90 Gallon tank build first timer

[hobbby3]

You might want to read up on Plenums, and why they are not widely used anymore. They CAN cause major problems if not taken care of properly.[/QUOTE]

Not to stir up an old debate but after doing some reading and reasearch the benifits of a Plenum are too great to be ignored. As long as you set it up properly it's 0 maintenance and an extra filtration layer. Here's a really good article for those of you interested.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/9/aafeature


For any followers out there, I'll post some more pictures with recent progress tonight.

 

[hobbby3]

UPDATE:

Finished painting the living room you can see the burnt orange and slate gray in the pictures of the tank. I was skeptical at first of the colors my wife picked out but very happy with the end result.

Last night I finished up the paint and electrical work on the hood. Take a look at the cable hanging on the left anyone have any ideas how I can hide that better?

As I mentioned before I removed the ballasts from under the display and installed them between the tank and wall then built a little enclosure to hid them. Still need to paint the enclosure.

I orderd 60 lbs of dry rock from reefrock.net and plan to purchase 30-40 lbs of live rock from the LFS. The aquascape will be 3 inner joined pinacles.

I'll work on the plumbing this weekend and need to buy the JBJ wavmaker kit and JBJ heater w/controler before I'm ready for water.

 

[hobbby3]

Finished the plumbing lastnight. The pictures are before I cemented it in place. I filled it up with RO/Di water this morning to preasure test everything. It's nice and quiet I just hear a slight humm from the return pump. I may even be able to quiet that down with a better insulator or those little suction cup anchors.

I decided not to go with any slip joints. If I need to replace a bulk head or add a dosing manifold I'll cut it out and redo it. The plumbing parts are cheap and easy to work with.

 

[hobbby3]

Rock and sand is in the mail. Here's a picture of the rock from reefrock.com

Ordered a couple 1600gph powerheads and wave maker
moon lights
digital thermometer from marinedepot

and ATO kit from autotopoff.com

Another week to get this all delivered and setup then I should be ready to get wet! :celeb1: OOOO so excited!

 

[hobbby3]

Received the powerheads, moon lights, dry rock, sand and other goodies in the mail today. :bounce1:

As I slid the powerheads into position I felt the magnet catch on what I hope is just a scratch. I've saw the W shape scratch when I bought it used and I've leak tested the tank twice for over a week without issue.

Can you guys tell by the picture, if I need to take any anction or am I just being paranoid??

 

[rajkovich207]

Run your fingernail over it and see how deep it is, it looks a bit sketchy from the pics, but my current tank has held every fish turtle lizzard and many other things in it that I've owned. Let's just say it has its fair share of scratches and has held up well for nearly 7 months. As for the cables look at office cable management runners. They sell them at home depot and many other office places, not to expensive and would clean uo those wires nicely. Great job on the build so far!

 

[hobbby3]

Thanks for the reply.

I can feel it on the inside with my fingernail but I can see now in the daylight it doesn't go all the way through or even close to it.

Should I do anything with a scratch like this or just leave it be?

 

[Lhewie]

did u make that canopy

 

[hobbby3]

did u make that canopy

I sure did my first wood project in life lol

I bought the stand, tank, and sump on Craigs list.

 

[rajkovich207]

If it bothers you then do something about it, other wise you can just let it be, like I said, in my 20 long I have several scratches, some farily deep that have held up without issue for nearly 7 months.

 

[Meshmez]

If it is only a scratch, i wouldnt worry about it if it doesnt bother you aesthetically, which it looks like its on your side close to the wall. so you probably wont notice it much anyway.

I would probably be a little worried about the chunks of missing silicone in the corners though...

 

[hobbby3]

If it is only a scratch, i wouldnt worry about it if it doesnt bother you aesthetically, which it looks like its on your side close to the wall. so you probably wont notice it much anyway.

I would probably be a little worried about the chunks of missing silicone in the corners though...

I'm guessing whatever caused the scratch took that little chunk out. Should I just run a new bead over the top of the old silicone? I saw a small tube of aquarium safe silcone at my LFS should be an easy fix.

 

[Josh_84]

Wouldn't hurt to strip off the bad section of caulking and redo it. I doubt it would leak as it is but while the tank is still dry, why not do it? I would add at least 1 divider to the sump to keep your skimmer at the right height. I run the same skimmer and keep it at around 8.5" Setup is looking good otherwise. Looks like your setting the tank up as a see through. I would get some black stick on vinyl or something to cover your overflow box so you don't see into it.

 

[Meshmez]

I'm guessing whatever caused the scratch took that little chunk out. Should I just run a new bead over the top of the old silicone? I saw a small tube of aquarium safe silcone at my LFS should be an easy fix.

You could start a long debate on that, and you can search and find plenty of arguments about it, so i dont particularly want to tell you yes or no, but the general consensus is that new silicone does not stick well to cured silicone. some will say if you are going to fix any seam, you should strip them all out and fix them all. some say just strip that one and redo it. its hard to tell in the pic what exactly is going on with the chunk that is missing. can you get better pics of it?

 

[hobbby3]

You could start a long debate on that, and you can search and find plenty of arguments about it, so i dont particularly want to tell you yes or no, but the general consensus is that new silicone does not stick well to cured silicone. some will say if you are going to fix any seam, you should strip them all out and fix them all. some say just strip that one and redo it. its hard to tell in the pic what exactly is going on with the chunk that is missing. can you get better pics of it?

Yes indeed I see what you mean about debate.

I'm more inclined to apply some silicone over the top since my leak tests have all been ok, it more about aesthetics I think.

 

[hobbby3]

I run the same skimmer and keep it at around 8.5" Setup is looking good otherwise. Looks like your setting the tank up as a see through. I would get some black stick on vinyl or something to cover your overflow box so you don't see into it.

Thanks for the starting point on my skimmer Josh!

I'll definately stick some black coving on the overflow plumbing!

 

[Meshmez]

Yes indeed I see what you mean about debate.

I'm more inclined to apply some silicone over the top since my leak tests have all been ok, it more about aesthetics I think.

I would tend to agree, but im not going to tell you that.. if you know what i mean.. haha

 

[hobbby3]

UPDATE:

My sand and half my rock from reefrocks.net showed up today. Figured I'd give a go with atleast half an aquascape. Whatcha ya guys think?





Under the moonlights

 

[Meshmez]

Looking good so far! lots of room for corals. one thing to look at is making sure you have enough room between the rock and the glass for your mag cleaner/hand to fit in. I made that mistake with my first tank and had a couple spots that the rock was too close to the glass for me to clean.

This is just something that looks funny to me, and maybe its just an illusion, but are you sure that is a 90g? its looks short, like a 75g. Again, might just be my eyes playing tricks.

 

[hobbby3]

Looking good so far! lots of room for corals. one thing to look at is making sure you have enough room between the rock and the glass for your mag cleaner/hand to fit in. I made that mistake with my first tank and had a couple spots that the rock was too close to the glass for me to clean.

This is just something that looks funny to me, and maybe its just an illusion, but are you sure that is a 90g? its looks short, like a 75g. Again, might just be my eyes playing tricks.

Just double checked its 48x18x24 indeed a 90 gallon . Just my bad phone camera pictures :bum:

I left enough room to put my fist in all around the rock work so no worries there.