Smorf's 90 Gallon Build

[Smorf]

Hello all. I just put water in my 90 gallon tank this weekend, so I figured I should go ahead and start my build thread. This will be my first saltwater tank. I currently have 3 other freshwater planted tanks, a 20g, a 10g, and 5.5 gallon Red Cherry Shrimp tank. This 90 gallon is definitely the new center piece of my living room. I made some of my own base rock out of oyster shells and portland cement. Here's an example of one specimen:

 

 

While I was waiting to get everything together, I went ahead and made a water station for storing and mixing saltwater.

 

 

I have since cleaned up the stray plumbing, but you get the picture. The top Brute is for RO/DI water, and the bottom is for mixing SW.

 

Here's a test run:

 

 

I also built a stand. Here's the basic 2x4 and plywood skeleton:

 

 

And with a skin and some trim:

 

 

And finally with some stain:

 

 

Then, last Friday came something quite exciting:

 

 

Tank is a Marineland/Perfecto 90 gallon Corner-flo tank.

Light is a 6 x 54W Current USA Nova Extreme I picked up off Craigslist.

Sump/refugium is a DIY 40g breeder

Return pump is an Eheim 1262

On the way is an SWC Xtreme 160 cone skimmer

 

For now, I think I will start with some soft corals and some LPS and see where the hobby takes me. I need to decide what I want to do with regards to my flow in the DT. I just have the return flow for now, I will probably add at least one circulation pump soon just to create some turbulence, right now everything is just a constant counter-clockwise swirl. I am looking for advice for bulbs for my light fixture. It currently has the year-old stock bulbs, which are 3 x 10,000 K and 3 x Blue Actinic. I'm a little lost when I look at bulbs, blue, purple, 10,000k, 12,000k. What would some of you recommend for a good mix of bulbs?

 

I will post up a picture of the rockscape once the sand-induced cloudiness subsides.

[Mr salt]

Great job on the wood work!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Coral Hind]

Welcome to the hobby and congrats on setting up your first reef tank. Nice job on the stand and on the DIY rock. I still have some rock I made 12 years ago. For a new guy to saltwater your setup already looks like a pro is at work here.

 

Why did you decide to use a spray bar for your mixing tank? I would think a simple 90 elbow down would prevent back pressure and help mix the salt laying in the bottom.

[jimlin]

wow. cool looking rocks and great job on the stand.

[surf&turf]

Nice start, welcome!!

[Smorf]

Why did you decide to use a spray bar for your mixing tank? I would think a simple 90 elbow down would prevent back pressure and help mix the salt laying in the bottom.

 

Hmmm, I might try out your idea, I do get a little salt resting on the bottom. I guess my logic was to "spread out" and aerate the water more, which it does, but obviously it prevents the flow from going as deep.

[Coral Hind]

Have you cured the DIY rock already to get the pH adjusted?

[Smorf]

Have you cured the DIY rock already to get the pH adjusted?

 

I had the rock curing in my guest bathtub for 1-2 months doing mostly daily waterchanges. I think I got most of the bad stuff out. My pH is reading 8.4 after having water in the tank for 4 days. Maybe just a hair high? While it was curing the reading was off the chart, like black-purple on the high-range ph.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Smorf

[Coral Hind]

Cool, some people forget that step so I was just checking. The pH will slowly come back down so I wouldn't worry about it. I'm looking forward to some pictures with water in the tank.

[Smorf]

I'm looking forward to some pictures with water in the tank.

 

Ask and you shall receive:

[steveoutlaw]

Looks great. Keep the pics coming.

[Smorf]

Well, things are happening in the tank. I've got diatoms, I'm having my Nitrite spike (1.0ppm), and I've got PODS! Tons of copepods scurrying all over the glass. Also there is one piece of live rock that is really interesting, it's growing some sort of macro algae or seaweed and is producing bubbles. I think it looks pretty cool.

