My 90 Gallon Mixed Reef (I Love DIY Projects)

[lofty78]

Hello,

I'm New here.... only been on this forum for 2 days and have instantly felt comfortable and at home.... I have a thread over at that "other place", but since I have it save in a word doc, I'm re posting it here. Right now I am about 4 months behind on it, but I feel compelled to post the leading up to story and I will update the thread to today hopefully over the next few days or so. The next several posts... if I request a comment it is, or ask a question you may ignore it... or if you feel compelled to answer something, please quote it as this was written over 6 months to a year ago. Please take a look and feel free to ask questions or make comments.

My 90 Gallon Mixed Reef (I Love DIY Projects)

This will now be my 3rd time back into the hobby and not having a lot of money to start with (again), but having a thirst for a larger system and doing things right, I am taking my time. I started buggin again when I decided I was going to put a small tank in my office, that turned into a large tank real quick, then it turned into a large tank that I am going to keep at home because I fell into this deal on this tank and I couldn't pass it up.

I was digging through Craig's list for people looking to trade and I ran across a no pic ad that said reef ready 90 gallon looking to trade for? I emailed the post and almost immediately I got a response. After a few back and forths I got a pic and a price... my jaw dropped when I saw a 90 gallon with center overflow, cherry stand and canopy, little giant pump, sunlight supply Maristar with upgraded ice cap 250 w mh ballasts. The dollar price was too much to even consider, so I started running through my head what I have in trade. I thought about my SW 9mm sitting in a safe which hadn't been touched for 2 years and I had a quick release gun safe sitting in my garage making beeping noises cause I hadn't gotten around to reprogramming it.

I was leery at first about trading it but offered it anyway... I was first negotiating for just the tank, stand and canopy as the light I thought was out of reach. I offered both items, but I wanted additional cash without the light... not a lot, but he came back and said he would be interested in a straight trade for all.

I pulled up to a very familiar house and realized I had bought something off the guy before, from the Frag Forum on reef central and was instantly more comfortable with the entire deal, so much so that I had to leave the tank back because I didn't have enough room in my suv for the whole set up. We drew up a document for sale of the gun, so I was protected in case something happened and had it notarized.

I decided that I was going to keep the light after all because it was the light I had always wanted for my tank but never had the $$ to buy one., so now because I am one to like the look of a finished product, I am rebuilding the canopy to contain the light. I was able to get the face pretty much done.

I am building the face at 17 inches, so the canopy will be a total of about 18 inches. I am retaining the lid because there's nothing wrong with it and it has some nice detail. I used poplar for the face as cherry is expensive and I couldn't get into a lumber yard on the weekend. I will have doors on the front and sides which I will order in cherry from this insanely useful website called Rawdoors.com.

The back will be pine and I will paint the interior with Kilz and the exterior will be a natural finish with a semi gloss poly coat. I am hoping that will match to the bottom enough or otherwise I will be refinishing the bottom as well.

As I said before, I want to do it right this time so I will take my time in collecting the right pieces. In the moment I am in the market for some items if anyone has them for cheap of trade for ??. A decent skimmer, a sump, reef keeper type system any thing else that could help this system come to fruition and I am entirely open to suggestion and comment. Thanks for tagging along and I hope you enjoy

Shop set up

 

[lofty78]

Canopy Build
Here are some pics of the canopy assembly. I'm borrowing a brad gun tomorrow and need to do some finish sanding before staining. Then I will order doors (need to check measurements)

Assembled and ready for doors and stain.

 

[lofty78]

Original Sump Design
Ok, so, since I can't order the doors just yet (Waiting on $$) I decided to start some work on the sump... the dimensions are 25X17.5x12...total volume of 22.7 Gallons, although with baffles and chambers and refugium the actual water volume will be greatly different.

Here is my start:

Here is a pic of the routered edge (bottom) of the canopy face:

The sides will be of smaller gauge (cheaper) acrylic and the bottom will be the cheaper acrylic as well... the baffles will be of the heavy gauge acrylic used here (I believe I have enough) If not I will mix in some cheaper acrylic where water volume pressure wont be of concern. Here is a schematic of my plans... pardon the crudeness.

