My wife and I have had a freshwater 90 for several years and we decided that we wanted to add a saltwater reef tank. Initially we planned to start with a relatively small tank that I had found a really good deal on FB Marketplace (WaterBox 40AIO), but as we moved it around the house we concluded that we wanted the reef tank to be in the family room (which is where we spend most of our time at home) and we did not like the amount of light ‘spillage’ produced by the rimless tanks with ‘reef’ lights. Therefore we decided to replace the freshwater 90 in the family room which has a very nice stand and canopy with a saltwater 90. Because the freshwater 90 had a couple very noticeable scratches we decided to go ahead and purchase a new Aqueon 90 ‘reef ready’ tank rather than reuse/drill the existing 90 tank.
We purchased most of the basic components for the new tank from Top Shelf Aquatics based upon their recommendations:
We decided to split the existing freshwater 90 inhabitants between a new tank in the sitting room and the Waterbox 40AIO that would be going into the home office. We had a 40 breeder in the home office on a stand I had built that we were going to move into the sitting room, but I decided it made more sense to replace the 40B tank with a 65 tank which has the same footprint as the 40B. However upon further review all of the fish (1 Angelfish, 9 X-Ray Tetras, 6 Albino Cories, 2 Clown Loach, 1 Common Pleco) from the 90 freshwater can live comfortably in the 65 so my wife gets to populate the 40AIO in the home office from scratch.
The new 65 freshwater in the Sitting Room:
One holdup was that we wanted to replace the old/original carpet in the home office with hardwood floors to match the family room/hallway/dining room/sitting room/etc before moving the 40AOI into there. This introduced about a month delay to find/purchase the matching hardwood and then to install it.
The WaterBox 40AIO in the home office:
Proposed Fish Stocking List – In relative stocking order
The Aqueon 90 ‘Reef Ready’ tank. I am going to use a “Herbie” overflow/drain design.
We had purchased a RODI water system for the freshwater tank but I decided we should get a better means of storing RODI water so I purchased a 100 gallon potable water storage tank from NorthernTools. I built a platform for the water storage tank to sit on which allows gravity drain to fill 5 gallon jugs of water.
Continued....
We purchased most of the basic components for the new tank from Top Shelf Aquatics based upon their recommendations:
- Aqueon 90 gal Reef Ready tank
- Eshopps RS-200 Sump
- Reef Octo Regal 150 Int Protein Skimmer
- IceCap ATO
- Ecotech Reeflink (Part of Waterbox 40AOI deal)
- Ecotech Vortech MP10 (Part of Waterbox 40AOI deal)
- Ecotech Vortech MP40
Ecotech Vectra S1 return pump - (2) Ecotech Radion XR15 G4
- Finnex 300w titanium heater
- Caribsea Reef Sand (3)
- Dry ‘live’ reef rock (SolviReef from MACNA 2019 show)
We decided to split the existing freshwater 90 inhabitants between a new tank in the sitting room and the Waterbox 40AIO that would be going into the home office. We had a 40 breeder in the home office on a stand I had built that we were going to move into the sitting room, but I decided it made more sense to replace the 40B tank with a 65 tank which has the same footprint as the 40B. However upon further review all of the fish (1 Angelfish, 9 X-Ray Tetras, 6 Albino Cories, 2 Clown Loach, 1 Common Pleco) from the 90 freshwater can live comfortably in the 65 so my wife gets to populate the 40AIO in the home office from scratch.
The new 65 freshwater in the Sitting Room:
One holdup was that we wanted to replace the old/original carpet in the home office with hardwood floors to match the family room/hallway/dining room/sitting room/etc before moving the 40AOI into there. This introduced about a month delay to find/purchase the matching hardwood and then to install it.
The WaterBox 40AIO in the home office:
Proposed Fish Stocking List – In relative stocking order
- Sailfin/Algae Blenny
- (3) Banggai Cardinal
- (2) clownfish
- Tailspot or Midas Blenny (?Compatible with Lawnmower Blenny?)
- Firefish Goby
- Royal Gramma
- Orange Spotted Goby or Yellow Watchman Shrimp Goby or (2) Barnable Blennies
- Wrasse - Six Line or Melanurus or Christmas
- Hawkfish - Red Spotted or Flame or Longnose
- Cleaner Shrimp(s)
- Tang - Yellow or Tomini or Squaretail Bristletooth
- Dwarf Angel - Flame or Potters or Eibli or Coral Beauty
- Butterfly - Copperband or Threadfin/Auriga or Sunset or Longnose or Pearl Scale
The Aqueon 90 ‘Reef Ready’ tank. I am going to use a “Herbie” overflow/drain design.
We had purchased a RODI water system for the freshwater tank but I decided we should get a better means of storing RODI water so I purchased a 100 gallon potable water storage tank from NorthernTools. I built a platform for the water storage tank to sit on which allows gravity drain to fill 5 gallon jugs of water.
Continued....