NaClFinatic's 90 Gallon Reef

[NaClFinatic]

Here we go...
And it's about darn time! I've been waiting over a year for this. I began researching for my tank in March 2006. Sixteen months later I am finally putting it together. Too much research? That's impossible. The good thing about waiting and still learning while I did is that I think my tank will be pretty close to what I really want it to be without really redoing things.

I decided to go with a 90 gallon tank originally because I read that that was the smallest reccommendation for mandarins and that may be my favorite marine fish. Anyway I later found out that with large healthy refugium they could still thrive. At that point I would have scaled down my tank if I hadn't already gotten a great deal on a brand new 90 gallon AGA tank with overflow. Though the tank is really not a huge part of the setup cost. As far as equipment and the look of the setup, I am probably keeping toward the higher end of a basic setup and make sure it looks good too.

I needed a place for my tank so I completed my basement office. This was part of the delay in starting my setup. But before that I had other house projects to complete since we moved (2 years ago now). Now all that's behind and the tank is the task at hand. So here is where it is today...





I was going to put shadow box moulding below the chair rail in the office but realized with the tank, a couch, my desk, and a bookshelf on the four walls, you would hardly see it anyway. If I ever move the tank I will add it in, or I may even be able to do it with the tank in place if I took out the sump.

[NaClFinatic]

Tank and Stand
Anyway, my setup is an AGA 90 gallon tank with overflow. (Have to say I'm really not to crazy about their 'Megaflow' overflow and I wish it was in the corner since it takes up so much space.) Also an AGA Classic Mission Series stand in maple finish. I would normally go with a darker wood color but I like the idea of it being brighter in the sump and hood areas, I thought it would look good with the navy walls, and salt drips would show up less.

Lighting
After really leaning towards using 6x54W T5, I changed my mind and ordered 2x54W T-5 actinic and 2x175W 10k MH. I got retrofit kits from HelloLights and I think it was a good deal and they work great. I did get the cheapest magnetic ballasts for the halides and they do hum a bit. If I do any upgrades ever to the lighting it will be going to electronic ballasts or switch to all T-5. I really like how little heat the T-5 give off. I also have two glass lenses to completely separate the lighting from the tank. No, they will not be on top of the tank. I am putting wood strips in the hood to hold the glass a couple inches above the tank. I will also add one or two fans to keep heat and humidity pushed of the hood. These fans will blow accross both the water side and the light side of the lenses. The MH reflectors were much larger than I expected. I mounted the T-5s on top of some wood scraps so they were the same level and weren't partially blocked the the MH reflectors. There are also two current white LED moon lights. All ballasts are mounted on the back of the hood which makes for heavy hood lifting.



Other Equpiment and things that will be happening soon...
EuroReef CS100
30 gallon sump (half will be refugium)
QuietOne 3000 return pump
Tunze 6060
Tunze Nanostream 6025
maybe another powerhead? (second 6025?)
DSB
Mix of base rock and live rock

Livestock
My goal is to keep the bioload a little bit more on the light side. I plan to have mostly SPS, some LPS, maybe no softies. Probably some zoanthids. And I really like gorgonians. Fish will be Mandarin (maybe a pair eventually), firefish, yellow tang, royal gramma, and maybe some chromis or ocellaris pair.

Stay tuned, this week I will be adding base rock, sand, water, and the sump. Next will be live rock. I will try to keep up on pictures, progress, and lessons learned.

Speaking of which, first lesson:
Use glass paint for the back of the aquarium. I tried using the same paint from the walls to have it perfectly match. It stuck ok, but I was concerned that heat and moisture would cause it too start pealing. Plus it scratches easy. I pulled that off in one big sheet of latex paint and used glass paint from Michaels craft store. This took four 2oz bottles of Delta PermEnamel paint. Plus there was a primer to clean the glass first before painting. I painted one coat, waited a day, then a second coat, waited a day, and then touched up a bit yet. It did come out nicely and doesnt come off too easily. They had a glaze to use over the paint also. I experimented on a scrap of glass and found that the glaze almost seem to make the paint a little softer and easier to scratch. Of course I didn't wait for days either to see if it hardend more.

[gwen_o_lyn]

Sounds like a great system in progress. Look forward to watching everything come together.

Good idea on buying glass paint- something I never thought of. I used spray paint so I hope it sticks good.

[wwest]

Very cool.

I don't think you can ever over research something like this. No matter if you are a rookie or a veteran there will always be problems and you my friend are more than one step closer than i was when i started and probably better off than a lot of people in this great hobby.

