Waterbox 180.5 Stocking

[mortician]

Hey all,

I'm getting a used 180.5 from one of my LFS. The 180.5 per specifications I've found is about 130 gallon display and a 50ish gallon sump.

I'm looking for some recommendations on stocking.

Fish currently in grow out (one of each):
Powder blue tang
One spot fox face
Long nose hawkfish
Clownfish

This is a list of fish I enjoy:
Purple tang
Blue jaw trigger
Blue hippo tang
Mandarin
Lionfish

My wife really wants a blue hippo tang so I think I'm going to have to add that to the list. With a powder blue and hippo tang would it be too much to add a purple tang or trigger on top of those already big fish? I really want a lionfish but I think it gets axed as I would much rather have a tang or trigger if even possible.

I've always wanted to keep a mandarin so I think I want to add one once I get the refugium settled.

I've looked into wrasses before but always loved the colors of the mandarin and figured it would be best to keep only one copepod eating fish. I'm open minded to anything though.

Please advise on the stocking and feel free to bring up anything not on this list, I'd love to hear any and all suggestions.

FYI as far as filtration goes I have a reef octopus 200 INT and will have cheato in a refugium.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mortician]

I will add the blue hippo tang if I do add one I would be a small specimen and I realize it will outgrow the tank at some point.

 

[therootcause]

Hey, I have this same tank. Here is my stocking list.

1x large sailfin tang
1x mandarin
1x starry blenny
1x neon goby
1x dwarf pygmy angel
3x clowns
7x pajama cardinals

And here is my build thread...which I finally got around to starting about 20 mins ago.

Build Thread - therootcause's Waterbox Reef Pro 180.5

Buckle up my children. February 2023 I welcome your comments, excitement, criticism, and assistance! I recently moved to Pennsylvania from Baltimore in summer 2022 which required breaking down my tanks and starting with no livestock in my new house. I set up my frag system in the fall of...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[mortician]

Hey, I have this same tank. Here is my stocking list.

1x large sailfin tang
1x mandarin
1x starry blenny
1x neon goby
1x dwarf pygmy angel
3x clowns
7x pajama cardinals

And here is my build thread...which I finally got around to starting about 20 mins ago.

Build Thread - therootcause's Waterbox Reef Pro 180.5

Buckle up my children. February 2023 I welcome your comments, excitement, criticism, and assistance! I recently moved to Pennsylvania from Baltimore in summer 2022 which required breaking down my tanks and starting with no livestock in my new house. I set up my frag system in the fall of...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks for the input! Great fish room by the way. I maitakenly thought the 180.5 was a 6ft tank due to it being about 125 gallons but I now know it's a 5ft tank. I don't want to put a hippo tang in a 5ft tank so I'm scratching that idea.

I have the powder blue (second favorite), and my favorite tang is the purple tang so I may eventually try to add one of those down the line but I've read that can prove to be challenging.

My LFS owner suggested adding a school of cardinals but I've read that typically a pair will eventually kill of the rest so I haven't put much more thought into it.

How was the tank treated you so far? By the way glad to too you are getting last some ich issues in the past!

 

[therootcause]

Thanks for the input! Great fish room by the way. I maitakenly thought the 180.5 was a 6ft tank due to it being about 125 gallons but I now know it's a 5ft tank. I don't want to put a hippo tang in a 5ft tank so I'm scratching that idea.
I have the powder blue, and my favorite that is the purple tang so I may eventually try to add one of those down the line but I've read that can prove to be challenging.
My LFS owner suggested adding a school of cardinals but I've read that typically a pair will eventually kill of the rest so I haven't put much more thought into it.
How was the tank treated you so far? By the way glad to too you are getting last some ich issues in the past!

It doesn't look like any of my cardinals have paired up and I've tried to sex them but can't identify any differences with dorsal fin length or jaw lines. I did see one carrying the butt end of peppermint shrimp in it's mouth last weekend. I plan to keep between 7-10 of them. They are almost always in a school and especially group together at feeding time which is fun to watch. My wife does not like them and calls them zombie fish as they just kind of float and stare most of the time.
Pajama Info

The tank itself is gorgeous. My only set back early on was the metric plumbing. This won't be a problem for you if you keep the sump in the stand.

Also make sure that you put the return nozzles in the correct configuration. The return line is offset in the center channel and this means the pair of return lines after the T are different lengths. I think the square nozzle goes on the longer leg but check in the manual.

Cheers

P.S. - I'd get the hippo.