Help! I have a new 180 gallon and I could use some advice

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BTB0923

Candiru
MFK Member
May 2, 2008
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Morrisville, North Carolina
I just got my new 180 gallon aquarium set up in my place and I could use some advice on what I need to buy for it and where to get the best deals. I've attached some pics of the tank and the sump that came with it.

This is going to be a freshwater tank with a motoro ray, silver arowana, black ghost knife, and probably some other fish as well after I decide what else I want to stock it with.

My first issue is substrate. I know I want sand for the ray, but I'm not really sure what kind or where I can get it for a good price. Anybody have any suggestions?

I'm also not really sure about how to set up my sump. The two big black columns in the back of the tank are the overflows. Inside each of the overflows are two holes cut in the glass where I am supposed to hook the tubing up. My concern is how to seal these holes when I run the tubing to them.

I'm also not sure what strength of pump I need to buy for the sump, where to get a good deal on media for the biological filter, and pretty much just how to set it up in general.

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

tank1.jpg

tank2.jpg

tank3.jpg
 
nice looking tank, I would look over ebay, dfs, and big als
 
uncwnells;3124744; said:
nice looking tank, I would look over ebay, dfs, and big als
Click to expand...

thanks. I'm trying to figure out a list of everything I need to buy before I actually start shopping around. Specifically things like what strength/brand of heater, pump, substrate, tubing, seals, etc. I've never had anything bigger than a 55 gallon with a canister filter so I'm pretty clueless to the whole sump thing.
 
BTB0923;3124724; said:
I just got my new 180 gallon aquarium set up in my place and I could use some advice on what I need to buy for it and where to get the best deals. I've attached some pics of the tank and the sump that came with it.

This is going to be a freshwater tank with a motoro ray, silver arowana, black ghost knife, and probably some other fish as well after I decide what else I want to stock it with.

My first issue is substrate. I know I want sand for the ray, but I'm not really sure what kind or where I can get it for a good price. Anybody have any suggestions?

I'm also not really sure about how to set up my sump. The two big black columns in the back of the tank are the overflows. Inside each of the overflows are two holes cut in the glass where I am supposed to hook the tubing up. My concern is how to seal these holes when I run the tubing to them.

I'm also not sure what strength of pump I need to buy for the sump, where to get a good deal on media for the biological filter, and pretty much just how to set it up in general.

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!
Click to expand...

for sand you can do pool filter sand from home depot. Its cheap and clean. Just watch out that it doesn't irritate your ray's belly.

for media send a pm to zennzzo (sp?), he has potscrubbies for cheap.

For pump size, try pm'ing Chompers and see if he'll send you his flow rate graphs.

Nice pickup and good luck :thumbsup:
 
Nice Tank!!! What kind is it? It looks like you got it used.What size sump is that? You are probably going to have to go with a motor that pushes a little over 1200gph I think. The heater, at least 2-200w or 2-300w.Your overflows are usually pvc behind the covers so you have to find the right bulkheads to fit the holes. Lowes or Home Depot should have these.
Cant wait till I get the 180 I want later this summer.
 
I, like you, have never messed with a sump, but some day, like yourself would like to go big. I am currently running 2 canisters on my 75 (that's the limit of my experience).

When you get everything figured out can you post a step by step on how/what to buy/ install etc, to configure the sump? That would be great!

Great looking tank! 180 will be awesome.
:D
 
a good sand for rays is 3M color quarts. its more expansive then play sand or pool filter sand, but it looks a lot nicer and rays never have problems on it! plus u can choose ur own color! heres a pic of my buddy's ray tank with the 3M sand. u may already know, but Motoro stingrays need a 4' wide tank eventually. ur tank will be good for a mototro for about 2 years maybe 3.

IMG_5723.gif
 
Thanks for the compliments and suggestions. I am definitely going to look into the 3M color quartz sand and I am going to use scrubbies for the bio-filter. I have gotten the bulkhead on and attached to the sump successfully....watertight! I had to make a trip to Lowes to get threaded pvc pipe and some rubber since I only had three bulkheads and 4 holes in the tank but it worked out perfectly. Now I just need to get a pump and I can start cycling.
 
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