New 180 Gallon checklist

[richard4878]

Hi everyone. I got a 180 gallon tank 6x2x2 and stand for 100 dollars. I will be picking it up this weekend, and am trying to get all my ducks in a row for final setup. Tank will be supporting 1 silver arrowana and 2 peacock bass as well as a pictus catfish, for growout before they go in my dads 2500 gallon pond. This is what I have so far.


180 gallon 6x2x2 tank

Matching 6 leg stand, will be covering with wood before final setup for looks purposes.

3 Lollycolumns and a 4x6 to brace the the first floor from the basement

Fluval FX5 for filtration, as well as 2 AC 110's

100 pounds of gravel

1 4 foot light ballast

2 250 watt heaters

I was thinking I may need to put a powerhead or 2 for water movement, any thoughts?

Are the 2 AC 110s overkill?

Is there anything that Im missing?

Any help that could be provided by the experts here would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[mgctutor]

If your going to use gravel, and have a power head or two. I would put them to good use. I would plum the base of the tank with pvc and use the power heads to push the water down and up through the gravel. It has to fictions. works like an under gravel filter and keeps the gravel clean. Kinda like my gravel/sand cleaning box, only on a much bigger scale...

 

[mohinder]

That's a nice deal on a 180 gallon tank.

I have a 180 gallon acrylic tank and the set up is like this:
2 250 watt Ebo-jager heaters
2 AquaClear 110s
2 Eheim 2217 canister filters (one on each side)
4 3-ft long all-glass flourescent light fixtures

So, your list looks pretty good. I don't use a power head, and I think that the more filtration the better, so your plan for two 110s and the FX5 canister should be great.

 

[richard4878]

Thanks guys. If my wife lets me borrow here digi camera I will take some pictures.

 

[13784]

I have a 180 gallon filtered by 2 Rena XP4's. The water is clear when I look at the tank from front to back, but slightly (white) cloudy when I look from side to side. It takes hours to clear after feeding pellets. I'm looking into options such as one Aqua Clear 110 or a UV sterlizer. Suggestions? I can only hang one AC 110 on this aquarium. I plugged one side after running a Marineland Tidepool II combined with a XP 3. My water was crystal clear with that set up, however, the tank now sits in the living room on new wood floors and I didn't want to have an overflow accident with the wet/dry, hence, the two cansiters. I'll admit the canisters are very quite compared with the wet/dry's waterfall sounds which I found soothing, regardless.
Thanks.

 

[12 Volt Man]

You could add an AC on there. but I don't think filtration is the problem.

it sounds like you are overfeeding your fish.

I have monsters too and feed lots of pellets. But if you find it is taking hours to clear after a feeding it is a good indication that you are putting in too much food.

your tanks should ideally look like there is no water in them, like this:

if not, cut back a bit on the feeding, and do an extra water change.

hope this helps!

 

[Bderick67]

Looks as if ya got everything, need to add about 180 gallons of water though

The 2 Ac110s are not overkill, the two I have on my tank I use for mechanical filtration and are rinsed weekly along with the XP3 that's set up for bio, keeps the water crystal clear.

 

[hillbilly]

Sounds like a plan. However, I hate cleaning gravel. Especially when the tank contains jumpy fish, like aros and pbass. I have found through experience that pool filter sand is much easier to clean, with the waste sitting on top instead of sinking into the gravel. This adds up to less time messing around inside the tank spooking the fish. I would also think about adding drip water change on a 180. It'll keep your parameters more stable, and make tank maintenance much easier.

 

[13784]

Thanks for the prompt replys and great suggestions. I feed twice daily, but not too much. Maybe it's the stuff I feed them--those red pellets for color enhancement. Anyway, I'll cut back to one feeding daily and add a Magnum 350 I have sitting in the garage for a couple of years. I'll install the micron filter in the Magnum and see what happens.
Thanks again to all!

 

[12 Volt Man]

if you are feeding twice a day, thats the problem right there.

feed once per day only.

your fish will still grow into monsters on one feeding a day no problem.

twice per day with high protein pellets is too much.

in fact, a lot of monster fish keepers skip a day once per week too. its good for digestion and water quality at the same time.

and the fish will keep growing and growing and...