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Need help with plans for 180 gal reef

T

Treadingwater

I'm planning a 180gal setup and I can really use some advice.

First, let me start off by saying this is not going to be my permanent 180 tank. It is a temporary one until I finish remodeling the room it's going in and can get my custom made tank. My objective is to get a temporary 180 gal system set up and be able to use most, if not all, all the equipment on my permanent setup and I have a budget of $3000 to work with right now.

So, what I am planning for now is a 180 gal AGA tank. I will be building the stand and hopefully the sump. I am thinking somewhere around 48x20x16 for the sump, but I may not be able to go as wide as 20" depending on the stand design. I will be purchasing a Deltec AP851 skimmer. For lighting I plan on using 3 250w Lumenarc 3's driven by Icecap 250w ballasts. This will be supplemented by 2 72" 160w T5 Super Actinic bulbs driven by an Icecap 660 ballest. I plan on building a frame out of aluminum tubing to hang the lighting. I am looking at Hydor Koralia powerheads for water movement, but I'm not sure what size to get. I want a minimum of 4 of them (one in each corner of the tank). Any suggestions? I will also be buying a Phosban reactor to help with phosphate removal but I need a suggestion on what pump to use to feed it. I also need a suggestion for an auto top off unit.(can I dyi one for cheap?) Kalk and calcium will have to be dosed without the use of reactors for now unless I can find them used for a decent price. Oh, almost forgot, I need a recommendation for a return pump.

Other things I need, but may have to wait until later
Kalk reactor
calcium reactor (I may look into DYI'ing this using the plan on Melev's Reef website)
Controller unit

I can use help with plans for making a stand for the tank if someone knows a good place to look.

Humm, I'm sure I forgot things, but it's all I can think of for now. Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Jack
 
RichT

RichT

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
URI's T5 bulbs supposedly out preform the others. Sanjay will be testing T5's soon so we shall see. Problem is, URI doesn't make 72", or 60" for that matter. The biggest T5's I've come across from anyone (although I haven't looked in a while) is 60" 80W'ers. To get to 2 @ 6' you could do 4 @ 3'. The ballasts are limited by length of bulb I believe. And you'll also want the SLR for the T5s as well.

HTH
 
T

Treadingwater

Humm, I didn't know that. Any idea what size the 72" 160w bulbs are then (VHO, HO)?

Oh, and just to elaborate a little more so people don't think I'm totally crazy to try and do this on an initial $3000 budget. This is a long term project. I'm not looking to add livestock to this tank any time soon. I will be using mostly dead rock (or dyi rock if I get really ambitious, lol)and just some live rock to seed it and the sand. I will probably not buy all 3 Lumenarcs to start off with. I will probably just have one with the florescent supplements while the tank cycles and seeds. I just really want to get the tank set up and plumbed right now so I can start cycling and seeding.
 
T

Treadingwater

Ok, looked it up myself and found out the URI Super Actinic bulbs I was looking at are 72" 160w VHO. I can still use the Icecap 660 to drive them. However, I'm not sure if it would be better for me to go with VHO or T5's?
 
RichT

RichT

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I use the g3 and billyr uses the 4x. Both have the mesh and gate valve mod. They are pretty good skimmers for the money (quality not even close to the ER, Deltec's, others). They perform well too but you will double, if not more, the output if you do some mods.

HTH
 
T

Treadingwater

Thank you Rich. It's a very big help.

Considering my budget, g4x is probably the better way to go. It may not be as high a quality as the Deltec, but I will have a light load on the tank for a few years. The Deltec is something I can upgrade when my tank load gets heavier.
 
T

Treadingwater

Ok, have a question on plumbing this tank. It has 2 overflows rated at 600gph each. Would I be better off running 2 return pumps, one to each return or running one return pump and T'ing it off to the 2 returns? Also, any suggestions on which pump/s to use for the return?
 
kabal2

kabal2

in my opinion is better if you use just one pump, you can used a T4 thats what i used and im happy with it, and its externa, btw, you want to used external or submersible?
eheim are pretty good pumps to run submersible, or a mag12, external i will go with the t4 that is dead silence, or a iwaki 70rlt.

Gabe
 
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