I've only been in the hobby about a year, but have caught the bug

It started out with a cheap 24g AquaPod I bought off Craigslist, which I promptly modified and outgrew.

Now I'm building a 90 gallon acrylic I got off Craigslist. I did quite a bit of research and planning to figure out the appropriate size. I almost pulled the trigger on a 240g tank, but realized that I would be way over my head on that. I ended up finding a 90 gallon acrylic with a 5" side overflow for a decent price. The previous owner used it for a coldwater biotope of local species (SoCal). After having the tank for about a week, I needed to build a stand to at least get it off the ground.



The front and back is all maple, and the sides/bottom are birch 3/4" ply. I reinforced everything with a strip of vertical 1" wide maple. It is finished with mahogany stain and topped with a few coats of helmsman spar urethane, polished with 0000 steel wool. The stand is lag-bolted to the studs in the wall for some earthquake protection. I also stuck a sheet of 1/2" foam insulation below the tank to help ensure an even seat to the top of the stand and reduce uneven pressure points. I covered the edges of the foam with some aluminum duct tape then spray painted them flat black.



I had to order the bulkheads and return stuff from marinedepot, and learned to work with PVC over a weekend. It really was quite easy, but I've seen many, many DIY shows growing up. I also discovered that you can easily bend PVC by simply placing it in the oven at 225F for about 10 minutes. It comes out as flexible as a wet spaghetti noodle. I had to bend the pipe coming from the bulkhead to the return about 15 degrees. I also discovered that the 100+ tooth 12" Freud blade in my mitre saw works really well for cutting PVC with absolutely no burrs. I'm using 1" PVC for the drain, and 1/2" PVC for the return. There is a flapper style check valve (with unions) on the return section. Everything is tucked up above the door openings, and the return is connected via a flexible 3/4" ID vinyl tube to hopefully reduce vibration noise.



For power, I put a couple GFCI receptacles into a galvanized steel box, and used a couple PC power cords as the power leads. These are labeled A and B, and one is plugged into a UPS, while the other is just on the surge protection only. My idea behind this is that I'll leave the pumps on the battery, but everything else will be surge only.



As far as other hardware is concerned, I scored a Reef Octopus 150 needle wheel skimmer off craigslist. I built a sump out of a 29G tall AGA, and found a bunch of acrylic scrap pieces from a local plastics company for $1 per pound. I created a 10" section (8" deep) for the skimmer, followed by a two-chamber bubble trap, to a 1' refugium section, then a 6" return area.



I picked up about 100lbs of liverock from craigslist as well for about $1.5/lb. It appears to be fiji, and was covered with coraline and pests heh. I cured it (maybe killed it) for a few weeks, but no more pests.



I tested the water parameters yesterday (tank has been moving water for about week), and there is 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and maybe 2.5 nitrates (it doesn't look like 0, but it is definitely not 5 on my API test kit).

I 'won' a 48" Current Nova Extreme Pro (6x54w) light off eBay from Current themselves, and since they're literally 5 minutes from my house, was able to pick it up today for 0 shipping. They've got a pretty cool office space -- lots of little tanks set up

I also have an order in from Drs. Foster and Smith for the rest of my gear:

Ecotech Vortech MP40W
80lbs carribean live sand
Eheim 1262 for my return pump (been using a Maxi Jet Utility 1800, but too loud and not enough flow)
box o salt (200 gallons worth)

I should be receiving everything by the end of the week! Almost 200lbs of stuff shipped with 4 separate tracking numbers FedEx ground for less than $20. I'm not sure how they are able to keep in business doing things like that.

Finally, I picked up some starters for the tank this afternoon - 6 chromis, 10 hermits and 10 astreas (make that 9 astreas - a hermit killed one during acclimation).



The stack o rocks isn't final (or even close). They're just placed there randomly. The rock with the PVC sticking up is the base to the flat rock (has a matching hole on its bottom). Should be a nice platform for some SPS or something.

I'm planning on stacking the rocks high on the left, down to the sandbed on the right and leaving maybe 1' of sand open for ricordea and such. The MP40W will be on the right side of the tank pushing towards the left.

I'm all ears for suggestions, even if it means I have to redo something

As far as stocking is concerned, I'll definitely be moving the two ocellaris clowns from my 24, and probably the six-line as well. I'd like to have a flame angel, blue tang, and possibly an anthias of some sort. Triggers are pretty cool, but I hear they can be a pain with corals. It'd be crazy, but I'd love to have a snowflake eel in there too (but I'd have to go crab/shrimp-less obviously). Not a big deal to me as I don't really care for the peppermint or cleaner that I have in the 24, and the hermits don't seem to pull their weight However, if I have to wait for a species tank for the snowflake, so be it.

