180 gallon setup.. HELP!

[Benny Gyger]

so.. long story short I listened to a guy at the LFS saying my 60 gallon fowlr would be good for a porcupine puffer... after reading how much room they need I got a 180 gallon nice tank and sump with in-sump skimmer, ATO. The works. I got it all cheap on OfferUp for $100!! I have no idea how to set it up. I watched videos on YouTube but they all seem different. Does this skimmer go inside the sump or stand outside? Here's a few pics. Ps... the wife was thrilled to see the size of this tank...NOT. Haha.

 

[Maritimer]

It looks as though that skimmer's set up to run alongside, rather than inside your sump - if I'm reading that skimmer return correctly, where it goes over the side of the sump. (Not personally familiar with the brand) You'll likely want to take those bulkheads off the bottom of the tank before putting it on the floor anywhere - and might consider replacing them with new ones. (I found that the barb-fitting return used remarkably thick plastic for the size of its pipe, and wound up replacing it with a schedule 80 slip-fit bulkhead in order to maintain the same diameter piping in hard PVC.)

~Bruce

 

[Benny Gyger]

I figured it out. It runs. What's you take on just using the sump and skimmer for filtration? Should I use my canister filter also? If I did I'd have to drill holes in the top of the tank. It gonna gut the old lighting under the hood and put nice LED's there. I have maybe up to a year before I should have to move the puffer but I want to do it right!

 

[Benny Gyger]

The bottom right side of the sump is the whole tanks suction/return to the tank for the filter. It's all behind the blue wall in The tank

 

[Roy 9121]

so.. long story short I listened to a guy at the LFS saying my 60 gallon fowlr would be good for a porcupine puffer... after reading how much room they need I got a 180 gallon nice tank and sump with in-sump skimmer, ATO. The works. I got it all cheap on OfferUp for $100!! I have no idea how to set it up. I watched videos on YouTube but they all seem different. Does this skimmer go inside the sump or stand outside? Here's a few pics. Ps... the wife was thrilled to see the size of this tank...NOT. Haha.

The one thing I've learned being in this hobby for 10 years now is How little most of the guys at the LFS know.

 

[Roy 9121]

I figured it out. It runs. What's you take on just using the sump and skimmer for filtration? Should I use my canister filter also? If I did I'd have to drill holes in the top of the tank. It gonna gut the old lighting under the hood and put nice LED's there. I have maybe up to a year before I should have to move the puffer but I want to do it right!

You probably won't need the canister.

 

[pdt7361]

I'd get rid of those blue bioballs in the sump. Maybe replace them with some of the MarinePure Ceramic Spheres.

 

[wkscott]

On a side note, what are the dimensions of your tank? From your pic, it appears to be a 120g instead of a 180g. Could just be the pic's angle though.

 

[Benny Gyger]

Yea I was gonna get new bio-balls. Who knows how old those are.. is there supposed to be a filter pad above the bio balls on the white plastic grating where the hose goes into the sump??
It's 3' x 2'. I was told it was 180 gallon but maybe your right?

 

[wkscott]

To get the approximate volume, multiply length x width x depth in inches. Then divide by 341.

 

[Benny Gyger]

Ok I'll check it out thanks.
On a side note for my tank I'm running right now I just installed my reef octopus protein skimmer and within an hour I have this much yellow water in the collection tank. Does that seem about the right flow? I've seen people's reviews that it takes weeks to get yellow water??

 

[Maritimer]

Most folks wouldn't bother with the canister - debris and detritus gets trapped in there and just rots until you get around to giving it a thorough cleaning, often creating high nitrates. (Less important if you're just keeping fish, and may help to deal with waste as that puffer grows. I've had one that was big enough to puff itself stuck in a five gallon bucket!) You probably will want something to deal with particulate waste though - the canister, the filter pad on the eggcrate, or a filter sock (if you can figure a place to mount one) would help in that regard.

I would say that yes, the original design of your sump would have called for a filter pad on that eggcrate. What you've got is more of a wet/dry filter than the sumps most reefers are using these days. With the bio-balls, you can wind up with (again) higher nitrates than are desirable for a reef tank - but those levels would be more acceptable in a FOWLR. If you replaced the bio-balls with something like Marine Pure's media, denitrifying bacteria deep inside the spheres should help with that.

What comes out with skimming is going to depend on what's in the water - did you fill with tapwater or RO/DI? What might be leaching from the rocks? How much chow has your puffer been pounding down? (And how much has he been letting drift away on the current? Puffers can be a bit ... sloppy.)

~Bruce

 

[CarrieB]

BTW, thumbs up for spending the time and money to make a good home for your puffer.

 

[Benny Gyger]

Cool thanks!
So how much of the marines pure media do I put in. About enough to fill the section just like the bio-balls were?
As for Ro/di water. I don't have a ro system (thinking I should buy one) to fill this amount of gallons I was planning initially to use tap water then treat. I plan to cycle the tank and some to make sure it's gtg for the fish to make the switch.

 

[Maritimer]

Tap water is likely to give you extra nutrients and other things that you didn't really want .... but it's better for fish than a dry, empty tank. (It's also pretty good for growing algae.)

I wouldn't know exactly how much Marine Pure to use - it's got _tons_ more surface area than bio-balls, so you probably wouldn't need as much. (Good thing, that - it's not cheap!)

~Bruce

 

[carlson]

If I were You, and I was about to set up a larger tank like that, i would not actually setup the tank for a long time until I acquired all of the needed materials, and I would also build a new stand for the tank. I personally don't like the look of fish tanks with such low stands. I like to be able to see my tank without have to bend over to see it. Also, I wouldn't trust a stand from someone else, every stand I have ever used was hand-built and stained by myself.

 

[Benny Gyger]

The stand is the one that was made for the tank. It has the connections for the ports under the tank. Yea I'm in no hurry to get this thing going. And by that I mean not in the next few weeks or months. I'd say within the next year or so

 

[Benny Gyger]

BTW Here's Gizmo! The little guy that has me working my tail off and created my new obsession!

 

[carlson]

Puffers are great, I have a blue spot puffer, but that's as aggressive as I'm willing to get for my tank unfortunately

 

[Maritimer]

Gizmo's straight-up adorable - but then, he's a porcupine pufferfish!

I'm seeing a few li'l white dots on his fins - keep an eye on that, as it could be ich . . . <knocks wood>

~Bruce