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  • 185g suggestions

    I'm starting up a 185g saltwater tank 96X24X18 soon I would like to hear some suggestions from y'all what I should do with it like lighting, sump or Refugium water turnover, intank waterflow, etc already purchased a protein skimmer a reef octopus 200 I've got a 145g sump under it now justwanted so suggestions thanx and this is not my first saltwater tank thanx
    Last edited by jhenry; 07-13-2010, 06:13 PM.
    Custom Aquarium Cabinets Justin Henry 281-739-8723

  • #2
    thats gonna be brutal. cant wait to see it up and running.
    If it ain't wild caught
    You ain't doing it right

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    • #3
      All SPS!
      I ate my fish that died.

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      • #4
        good i like what about equipment?
        Custom Aquarium Cabinets Justin Henry 281-739-8723

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        • #5
          You have to decide if you want a reef tank or not, personally, unless you have ALOT of money to throw at this project I'd keep it FOWLR because the cost of lighting, coral stocking that much space, and the like will eat through money really quickly. plus with a FOWLR tank you can get some very nice fish that normally eat corals. if you go reef you have to drop alot in lighting at the begining. if you stay fish, then you can spend alot less and put that into other equipment and fish. If you have the 58 as a sump then get an overflow, drilling is ideal but I've had both and my siphon overflow has always done right by me. turnover should be at least 5x display volume, then for flow about 10x is standard. although if you stay FOWLR you can probably drop that to about 7x, just be sure to eliminate dead spots with all that fish crap building up. i have the same skimmer except the 100 size, very good skimmer especially for the price. be sure to have a good size area in the sump for macroalgae because fish produce so much waste that macro will use up alot of that nitrate. if your new to saltwater, don't do bioballs they supposedly create too much space for bacteria to create nitrate but honestly never understood why that to be the case, i think it flawed thinking because any given sandbed houses billions more bacteria than any bioballs you could add. Finally, try to get at least 100 pounds of LR but matching the 1puond per gallon is still good with a FOWLR because it houses more critters and bacteria. get a large cleaning crew but be aware of what fish your going to add, triggers and afew others will eat through your crab pop quickly, some crabs eat through your snail pop quickly, etc. its a eat or be eaten ecosystem. anything else, just post. OH, be patient. everything in saltwater takes about 20% longer than freshwater to maintain stability, but it's so much more colorful and thats why most people eventually switch! good luck and keep learning!
          Softie Reef

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          • #6
            Originally posted by jhenry View Post
            good i like what about equipment?
            LEDs

            Dosing pumps. I would dose two part.

            Massive sump for macro algae.
            I ate my fish that died.

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            • #7
              Lights: 4 250 watt metal halides. Retro is probably cheaper but if not canopy use pendants, the latter you can get by without a chiller depending on your house temps.

              58 gallon sump should be fine. run in one of two configurations: skimmer->refugium->return or skimmer->return<-refugium. no bioballs, extra rock and sand the refugium with macro algea (i.e. cheato) and a basic homedepot light for the algea growth.

              Aim much higher of a turnover rate for in tank. Especially if you are going to keep sps. Think vortech pumps or tunze if you are looking to use powerheads.

              Stay away from doing the plain jane wall-o-rock. Use minimal rock in the display, you can always stuff more in the sump if you feel the need.

              Of course this is all based on keeping a reef tank with sps.

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              • #8
                I've already decided it's going to be reef. ice got two 250w halides going to use a 75g tank for a Refugium. thinking mostly reef with a good reef cleaning crew diamond gobys to help witn the sand.
                Custom Aquarium Cabinets Justin Henry 281-739-8723

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                • #9
                  Lights will be brutal. But go LEDs high up front cost but much cheaper long term.
                  Resident fish bum
                  330G FOWLR
                  34G Reef
                  330G Discus biotopish (no longer running)
                  28G JBJ Reef (no longer running)
                  Treasurer, GHAC

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                  • #10
                    ya i know but the nea marineland leds are $1,200 each for a four foot fixture and I've already got two 250w halides and one 400w halide might change later but going with what I've got now i ain't ballin like that
                    Custom Aquarium Cabinets Justin Henry 281-739-8723

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                    • #11
                      oh if your going reef go hog wild!!! sps are great but don't overdue them because pretty soon you realize there's no movement to your tank. looks more like a painting than an aquarium. just sayin' add some lps and some softies. i hear if you throw in anenomes, put them in first to let them pick thier spot, other waise they might sting the sps until it's found it's spot.
                      Softie Reef

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                      • #12
                        ya I'm going to put alot of soft stuff in there I've got a few flower pots and zenias along with hammer corals and alot of zoas. Oh I forgot Thia you said alot of macroalge how about i take my 145g and make that my sump and have about half of it for the refugium ?
                        Custom Aquarium Cabinets Justin Henry 281-739-8723

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                        • #13
                          NICE!

                          Sounds good to me dude.

                          I still need to drop off this leather to you.

                          It hasn't been under light for a while.
                          I ate my fish that died.

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                          • #14
                            ya bring it over just put the 400watt over my 58g it looks great and everything is loving it
                            Custom Aquarium Cabinets Justin Henry 281-739-8723

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                            • #15
                              I should see you by this weekend sir. Most likely friday after work.
                              I ate my fish that died.

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