I think you're off to an excellent start. Sounds like you've thought of everything. Definitely post pictures when you finish your aquascape.

Nice!!

Very nice and good luck. My only suggestion would be to make sure that water level is high enough in your sump for the protein skimmer. See what the manufacturer suggests, but I thought 8"-11" is ideal. Not that it won't work - it just may work better.

Everything I've read states that this skimmer is a direct knock off of the EuroReef CS line, which has a recommended depth of 6-8". Same with the ASM G1/2. At 8", it pulled out a bunch of nasty smelling green water

Minor update: Checked the temperature finally after a full day of running the T5HOs.. almost 90F. I placed a fan on a shelf near the tank blowing across the top and lights, so I'll see how well that does to keep it reasonably cool. It was still 85F this morning after the lights had been off for almost 12 hours -- I think either the Maxi-Jet Utility 1800 or the pump on my skimmer run a bit warmer than they should. The Eheim 1262 to replace the 1800 should be here tomorrow, so we'll see. I didn't order anything to replace the pump on the skimmer, but will if I need to. Thankfully the MP40W shouldn't add any additional heat to the tank -- the Koralia 3 I have in my AP24 keeps the chiller running even at night (chiller set to 82F).

Really?? Maybe that's what keeps my 125s temp so stable. I have two K3s and a Mag3 along with two 250w stealth heaters.

Only hit 87F today with the fan on it. I'm going to have to build a cooling rig or something this weekend. Guess I get to hit up frys for a few 120mm fans.

Yet another update!

Received my supplies from the Drs on Friday and set them up last weekend.

The Eheim 1262 pump is epic. Lowered the tank temps ~7F.. now the tank only hits ~83F after a full day of the lights, with the AC set to 85F. It is also nearly complete silent! Now the only noise is the overflow trickle.

Also set up and configured the Vortech MP40W -- another epic pump. I haven't even played with the wave making features yet; the large warning about it possibly damaging your tank and / or stand was enough for me to be content with the reef crest mode -- for now.

Added 1gal of Miracle Mud to the skimmer chamber. Starting to look like a refugium now!

Finally, added the sand substrate. Not epic. I chose CaribSea's 'Ocean Direct' Caribbean live sand, and while it does remind me of the sand off the reefs in Belize, it totally looks like crap in the display There is a /vast/ difference between the size of the sand granules; they range from literally dust to full shells, with the majority in the ~1mm range. The dust was /really/ bad. The skimmer was generating mud for a full day. It also settled on the floor of the sump and every device in the tank. I've temporarily added a powerhead in the pump chamber in the sump to return the dust to the display's floor, but also need to do the same to the skimmer chamber. The dust is so fine that it created a froth on the surface that is just starting to disappear finally after 48 hours.

Somehow in adding the sand, I lost a fish, leaving me with 3 (out of 6 that I started with). One died the morning after being added to the tank, and the other died was found on the bottom of the tank this morning. I think I might have buried the 3rd one

Coraline is starting to return to the rocks with abundance. Looking pretty good!


Larger version

Any suggestions on how I should place these rocks? I kind of want to do a half-mound with the high point starting at the left wall just under the return outlet, and then dropping down to the sand about 3', leaving ~1' of bare sand on the right. The rock near the center has a 1/2" PVC post on the bottom section that attaches to a hole in the top section (previous owner did it). It'd be cool to have that somewhere as a nice, flat section for SPS, which will be right in the best flow no matter what I do.

Hell yeah man, love it so far!

I've been working on temperature matching my 24 (with 150w HQI and chiller) to the 90. Got the 90 stabilized at 80.x even while it is 85F inside by pointing one of those clip on fans at the sump. Been running the 24 at ~82F or so and have been mixing 15G of saltwater and sharing it between the two tanks. The 24 had been running 100% Tropic Marin Pro-Reef, but I wasn't going to cycle it with that as its pretty expensive. I cycled the 90 with Instant Ocean and some NSW from Scripps.

Also, finally started moving the rocks where I want them to be. Even without the rocks from the 24, I already have a pretty decent looking scape, but should look pretty good once those are in there as well. I'll probably put everything in buckets and drip acclimate them just-in-case.

