Ordered my new 180g.

[yoink326]

I ordered my tank today. It's not exactly what I planned. You know my two plumbing schemes? Out the window. To get the size overflow I wanted, it would have cost more. The "standard" overflow already cost $150, plus $58 to make it black. Yeah, rip off, but what are you going to do? I guess I could have made one myself, but I've never worked with acrylic before.

Anyways, I'm going to have a lot less drain volume. Good thing this will be a FO tank. 1 x 1.5" drain, and 4 x 1/2" returns. The returns will be going up the overflow as well, so no need to drill more holes in the tank. Plus, I can put the tank flush against the wall. They showed me other tanks the same size that had the same design. I guess if others have success with it, it can't be that bad. At least now I can buy a smaller pump. I'll eventually get the Tunze Turbelle streams to increase in tank flow.

I also ordered a 36" stand, oppose to a 30". It was only $75 more.

The bad part of it all is that I was short in my checking account, so I had to use my credit card which my parents pay for. I'll pay them back, but I'm sure they'll wonder why I'm spending so much. They don't like the thought of me spending so much time and money on fish. Eep!

[Wilafur]

did you order your tank at AO? how'd they treat ya?

[moonpod]

Well, Jonathan, at least you were an informed customer--You'll appreciate the extra 6" in the stand, trust me.

Figure your head pressure to be now 6' w/a max drainage of about 1400 gph.

If you can find one, the Sequence SEQ10 will be perfect. Low energy consumption, quiet etc...the smallest ampmaster will still need to be significantly throttled back. Otherwise look at:
GRI 518
CSL T4 (heat shouldn't be a problem w/your tank)

[yoink326]

Originally posted by Emperator
did you order your tank at AO? how'd they treat ya?

I dropped $1400 there. Lek loved me. As soon as I walked out, he probably didn't care anymore.

[yoink326]

Originally posted by moonpod
Well, Jonathan, at least you were an informed customer--You'll appreciate the extra 6" in the stand, trust me.

Figure your head pressure to be now 6' w/a max drainage of about 1400 gph.

If you can find one, the Sequence SEQ10 will be perfect. Low energy consumption, quiet etc...the smallest ampmaster will still need to be significantly throttled back. Otherwise look at:
GRI 518
CSL T4 (heat shouldn't be a problem w/your tank)

Thank so much for your help Charles. The 30" stand looks so low now that I've seen yours. I had to get a higher stand. I'll definitely look for that pump. It'll be a long road to it's completion, but I there's no turning back now. Hopefully when it's set up, and if you're not too busy, you can come check it out.

[SkinyChinaMan]

good luck on your new tank man..but only 1 x 1.5" drain? you sure that is enough..gotta think long run always..anyhow..a smaller pump will work out.. 36" stand is sweet..the height makes a huge difference..that is why i made my stand 45"

but again..my tank is only 20" tall

[yoink326]

Thanks SCM. I've been watching the thread where you posted your pics. That's a nice looking tank. The drain will give me 7 turnovers per hour. It's a FOWLR, so I don't need as much current as you reefers. I plan on having Tunze streams as well.

I was a bit concerned on the drain being too small. They're going to call me when the tank is ready to be drilled, so I can tell them where. I could ask for 2 x 1.5", but the overflow won't be any bigger. I posted a thread asking if the extra drain would make a difference, but no one answered yet. What do you think?

[moonpod]

what are the dimensions of the overflow again? Get the linear length of the overflow and then the use the RC calculator to figure out how much water can "go over the top". You need 21 inches of overflow length or so to support 1400 gph. ie if you use a corner overflow each side needs to be 10.5 inches long. If you do a center, then you can have like each side be 6 inches and the front be 9 inches or something like that.

[yoink326]

Yeah, it's 21". So I figure if I drill another hole, it won't make a difference.

[moonpod]

Only difference is that if you stick say a durso or something in there and you've got two holes instead of just one, there's less of a chance of a clog and overflow--redundancy ya know? Cause the thing is you're gonna probably push that overflow to it's limit.....

[SkinyChinaMan]

those tunze rocks! you will have fun with those..then the drain is perfectly fine..

[yoink326]

Originally posted by moonpod
Only difference is that if you stick say a durso or something in there and you've got two holes instead of just

The returns will plumbed through and up the overflow, so I'm not sure if there will be room for two dursos. I'll be there to overlook the drilling, so I'll make my calculations then.

By the way Charles, what models are your streams?

[moonpod]

6100s on the multicontroller

[Wilafur]

Originally posted by yoink326
I dropped $1400 there. Lek loved me. As soon as I walked out, he probably didn't care anymore.

heh, you know lek all too well.

[Dogbert]

I am just finishing my 180 acrylic. I have two trapezoids with 42" total length feeding two durso's with 1.5" bulkheads draining into the sump. All this then goes into one(will be two in about 6 months once my wallet recovers) Iwaki MD40RLXT's which feed six 3/4 returns. The returns are divided into groups of two, each group serviced by a scwd. I figured with the scwd's my return volume is 2.25" being fed ultimately by 2" of pump piping. Currently with the one Iwaki the flow is a little low through the loc-line but two pumps should do just well.

I figured once i'm done i'll have about 2000-2400 gallons of change per hour just with the sump system.

It's a good thing about your stand height, I got the 30" tall and am not too happy about the height restriction, the doors are also a little narrow for service access.
I'll take some pictures of my setup and send them to you if it will help at all.

[yoink326]

Sounds great Dogbert. That's one big@$$ overflow you've got! I would have gone bigger, but I can't afford it. I figure 1400gph for a FO system should be fine.

I was surprised that extra height in the stand only cost me $75. It also comes with reef doors, which are pretty wide.

Your set up sound like Moonpod's, except he's only got one pump for his two scwds. I'd like to see pictures of your system if you've got them.

[Dogbert]

I wish I had bigger doors, the ones I have pretty much suck. I didn't think about the door size until it was too late, I already had cut the holes for the overflows.

[yoink326]

Small doors for you, small overflow for me.

Can't have it all.

[moonpod]

Originally posted by Dogbert
I wish I had bigger doors, the ones I have pretty much suck. I didn't think about the door size until it was too late, I already had cut the holes for the overflows.

One of the nice aspects of the 36" tall moore cabinetry stand I got for my 180...the doors open wide and are easy to take off.

FYI Jonathan an additional option is doors on the side of the stand....

[Dogbert]

I was looking at the cabinet and was thinking about applying a housing principal to the door areas. I'll have to see. I'll post pictures shortly for all to see.