Zestays 90G Build / planning thread

[Zestay]

Ok after some serious thought. a 40 gallon breeder and a 1.66 gallon pico. its time to create my reef.

currently its in the planning stage, i have a handful of leftover equipment from my 40 breeder . and a tank on the way from the traders corner here.

Tank. 90g AGA, with black AGA stand. not RR but i will be drilling the side pane for a room divider set up.

Sump 30g AGA custom baffles into 3 sections. skimmer - fuge - return/topoff area

Skimmer.
I have a euroreef mock off its a needlewheel designed for 100 gallons. im going to look into adding a recirculating pump to it but who knows

LIGHT will be provided by one of two choices.
1. 760 watt aquatraders 48 inch light 2x 250 hqi 4x 65 watt PC. i had a 36 inch version on my 40 breeder and for the money, i couldnt complain. how ever i will make the following modifcations to the 48 inch light. upgrade the cooling fans. change the bulbs to 14k hamlitons or pheonix. and wire each of the CF lights to individual power cords. and i will run 7 timers to this light. 1 for each CF 1 for each MH and 1 for the moon lights.

option 2 buy a AGA canopy and create some sort of t5 + metal halide retrofit setup.

SALT . im fond of the red sea max designed for RO/di water

substrate - something heavy this time. not sure what exactly but im tired of the sand storm, yet i dont want to go barebottom
live rock. im welcome to suggestions

Rock. i dont like hitch hikers ( bubble algae ) so ill be making 90% of the rock for this tank, and use a few pieces of live rock to seed it.

Flow. 2 maxi jet 900s. 2 maxi jet 1200s on a wave maker that will supplement 2 korrilas ( not sure of the size korillas i want yet )that run 24/7

ATO will be a drip line of kalkwasser water

livestock!
inverts

2 peppermint shrimp
2 skunk cleaner shrimp
1 tiger banded serpent star
1 green bander serpent star
10 bumble bee snails
20 mexican turbos
10 cerith snails
10 nassauris snails
5-10 blue legged hermits
5- 10 red legged hermis

GBTA

Fish
tangs ( i probably need to axe one of these from the list )
1 Powder brown tang
1 yellow tang
1 kole tang

2 clowns either rods onxy or a pair of black false percs
1 scooter blenny
4 green chromis or 4 anthinas ( spelling? )
1 diamond back goby
1 six line wrasse
1 mystery / christmas tree wrase/ or some other cool looking wrasse
and either a midas or lawnmower or starry blenny


Corals.
Sps
some acros
i want to get my hands on a 20k leagues under the sea
a few monti caps

Since mylast tank didnt have any LPS i think im going to make them the focus of the tank
frogspawn
torch
hammer
candy canes.
all those goodies

misc zoas
and shrooms (zuma and ricordia )

feel free to comment and flame. and tang police please voice your opinion on 3 tangs in a 90 gallon.

 

[NickSmi]

Coming along for the ride

 

[Rekonn]

How about dead rock from Marco Rocks ? Don't really need to seed, there's enough dead material on the rock to start your first cycle. Afterwards, add critters from IPSF. No hitchhikers, just add what you want.

 

[Zestay]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11262740#post11262740 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rekonn
How about dead rock from Marco Rocks ? Don't really need to seed, there's enough dead material on the rock to start your first cycle. Afterwards, add critters from IPSF. No hitchhikers, just add what you want.

macro rocks are a maybe, however, creating my own rock allows me to easliy create rock pillars and collumms / rock walls / corner pieces . theres almost to many reasons to create my own that use ocean rocks. however im sure ill use some of each.


also can anyone reccomend drain size and a return pump ? ive only used submersable pumps in the past im curious if i should make the switch up to an external pump or stick with what i know. i see alot of people "dialing down" thier huge return pumps and that just eats up power.

 

[Zestay]

ok theres going to be some serious updating in this thread.

 

[Zestay]

this is how i got the tank

 

[Zestay]

tanks in house on stand. drilled with three , 1 inch drains for beans over flow
rocks are from some of key largos fine beaches

rocks cleaning in a bleach bath 1 gallon bleah 10 gallons water. add 1200 gph pump let sit 3 days and you get pure white rocks.

 

[Zestay]

skimmer selection!

from my old 40 breeder with 30 sump. this guy made at least 2 cups a day of black sludge. great skimmer. i think it will be more than enough for my 90.
its a NW pump, the skimmer body is about 5 inchs in diameter and 20 inchs tall or so..

 

[Zestay]

next up is canopy construction

canopy is all red oak ply 3/4 ply

inside canopy was eventully primed in kilz 2 white latex.
than 2 layers of semigloss poly

outside was stained in "ebony" stain than coated in 2 layers of semi gloss poly. still have some touch up areas to work on .


heres some pix.

 

[Zestay]

yes i live in an apt. so that always complicates things. no tank room. no holes in walls. and an overall lack of space...
only one pro from being an apartment reefer...
my complex pays my water bill.. i can RO/DI all i want at no charge =)

 

[Zestay]

also my fish list stocking plans have changed alot

fish list

Two Spot Bristletooth Tang
(Ctenochaetus binotatus)


Diamond Watchman Goby
(Valencienna puellaris)

Sunset Anthias (Trio)
(Pseudanthias parvirostris)

Sailfin/Algae Blenny
(Salarias fasciatus)

Six Line Wrasse
(Pseudocheilinus hexataenia)

Longspine Cardinalfish qty 5
(Apogon leptacanthus

, ill probably be removing one of the tangs ( the brown ) from this list

and maybe ditching the chromies as well


corals will be a mix of all types.
i plan on having an acro garden as well as a zoa garden. some yuma / ricidora area on the bottom.

mid tier will be some hammer / frogspawn / torch. and depending on space i may or may not get an anemone with clownfish. this is still up in the air. i want a s.haddoni but they eat to many fish. well see maybe a nice BTA and a pair of onyx clowns. or pink skunks dont know yet..

top tier will be acros and montis. of all neat colors. my dream coral is acropora lokani, i hope to have a few diffrent color morphs when its all said and done.

 

[Zestay]

lighting is the following
6x54 watt t5ho from reefgeek with icecap SLR reflectors
my initial bulb selection is as follows

1 slfigoi super actinic
2 ati blue plus
3 ati aquablue
2 gman blueplus ( actinic plus )
3 gman aquablue
1 uvl super actinic

i really enjoy the added on control of a third light ballast. this steered me away form a single icecap 660. even though the light output may be diminished some, i will enjoy the options of looking at the reef under several direct color spectrum's


p.s. my gf got me a RKE !!!!!

 

[Zestay]

i chose to install the ballasts and MLC ontop of the canopy itself. i feel this is a dry place, and its open to the fresh air to cool the ballasts. i dont know if you can see in these photos or not but there is a washer or two under each ballast to space it up off the canopy to allow some airflow underneath. my dad is a yacht electrician and was joyed when i brought him a project that he could have some fun with and show off his leet skillz.

please ignore the lettace tie wrap in the pix..

 

[Zestay]

here are some photos of the bulbs them self while on

i really like the way that the pics turned out. it appears that i have way more lights than i do.. =)

 

[Zestay]

im shooting for tank of the month oct nov dec 2010 time =)