Used 180 UniQuarium. Thoughts?

[Thomas Gregory]

I'm looking at buying a used 180G UniQuarium from a guy here Ventura but I've never done a salt water tank and this is a big upgrade from my 80G African Cichlid tank of 3 years. This tank is used and has a very warn stand that I am going to have to pull the face off and re cover it and do a nice finish on it before I will be allowed to bring it into the house. lol I'm going to be taking my time and possibly doing a build thread so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I should also add that Im thinking about a FOWLR or just FO

Here are my questions.
1. Is this going to be ok for a salt water tank?
2. What additional equipment will I need? (i.e. hob protein skimmer, heater, chiller, etc.)
3. Should I use the bio balls or use rock rubble?
4. Is rock rubble broken up live rock?
5. Will it be enough filtration?
6. Should it be drilled to add in an additional sump? or add a canister?
7. Any suggestions that I missed?
8. Anyone local that may be willing to show me the ropes of salt water?

Thank you all in advance.

 

[mcarroll]

Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes, but I don't think I would put that kind of effort into an acrylic tank. In a reef, that tank will end up scratched to high-heaven just from cleaning the algae off the glass. Better for a low-light fish tank IMO.

 

[Thomas Gregory]

Your mileage may vary, as the saying goes, but I don't think I would put that kind of effort into an acrylic tank. In a reef, that tank will end up scratched to high-heaven just from cleaning the algae off the glass. Better for a low-light fish tank IMO.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "that kind of effort" I'm not planning a reef just a Fowlr. I do like corals but I like the fish more, that's why I wanted a bigger aquarium so I can have a bigger selection to choose from.

 

[mcarroll]

The refinishing of the stand in the short term....as well as the scratch-removal on the aquarium down the road.

If you plan to have low-light, then it's not SO bad....still much less durable than glass, but at least you won't be digging (as much) coraline algae off the glass.