Anthony, can you please help me with setup questions?

Newreeflady

New member
Hi, Anthony. I spoke to you a while back about my 65g tank, and would like your help setting up my 90g tank. I have since taken the 65g tank down as it was just not self sufficient enough. I'm considering starting the 90g off as a softy & lps tank, and then maybe going into stonies when I have more money for a reactor and such.

90g measures 24" tall x 5ft long x 13" wide. It is currently not drilled. I was hoping to get a new tank, drilled, the works, but money is tight, and I'm considering getting a sort of generic overflow worked in with just 2 holes in the side. It is viewable from 3 sides, so all equipment must work off of one 13" side.

Do you recommend drilling a couple holes in the side or going with an overflow?

Do you think a couple of sea swirls worked into both ends of the tank would suffice for flow, one on each far end? Or do you think i'll need something stronger for such a tank? I was thinking 1" or 1.5" sea swirls on each end, but don't want to leave dead spots in the tank, and have no room in the tank for powerheads as they would not be concealable.

Another option is to possibly wait on the small tunze unit and put that on the blind end, and a sea swirl opposite it.

Can you tell me where you would go with this? And, comment if possible on my thoughts for it? I was hoping to go sps with calc reactor, etc, but I think I have to forgo that for now and maybe work it in later. I have 2x 175w metal halide mounted now on this tank (not setup yet), and I have 1x 400w 20kk that I can mount later if I need to. I also already have some type of skimmer, but i'm not sure I really want to use a skimmer because my nano does so well without one.

equipment I have:
Lighting (2x175w halide, 1 x 400w halide), Skimmer (red sea I think), Return pump (aquasea 3600).

I'll have to set up a sump and auto top off below the tank, but have not obtained those yet, as well as the tank drilling or overflow dilema, it cannot be drilled on the bottom as it is tempered.

Please give me your suggestions. Sorry for the book. Thank you in advance. Feel free to pm if this is not appropriate for this forum.

thanks so much.
Angela.
 
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Hi, Anthony. I spoke to you a while back about my 65g tank, and would like your help setting up my 90g tank.


... cheers, my friend. Good to hear from you again :)


I have since taken the 65g tank down as it was just not self sufficient enough. I'm considering starting the 90g off as a softy & lps tank, and then maybe going into stonies when I have more money for a reactor and such.


... hmmm... do keep these coral groups as separate as possible. Mixing sps, lps and softies in one tank is very challenging for long-term success.


90g measures 24" tall x 5ft long x 13" wide. It is currently not drilled. I was hoping to get a new tank, drilled, the works, but money is tight, and I'm considering getting a sort of generic overflow worked in with just 2 holes in the side. It is viewable from 3 sides, so all equipment must work off of one 13" side.


... my favorite saying about this (I'm serious too) is that I would not sleep in a house that has a siphon overflow. I would delay setting up the tank, not set the tank up at all... or simply run without a sump before I would ever use any kind of siphon overflow.


Do you recommend drilling a couple holes in the side or going with an overflow?


... always drilled :)


Do you think a couple of sea swirls worked into both ends of the tank would suffice for flow, one on each far end? Or do you think i'll need something stronger for such a tank?


...The sea swirls are excellent. But the flow you need will be dictated by the corals you choose and the impedence of the rockscape you design. use 10X-20X tank volume for a ballpark.


I was thinking 1" or 1.5" sea swirls on each end, but don't want to leave dead spots in the tank, and have no room in the tank for powerheads as they would not be concealable. Another option is to possibly wait on the small tunze unit and put that on the blind end, and a sea swirl opposite it.



... I first saw prototypes of the Tunze in Germany and have been in love with them since :p I have always liked Tunze products



Can you tell me where you would go with this? And, comment if possible on my thoughts for it? I was hoping to go sps with calc reactor, etc, but I think I have to forgo that for now and maybe work it in later.


... personal preference... there really is quite a lot of color and polyp activity in octocorals. Much more than sps by some measures.


I have 2x 175w metal halide mounted now on this tank (not setup yet), and I have 1x 400w 20kk that I can mount later if I need to. I also already have some type of skimmer, but i'm not sure I really want to use a skimmer because my nano does so well without one.


... be very careful about making that sort of translation :p unless you are going to be doing weekly 50% water changes on the 90 gallon too :D I would strongly recommend a high quality skimmer run full-time.



equipment I have:
Lighting (2x175w halide, 1 x 400w halide), Skimmer (red sea I think), Return pump (aquasea 3600).



... wow, I honestly would not take a Red Sea skimmer for free. No joking. Proof is in the pudding... do check the BBs about its reputation. Seek the fine reports of a Euroreef (beter value than Aerofoamer IMO) too.



I'll have to set up a sump and auto top off below the tank, but have not obtained those yet, as well as the tank drilling or overflow dilema, it cannot be drilled on the bottom as it is tempered. Please give me your suggestions. Sorry for the book. Thank you in advance. Feel free to pm if this is not appropriate for this forum. thanks so much. Angela.


... no worries. Its all good :) Best regards, Anthony
 
Thanks so much for you're help and suggestions. To be honest, my 10g tank is something i'd love to shoot for in 90g form, it is mostly all soft corals and I have a hydnophora coral and a birdsnest that I just tossed in and have somehow done well, especially the hydno.

I think i'm gonna go research how much water I can pull/drain from what sized holes drilled in the side, and go that route, with maybe a tunze on one end and a swirl later on the other if it needs it. ..... hmmmm I wonder if I could just use the bigger tunze turbelle stream 6100, or if that would cause a sand disaster:p :confused:

Yeah, I see what you're saying about nixing the skimmer. I guess that having only 1 green chromis in the 10g has a lot to do with it being clean. I'm sure i'll end up with fish in the 90g, although they really aren't planned out at this point, therefore a skimmer would be good. Thanks for the recommendation.

Thanks again for you're help.
angela.
 
"... wow, I honestly would not take a Red Sea skimmer for free. No joking. Proof is in the pudding... do check the BBs about its reputation. Seek the fine reports of a Euroreef (beter value than Aerofoamer IMO) too.".....

Now anthony,you added that bit on the Aerofoamer because you knew i have been reading your column here like at WWM....sheesh......call the king of skimmers 'overengineered"......hehe,good to see you here "bub".......Riot...
 
heehee... :D It really is a fine skimmer. But when value per pound/dollar goes out the window and we start touting Aerofoamers as "king"... that's when someone needs to drag out the commercial RK2's :p

I hope you are well, my friend :) Its good to hear from you too.
 
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