The new 180 plan

[andycook]

My 180 is at the glass shop being drilled. It is going in the basement as soon as the builders finish my new house on 10/24/2003. I'm going to build it into the wall and have the fish sub-station behind it. It is going to replace the 75gallon + 50 gallon I have now.

The Plan: I'm planning on a Calfo-inspired overflow that runs the length of the back of the tank to skim the entire surface and feed the sump(s) and refugium(s). I'm not sure what the flow rate will be but it won't have to be much because I'm also going with three closed loops to provide the water movement.

I'm starting with three 175W MH lamps with Ushio 10Ks but I'll probably upgrade to 250W MH e balasts and some VHO supplimentation at some point.

I plan on having a 40 gallon lta & clown tank, a 40 gallon sea grass tank, a 40 gallon refugium, and a 40+ gallon sump for mechanicals.

I've almost decided to put the dsb in the sea grass, lta, and refugium and put little or no sand in the main display. The live rock in the main display tank will be supported by some sort of grating or pvc structure to help keep detrius from building up. I lost that battle in my 75 gallon tank.

I like the Jalli heaters. What are my heating options for 360+ gallons? Several 500W heaters? The basement should be cool enough to get away with fans and evaporation for cooling.

Thoughts or suggestions?

[Loudz34]

with a 180 i would go 400's and save your self the headache later on..... and plan on how you are going to keep the glass clean in the front, its kinda hard once its in the wall.... I almost have to get into mine to clean it....

[andycook]

Thanks Loudz34;

I am running two 175W MH on my 75 gallon so I thought three 250W MH with vho supplimation would do the trick. The tank is only 24" deep. I'm going for 5-6 watts of light per gallon in the main tank.

I'm going to leave some sort of access panel/decorative wood on the front so I can clean the front glass without having to get into the tank.

-Andy

[Mastino Mike]

Im using a great white algea magnet for the front of my glass. Its almost too strong. They work more than great.

[KenT]

I had 3 250w halides & 2 vho actinics on my old 180 and it was plenty of light.

[epon]

sounds like a nice setup , maybe try looking at a fireplug heater?

[andycook]

A fireplug was not something I had considered. Can it be hooked to a Medusa controller?

[andycook]

Thanks KenT. Do you have any pictures?

[epon]

I don't know if it can or not , but I don't see any reason why you couldn't , it's just a heater.

[salmon alley]

Hi Andy.

I'm planning a very similar system to yours, though it sounds like I'm slightly ahead of you in terms of progress.

I've got a 180 setup in a "in-the-wall" configuration. I don't have a 'Calfo across the back' overflow, but have a rather large overflow which occupies about 1/3 of the length.

I've got an AmpMaster 2100 which feeds dual 1" sea swirls as my return, and I plan on adding (2) of the Tunze stream pumps on a Multicontroller for additional flow.

For lighting, I'm going with 250W DE 10000K bulbs, +/- VHO actinic supplementation. From what I've read, the DE 250s are almost as bright (some say brighter) than the 400W SE bulbs..and you get the lower power bill...:D

I agree that it's difficult to reach the front glass for cleaning, and you'll probably want to either build an access to it on the wall, or invest in a good algae magnet. (I didn't have the foresight to build the access, so now I've got to go with a magnet).

I'm using a 55 acrylic as my sump, and trying to run (2) 25 gallon acrylic slant fronts as refugiums, but I'm having a devil of a time adjusting the plumbing for them!

How are you plumbing all of those 40 gallons into the system?

SA

[andycook]

SA;

All my stuff is packed for the move to the new house or I'd show a diagram. Basically, the tanks will be plumbed together with pvc and gravity will do as much of the work as possible. Post pictures of your setup if you have any. Thanks.

-Andy

[salmon alley]

Andy-
I will post some pics when I get off of work today.

SA

[salmon alley]

I don't want to clutter this thread with pics, so here's a link to my gallery.

I just added a few which shows the stages of construction. I'll take and add more soon.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showgallery.php?ppuser=9185&cat=500&thumb=1

[dragon_slayer]

FWIW i decided to go with 250w's over my 180 rather then 400's because of the electronic ballast (couldnt find any 400's)

i went with 4x250 rather then 3 and at first thought it wasnt nearly enough light, but its been about a month and half now and everything is doing great. my clams are on the bottom of the tank sitting on the 1" sand bed and are actualy growing better then they did in the 75 that had 2x400w MH's.

kc