Updates and pictures will come at a slow rate im guessing :-/ unless I get some deals on some things.

I am not looking to get this started tomorrow, as anxious as I am, I am taking my time, doing research, taking my time, doing research, and repeat. I know this will be a slow process as I have seen explained here several times.

Thanks for all that follow along and provide me with the much needed advice I will sure need. This is a big project for me, hopefully I can handle it

 

Hello and welcome to the 3reef fam. Welcome to the jump to saltwater and you are taking the right approach. Do it the way you want to and if you have any questions this is the place to get your answers. One thing I do want to say is when you get ready to section off your sump I suggest you have glass cut rather than acrylic. Acrylic doesn't adhere to glass that good unless a new product has come out to defy that theory.

 

Im positive I will have questions and alot have already been answered just by reading posts here on 3reef. And I think I will choose glass on the sump just because it is more rigid than acrylic. And with a 55 as a sump I would imagine there would be quite a bit of pressure. To much flex for the acrylic?

 

Yes sir it is.