90 gallon sps build

[Fshhh]

So, after lurking here for years and owning a couple of reef tanks with increasing success, I'm finally setting up my dream tank, as the title suggests, a 90 gal sps dominated. My 12 gallon is currently growing several montis and a seriatopora so sps is new to me but not 100 percent.

Anyway, to the point, here is my plan;

2 AI sol blues @ 12" awl
Swc 160 skimmer
Brs dual reactor for gac,gfo
Reefkeeper lite plus
Mag5.5 or mag9 w/ water flow accelerator on return
Tunze osmolator with kalk
Titanium heater controlled by rkl
Fans for evaporative cooling
Trigger systems crystal 30 sump (refuge will be used for frags)
Mp40 wes and mp 10 wes
25 lbs pukani rock and about 50 lbs lfs rock from old tanks
10 lbs brs lr rubble in sump
Enough sand for a pistol shrimp and goby, 2"

Plan on minimalist rock scape for growth room
Kole tang
A. Ocelaris pair and BTA
Pistol shrimp and yashia goby
Various inverts

Most of these things i already own in preparation for the tank.
I will not purchase the tank and stand until i move to Wilmington, NC. on jan.1st but i would like a rimless glass tank with a center overflow and durso standpipes or another quieting system

So, any suggestions criticisms or compliments welcome all items, even those i already own are tentative so pls recommend away

Ps. any suggestions on where to get the actual tank? Ive looked on the internet but havn't found anything besides glasscages whom i do not trust.

Sorry for the huge post, just trying to be thorough. Thnks in advance.

 

[Mark4869]

I also have a 90 that i will be setting up preaty soon so I am going to follow your thread

 

[Fshhh]

Great! Glad to have you onboard, mark. I see we also share a name, lol.
Since i wont have pics until january, ill post some of the setup I'm upgrading from tomorrow to keep things interesting. Its quite ugly, but has taught me allot.

 

[DopeCantWin]

I had a 90 with 2 AI Sols, I don't think there was enough coverage.

 

[Fshhh]

dope, i appreciate the the consideration and would like to know more about you system e.g. Intensities, hight, and coral placment, and what you found inadequate.
Ill give a bit of insight as to my reasoning for only two unit ( aside from the expense);

Ive done a bit of basic trigonometry based on a height of 12 inches above water line and found that the 40 degree lenses should produce a circle of 26 inches of coverage on the sand bed. However at 6 below the water line, that circle is only 13 inches. But with a distance of 8 nches between the right most and left most leds in a unit, one unit should give a 21" spread 6 inches under the surface. multiply that by two units and im only missing 6 inches of spread which could be managed by coral
placement, changing out the optics, or addinga diy rapidled unit that i already have. I donot plan to have rocks stacked high andways, so spread that near the surface is moot. From what ive seen, most do not run their sols at 100 percent anyway, so i could always raise the lights for more spread and turn up the intensities.
If this doesnt sound feasable though, i would love some suggestions.

Ill be the first to admit that this is all theorietical and i wont know untill i set it up, but im confident a solution can be found.

 

[DopeCantWin]

dope, i appreciate the the consideration and would like to know more about you system e.g. Intensities, hight, and coral placment, and what you found inadequate.
Ill give a bit of insight as to my reasoning for only two unit ( aside from the expense);

Ive done a bit of basic trigonometry based on a height of 12 inches above water line and found that the 40 degree lenses should produce a circle of 26 inches of coverage on the sand bed. However at 6 below the water line, that circle is only 13 inches. But with a distance of 8 nches between the right most and left most leds in a unit, one unit should give a 21" spread 6 inches under the surface. multiply that by two units and im only missing 6 inches of spread which could be managed by coral
placement, changing out the optics, or addinga diy rapidled unit that i already have. I donot plan to have rocks stacked high andways, so spread that near the surface is moot. From what ive seen, most do not run their sols at 100 percent anyway, so i could always raise the lights for more spread and turn up the intensities.
If this doesnt sound feasable though, i would love some suggestions.

Ill be the first to admit that this is all theorietical and i wont know untill i set it up, but im confident a solution can be found.

