Do I really Need A Chiller??

[joe4117]

HI I am currently pursuing a 180 gal fish tank. Ok here's the catch. the guy i buying from used to have a salt water tank with about 60 - 80 lbs of live rock. he couldnt take care of it and now converted it to fresh water w/ the rock still in it so everything on the rock is dead. he has like 3 gold fish in it wich he will keep. lighting im not sure but i know he has at least 6 floresent lights. ok know the ?'s i have
1. do I need a chiller cause i dont have $1,500 bucks to throw up for one my lfs said yes i must have one if i use metal halide lighting cause the fish cant take the change in temp...
2. i bought 180 lbs of live sand and 40 lbs of aroginate sand do i need More?
3. he does currently have a wet/dry filter/refugium but i also bought a 10 gal tank for a more refugium.
4. how is the quality of this site/product wise?
5.my lfs is selling 160 gal of salt water for about 34 dollars To good to be true???? also live rock for 4.99 when they normally sell it at 6.99 a good deal or something wrong.
6. how long should i let the tank cycle for?
I am new at this and have been reading up on this so i now some things but not all. If u know anything i should buy extra/help my set up so i wont fail would be great. Also if any one wants to help seed my tank i would greatly appr it.
Thanks Joe.

 

[mrdc]

I installed two 4 3/4" fans with my halides and my temp never moves. You probably want more sand but it depends on how deep you want your sand bed. I like a deep sand bed so my critters can bury themselves and I just like the way it looks. I have only bought dry goods from this site and everything wen well. The live rock deal is pretty good. That's what it goes for in my area. The tank cycle will take about a month. You can help speed up the process by using some pieces of shrimp. Don't let the LFS sell you damsels for cycling!!