[CarmieJo]

Looking good. Is that a Penn State room or what? Even the couch is blue & white!

[NaClFinatic]

Originally Posted by CarmieJo

Looking good. Is that a Penn State room or what? Even the couch is blue & white!

Not intentionally, but my diploma will look good in there! I just liked the color and the couch we had and looked good as well.

[NaClFinatic]

Last night I put in base rock and sand. I used a layer of eggcrate first in the bottom of the tank. It gives another 1/4" or so and the rock isn't drectly on the glass. I put a little sand in just to cover that. Then I put the base rock in and made sure it was firmly in place. I drilled and put two acrylic rods through the tall piece to keep it stable. Next I filled in with sand and pushed as much as possible in any voids under the rock. There are a couple lage flat base rocks in the empty area that will give a good sturdy base for the larger pieces of LR. The sand bed is over 5" in places and just about 4" in the low corner. I used sugar fine sand as that seems to be what is reccommended for best life in DSB. Though I have heard lots of stories about long lasting sand storms with the fine sand. We will see how that goes.

From MarcoRocks, very nice base rock. Very porus and lots of holes for critters. Marc was great but UPS was brutal to my box. Marc picked out thee nice pieces for me and it ended up bing five and some rubble. Marc said he hadn't had much trouble with shipping before and offered to make it right but it worked out well as it is I think.

And I got a little hitch hiker when I was rinsing my rock. Ok well he didn't make it since it is long dead and dry base rock. But still cool anyway.


I am debating about getting a large trashcan to mix SW to fill the tank with. I don't want to just fill with RO because I figure that will soak into the sandbed and be lower salinity. And then it will take me a while and I will keep adding salt until all that stabalizes. Seems like it would be easier to start with proper SW.

I am also expecting alot of milky water from the sand so I might just fill up 1/3 the tank then siphon out the dirty water and replace it a couple times to get the worst of it out.

[Small Fry]

patience is key in this hobby.

In time, you will come to learn this young padawan.

Lol, you prolly know more than me N'e ways. But i just went through this and it is really hard not to just rush anything.

[NaClFinatic]

Rushing has not been an issue since I have been working too much and have other things to do. I just hope I can keep up on the maintence so this tank is all it should be.

[NaClFinatic]

The base rock is really smelling ripe. As if rinsing it triggered more decomposition. There are some small dark patches in various places that almost look like it was burnt. Must be some organic matter rotting away on there. Maybe getting some water in there would help. I picked up a trash can on the way home so I can start making some RO and mixing salt.

[NaClFinatic]

Getting some water in finally...

I got a 32 gallon rubbermaid trash can and first rinsed it out with some vinegar and RO water. I then filled it with RO (takes about 8 hours to make 30 gallons). Put in two 200W heaters to warm it up and added some salt. I have a Tunze 6025 mixing and threw in my return pump (Quietone3000) also to mix fast. MY MJ400 couldn't quite pump it out of there so I used a Mag7 (backup return pump) to move it into the tank. That worked great but I have 1/2" OD tubing which just fits loose inside the Mag7 outlet. I wrapped a rubberband tight around the tube about a 1/2" from the end. Then stuck the end of the tube in the outlet and it wouldn't slide in past the rubberband. Then I pulled the band around the inlet to hold it in place. Glad I used the mag as it made for quick filling. I stopped the pump before it ran dry with a couple gallons still in. This is with two fill ups. Over 50 gallons.



There isn't quite as much clouding as I expected. It actually looks worse in the picture. I just have a MJ400 in there now to circulate without stirring too much up. There is a heater also. The one thing I did find is that once I put the water in the sand really compacted. It also worked its way in under and between the rocks as I expected. Once I got all the sand soggy I added about another 15 pounds to keep in the same level as it was dry.

[NaClFinatic]

I also worked on the sump. I siliconed in the baffles. Not the prettiest job but it will do. There is skimmer section, baffles, return, and a refugium. The baffles that go to the bottom are sloped slightly to cause less splashing and bubles as it flows to the return section. My overflow drain will split between the skimmer and fuge. I plan on rather light flow through the fuge (100gph max?). I might also put some eggcrate or drilled acrylic if needed (to reduce bubbles or keep stuff out of the return) where water flows out of the fuge.



Hopefully later this week I can get some more water in the tank. If its still rather cloudy in a couple days I will do a huge water change. I hope to hook up all the plumbing this weekend.

[lReef lKeeper]

looking