Advise on New 180 tank

[Ridgeline]

I'm putting a new tank together soon , so i need some advice on which equipment . I've been out of the hobby for about 5 years ( moved 3 times in five years ). I need to decide on what skimmer/ sump to get and the search on this forum is crazy to say the least !! The tank will have a heavy bioload ...Any help would be great

 

[zapata41]

get the biggest NW skimmer you can afford. the asm's are nice but they work far better if you make the NW pump recirculation and feed the skimmer with a seperate pump or from an overflow. the nw skimmer will give you a very very great bang forthe buck. as far as sump goes, just get the biggest one you can fit, the more water volume the better. acrylic sumps are nice as you can drill them easily and they are lighter than glass.

Tim

 

[M. Python]

This is a picture of my 180, 5 years old with a list of equipment I used and a fish list. The fish I have are indestructible and very healthy. No skimmer or mechanical filtration.

-TANK-
*180 gal. AGA
with
overflowes
-FILTRATION-
*Ecosystem SYS 3616 A-M Acrylic sump
-WATER MOVEMENT-
*Two maxi-jet
295 gph power heads
*Three Gen x
pcx40 1190gph.
waterpumps
*One Supreme Mag-Drive
model 18 1800gph
waterpump
*Tsunami wave maker
-LIGHTING-
*Four 175 watt
metal halide 10,000 k
*Two 160 watt.
VHO 50/50s
*two 160 watt.
VHO super actinics
*Two 660
Ice Cap ballast
*Solar 1000 L2
-Water Purification-
*Kent RO unit
*Three float valves
*44 gallon water
storage container
-Heater-
*350 W. Pro Heat II

Fish List
1 powder blue tang
1 blond naso tang
1 hippo tang
1 yellow tang
3 purple tangs
2 blue throat triggers male and female
1 fox face
1 coral beauty
1 six line wrasse
1 Bicolor Pseudochromis
1 Royal Gramma
1 canary goby
1 yellow tail damsel
2 clowns
4 cleaner neon gobies

 

[Ridgeline]

I 've also done an ecosystem with good sucess...Hmmmm....

 

[_K_E_P_]

M. Python how well did your tangs get along with each other? What are your tips on keeping multiple tangs of the same genus?

Ridgeline, sorry for the diversion

 

[hahnmeister]

My cousin's winning 180g...uses my 'low wattage' approach for high performance...

180g w/ only one overflow.
3x250wattHQI/DE halides with Pheonix 14,000K (6 hour photoperiod).
6x54wattT5s (staggered to cover whole tank), 2xactinic, 2xblue+, 2x6500K.
Eheim 1250 as return pump (only 200gph through overflow/skimmer).
Aqua Medic 5000 baby direct fed from overflow before water passes to sump.
40B sump, half of which is refugium (I forget what its lit with, bu its about 7 species of non-caulerpa macro algae).
Phosban reactor.
2x Ebo 250watt heaters in sump
2xTunze Stream 6200s in tank for flow (thats over a possible 10,000gph for a mere average of 55watts!)
No chiller (just fans over the open top of the aquarium)
DIY Top-off (Hes a biomedical engineer, so can make better than you can buy)
Deltec Ca reactor.

I wouldnt change a thing except maybe switching the lights around a bit...but thats all personal taste. His tank is amazing.

 

[M. Python]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7412841#post7412841 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by _K_E_P_
M. Python how well did your tangs get along with each other? What are your tips on keeping multiple tangs of the same genus?

Ridgeline, sorry for the diversion

They donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t show any aggression at all toward each other. To do this I will introduce threeZebrasoma tangs at the same time, never two unless there is already one in the aquarium. I had the yellow tang for over a year when I wanted to add a purple tang. If I would have just added one purple tang the yellow would have killed it. I could have risked it and added two purples but adding three at the same time confuses the existing fish and the initial aggression will stop in a couple days. All the other tangs are tangs that are less aggressive in nature and are of different colors and shapes. If instead of the blond naso I were to add a clown tang or sohal tang or replace two with these fish, this wouldnââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t work and the aggression would continue until I lost all the tangs. You just have to understand their temperaments and how and when to introduce them.