[jckjohn]

okay I am ready to get a 180 or 220 by Perfecto. Not sure what type of filtration I need for a reef environment. Would like to have the aquarium not drilled and hang everything off the back of it.

Is this possible any suggestions or advice before I get started are the drilled aquariums that much better.

The middle space is 21" the outer is 21.75". There are 2 center braces as you probably know so I will have 3 spaces to fill. I was thinking three emperor 400's but there would be no room for a protien skimmer. Possibly 2 emperor's and 2 skimmers in the middle all hang on. Is this possible.

[ANGRY JOHN]

with that volume of water i would realy look at getting drilled. most hot skimmers are only good to a max of 80-90 gallons and that is the most inportant piece of gear. the next thing is drilling for a closed loop system. now i can understand that it does cost a little more to drill but i dont think there is a good way to acomplish all the filteration required by a tank that big without it.

[Reefland]

Agreed. However, it is very important to decide what you want to accomplish before you take the plunge. Fish tank? Reef tank? If reef, what kind of reef? These are the absolute most important things to know before planning a setup.

[jckjohn]

cheers...

I just talked to foster's and smith and they said I could go with a Cyclone bio-filter model number CY194. up to 200 gallons with a built in protien skimmer. I will have to buy the new corallife turbo-sea external pump to run the thing though

I think this is the most cost effective way without drilling the tank.

[jckjohn]

I know I don't want hard corals I can't afford it... The light I want is the aqualight pro hqi\compact fluorescent\lunar light fixture.

72" 834 watt with 4 lunar lamps from foster's and smith

low to moderate corals maybe some moderate to high not many put these at the top and some fish to create movement along with some powerheads at both ends with the Lifegard customflo water system from foster's and smith.

[spankerbob]

The built in skimmers usually do not work all that great, they are usually just a venturi driven type, no needle wheel to chop the bubbles smaller. I had one in my wet/dry and it worked OK, not good. you do not have to drill the tank to run a sump. You can have an overflow box hang off the back and run it down to you sump/refugium, where you have a good protein skimmer. I my opinion the protein skimmer is the most important piece of equipment you can buy, if you had a monster skimmer and less light or less live rock you could survive, but if you had a dinky little crappy skimmer and tons of live rock, your system would eventually crash form a build up of detritus. That is to say if you used the same amount of husbandry of course, I don't mean to insult those of you out there that work allot harder on you systems than I do myself.

[jckjohn]

Well maybe I'll go with the CPR Cyclone bio-filter and the coralife needel wheel skimmer so I will have 1 generic skimmer with the venturi action and 1 good skimmer

[Reefland]

jckjohn,

If you are going to invest the money in a large system such as a 180 or 200, then there is no need to look at "cost effectiveness" (read = cheapest) equipment to use. Setting up a reef tank, and running it successfully takes time and money, neither can be shortcut. Therefore, I would strongly recommend a pre-drilled tank which uses a sump, external skimmer, good return pump and then a lot of good quality liverock. A deep sand bed of fine sand would be my choice as well.

[jckjohn]

I agree Reefland I would like to make a new transition with the least amount of problems as possible. I was just wondering if there was a way to have a filter without having to drill the tank.

Is the CPR a good brand? What about the MegaFlow Sump Filter? and the Ocean Clear Model 340 canister filter?

I have decided on the 180 gallon aquarium 72x24x24 made by Perfecto.

[Reefland]

Ok, so you are decided on a tank. Now, you need to find a sump. The great thing here is you do not need to spend hundreds of dollars on one. In fact, all you need is a good sized standard aquarium. If your case, I would try to find a used 55 gallon or 75 gallon tank, add a few baffles to it and get a good return pump. Don't bother with getting a pre-made sump unless you have some disposable funds and you can get a good system from like Lifereef, My Reef, etc.