Question about upgrading to 180

[tim b]

I got a 75 gallon rr tank right now but I think I am going to upgrade to a 180 rr tank. I have a few questions though. What do most people prefer, Oceanic or Marineland for a tank, what size return pump is needed, what size skimmer is needed, sump size, etc.. I am trying to figure a estimate on what it is going to cost me..thanks

 

[mlb75]

It really comes down to what do you have now (some of it may be able to be reused) and what you plan to do with the tank. A few more details about what you want would help with recommendations. As far as the manufacturer though my understanding is that Oceanic isn't going to be making tanks much longer if they still are and then the options will be AGA or Marineland. Between those I think the main difference is in overflow placement and which of those styles you like, both have their advantages.

 

[tim b]

Well right now I have a yellow tang, atlantic blue tang, 2 clownfish, 2 serpent stars, and some snails. I originally was just going to upgrade to a 120 but after having my blue tang I decided to go with a 6 ft tank instead. I have a aquaticlife 4 bulb t5 light right now and I really like it, but I know I can't use that on the 180 so I will go with the 12 bulb t5 aquaticlife. I have a octopus NW 100, I know that is small for a 180 so I was thinking about going with a NW 250 or extreme 200. Any thoughts? I rather have an internal return pump rather than a external. I also have frogspawn, xenia, green pylops. I am more into lps and soft corals I guess. Anything you can help me out on I would appreciate it. Thanks Tim

 

[tim b]

Forgot and 80 pounds of live rock.

 

[mlb75]

Do you already have the tank? If not I'll make ya a heck of a deal on the one I'm upgrading out of, it would come with sump and stand...

As for lights I went T5 awhile back and will say that you'll love them, haven't really heard anything about the aquaticlife fixture but I know I love my ATI Powermodule, it's a bit more money but replacing 6 or 8 5' bulbs will be way cheaper than replacing 12 3' ones. It's a bit more money but I'd highly recommend looking into the 60" fixtures regardless of manufacturer. If you don't care about doing SPS the 6 bulb would probably be fine but the 8 bulb ROCKS on that tank. I've had everything from mushrooms - SPS growing like crazy with the 8 bulb. Your best bet for advice on that would be in the T5 thread, Grim really knows what works and can offer you a bulb combination that will come out pretty much just how you want it.

As for sump I recommend as large as you can go, will it have to be under the stand or will you have a fish room (if you've got a room I hate you). I had a sump custom built for mine and it worked great. It had a large chamber for remote deep sand bed and fuge as well as huge skimmer / return area.

As for internal or external pumps I know you said you preferred internal but I think once you go to external you'll never look back I know I haven't. I personally like the pressure rated Blue Lines. They're very quiet (almost dead silent) and by having the external motors don't seep any voltage into the tank which many of the internal pumps do.

You'll more than likely need more live rock, probably twice as much.

You'll definitely need a bigger skimmer and will say that the new Octopus skimmers look great but I don't have any experience with them to recommend a specific model. I'd go as big as you can get though.

It's definitely not a cheap upgrade as most of the equipment will have to be replaced from you existing setup but the 6' tank is so nice you won't regret it. Hopefully you could sell most of your existing stuff and pick some of the new stuff up used to help offset the costs. Hope that helps. If you want to talk more send me a PM with your number and I'd be more than happy to answer anything I can.