I use to have a standard 90 gallon. When I put on just 2 AI Sols with the standard lenses around 8" over the water, it was very dim and shady. I didn't go into all the details and math you've done. I used a pair of 48" Led strips to even it out. It was a mixed tank trending toward SPS. Today I'm using 6 over a 210 and the coverage is perfect.

Pictures of the 90 before I took it down. This was with the LED strips to even it out.

 

[Fshhh]

I like the tank, dope. Especially the big cap and birdsnest colonies on the left. It looks similiar to what i hope to create. From those pictures, your spread looks good to me. I guess ill plan to supplement my sols with the rapidled unit i have. Was your tank that blue in person?

I know my math was overkill, i just like playing with numbers.

 

[DopeCantWin]

I like the tank, dope. Especially the big cap and birdsnest colonies on the left. It looks similiar to what i hope to create. From those pictures, your spread looks good to me. I guess ill plan to supplement my sols with the rapidled unit i have. Was your tank that blue in person?

I know my math was overkill, i just like playing with numbers.

I really like blue, so yes it was a pretty accurate representation. If you enjoyed that, check out

 

[Fshhh]

So i thought i' d post a few pics of my current nano. Its a fluval edge that i worked to support a mxed reef. I pretty much got the tank on a whim and the tank was really an example of form over function. To make t function ive pretty well lost the look it was meant to have, but whatever

 

[Fshhh]

I cant figure out how to add multiple attachments on a post, whenever i try to add one it just replaces the last one...

Heres the yasha goby and randals pistol shrimp...

 

[88rxna]

Have reef savvy build your tank. Also, they have a new overflow called the ghost overflow.

 

[Fshhh]

Top down shot of my few sps. They are still recovering from when i went out f town and my 83 year old landlord looked after my tank.most were white when i got back and my superman monti died, but they have some color now and they never quit growing.

 

[Fshhh]

Just looked up the ghost overflow. It is pretty sweet. Ill see if i can get a quote, but as long as its not crazy expensive for the tank, reefsavvy is the new front runner for my tank purchase much appreciated

 

[Fshhh]

Just noticed reef savvy is based in miami, which is perfect, i can just stop by on my way to wilmington when i move since ill already have the U Haul. Freakin sweet.

Heres one more tank pic just cuz
Been dosing vinegar to try to starve out the caulerpa ive had since day one. Dont want to introduce it to a new tank if i can help it. The sps seems to love it, skimmer is going crazy, and caulerpa is fading, zoas are the only ones that dont seem to like it.

 

[88rxna]

You are welcome. I dont think you will be dissapointed with reefsavvy. Have a facebook acount? Check em out that site, they post pics if.builds often. Very high quality stuff.

 

[jscarlata]

i run a 90mixed, i had a mag 9.5 on it, it was a little weak, depends on how many 90deg fittings you use. I ended up having to replace it due to electricity leakage, and went with the larger ehiem return pump, a much better choice IMO.
lights might not be enough as the other member mentioned. lots of other LED options on the market to look at, check out the pacific sun threads in the vendor section, their LED's are very progressive.

 

[scar79]

Just want to chime in on the light coverage. I had two SOLs over 36x18 tank and the coverage was perfect. I moved the same two to a 48x24 tank and, as expected, the coverage was poor, especially front to back. I supplement the two SOLs with four 54w T5 bulbs. Since you're only 18", you'll be okay front to back, but you'll have very low PAR on the ends of the tank. A third fixture would give you great coverage over the whole tank.

Since I like the color T5 produces, I would stick with the two SOLs, run them the long way, pick up a 2x54w T5 retrofit kit and sandwich the SOLs between the two tubes. This is assuming you're running a canopy since the retros aren't exactly pretty.

 

[Fshhh]

I ended up going with a 75 rimless mainly because that was what was available. I kinda wish i had gone reef savy but they didnt get a quote to me for over a month and it would have been longer befor they had time to build it. And i wanted this thing up asap. Got an eheim. Using mag in mixing station, eheims are a much better pump. I went with the sols and the coverage looks good to me. I may have to add another unit in the future, but for now they are fine. I think t 5 light would help the color a bit and really help reduce the insane amounts of shimmer but i hung my fixtures so making that look good would be a challange.
I started another thread on this build with a 75 gal title because i didnt get the 90, so i wont be back on this one.