Is a reef possible in my 180?

[spicolte]

I have a 180 mature FOWLR tank. Inhabitants include:

-Blue Face Angel
-Lionfish
-Porcupine Puffer
-Blue Jaw Trigger
-Tomini Tang
-Purple Tang
-Brown Tang
-Lipstick Tang
-Saddleback wrasse
-A small (unknown species) butterfly fish (it looks like a threadfin, without the thread)
-Sweetlips clown

I am running a sump with bio balls and a reef octopus skimmer. Intake water is "tee'd" so that water enters the skimmer and the bio ball section separately. In other words, water doesn't go to the skimmer *after* the bio balls.

The tank has appox. 125 pounds of live rock and is lit by 7 CF bulbs.

I added mushrooms from my 100 gallon which initially did well, but then my blue face took to nipping them. Elephant ear coral (the more rigid and leathery kind) have done ok in the tank, but do not grow at the rate they do in my 100.

I'd like to change my lighting to AI LED's and add in an anemone, and some other corals.

Can someone here tell me if this is a wise idea? I'd hate to sink money into lighting and corals and fail.

Also, what type of corals would be hardy in this fish set up?

Regarding my filtration and light rock load. Can I safely switch over to a berlin set up and lose my bio-balls? I'm worried about the waste load the angel, puffer, and lionfish add to the tank. I know my current skimmer should be able to handle the load, but worry about build up of ammonia and nitrite which now read zero.

Thanks for any and all advice.

 

[Hendrix99]

I think it might be pretty difficult based on your current inhabitants. With the potential coral eaters like the Butterfly fish and Angel and Mobile inverterbrate eaters like the Puffer and Lionfish you would be greatly limited to what you could do. How are you Nitrates currently? Bubble tip anemone might be a possibility if you do upgrade the lights and have the water quality at a good standard.

 

[spicolte]

180 reef...

180 reef...

Thanks for the reply.

Nitrate tested a bit high, but my LaMotte kit is a bit old. I'm going to order new "parts: for my test kit and double check.

I'm definitely going to make sure that the water parameters (especially Nitrate) are under control before moving forward.

I forgot to add that I do have a refugium. I'm running zero substrate and all calerpa.

Anyone else with thoughts?

 

[spicolte]

Picture?

Picture?

A picture of the 180? Or a picture of the refug and sump area?

The overflow drains into a pvc "T" with half the water going directly into the skimmer, and the other half going to the bio-ball boxes of the sump.

The refug is fed from a pump located in the sump return area. The refug is a 25 gallon acrylic tank with two overflow holes drilled at the very top. Water is fed into the refug from the sump (as mentioned) and the return water drops back into the sump return area via the two overflows and pvc pipe that take it down to the bottom of the sump return.

A pump located in the sump then returns the water to the display tank.

Does that help?

If that doesn't help, please let me know what picture you require.

Thanks