Dave's 90gal build

[Lakeside518]

NO speed control Thats alot of flow. I bet you have a sand storm. With my return pump and 2- seio 820's my sand was piling up in my 75 gal. I am now running 1- seio 820, 1-seio 620 and 500-550 gph return flow.

Thats around 26x turn over. Which is plenty. I just need to get a wavemaker like a seaswirl or a wavysea to help spread the flow around more.

What are you planning on keeping all SPS? What was your livestock plan again?

 

[archer8681]

SPS and softies.

I was originally also looking at the Seio 1100's. But heard alot of good stuff about the Tunze, so I got them. I'm thinking that 2x Seio 820 would be enough. That would give me 2240 gph flow with the over flow so 25x. Is 25x enough? With the Tuze its like 42x. I'm not crazy about the mounts the Tunze come with so I was thinking about getting the magnets for them, but that will still only allow me to direct the flow horizontally. If I could mount them lower and angle them upwards, then the sand wouldnt get pushed. Maybe I could rig something up.


I posted stuff on the other ' new to the hobby' section, and no one said anything like ' they will be too much'.

 

[TA]

Not too much for SPS....its the sand you got to watch out for.
50-100X turnover is not unheard of.

I'd love a couple of those in my tank....then again, my tank is bare bottom so no sand to worry about.

Also, I beleive certain "softies" are best kept in a separate system from SPS.

Alot of it comes down to what you plan to leep in your tank.

 

[archer8681]

So I guess I just have to figure out a way to angle them to not kick the sand around. I'll screw with them tomorrow, for now I have them off. I didnt want to stress them out with the sand storm I had earlier.

 

[melev]

Hi Dave. What I did with one of my Tunzes was put a piece of acrylic under the bracket to point it upwards. This keeps it from blowing the sand around.

New sand is lighter than sand weighed down with bacteria. As you add more LS and LR to the tank, that will help. I didn't read every post in your thread, but I saw a number of posts discussing baserock. How much base rock and how much LR do you have currently?

 

[archer8681]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8602944#post8602944 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Hi Dave. What I did with one of my Tunzes was put a piece of acrylic under the bracket to point it upwards. This keeps it from blowing the sand around.

New sand is lighter than sand weighed down with bacteria. As you add more LS and LR to the tank, that will help. I didn't read every post in your thread, but I saw a number of posts discussing baserock. How much base rock and how much LR do you have currently?

I set up the 2x Tunze with one on the right on the side towards the back of the tank to flow towards the overflow, and the one on the left on that side towards the front flowing straight across to the opposite side. This seems to work without moving sand around. The brackets that come with them are crap. You think such expensive stuff would have great brackets! They do not seem to align perfectly horizontal. I'm gonna order the magnets and take Marc's advise with the acrylic. (although I am sure I cant even cut a small piece as well as Marc!!)

Its about 100lbs of LR and 140lbs of sand (80lbs was LS).

 

[melev]

That's good. A lot of people like to cut corners (save money) buying base rock, but it won't be of any value filtration-wise for 6 months or longer. Personally, since that is my main source of filtration, I only use 100% LR.

 

[archer8681]

Tank update, 3 days after LR was put in.

Some good pics, some bad.

Gonna head over to SB to get my lights today!

 

[Krazy]

not bad, nice free corals with the rock

 

[archer8681]

Well my water is just fine. Everything is reading great. Fully cured LR does it i guess. I went to see Tony at SB yesterday, and I brought a water sample. The only thing slightly off was my phosphate. So I got some PhosLock and put the pouch down in the fuge where the flow is nice and slow.

Since I was there, I just had to get some stuff! Got a bunch of hermits, some snails, a couple of emerald crabs, a few peppermint shrimp, an Ocellaris Clownfish (yea I wanted the maroon yellow stripe, but my daughters insisted on the 'Nemo'), and a Scooter Blenny. I also grabbed some cheato full of pods and stuff. Unfortunately due to the holiday, my new lights didn't come in. I should have them next Wednesday. Oh well, I would have just spent more $$ on corals.

Here's a few new pics from today.

 

[archer8681]

Interesting day today. I stopped by Eddies and picked up two fire shrimp. By the time I got home (less than and hour later) one of the fire shrimp got its butt kicked by the other. Its legs and such were broken off. Of the two, this was the smaller one that got beat up. I called Eddies and brought him back. No questions asked. That's always nice! They did however suggest that I hold off on another fire shrimp in case the bigger one that I got from them is too aggressive. So I followed their advise and got two sand sifting stars and some mysis to cover the credit they were giving me. On the way home I gave it some thought. The surviving shrimp was in a small tank with about 4-5 other fire shrimp, chances are he isn't aggressive, and he was just grabby in the small bag. Maybe I'll pick up another soon. I love the way they look!

