In the planning stage...

[Malex530.]

Hey everyone! I am new to reef keeping. I joined this forum to learn more about reef aquaria. So I'm in the planning stages of a 90 gallon reef as my first reef. I am trying to set a budget for everything. So please make suggestions!

90 gallon aquarium
R-100 eshopps sump/refugium
PF-300 overflow box
Reef octopus 6" internal skimmer
Confused about the return pump. How big should it be?
Tunze osmolator 3155 auto top off system
Vega color aqualumination light. 2 of those maybe 3.


Stocking
1 coral beauty
1 royal gramma or black cap basslet
3 kauderns Cardinal
2 ocellaris clownfish
3 azure damsels
1 prawn goby with a pistol shrimp
1 Kole or caribbean blue tang
3 resplendent ant hijas
Green mandarin ( will introduce in a year with enough Copepods)

Corals
Assorted soft coral
1-3 LPS or SPS coral
Polyps
Mushrooms

Clean up crew
10-15 dwarf zebra hermit crab
10 margarita snail
A brittle star or two

Please remind me if I forgot anything.if you have suggestions for stocking or equipment don't hold back! Thanks you in advance!

 

[woodnaquanut]

Welcome to RC! Good to see you are posting and planning!

Do you already have the tank? If so, you might want to drill it for OF. OF boxes are a PIA! If you don't already have it, get one with overflows. If you desire quiet, go with either a herbie or BeanAnimal OF. There are a few pages about both here on RC.

Return pump should be able to do at least 5 tank volumes per hour. So for 90g DT that would be 450 g/h. I'd bump it up some to account for head loss. Let's say 700 g/h.

Two vegas should be fine. Why those? They are not the bleeding edge of lights these days.

Fish:
Blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus) is too big for that tank. Kole is a much better choice.
Mandarin's are hard to keep/feed. Good luck though.
Coral Beauty might take a liking to the corals. Usually listed as 'With Caution'

Whatever sump you end up with make sure skimmer and heaters fit. My fav heater is the Eheim-Jager. Only downside is they are LONG!

 

[small alien]

Kaudern's cardinals should be kept singly or in established pairs. No trios. Good luck.

 

[d-man]

Agreed with above pointers.
Return pump i use in all my tanks are eheims, they are extremely efficient, powerful, QUIET, and small.
I've heard good things about the new DC pumps out, but I like my tried and true eheim.
5yrs running now and still going strong

 

[Malex530.]

Welcome to RC! Good to see you are posting and planning!

Do you already have the tank? If so, you might want to drill it for OF. OF boxes are a PIA! If you don't already have it, get one with overflows. If you desire quiet, go with either a herbie or BeanAnimal OF. There are a few pages about both here on RC.

Return pump should be able to do at least 5 tank volumes per hour. So for 90g DT that would be 450 g/h. I'd bump it up some to account for head loss. Let's say 700 g/h.

Two vegas should be fine. Why those? They are not the bleeding edge of lights these days.

Fish:
Blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus) is too big for that tank. Kole is a much better choice.
Mandarin's are hard to keep/feed. Good luck though.
Coral Beauty might take a liking to the corals. Usually listed as 'With Caution'

Whatever sump you end up with make sure skimmer and heaters fit. My fav heater is the Eheim-Jager. Only downside is they are LONG!

Thanks!
So I'll go with a Kole tang.
I was thinking on either a coral beauty or a flame as I do like the flames. My neighbor and some of my friends have the Vegas and they love them. I like the way the lights looks and how the LEDs are colored.
I think I'll go with an eheim pump with 700 g/h