90 gallon reef build

petere1989

petere1989

New member
I am converting my fowlr tank into a reef tank. Current inhabitants are a yellow tang, three damsels, two clowns, a puffer, and a dwarf angel that i can't seem to remember what it is at the moment. ill get back to you with that. but anyway, the tanks 4 months old and is settled down a bit. I had ich and now it seems to be gone (probably not 100% but no fish has had ich on it for a month now) i'm mainly going to be doing lps corals with maybe a few sps frags. I just today went and got a aquaticlife T5 4 bulb fixture i'm pretty excited about. I also ordered two more pumps for water flow and the BRS calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium kit. I didn't get the dosing pumps but i'll probably be getting them eventually, as I like automation and easy-ness. the guy at my LFS said that i'll be getting an algae bloom with this new light fixture so i may set it up and let it be for a month or at least two weeks, to see what its going to do. anyway, here are a few pictures.

Heres the tank right now

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and the new light fixture

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here it is i place

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I'm going to be plugging it in later tonight probably. Can't wait for the BRS stuff to come so i can start the dosing process and get the levels up to where they should be.
 
Nice looking design on the rockwork, but a 90 gallon tank is but a mere sump here on the 180+ gallon display tank forum. Sorry.

Dave.M
 
New lights are on and look great. The pictures really don't justify what they actually look like but its definitely brighter.

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still waiting on the two new pumps coming and the alk/mg/kh from BRS.

going to be testing the water and logging it here in the next few days.

Also I changed out my carbon and turned my skimmer back on from my cyno algae problem. It's all gone now!
 
You may want to look into some supplement lighting. 4 t5's over a 90 probably won't cut it. Especially if you want to keep sps.
 
kclewis said:
You may want to look into some supplement lighting. 4 t5's over a 90 probably won't cut it. Especially if you want to keep sps.
Click to expand...

what do you mean supplement? I really really wanted to get a good set of LED's but spending the mass amounts everybody wants for them just isn't what I wanted to do at this point. I love LED lights but the T5's were available within my price range.


also, I just checked my water. calcium was 500+. not sure why its so high. magnesium is at 1000 so it'll have to be raised and KH is at 12.6, so its a little high as well.

with the parameters being high like that, is it ok to put coral in since they'll use up the calcium, or should I lower them somehow first...and if so how do I lower it...??
 
Got two pieces of coral today. Zoa's and an australian war coral. The zoa's aren't opened yet since I just put them in but I got a pic anyways. I'm not quite sure what they are attached too though. It looks like a clam but i'm not sure.

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my two other pumps and by BRS alk/mag/ca order will be here on tuesday.

Also can someone really in depth explain to me what lights I need to get? because I was told this T5 thing will work just fine, and others are saying it's not enough.
 
The 4 t5s will be ok for all lps and softies and polyps, and some lower light sps like montis, but to get optimal growth I'd go for something to supplement it with. A great option is one of these http://www.ecoxotic.com/panorama-marine-led-system.html it has a decent price tag considering its 100% controllable and can give shimmer and added intensity. This is also a nice option http://www.buildmyled.com/custom-led-strip/ . You can customize the colors to get a nice array of any spectrum. Its about 35 dollars. You get the same shimmer. Get a 45 degree lens so you have good coverage and good penetration. If you have any questions, ask.
 
I finally found my coral epoxy today so I secured the two coral I got. Took two more pictures of them.
Zoa's opened up...
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Heres the australian war coral. I've noticed some tissue damage after bringing it home. I'm assuming that with proper water quality it will be ok.
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Got my BRS box today with alk/mag/ca. Its a pretty nice set up they got there. I was pretty impressed with it. Anyway, I mixed up the chemicals and their going to sit overnight. In the morning i'm going to take water parameters again and see where they are. I cleaned out my sump today and did a 6 gallon water change also.

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All mixed up and ready to go
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And heres kinda my fish cabinet. I don't have a fish room but this is built in the wall in my bedroom right next to the tank so it makes it easy.
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I also moved some of my rock around. I'm not sure I should have or not but i did it anyway. I think it looks ok. I added a few pieces and turned some so you can see more rock.
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Heres a better picture..sorta..of the tissue damage on the war coral. I hope it comes back!
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got two more coral today. The one i'm not sure what it is, but I also got two blue mushrooms.
Also got three more cleaner snails
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I no this is a basically impossible picture to tell, but its attached to the rock my new mushrooms came on. its purple and small. I can't tell what it is.
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heres the mushrooms. not opened up yet.
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I can already see new polyps growing. pretty excited about that.
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I also checked all my water parameters again today. Everything's in check!
 
Thought I'd add a small update. I ordered a hannah phosphate tester from BRS along with a carbon/gfo reactor. I just have carbon right now and not running GFO but i'm getting a lot of algae from this light, and i'm not sure what my phosphate level is because my test kit gives me 0.25 every time I take the test. So I know its not accurate. I wanted something that will be accurate. I think this tanks big enough to need gfo run in it.
 
Size of the tank shouldn't determine gfo use. Gfo is used to control phosphate levels and the only thing size would determine is the amount ran in the reactor. IMO you should research purchases before buying them. You really need to know if your tank can support the purchase. It will save you $$$ in the long run. Like your angel fish. Did you know they are known to pick at coral or the recommended minimum tank size for a yellow tang is 100 gallons? It sounds like you are taking proper steps but I would refrain from livestock until you get all the pieces together and taking more accurate level readings. Again I just think this can ultimately save a little headache in the future.
 
it looks like a small bit of xenia on the rocks. and +1 to the above poster. My first tank crashed due to me rushing my livestock, the tank can't handle it and then everything dies. Also get some gfo :D

edit- spend the money on separate reactors, the time in between changing will make it expensive if you mix them
 
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