The plunge - 90 gallon new build & newb question

[cdbias2]

Just cut the hose barbed part of the bulkhead off. Use the outside of the threaded portion as your inside return tubing diameter. It looks as if you'll gain 1/2 to 3/4".
Secondly put a gate valve after your pump so you'll be able to reduce flow to the tank.

[Linina]

Ok update:

Here's me and one of our sons, After applying the background to the tank. Not my most flattering photo but whatever.




Revised drain plumbing with a wider drain. Also ditched the bulkhead in the sump to avoid narrowing to get it in there.




Thursday, RO unit gets here, moonlights and another fan...then its GAME ON!

[Ehaze]

I post this on colorado forum... aswell as some LFS info...
Ouch... I just seen all those pics you had up, I hope you did not buy all that stuff from a LFS.

Melev RO kicks some butt, I bought one a year ago, great item... he is a nice guy too, talked me through the set up.

www.drsfosterandsmith.com <<< good site best shipping 100% cust service...

www.autotopoff.com Get one... you will hug your self.

www.reefgeek.com lights

www.marinesolutionsinc.com/catalog/index.php great skimmers for cheap... just add a mesh mod and sand here and there...

[freddie40]

As for T5 lighting, what you can keep depends alot on a 3 things:

1) Ballast. The 660 was a very good choice. It will overdrive your lights.

2) Reflectors. Icecap reflectors are among the best.

3) Bulb Choice.

Leave room in your canopy at front and back for installing 2 more bulbs. With 4 bulbs you will be a bit short of raising clams and sps. You will be able to keep LPS and softies just fine.

The ADHI 45 is a very good sump. This will help in the overall stability of the system.

If you need help just PM me as I am local.

Dave

[freddie40]

I don't see a skimmer. Have you thought about this? There are many choices, but for a 90 I would recommend a Tunze 9010 available from www.marinedepot.com. I have been using a AquaC Remora for my 75 and have not had any problems. I Ordered the 9010 yesterday and hope that the extra skimming will really help my tank.

What about circulation? I guess the real question would be what do you plan on keeping? If you are thinking LPS or SPS I would start off with 2 MaxiMods. A great deal for the money.

Dave

[Linina]

I bought a ASM G3 Skimmer - think this'll cut it?

For circulation I have 2 maxijet 1200s for now....will those work? I plan to work on placing these items tomorow after I get the RO unit tomorow.

and yes I bought almost everything from AquamartOnline (locally)....they honestly seemed fairly reasonable and I wanted to support a local store....

[freddie40]

The G3 is a good skimmer. 2 axiJets won't cut it, however, by getting a MaxiMod kit (from MarineDepot or ReefGeek) you will be fine. I love my MaxiMods.

Dave

[Linina]

Ah cool I will put the maximods on my list of things to buy (I imagine there will be a few more things I will think of in the next week or so as I start putting water and rock in the tank) and then I can place one order.

thanks for the tips!

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by Linina
I bought a ASM G3 Skimmer - think this'll cut it?

For circulation I have 2 maxijet 1200s for now....will those work? I plan to work on placing these items tomorow after I get the RO unit tomorow.

and yes I bought almost everything from AquamartOnline (locally)....they honestly seemed fairly reasonable and I wanted to support a local store....

look into the mesh mod and the gate valve mod in order to help boost performance

[Tswifty]

I like the marine solutions MSX line of skimmers, and will be ordering one as soon as they get back in stock:

http://www.marinesolutionsinc.com/ca..._48/index.html

Octopus NW skimmers are also great choices, and their recirc models are priced well.

As far as RO/DI I purchased this unit from The Filter Guys... Great unit... Great people to deal with.



I'm also in the process of putting together a 90... so I'll be tagging along... looking great so far!

[Linina]

Ok got the water unit and I'm VERY SLOWLY collecting water. Here it is and the moonlights I ordered:



Here's my boys hooking it up:



Here's me unpacking the fan I ordered. What is it with tank parts and NOTHING coming with directions! (we got it wired but its just cracking me up that the vast majority of stuff we've gotten has no directions)



And here we are at T+24 hours with I'd estimate maybe 33 gallons collected so far. This is a 100 gpd unit so I may try the heat the input line in a bucket trick. Anyone have experience with that?

