New 180 gallon reef tank.

[jeffc3313]

Hello, New here.. I just got a 180 gallon acrylic tank to upgrade from my 55. I am thinking about using 4 led boxes I found online for 300$ New. Also I have 2 700 gph powerheads and one 300 gph. How much more flow should I add and do you have experience with the cheep leds?

[Sniperhank]

That all depends what you are wanting to do. What are you planning on doing with the tank? You'll probably want more flow in the system if you are wanting corals, of course all depending on the type of corals as well.
And what 'led boxes' are we talking about? A link will determine what the answer will be, as not all LEDs are created equally. But, with that said, it doesn't matter either way if this is going to be a FOWLR system.

[jeffc3313]

Corals.. many many corals. I'll get link for lighting, stand by...

[Sniperhank]

But what kind of corals. Softies, LPS, SPS? They all have different lighting and flow requirements.

[jeffc3313]

Currently have hammer, Sun, Duncan's, blastos, leather, acans, and zoas. In 55

[jeffc3313]

Posted lighting link and now it's gone.

[jeffc3313]

http://m.ebay.com/itm/361101046273?nav=SEARCH

[mr_X]

You are going to want a ton more flow than what you have. Probably triple.

[tpeter1]

Definitely more flow. What LEDs?

[mr_X]

Originally Posted by jeffc3313

4X New Dimmable 165W w B LED for 150 to 180 Gallon Aquarium Coral Reef Fish Tank | eBay

Those lights will allow you to keep whatever you want.

[carey]

I am running 2 jebao WP40's at about 75% and a single koralia 1400 in my 6 foot 180g. I am not keeping many corals right now though, but that is at the minimum I would look at considering you want more corals.

Will you be looking at SPS corals at all? Those guys, on top of needing very good water also require ALOT of flow, more than I run for sure. So as mentioned above, you need to figure out exactly which types of corals you are gonna try to keep. You have the lighting down, those panels will be more than sufficient for any coral you may want to consider. Even SPS.

[jeffc3313]

Just bought a maxspect gyre xf150 for flow. Now I'm looking at lights being 2 reef breeders superlux. Overflow is dead center so three won't work. It's 2 or 4. Is 2 16" gonna work?

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[jeffc3313]

And thanks guys for the advice!

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[Sillyfishies]

Originally Posted by jeffc3313

Just bought a maxspect gyre xf150 for flow. Now I'm looking at lights being 2 reef breeders superlux. Overflow is dead center so three won't work. It's 2 or 4. Is 2 16" gonna work?

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2 would not be enough. Each panel is suppose to cover 2 feet.

[Animal-Chin]

What happens to sps if they don't have "enough" flow? How can you tell? I have 1 jebao MW40 wave maker in my 125 gallon and 4 returns from my sump. That wave maker alone is moving my water back and fourth so strongly that you can see all the polyps moving on all my coral. Is that "enough" flow? Light I get, coral brown or bleach or don't grow, but flow I never really figured out. Right now I seem to have my flow so that my lower LPS coral dont get so irritated they close and my sps up top are growing like crazy, would that be the factor that says "ya, you have enough"?

[mr_X]

Eventually they would fail. They can do well under various amounts of flow though, just not very low flow. What I have seen is that the more flow they have, the thicker the branches become. The same goes for plating corals like montipora. You'll see distinct differences in structure, depending on the flow. Growing well and keeping good color would be an indication to me that they are in an ideal situation. It's been stated by some that good polyp extension in sps doesn't necessarily mean it's doing well. Folks would argue that this may simply be a sign of the coral attempting to catch food, and not that it's happy.