I also stopped by Country Living in Mechanicville and picked up a few really nice pieces from Ryan.

Here's pics of todays additions to the tank

Tomorrow I should have my lights from Tony @ SB assuming they didn't get lost in shipping.

 

[Krazy]

Fire Shrimp's are like Cleaner and Peppermints... They are Asexual and shouldnt be aggressive towards each other... They should actually pair up pretty quickly from what I've read up on them...

Fire shrimp are the nicest of the 3 kinds I just mentioned above IMO (I love that bold red color)

I myself have a pair of the "Aggressive" Coral banded shrimps in my 90, they are a mated pair and they are pretty cool but Since I like them all I have a cleaner and a Peppermint in my nano

 

[TA]

I know you're anxious, but try to restrain yourself for a few weeks. If you're gonna add "stuff", try and avoid adding anything that requires you to feed the tank.

Take it slow.

 

[archer8681]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8638029#post8638029 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TA
I know you're anxious, but try to restrain yourself for a few weeks. If you're gonna add "stuff", try and avoid adding anything that requires you to feed the tank.

Take it slow.

I know speed is not good with this. The only reason I'm pushing ahead is that the LR came from a tank that was already established for 2 years. The rock was in my tank in water in less than 2 hours from when it was taken out of its original home. I keep testing my water and everything is ok. I originally didnt expect to add anything until January, but 100 lbs of cured LR helps! Its basically like upgrading from one tank to another. I'll keep testing to make sure nothing gets out of line.

 

[archer8681]

Woohoo!! Got my lights today from Tony! I love em! OOOH shimmer!

The unit comes with 2 timers for the HQI & the T5's and the 2 sets of LED's can be also setup with timers since each set has its own plug.

Tell me if my light schedule seems ok. Here it goes


T5 6am - 10 am
HQI 8am - 6 pm
T5 4pm - 8pm

Should I leave the T5's on from 6am to 8pm? Or is it proper to turn them off for a period of time duting the day like in my schedule?

I planned on just keeping the leds on all the time, at least the blues LED's.

Should a get a timer for the whites? I could have them come on 1 hour before the T5's in the morning and shut off 1 hour after the T5's at nite.

 

[Mel-E-Mel]

any pics?? love to see how they look since i will be getting the same lights.

 

[archer8681]

Still a little unsure of my lighting schedule, so please chime in guys.


When I picked up my lights from Tony yesterday, I also got a 2nd clown, a Sebae Anemone , 5 Chromis, a small pice of Fluorescent Green Star Polyps and a pretty clam.


Now for some pics


Tank before with regular lights

Tank after with halides and T5's on

Tank with just T5's on

The clam!

My Pulsing Xenia and Flame Polyp rock I got from Ryan, and my Scooter Blenny under T5's

The Sebae sort picked a weird spot. He is backed up against a rock which is slightly sheltered from the lights. Hope this doesn't have any negative effects on him. I guess he can always move himself if he doesn't like it there, so I'll just leave him alone. He readily took some mysis that I gave him directly this morning.

Another thing I have to keep my eye on is the tank temp. I have 2 Theo 200watt heaters which are a pain. I am constantly adjusting them which is annoying. I am thinking about the Pro-Heat Titanium LCD Heaters. I like the idea of the LED display. Anyone ever try these?

 

[Krazy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8638029#post8638029 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TA
I know you're anxious, but try to restrain yourself for a few weeks. If you're gonna add "stuff", try and avoid adding anything that requires you to feed the tank.

Take it slow.

Words of a WISE man right there

Your tank is a week old, there's no way you should have an anemone already (sure death) let alone all those fish etc... you gotta let the filtration build up bacteria's etc... (You might be doomed for a cycle or tank crash) I hope not to see that happen but it could with the xtreme additions already... :eek2:

 

[archer8681]

Hopefull all will be well.

I have had mixed responses to my adding livestock. Being that the LR came from a tank that was established for 2 years, I really did more of a "move" and not a new tank setup.

I don't plan on adding anymore for a little while, but I have been testing my water daily and everything seems to be fine so far.

 

[TA]

The rock should be fine for the most part (little-no cycle involved)....its the sand bed that needs to "mature".

Regardless....it's looking nice!

Hold off a bit and see how things go....watch for signs of stress.

Watch the clam...crocea's like to be up on the rock...at least place a piece of rock under him under the sand. Looks large enough that he can get all he needs form the light, but you may want him higher up. Also, a little phyto to feed him (and therefore the entire tank! ) may help him get enough nutrition.

As far as the heaters go...get a Ranco controller (single stage; approx $50 or so) and hook up both heaters through it. No more messing with heaters!