I'll take some pics as soon as everything is set -- would have taken some today but the water got pretty messy from moving the rocks around.

Nice tank. I like the new scape...

Finally merged the 24 and the 90!

I had ~40lbs of rock in the 24, so added all that to the 90 in a .. creative .. fashion.

Before:



After:






Excuse the pic quality, this is just after I added everything so the water was a bit crappy.

I hope my sexies made it to the new tank -- They disappeared after their host torch died a while back, but I saw one of them not too long ago after the lights went out. I didn't see them when I was moving the rocks, though. They don't appear to be in the 24 still.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the layout. There is about 1' of open sand at the right of the tank, which is exactly what I was going for. Might make that a GSP sanctuary

Everything was opened up and even the SPS showed full polyp extension. Can't wait to see it with clear water.

Some Cerith snails got busy tonight.




Ignore the crazing on my acrylic lol

Also, noticed that the xenia looked pissed off (or feeding frenzy, can't tell), so checked all the parameters.

pH 8.4
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
phosphate 0
calcium 480
dkh 7
temp 81F

Hopefully the xenia were just feeding on snail seed haha.

I think I'm through with one of my LFSs. I got a flame angel and a small blue tang, got them home, turns out their salinity in their fish tanks is 1.011 or so. It barely registered on my hydrometer. Drip acclimated the fish for about 2 hours.. the flame angel made it, but the tang didn't even last 6 hours This isn't the first time this has happened either.. I have less than 50% survival rate for fish from this place. I'll have to drive 30+ miles now, but at least they have their #### together.

Anyways, as promised from before, new (clear) pics:




and some weird ass macro algae growing on a few of my rocks:



I'm gonna have to cross post that to the identification thread because I've never seen that before.

I like the drop off a lot. Xenia and GSP? Looks like you want your tank full soon!

They both came from my 24g which had been fully set up for at least 9 months. The GSP definitely spread like a weed, but mostly to the back walls. The xenia hasn't really spread all that much. They're also all on little islands and I plan to keep them that way

Very nice aquascaping. Yay for clear backs!

Some new corals and fish!

So a couple observations..

I can't tell what is going on with the light. I can't judge it at all.

The new SPSes on the bottom of the tank have epic polyp extension. The SPS frags near the top only have polyp extension after the lights go out. I'm not sure what that means. I guess this means that the ones on the bottom are getting good light, but the ones on the top are getting more than their fair share.

However, the ricordea lost their color sitting on the floor. I've moved them up and they're getting some color back, but now I am second guessing this -- maybe they were getting too much light on the floor?

On the same line, the red people eaters which had perfect color in the 24 under the metal halide, but have started turning translucent / pink where they're at under the T5HO. I read that that means they're getting too much light. Unfortunately, that means I'll have to break them off the rock and move them down.

However however, the GSP surely doesn't seem to mind, though it was growing like a week 2" from the surface under the MH as well heh

Alright, I have a dilemma. I put the 20" SunPod 150w HQI from my old AP24 on top of half of my 90.. this was a huge mistake. I totally want a metal halide again However, if 324w of T5HO is seemingly too much light for this tank, how will it cope with 500w of metal halide, or *gasp* 712w of MH + T5HO?

To cope with the excess light, I just moved a couple bulbs around in my 6x54, so that one switch will power 1 10K and 460nm bulb, and the other powers 2x 460nms bulbs, 1 10K bulb, and 1 420nm bulb. I'll just run the 4 bulb set up for a while and see how the corals take to it. I actually like the light level and coloration quite a bit. It reminds me of how the MH looked; with some shadows and color depth.

If I do end up going metal halide again, it'll probably be one of the Odyssea lights from aquatraders, mainly because of price -- they're dirt cheap. Yes, I'll probably end up upgrading everything over time anyways, but even the cost of the bare fixture is dirt cheap compared to other bare fixtures. I could buy the fixture, replace the ballasts with icecaps, and replace the bulbs with ushio or whatever for way less than the cost of the next cheapest fixture kit. I do wonder, though, if the Odyssea can power 150w HQI bulbs instead of the 250w HQI bulbs? I don't think I need 500+ watts of light heh.

Anybody have experience with a variety of corals under 2x 250w MH in a 2' deep tank? How does everything cope? Would I need to keep everything near the bottom light I currently do?

I have 2 250w MHs in my 90. Everything is great. I dont think I would go with any less light.