180 GALLON SALTWATER (FOWLR) START UP

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Oh boy that's a lot of money for rock lol, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Good decision on buying the RODI unit. You won't need a water softener as the water coming out of the RODI should be PURE regardless however I don't think it would hurt.

The sand is up to you, and you won't be able to change it once it's there. But that much live sand is $$$.

I checked out the Hydors and I think a couple of them would be a good choice for this tank.
 
Hi, and welcome to MFK from a fellow cheesehead. There are a couple of us around here. IM GREEN! :D

ace869;4626847; said:
Here it goes Picked up 180 gallon tank stand and hood today used for 650 going to start from there. Now I need the advice. Was used as a freshwater now going to convert to saltwater Live rock and fish to begin with.
I would rather buy better equipment that i will be use when I upgrade to a 300 gallon or bigger when I find the right deal.

1. Best Filtration type

Sumped without a doubt. Is your tank drilled? If not you will either need to drill it (sketch), or you will need to buy/build yourself some sort of overflow. I would say that you could just overskim your tank, but berlin systems (skimmers and powerheads only for filtration) although good, work better on slimmly stocked tanks.

2. Skimmer

I recommend AquaC skimmers. Their spray injector technology produces a great foam, requires no maintenance, and will last virtually indefinitely.

3. How much sand and rock(best place to buy)

Depending on where you are in wisconsin, I could probably sell you some sand. I have a huge garbage can of the stuff in my garage from a tank I bought this summer. It is "reef grade" aragonite, and although dirty (because it came from a running system) you will need to wash it like any other substrate.

I always recommend buying at least some high quality liverock. The difference is amazing, and I feel that the high end stuff makes a great form of biological filtration (superior to FL farmed).

Heres some LR with free shipping: http://www.saltwaterfish.com/Live-Rock-Sand_c_4.html

Heres some LR being sold from a reputable dealer right here in Wisco! : http://liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=393

4. how many fish approx. can i fit in this size tank i

This completely depends on what kind of fish, filtration, water change schedule, and how you are feeding your fish.

5. Anything else i am forgetting
would like it semi aggressive with some triggers, tangs, Lion fish and so on.

Lions in my experience are NOT aggresive. They simply will swallow anything that is smaller than their mouth.

Any and all advise is greatly needed and appreciated
Click to expand...

insanity0x1;4626961; said:
well im not too familiar with salt so just my $.02, but as far as filtration goes, you can concider a Wet/dry, or look at a couple nice canister filters.

Wet/dry and canisters would both need lots of maitenece or would be come "nitrate factories" stuff gets trapped too easily, and wont get removed soon enough to stop your h2o quality from taking a hit. This is why I recommend sumping, unless you want to clean out a wet/dry once a week.
if you have the money, id personally go with an Eheim 2260 (:headbang2),
Eheim is awesome. If I had to do a canister, I would go with this or the fluval XP5

they're beasts, google them if unfamiliar. also in combo with the Eheim id get a rena XP4 so you will be more than fine when u upgrade to a larger tank.
in total the Eheim 2260 and XP4 will probably give you 5-700GPH? but be able to filtrate your 300, and handle the 180 with ease.

best of luck my friend!

-austin
Click to expand...

fast_freddy;4628451; said:
I have a little experience with saltwater and to be honest mechanical filtration performed by sponges, bioballs etc is a thing of the past. They clog up with detritus and become nitrate factories and don't perform your biological filtration half as effectively as live rock. Invest in good quality live rock (I forget the formula for how much, shouldn't be to hard to find) an excellent skimmer (there are a few good brands bubble king, deltec, octopus just to name a few) and maybe a small canister filter for some chemical filtration (carbon or phosphate remover). Honestly keep it simple with filtration.

+1

Nice choice of fish with a tank this size. Just like stocking a freshwater tank there are no hard and fast rules for stocking your tank. Remember that while a FOWLR can be stocked more heavily than a reef you will still need to be careful here. Perhaps find a list of the fish you want and post it in the dedicated saltwater forum for them to critique.

+1

You also did not mention water movement. While this is not a reef tank water movement is still vitally important. Unfortunately I don't remember the rules for this either but your going to want at least a couple large powerheads. I suggest Vortech or Tunze however my preference is Vortech.

