Bought A Used 180 Gallon. Need Help.

[casper1875]

I'll try to keep this short. Last June a friend gave me a 75 gal tank. Everything has been going well, minus the leak. I now have a new 75 gal to replace the free one that did not hold water. I did not lose anything, other than sleep keeping all alive until new tank was set up. One night I came home and my son had bought me a powder brown tang.

He watched me acclimate my other fish and he did a great job. Only problem is the tang needed more room. I went on a hunt for a larger tank. Husband looks like this (

).
I found a used 180 gal with two corner overflows, came with two Tidepool 2 sumps, canopy and stand for less than $500.

The piping for the sumps was cut off at the bottom of the tank so she could move it. I do not know anything about sumps, current tank has HOB filter with a Remora Pro Skimmer and my husband looks like this

.
I know I will need to clean everything up first, but what do I do after that? The stand needs some work, but my brother will help me with that.
The good news is that the tang is happy for now so I have some time. I know I'll need to buy new lighting, mine now are only 48" long, this tank is 72". I want to do this right the first time so everyone will be happy. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[trigger11]

Since you have time to spare I would recommend that you get your new stand completed and looking the way you want it before setting it into it's permanent location. Otherwise it will get harder to do later on the down the road. Once you get the stand to your liking I would get the tank situated. Since the 180G is a big tank you will want to make sure the stand and it are level. An unlevel tank can cause a big disaster later on down the road. Another consideration is the placement of the tank. Hopefully it is going on a first floor right next to a load bearing wall. Overall weight is a DEFINITE consideration. The last thing you want is for the whole thing to go crashing through the floor.
Once you have that in place the next thing to tackle will be the plumbing. I would try to get that all set up and running with fresh water only before adding any sand or salt. Let it run for a few days and make sure there arent any leaks. If you have limited experience with plumbing it would be a worthwhile investment to have someone help who does.
After the plumbing can get your sand, salt and the aquascaping all done.
Hope that gives you some general ideas.

 

[casper1875]

Thank you Trigger. I think there is someone at my lfs that can help with the plumbing. I'll start with the stand. I have my brother to help with that. I'm so excited. I've always loved saltwater fish. If my friend would not have given me that 75 gallon, I'ld still just be going to lfs and dreaming. I wish my husband would get into it with me. This time of year he's all tied up with our son's racing. It's time I start cleaning the beast. It's only about 2 feet off the floor right now and I need a large stepstool so I can clean it.