W/D & HOB on a 180 Gallon

[DocBob]

I'm purchasing a 180 (WOO HOO!) this weekend and am trying to decide what filtration to use. I have already constructed a DIY Wet/Dry system that is currently "seasoning" on my 75 gallon to be used for the biological filtration. I have a spare Aquaclear 500. Would this be a good start for a moderately stocked freshwater tank of this size? I haven't decided what will reside in the tank yet, but I like larger fish so I'm sure the bioload wont exactly be light. By the way, the W/D is running at about 400 gph. Should I just beef up the W/D, or get more mechanical filtration, or both? I'm open to suggestions.
Thanks

 

[cholula]

I have a 150g tank heavily loaded with various
synodontist catfish and plecos. I have a bio-rocker
wet/dry, 2 emperor 400s, and two 402 powerheads
with the filter baskets attached. I also keep 4 chem-
pures in the sump. The sump has a CAP-5000 for
return.

Filters on this system consist of:
2 coarse in the prefilter overflow box
1 in wet/dry drip tray
4 in the 2 emperors
2 on the powerheads.
--------------------------------
9 total

For the overflow box I use 2 Rena M350.. have several
and swap out about once a week.

For the rest of the filters I cut media to size from a
large roll of blue/while material sold for air filters.

I cut one side of the emperor filter baskets out and
sandwich a piece in each of them.
I cut one for the drip tray and wrap a piece around
the filter baskets for the powerheads.

I change the filters on the emperors twice a week if
not more. Same with the filter on the wet/dry and
powerheads.
The course filters on the overflow boxes I can get
away with once a week or less if I feed the plecos
lots of veggies.

I vaccum the tank one a week (30% water change)
and I run a UV in/out of the sump.

The tank requires a lot of mechnical filtration.

Anybody need synodontis?

 

[Somonas]

Multi's, petricolas, or njasse's, yes.

DocBob filtration sounds good to me, the ac500 would be more of a mechanical filter than anything,,, and would keep the tank alive until the wetdry got colonized. I am assuming the AC500 is already seasoned.

 

[cholula]

I have 5 petricolas
4 @ 3"
1 @ 2"

where do you live?

 

[SoulFish]

if somonas doesnt buy im still interested, and i will pick up

 

[DocBob]

cholula, thanks for the input. Wth that level of filtration, I'll bet your tank is clean!!! It does gice me some good ideas.

Somonas, actually, the W/D is the seasoned filter. It had been running on another tank for about a month, and will probably be there another week or two until I'm ready to make the big switch. The AC 500 is not seasoned, but I just want that for the extra mechanical filtration anyway. I realize it will contribute to the bio-filtration as well, but compare to the W/D that should be negligible.
Thanks

 

[cholula]

OK Soulfish...... anytime you want.

DocBob.....
The tank stays clean, but it amazes
me how fast the filters get dirty.
(too many fish)