[Linina]

Alright water, salt, sand, are all in. Things are looking good so far:




Had some trouble figuring out the skimmer (no directions OF COURSE) but I think I have it adjusted right now.

We also put a ball valve right after the pump although the revised drain now does keep up fine with the pump on full blast.

The first chamber of the sump is kind of crowded and some sand/dust/whatever kind of settled on the bottom of it - I wonder if we are having some flow issue or if that is normal.

[freddie40]

The sand/dust is normal. I just bought a wet/dry to vacuum all of the crap out of mine. You want to aim for about 400 GPH so you may want to dial down your return a bit. Use the MaxiMods for flow.

Dave

[Linina]

Ok finally the store got the cured Fiji rock in, so today I picked up my 100 pounds:




I have never set up a tank before and I really had no idea what to do, I rinsed it off in the siphoned out saltwater from the tank and plopped them in as best I could. About halfway through, this guy showed his face:


I hear he's not good - for the moment he's in the center section of my sump but we'll see, not sure what to do with him.


Here's my second shot at an aquascape - don't laugh - I'm still learning:

[R.W.]

you will find that with cured rock, the cycle will be much quicker. I cycled in 2 days but still never added anything for a few months

[Tswifty]

Here's a link for some ideas on aquascaping.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1342474

[LoganTidwell]

i think your aquaculturing is great. i would add some more to the back to build depth and cover up the back side of the tank. i have 100lbs in my 55g. i would also move the powerheads up higher in the tank, this will create more currrent throughout the tank instead of the mid to bottoms half. i would also try and make some holes and caves with your liverock by bridging them, my fish love to go in and out of the holes. great job though!

[beba]

looks great!

Are you happy with the RO unit? I would like to buy one too.

[Linina]

The RO unit seems great so far, it was very easy to hook up and havent had any issues (other than operator error and forgetting to turn off the unit, sigh). It seemed a little slow, nowhere near 100gpd but I assume thats my water condition and cold location, who knows. The water is measuring 0 TDS so that's good I guess.

[TriggerHappyDude]

They have shut off switches/valves you can buy for that RO unit...dont they?

[melev]

I love your aquascaping. Girls are so good at that, I always recommend that guys have their wives help them place the rockwork.

Being in Colorado, your source water is probably pretty cold right now. Matter of fact, I was in Denver last month at the Rocky Mountain ReefEd 2008. Were you there?

I'll reply to your email.

[Aquarist007]

I love how well you have documented your build with pictures. I added a link to the refugium thread because I am sure others looking for examples would be interested
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...3#post12196013

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

Pretty nice. I like the lagoon area for LPS's or something. You might want to push it all in a bit so it's not so close to the glass. Makes it harder to clean there and more likely to scratch your glass. Plus.. your rock isn't that high anyway. It could be stacked up a bit higher or buy a few more pieces. If you mess with SPS someday you would need room for that too. I usually go for 1/2 way up the tank with rock as a guide. I don't have a TOTM tank yet but that's what I'm visualizing.

[Linina]

Ok I'm cycling now(woot), ammonia seems to be dropping, nitrites and nitrates still rising.

Yesterday nitrites were 2.0, nitrates 10.0
Today nitrites around 4, nitrates around 50.0 (colors- sigh).

I am putting in an order for a pinpoint pH monitor after experiencing the joy of the salifert 'guess the green color' pH test (i think i'm between 7.7 and 8.0)

AND lastly I'm being very depressed that it takes 100 posts to have a custom avatar. I commissioned my artist sister in law to make me an avatar and I can't even use it on this site as a premium member....lame. It's inspired by a black and white clown who has caught my eye at the LFS....I think that will be my first inhabitant (except Mr Evil Crab who is surviving the cycle so far) as soon as I get through this cycle!

[freddie40]

Don't get the PH moniutor. You have talked about getting something like a aquaController. Mine has a PH controller on it. A much better use of money.

Dave