+1/2 Vortechs are nice, but too expensive. Same with tunze. Look into Koralia brand powerheads. You want at LEAST 10x your tank volume in flow (this includes your filtration).

That being said flow is something that needs to be fine tuned...Too much and certain fish wont want to venture out into the open. Too little and you will have waste building up in dead spots. The point is you dont want anywhere in your tank that doesnt at least have some gentle through flow.

You will probably want to invest in a reverse osmosis filter because using tap water in a saltwater tank usually results in lots of algae. Luckily these units are now quite cheap and easy to use. Just don't skimp on the unit.

This really depends. Been using tap on reefs for almost 10 years now. I live in an area with a very pure well however. My suggestion is that you take your h2o to a water testing location to have it tested. If your water comes from a municipal source that adds ANYTHING to the water, I would recommend RODI without testing.

I hope I havn't forgotten anything if you have anymore questions just ask.

- Sam
Click to expand...

ace869;4635315; said:
Ok ordered 2 Hydor Koralia Magnum 5 pumps
5 40lb bags of caribsea special grade reef sand
2 20lb bags or caribsea Arag alive special grade
1 Eheim Jager Thermostat Heater 300W

still have not figured out what type of lighting to Buy and have no clue any help?
Click to expand...

Alright. I just went over everything in this post so far. Special reef grade aragonite is the best stuff out there in my mind. I wish the grain size was just a HAIR bigger, but that is okay.

The koralias are good, now just make sure that the flow isnt too powerful anywhere in your tank, and that it is even throughout.

Jager makes the best heaters. You are doing well so far.

Lighting wise on a 180 FOWLR its up to you. If I was going to grow corals in it I would probably start with 2x 250w MH.

Good job so far, keep the questions coming.
 
HEY FLESHY

THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS i WILL BE GETTING THE WATER TOMORROW BUT THE SALT HAS NOT BEEN SHIPPED YET MIGHT NED TO GO TO THE LFS AND PICK SOME UP. GOING TO DECIDE ON A LIGHT BY TOMORROW.

ALSO I THINK I HAVE A DEAL IN PLACE FOR A 360 IN CHICAGO TO PICK UP FRIDAY HOPE ALL GOES WELL.
 
fast_freddy;4632717; said:
Here are my thoughts

So much for a small canister filter lol. Oh well at least if you don't like the mechanical filtration you can pull it later and just have chemical or maybe live rock rubble in there. Plus it will help with water movement.

Nice choice of skimmer, AM have a great name and I'm sure it will do a great job for you however it probably won't be big enough for the 300.

Did you order the RODI unit or just the water because in the long run it will be a lot more economical to have a unit and make your own.

As for lighting this is not critical in a FOWLR aquarium. It is up to you but you would probably either go with a couple of T5's or Metal Halide. The only case I can see for the halides is if you like the shimmer lines. If you ask me the added heat and power usage will make them more trouble than there worth. Go for the T5's.

Wow all that live sand is going to be expensive! If it were me, I would buy a couple bags of the live sand and mostly bags of one of carib seas sands without the microfauna. This will save you a lot of money and you will still end up with a tank full of live sand.

From memory the rule of thumb is 1lb of live rock per gallon so you have the minimum. I'd buy that amount and if you feel confortable adding more I would. The only way you can have to much live rock is if you can't get circulation between it all or your fish have no room to swim. But if you have good circulation and common sense you've got nothing to worry about.

As far as pumps like I said, get a couple of Vortechs on there. Check around to see what other people are using on there 180 gallon FOWLR. Luckily it is a standard sized tank so this should be pretty straight forward.
Click to expand...


all good advise. marcorock.com, is a great place to buy rock and sand. not expensive and very good .
 
Started filling it up today
11-18169.jpg
11-18168.jpg
 
IMO I would return the canister and hob protein skimmer. Doing a sump with in sump skimmer is your best route, especially if you want to go with more aggressive or even predatory fish. NOT saying you can't do a hob skimmer and canister but its just alot more maintenance. Doing a sump allows you to have all your equipment in that one area minus lights/power heads. You can also incorporate a refugium and/or algae scrubber.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom