Advise on equipment needed to run a 180tank (1 Viewer)

[mwilliams62]

Need advise on what all equipment and plumbing needed to set up a 180 tank.
A reef ready tnk that will have the two built-in overflow boxes.....

 

[bevoboy]

First, I'd highly recommend a tank with curved corner overflows. The square overflow covers create a lot of dead space along the back wall of your tank that will have to be dealt with.

Second, someone on here has a brother that can build you a single center brace for the tank. My oceanic has two glass braces that are pretty wide and they make maintenance a PITA.

You'll want a sump of at least 40G. I went with a 40 breeder so that I would still have plenty of space inside the stand for other toys. For top off I use the Avast Marine pressure switch, and MJ 400 and a rubbermaid 5G container. My tank evaps about 5G a week so you probably don't want to go much smaller on your top off container. Honestly, you could use an old salt bucket and save yourself a few bucks (plus avoid algae problems).

I used a combination of flex hose and PVC for my plumbing. I wanted to get the plumbing as close to the ceiling of the stand and this was the best solution for me. Using the standard Durso pipes and unless I open up the return pump, have no plumbing noise at all.

I'm using a Mag 12 for my return. It's too powerful and probably could have gotten away with a 9.5. I have the return throttled down about 35% with a ball valve.

I'm not using a Ca reactor. I dose two-part with peristaltic pumps. Alk, Ca and Mg are rock steady. I have been running EcoBak on a BRS reactor but am about to take that offline and switch to manual dosing of probiotics.

We've already addressed your skimmer in your other thread. It's not necessary to spend $500+ on a skimmer for your 180. There are plenty of options in the $300-350 range that will work just fine.

I'm running 2xMP40W and 1xMP10W inside the tank for flow. 40s on the ends and a 10 on the back wall. I likely will add another 10 on the back wall to help address the dead spots mentioned above. With the exception of those two corners, I have tons of flow in the tank. 2xMP40 would be sufficient, as would some combination of Koralia or Tunze. I simply prefer the Vortech aesthetics.

Is this going to be a mixed reef with SPS? If so, you'll need at least 8 tubes of 80W T5 (or 6 overdriven on IC 660s). For halide you could run 3x250 or 2x400. I wouldn't run 3x400 because of the heat.

Hope that helps. I planned my build for a month or so before setting it up and I'm happy with it. The one thing I wish I had done differently was buy a new tank with low-iron glass.

 

[mwilliams62]

the tank that I was going to gwt has the sort of square overflow boxes in the cornerd so will that stii create dead space??? Would putting two power heads back there help any???

 

[bevoboy]

Yes, you'll have dead space in the corner where the overflow meets the back glass. If you aim power heads into those corners that will solve it.

 

[mwilliams62]

Thanks .... Are there any such power heads that can hang from the sides of the overflow boxes?

 

[bevoboy]

You could use some koralia on the back glass and aim them into the dead spots (or put them in the dead spot to create flow from the intake).

The dead spots are really not a big critical issue as long as you do something to address flow into those areas.

 

[mwilliams62]

I was thinking and don't know if this will work or not since they have the maginetic cap. I was thinking about putting that inside the overflow box on each side and point them towards each other just don't know which size would be good for that back area...