 

Here's the current FTS (need to clean the glass):

 

 

I don't have a nice camera, but here's the jungle rock:

 

 

And here's the best picture I could get of the bubbles:

 

[zygote2k]

If you let that Jungle Rock grow for a month without adding fish or clean up crew, your pod population will explode and be able to get a firm grip on establishing itself in the tank for the long run. Let the algae dominate the tank first. Success will come easier with this method.

[Smorf]

This is fairly representative of what my tank looks like right now:

 

 

I've definitely got plenty of copepods, and I just picked up some chaeto yesterday. It had lots of amphipods and little white brittle stars in it (all of which I placed in the refugium). What I haven't seen evidence of yet is worms in any of the sand. Is there anyone near me who would be willing to provide a scoop of worms from their tank? I can make a separate post on the WTB forum depending on the response here.

[Steve175]

Unfortunately the pic links are not working for me, but everything sounds great. What did you use to seed your tank? (Seems like a nice variety of life despite starting with [reef conscious] man-made rock). I am looking forward to following along your progress.

[Smorf]

Unfortunately the pic links are not working for me, but everything sounds great. What did you use to seed your tank? (Seems like a nice variety of life despite starting with [reef conscious] man-made rock). I am looking forward to following along your progress.

 

Hmm, I guess photobucket changes the link when you move things into different albums, I will fix the pictures when I get home. As far as seeding the tank, I did buy a couple big live rocks for the DT, and a few little live rocks for the refugium. I also used some bagged live sand, whether or not that added life, who knows!?

[Steve175]

Seems to have worked! Would love to see the pics

[Smorf]

Ok, it seems I can't edit some of the earlier posts, but here's the pictures I had posted so far, as well as a few new ones.

 

First FTS with water:

 

 

A few days later:

 

 

What I'm calling the Jungle Rock:

 

 

Bubbles Generated by said Jungle Rock:

 

[Smorf]

Here's some newer pics. I added 2 oscellaris clowns a few days ago:

 

 

They sleep funny:

 

 

And probably the most exciting part....My transition to a real reefer!

 

 

 

 

 

FTS from today, 1/3/13, need more corals!

 

[Smorf]

I was using an unsafe combination of powerstrips to power everything for a couple weeks, so over the holidays I put together a little "power center" to move the outlets away from the water and hopefully make everything safer. Here's a pic:

 

 

The 3 gang boxes are each protected by their own GFCI. If one box trips the rest will still work. The 2 switches you see each control the single outlet below the switch. One is the protein skimmer, and the other is the return pump, these 2 items being the only things I seem to turn off (for water changes). The whole unit is attached to the left side of the aquarium stand on the outside. The box built around it should hopefully keep water and salt creep off the outlets. I'm certainly not an electrician, but I feel more comfortable using this than the cheap plastic power strip I was using before.

[Smorf]

I have added a few new critters.

 

Here's my Yellow Watchman Goby guarding the fort (tiger pistol not shown):

 

 

Kole Tang:

 

 

Giant Frogspawn:

 

 

 

 

Duncan, probably my favorite coral in the tank so far:

 

 

 

Current FTS:

 

[Smorf]

Thanks to the latest LED group buy, I have some new lights!!!

 

 

 

Close ups of hanging system:

 

 

 

I started drilling holes in the ceiling to hang the lights like pendants, but I discovered there is a rigid duct running the whole length of the tank . So I ran back to Home Depot and scrounged up what you see here. The brackets are "closet rod hangers" and the rod is just a 4 ft closet rod. The white lamp chain is from the hardware department. I currently have the lights 10" off the water, and at half intensity. I will slowly play with turning up the intensity and/or moving the lights down. Any recommendations as far as mounting height goes? My tank is 24" deep, and I have 90 degree optics.

[Jsbarber12]

Which model LEDs are those? I just set up a 90 as well and want to make the led switch

[Smorf]

Which model LEDs are those? I just set up a 90 as well and want to make the led switch

 

Evergrow D120 from the group buy that just completed.

[smallreef]

How are you liking the color difference ??? ( i havent put mine up yet....gonna tackle that tomorrow I think)

and what % are you running each channel at? How do these compare to your T-5's?