Sump is in... baffles will come later after I get some equipment and know dimensions.

 

[lofty78]

Sump Redesign
Ok, so I went with the good old 20 gallon long. The inlet baffle is 9 inches, the steps down to 8 inches for the refugium, then down to 6 inches for the return. There is about 9 inches in the inlet area for the skimmer. I am going to put in an off center baffle to separate the skimmer from a rock pile to have the inlet water fall into (Probably about 6 inches tall). I am looking into the Aqua C Urchin Pro, or a Kent Marine Nautilus TE. Both of which I am negotiating used from craigslist for around $100 with pump. Any thoughts on which one is more recommended?

Here are some pics of the sump: I used black silicone because I had it on hand for resealing the display and didnt use all 3 tubes. Plus I know for sure its reef safe because it was AGA brand.

 

[lofty78]

Long Awaited Updates
I had forgotten about this thread when I first got this tank... December 2010. I had made an new thread, but decided to go back to this one and update with all the progress and commentary about my experience. So here it goes: After I started my business I got really busy and I live in Phoenix and it got hot and the tank got put in mothballs until I got itchy again. Typical holiday season for my business slows down, so I got back at it in Late November and had water in it by mid December.
I had decided to change the finish to a semi gloss black as I wasn't digging the way the stain was coming out, or matching with my decor.
So without further a due; the finished product:

 

[lofty78]

Heat Issues
At first I was having some fairly serious heat issues and was noting a swing from 77.9 to almost 85. I considered a chiller, but after a lot of thought and some redneck ingenuity, I decided to massage this 2 way fan into the canopy. I basically hacked all unnecessary plastic off the surround of a 2 way window fan which has variable speeds and the ability to run both fans inward, outward, or in/out. I currently run them at medium speed at in/out function and my temp remains between 78 and 80.5. If the Summer months change this dramatically, I can change to high speed, although high speed is quite loud, it's better than having a chiller IMO. Since I had the canopy off, I decided to insert my own version of moonlighting which consists of 2 LED night lights (look like Theatre step lights). They aren't as bright as typical moonlighting, but I like the effect and I think it's more natural.

In order to keep the in are moving one direction and the out air moving another, I rigged these register deflectors to the back of the fan.

 

[lofty78]

Kalk Doser
So at first I was using Sea Lab No 4 Blocks and then tested my calcium well above the top of the API test kit chart. I guestimated it was in the 600ppm range. These were suppose to be self monitoring, but obviously anything that easy is too good to be true. I decided to make a Kalkwasser doser. Here is what I came up with:

I used a 2 gallon bucket with a sealed lid, rigid 1/4 OD tubing from and R/O system and a value I found in the same section at home depot. I am using Mrs. Wages Limewater and about 1 Tsp per gallon. I let it settle for a couple hours before I start the drip and make sure the line is about 1 inch above the bottom of the bucket to avoid getting kalk sludge in the system.

 

[lofty78]

The Kole Tang
Let me start by saying, this hobby is sooo tough for the impatient, especially the impatient with a 4 1/2 year old "Fish Buddie" as we lovingly call each other. So we were at the LFS, looking for another addition.... preferably something not too finicky and eats some of the algae that's popping up here and there., well.... along comes "Lucky". Oh My, I don't think I have ever thought I'd find a fish that I would love as much as the Copperband Butterfly, but this is close contention.
Anyways. Lucky did great for the first few weeks, but as impatience would have it (as well as evil sales at evil LFS) Coral Beauties went on sale. $14 and such a prime specimen. Well, not for long.... as you may guess, the Coral Beauty threw my Kole Tang into a fit and the Coral Beauty must have had, or maybe the Tang ICH.
Well its now 2 months later, I have just reintroduced my remaining inhabitants a smidge earlier than I wanted too, but I was having a flat worm issue and the other fish had been treated for that time and were all healthy. My Neon Dotty Back and Golden Coris Wrasse Made show work of the flat worm problem.
I don't have many pics from this timeframe as the fish were in QT, but here are a couple choice pics from prior to the additional of the Coral Beauty:

