Smorf's 90 Gallon Reef Build

[Smorf]

Hello everyone! I am in the beginning stages of putting together a 90 gallon reef tank. This will be my first saltwater tank. I'm installing new flooring in a few weeks, so I'm waiting to make some of the larger purchases, mainly so I don't have to move as much equipment to deal with the floor.

While I wait, I've been working on a stand, and I've been making batches of DIY Live Rock. Here's a picture of the rock off the top of my curing pile:

I have some that are a little more visually interesting, but they are mostly on the bottom of the bin (which I don't want to disturb yet). The brown all over the rock is just sand that I haven't brushed off yet.

As for the stand, I used RocketEngineer's plans from this forum. I still need to do some wood filling, sanding, and staining. I am leaning towards having a cabinet shop make me some doors because I really want this thing to look nice. Here's a few pictures:

Frame:

With 1/4" plywood skin and some trim:

I have NOT acquired my actual tank yet. I'm watching craiglist daily, but my plan is to order a reef-ready 90 gallon from the LFS that I really like. They can order Perfecto, AGA, or Deep Blue. I'm leaning towards the Perfecto, but I'm open to feedback on this choice. I'm planning on making my sump/refugium out of a 40gal breeder.

While I pass the time, the next project I think I'm going to tackle is installing an RO/DI system in my laundry room along with two containers for fresh water and salt water respectively.

This should certainly be an adventure. I'm looking forward to continuing to learn from all of you on this forum as well as share my setup with you as I go.

 

[cmabrey75]

sounds like you are on the right track, the ro/di was a must for me. I made a 40 gallon breeder into a sump on my 75 as well

 

[Smorf]

Here's my water change / saltwater mixing station I've been working on (nevermind the flyaway tubing )

It used two 44 gallon brutes, the top is RO/DI, the bottom will be used for Saltwater.

Here's a shot inside the bottom container showing how the saltwater will be agitated:

The only other thing I've been working on is sanding my aquarium stand. I think I'm pretty much done with that, so it should be ready for some stain soon.

 

[gmate]

So far, so good!

 

[Smorf]

Ok, I have news to report! Tank is acquired and full of water!

Here's the stand after some stain:

Here's the tank, I went with a 90 gallon Perfecto/Marineland Corner-flo:

And here's some cloudy water!

 

[Rewlee]

Great looking tank, any updates?

I am about to make my 90G purchase, so I would love to see how yours is going!

 

[Smorf]

 

[Rewlee]

looks good, bet the clowns love all the room!

few questions, what did you do for water flow and what would you recommend, short of vortech and their price tag. also how deep is your sandbed, and how much sand did you use?

 

[Smorf]

looks good, bet the clowns love all the room!

few questions, what did you do for water flow and what would you recommend, short of vortech and their price tag. also how deep is your sandbed, and how much sand did you use?

I have 2 Koralia 1400 gph powerheads and the smartwave controller for them. They are adequate, but if you want to keep a lot of SPS, I think you need more power. The controller only controls off and on, I wish I could ramp the power up or down like a true controllable powerhead. The LPS seem happy with the flow I have.

My sandbed is 4-5" deep. I think I used about 120 lbs of sand total, with some being in my refugium in the sump. I used mostly the Oolite Aragonite Sand from Petsmart. It was pretty cheap and came in 40 lb bags I think. I added some "live" sand that came in a bag as well, which I wouldn't do again because it had big "chunks" of stuff in it. The tank looked best with the oolite sand only.

 

[Rewlee]

Thanks a lot Smorf, I will definitely follow along with this tank, and have plenty of questions for ya! ;-) your frogspawn or torch? look great, and so does your duncanops.

Good luck with your tank, and I will let ya know when I get mine up and going.

whats the pvc looking pipe on the bottom right?