It's been a long haul - but I finally have money, time, and a place to do a decent reef tank. I started this hobby back in the late 80's with a 30 gal, crushed coral and undergravel filters... moved on to a 55 in the 90's, with a deep sand bed and live rock, and then sorta neglected it from the early 2000's when I just had the rock and some clowns living in it that had a (LOT) of babies. (raised a few thousand too.. a whole other thread).
Anyway, finally picked up a nice drilled 90, built a new stand, built a good sump, got a decent skimmer and all the rest. Now deciding where to head next.
Current setup:
AGA 90 gal (center return)
Custom oak stand and hood
29gal sump, divided into 3 sections
Bubble Magus skimmer (middle sized one)
Aquamax Omega biopellet reactor fed into skimmer compartment
About 100lb of mixed florida and Fiju live rock - many years old, and had to "nuke" most of it before this build (peroxide)
"Cutting board bottom" for tank - made a solid bottom from white cutting board material. I like the cleanliness and low maintenance of a berlin style system, but wanted a more natural look. Still undecided if I will add some decorative sand, or do something different.
Lighting: Currently (3) 55w T5HO, set up for up to (6) if I want, or could swap to LED or a combo of the two.
Livestock: (2) ocellaris clowns, mated pair, about 16 years. (1) Purpleback Pseudochromis, about 8 yrs.
Plus a cleanup crew of 75 tiny blueleg hermits, a handful of some slightly larger redlegs, a mix of several snail types (100 in total). Oh and a couple emerald crabs and a couple peppermint shrimp.
I'm really on here to get some ideas:
- Ideas about aquascaping - I have "created" some "sculptures" using epoxy and stacking/gluing rocks. But I have found the results are still pretty fragile. Makes me worry.. And although I like my "tower" design, it looks somehow not very inspiring.
- Ideas about sand... to do or not to do. Sugar fine, special reef grade? Play sand? Or just leave it.. Leaning towards leaving the white bottom for now (It will be coraline encrusted within a year anyway...) I had "reef grade" sand in the last tank and it was just a store-all for waste...
- Ideas about livestock... I am tempted to buy a "frag pack" from someone with a variety of "easy" to care for softies, zoa's etc. But this is where I wonder if I should just go slow. I could really use a good list of "beginner" corals here. Ideally corals that don't have feeding requirements to start with.
Tank in its current incarnation has been up for about 6 months, just on the tail end of the "hair algae" bloom (which the additional clean up crew has dealt with nicely). Most of my rock (76%) was peroxide bleached after leaving the old tank. That which wasn't was put in dark quarantine for 6 months. (amazingly some worms and coraline have survived). Old tank had HORRIBLE algae problems. So far, new tank with new skimmer and new CUC has been much better. Still waiting for the coraline to get a good foothold, but I do see pink in places.
Pics of the new build attached - toss me your thoughts.
Anyway, finally picked up a nice drilled 90, built a new stand, built a good sump, got a decent skimmer and all the rest. Now deciding where to head next.
Current setup:
AGA 90 gal (center return)
Custom oak stand and hood
29gal sump, divided into 3 sections
Bubble Magus skimmer (middle sized one)
Aquamax Omega biopellet reactor fed into skimmer compartment
About 100lb of mixed florida and Fiju live rock - many years old, and had to "nuke" most of it before this build (peroxide)
"Cutting board bottom" for tank - made a solid bottom from white cutting board material. I like the cleanliness and low maintenance of a berlin style system, but wanted a more natural look. Still undecided if I will add some decorative sand, or do something different.
Lighting: Currently (3) 55w T5HO, set up for up to (6) if I want, or could swap to LED or a combo of the two.
Livestock: (2) ocellaris clowns, mated pair, about 16 years. (1) Purpleback Pseudochromis, about 8 yrs.
Plus a cleanup crew of 75 tiny blueleg hermits, a handful of some slightly larger redlegs, a mix of several snail types (100 in total). Oh and a couple emerald crabs and a couple peppermint shrimp.
I'm really on here to get some ideas:
- Ideas about aquascaping - I have "created" some "sculptures" using epoxy and stacking/gluing rocks. But I have found the results are still pretty fragile. Makes me worry.. And although I like my "tower" design, it looks somehow not very inspiring.
- Ideas about sand... to do or not to do. Sugar fine, special reef grade? Play sand? Or just leave it.. Leaning towards leaving the white bottom for now (It will be coraline encrusted within a year anyway...) I had "reef grade" sand in the last tank and it was just a store-all for waste...
- Ideas about livestock... I am tempted to buy a "frag pack" from someone with a variety of "easy" to care for softies, zoa's etc. But this is where I wonder if I should just go slow. I could really use a good list of "beginner" corals here. Ideally corals that don't have feeding requirements to start with.
Tank in its current incarnation has been up for about 6 months, just on the tail end of the "hair algae" bloom (which the additional clean up crew has dealt with nicely). Most of my rock (76%) was peroxide bleached after leaving the old tank. That which wasn't was put in dark quarantine for 6 months. (amazingly some worms and coraline have survived). Old tank had HORRIBLE algae problems. So far, new tank with new skimmer and new CUC has been much better. Still waiting for the coraline to get a good foothold, but I do see pink in places.
Pics of the new build attached - toss me your thoughts.