 

[lofty78]

 

[lofty78]

My Camera Skillz
Last year I got a DSLR and have just recently started playing around with it and learning new settings and how to take different shots and use different equipment and settings. I have recently acquired a macro extension set, some filters and a remote shutter release. Ive been playing around with them and I hope I'm getting better. Your thoughts and comments are appreciated
Here are some of my latest shots:
Random Macro Algae in DT:

Maze Brain:

My Montis:

My Frog Spawn:

Zoa Colony:

Shrooms:

Acros:

Closer Acro:

My attempt to capture my Neon Dottyback in front of the GSPs:

 

[lofty78]

Sump Failure and Redesign
When I was installing the water top off and changer, I was using a cheap (non diamond hole saw) bit and cracked the old sump and made a big mess, so the following is a complete redesign...My intention was to maximize the surface area of the rubble LR I was using in the sump and also not disturb the sandbed when I needed to grab a rock or two.
The Plan:

The Results:

 

[lofty78]

Okay... Thats all that I have for now.... I will work on some updates... I have tons of pics.... Look forward to your comments

Here is a current pic (Teaser):

 

[bknapp]

Things are really growing in great. That dottyback is sweet!

 

[lofty78]

Things are really growing in great. That dottyback is sweet!

Thank you... The Dottyback is nowhere near sweet... lol he's a mean little bugger... but I've got him over powered with a Melanrus and a Yellow Coris Wrasse now... he is no longer the ruler of the roost :bigsmile:

 

[johntran216]

A lotttttt of gsp lol. Do u run any other forms of filtration besides the skimmer and refugium? Reactors?

 

[LILBUDDHA]

Nicely done. I wish I was handy like you and quite a few others.
I had orchid dottyback several tanks ago but it decided to go carpet surfing . +1 it looks like that gsp needs to be restricted to its own area .:thumbup:

Sent from my Moto HD on Jelly Bean

 

[lofty78]

Nicely done. I wish I was handy like you and quite a few others.
I had orchid dottyback several tanks ago but it decided to go carpet surfing . +1 it looks like that gsp needs to be restricted to its own area .:thumbup:

Sent from my Moto HD on Jelly Bean

I have been using strategically placed rocks and aptaisia X to restrict the GSP and I have an LFS that gives me good credit for the frags. I have a few jumpers too... the hood is fully enclosed so no hari cari but I have a Yellow Coris that likes to paint the display glass with drips of water. I also have a bar goby and Melanarus Wrasse.

A lotttttt of gsp lol. Do u run any other forms of filtration besides the skimmer and refugium? Reactors?

I do some mechanical filtration with Chemi Pure Elite and Phosphate pads in the sump baffles. But I have been considering a GFO/Carbon Reactor from Spectipure. I also have a BRS 5 stage RO/DI... I'll post some more pics of the ATO res and water change system tonight.

 

[ReefPops]

Looks good! Love the FTS!

 

[lofty78]

Looks good! Love the FTS!

Thank you... I'll be putting up more tonight.. got to get some work done and do family time 1st :bigsmile:

 

[lofty78]

Circulation System:
Top pumps are Rio Seio 1000s and the Seio Super flow controller which I have set at 5 minute intervals. The pumps on low operate at approximately 50% flow and then will ramp up to 100% when on high. The bottom pumps are JBJ Ocean Stream 500 GPH and are on a Ocean Pulse Duo which is set at 2 minute intervals. My intention with this is to have completely random flow throughout the display. The main return pump is a little giant... not sure on the GPH rating, but it is plenty to keep water circulating through the overflow. I have the loclines pointed to bounce off the sides, the then front and down to keep moderate flow to the bottom middle of the display. My skimmer is a reef octopus NWB150. It seems to be a pretty good skimmer and fairly easy to adjust.

Controllers... hopefully will soon find a home in some sort of electrical center

Pumps Seen on Left

I couldn't post the last picture without sharing this one