setting up a 180,a little help needed!

[aquabod]

dear reefers,

i have never had a large tank like a 180 reef,i currently have a 110 reef and bought a 180 from coral reef aquatics in Athens.i just need some input and advice if im doing things right. i am going to have a reef,hard and soft corals....my lighting will be a 6 foot unit with 4 x 250 watt HQI,will probably mix the bulbs with 10 and 20 k.i feel i should have just gone with 4 15k bulbs but we will see.i will have a wave maker with 3 maxi jet 1200's and 2 koralia #3's on both sides....my fuge will be a 54 gallon tank that i will have miracle mud,sand and calurpa in.....this fuge will be connected to a 20 gallon tank that will house a skimmer and external pump(mag 9.5).i am a believer not to over skim so i am going to stay with my coralife needle wheel skimmer rated to a 125 aquarium. i will prob use a filter sock where the 54 gallon fuge runs in the 20 gallon sump?..i cant think of what else i have in mind. i have never plumbed a double over flow tank like this before,not looking forward to that...my main concern is the mag 9.5 will be to weak? told by my LFS that it will be fine considering i will have pretty good flow....what do you guys think? any suggestions?

 

[JetCat USA]

you won't need 4x on the lights, 3x will be more then enough and you don't want to mix the bulbs unless you want a striped/banded look to the tank, i did that with my old 4x250w on my 180 with 10kk/20kk and it looked ridiculous.

the mag is plenty of flow for efficient surface skimming and deliverance to the sump for efficient skimmer production.

 

[aquabod]

thanks for the tip ,i was afraid the mixed k's would do that, maybe ill go with 15k's throughout?

 

[JetCat USA]

if the 250 watters are anything like their 150s i'd go with the new
Iwaski 14kk Double Ended Bulbs

 

[aquabod]

ok ill will look into that, thank you....i hope everything else other than the lighting will not be an issue!...like i said before ive never plumbed a tank like this and am a little nervous and want to get it right first time,does anyone have a picture of a 180 or 6 foot tanks plumbing or any advice ect...??

 

[JetCat USA]

on my drains as soon as they came out of the bulkheads i stepped them up to 1.5" and used spa-flex to T them together and ran them to the skimmer section of my sump, the skimmed water and any overflow water from the drains dumped into two fuges and each had their own return pump (Via-Aqua 3600s) going back to the 3/4 returns.

 

[8BALL_99]

1" plumbing is fine for your drain lines.. You have a couple ways you can do this.. You can either have one overflow drain to your Refuge and the other drain to the sump.. Just adjust the standpipes to adjust how much flow goes to each.. or you can run Both drains together and just T off to your Refuge.. Its up to you really.. Both work about the same IME... Sorry a shot of my plumbing wouldn't help you much.

A 20 Gallon sump is a little smaller then I like, But since you have such a large refuge and will have alot of the water going to it you should be fine.

koralia pumps can't be run on a wavemaker. Your MJs can though. You might want to look into closed loops a little since now is the time to do it.. You don't have to drill for a CL. You can just run the pipes over the back wall..

I also agree that you really don't need 4x250.. I would just get 3x250.. No reason to add an extra 70 bucks to your bulb cost per year when its not needed. Bulb Choice is 100% up to you and what you like.. I've seen mixed bulbs before.. I don't really care for it.. As far as what kelvin.. Thats really just personal preference. I like the look of 20ks myself..

Skimmer size is up to you.. I myself use large skimmers rated for alteast 1.5x my system volume.. I just find it easier. With large skimmers you get more of the waste out of the water.. I do water changes to just help replace Trace elements.. My levels stay Dead on. I dont really think you can overskim. If you feed every day and you have fish you have a constant source of No3 Po4 ect ect.. Sure if you have a large skimmer and a large refuge and you run Phosban, you might can starve your marco. But I wouldn't call it over skimming.

You can try a filter sock.. Not sure if you have ran them before.. But they need to be cleaned every couple of days. I think they come in handy from time to time to help polish the water.. IE when you stir your sandbed. I'm not a big fan of using them full time.

HTH
Will

 

[aquabod]

hey thanks for your help guys,has been very helpful...if i dont use a filter sock what do most people use to help get rid of the debris and waste in the water column...i used a aqua clear 110 (500) and that did really well but didnt realy want that to be seen in my main tank....wonder if i could put it in my fuge?...o and 8ball i dont use the koralias on the wave maker i just have the mj's on that...the kor's are on both ends (or will be) running constantly...do you think that will be enough flow? ...one last thing,do ya think the skimmer will be ok or do i need to add or buy a bigger one? i thought it would be ok considering the size of my fuge?...boy a lot of question!! thanks for your patience!!

 

[j1b1e1]

I'm not much on the socks, mainly due to the maintenance aspect. As far as the column... skim (enough said). Make sure you baffle for the micro-bubbles though as they can be a nuisance and appear in the column. The MJ's are about all that I'd use on the wave maker and even then expect to replace them from time to time. The real thought on that is not to use them at all on a larger tank, not just the reliability issue of them, but the problems associated with them in general. Like 8ball hit on - closed loop. There are alternatives, but look at the long term and the options of changing in a year or two, that would require moving quite a few things around to accommodate your changes (no fun later) the goal is to do what you're doing and research early on. Something I wish I'd have done, but I've always learned the hard way. Another thought.... 8ball hit on the size of your sump, I'd consider that too as that is your evap. area and the pump will run dry from time to time (well mine does, but I could change that if I'd spend the 5 mins. to do it). ATO... another thing to think about.... So much to read!!!!! Good luck and give me a call sometime.
Billy

 

[aquabod]

hey billy,good to hear from you,the thing is i just dont have enough confidence in my plumbing skills to do a closed loop,id love to while i havnt set it up yet and its not too late,if i was shown how to do it once id probably wonder what the big deal was ,but everything is easy when you know how!!... i know you have your own stuff to look after but maybe i could meet up with you one day and you could show me how to do this closed loop....ill call you sometime if you dont mind