90G build (BFT) (Budget Build)

[mchabot1987]

Equipment and Live stock.


Corals:
Acan
Hammer x2
Frogspawn x2
Purple Stylophora
Favia
Ducan
Orange Clove polyp
Zoas x4
GSP
Galaxia
Toadstool Leather
Finger leather
Red stylocoeniella
Goniastrea
Pin wheel Plate
Orange plate
Yuma Mushroom
Dragon Soul Torch
Purple and green Chalice
Blasto
Red and purple Acans


Fish:
Blonde Nosa Tang
Tomini Tang
Coral beauty
3 clown fish
2 chromis
Blue throat trigger
Purple firefish
Firefish
2 Lyretail anthias
Helfrichi firefish
And various CUC

Jebao DCP-6500 Return Pump
ReefOctopus 110SSS Proteinskimmer
2 Jebao PP8 wave maker
EShopps RS100 sump
Jebao DP4 Dosing pump
2 Maxspect RSX 100
2 Orlushy heater 200w
Inkbird ITC-308S temp control
JBJ ATO
BRS single Stage Reactor


Good day all,

So newbie here. Just posted my nano tank I had since February and loving the hobby. This thread is for my BFT (Big F****** Tank lol) for us anyway we went from a 15 to a 30 now to a 90 lol. Any ways I will post updates as they come. All pictures are taken in these last 3 days.

Plans for this is to possibly move all my nano reef into the 90 and make a really nice 90G build. (as I only want to maintain one tank right now)

11 July 2020: Purchased a Used Aqueon megaflow 90 ( I think that's what it's called) cleaned it up that day. Came with a stand a 20 gallons long tank for a "Sump" Eshopps PSK-150 skimmer, some pumps and just accessories. Cleaned all the pumps to get everything working again and ordered replacement parts.

12 July 2020: went and purchased a Eshopps RS100 for my sump set up. Put everything in the sump to make sure it fit......great deal works like a champ. Painted the back side of the aquarium (as you do lol)

13 July 2020: tore down the stand, sanded and repainted. Painted the inside base white and flex sealed it. Currently reinforcing the stand because that's a smart thing to do lol.

Any way more to follow stay tuned.

 

[mchabot1987]

Ok so update Number 2 on 13 July 2020.

Got the stand all repainted and reinforced. But I'm not sure if I like the fitting of the sump in it.

I can only get the sump in and out through the top where the tank would be sitting on. And I barley have enough room to clean the skimmer. I can get the skimmer out by my awesome Tetris skill but still kind of worries me on fitment. See pictures.

What do you guys think?

 

[mchabot1987]

Update. 14+15 July 2020

Finished up the stand and started making my electrical board to mount all my goodies. Coming along nicely.

15 July moved the tank into the house.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Evening

Things are looking good. Great find on the used tank. You should be ok on the room under the stand. Does the skimmer cup have a drain plug underneath? You can always tilt it a bit to get the cup out, but usually they have drain plugs so you should only need to take out the cup for maintenance every so often.

Keep us updated

 

[mchabot1987]

Latest update. Been tracking down and piecing together the plumbing and all the fittings. Think I finally have everything I need to plumb it. Finally got the tank on the stand looks amazing. Will be starting the plumping probably this evening into tomorrow. So excited but definitely want to make sure everything is the way I want it before filling it.

@Mastiffsrule I can get the protein skimmer cup out just fine now that I actually have the tank on the stand. Didn't realize it sat ontop of the stand and not inside the stand. So I have an extra 6-8 inches underneath thank God lol.

 

[mchabot1987]

20July2020

Just got done with plumping. No leaks from a little water test. So that's amazing. Down side. The room I had for the plumping I was not able to install unions so hopefully not a major issue for me later. It's a small amount of plumbing so if anything I'll just have to rebuild it. I have spare stuff incase.

Made a hose connection off of the return pump for easy water changes. Also did the Herbie method for the over flow thanks to @Pau Hana Reefer he's been helping me alot with this plumping ordeal lol thanks man.

Built a frame for the canopy. Really don't want to see the lights suspended or legs. So I will be attaching my 2 Maxspect RSX 100W lights from inside the canopy I'm making it so it matches the stand so it won't look out of place.

Looks amazing so far. Time Will tell. What's yours guys thought?

 

[mchabot1987]

23July2020

Worked on the canopy today hopefully will be finished here soon will be painting it black to match the stand.

UPS dropped off a package...........some rock yay!!!! I also ordered 20lbs of shelf rock and 80 lbs of sand from BRS. Should be here Saturday. Can't wait to start aqua scaping thank build.

 

[mchabot1987]

Update August 24th (long over due)

Canopy is completed. Some more packages came. Got another Maxspect RSX light so now I have 2 for my new tank. The sand also came and the rest of the rock.

Aqua scape took forever because I couldn't get what I wanted lol. Eventually I made some thing work that I actually liked.

Water was delivered and tank was filled no leaks and we did a "loss of power test" to make sure I don't overflow my sump. And worked great. Added Bio Spira and gave it about 2 weeks before moving my 30 gallon nano into the 90. All my testing was fine so I moved everything over and hoping everything was going to live. So scary but didn't lose anything.

As of 24 August I've just been slowly adding corals and a few more fish. So far all my love stock is doing well. Built my own ATO working great so far. Had to buy a temperature controller didn't account for the heat inside the canopy heating up my water so I have an exhaust fan inside the canopy no more issues.

Did alot of wire management so it's nice and tidy. I will keep this updated as much as I can. It's mostly a waiting game now and watching it grow.

 

[mchabot1987]

Update 27 August 2020.

Got another package today helfrichi fire fish and a pin wheel plate coral Yay. Pics to follow.


Everything is happy water parameters are on point all corals are thriving. Couldn't be happier. Now diving into the dosing world

 

[mchabot1987]

Some close ups of my tank. Hope you enjoy.

Also made an awesome pre filter before my filter sock in efforts to not change out filter socks as often. Seems to be working pretty good so far. Also makes it super quiet I cant hear a thing in my whole aquarium, just a slight humming of my old return pump that I will be replacing hopefully this weekend or at least ordering it. Anyway just a quick update.

Have a great reef day

 

[mchabot1987]

Another update.

So the pre filter thing I made clogs up to quick and reduces the flow. The only way I can fix that is literally change the circle filter every day. Anyways back to the drawing board on that one. I like it because it makes it super quiet.

Package came today and more coming Tuesday. I have an RODI coming finally and another Jebao PP8 wave maker. Also adding a check valve into my return line for power outages.

But just a quick update. Thanks for viewing

 

[mchabot1987]

Hello reefers.

Been a while since I had an update. Had a major back surgery. But been recovering well.

Since my last update I've ditched the filter sock all together and purchased a filter cup with a silencer screen (also ditched the silencer screen doesn't work very well at all lol) So now I'm using filter floss from Walmart super cheap and way more convenient. I change the floss 2-3 days and works like a charm.

A couple of days before my surgery I made a saltwater mixing station for my new RODI unit, so no more LFS trips with buckets. Yay!!!

I had an issue with my EShopps PSK-150 Skimmer was really hard to adjust and got really frustrated with it threw a temper tantrum and broke it completely to get it out of the Sump. The same day I went to my LFS and purchased a Reef Octopus Classic 110-s and love that thing.

One of my older Jebao PP8 wave makers decided it didn't want to work any more so purchased a new one exactly the same. Have heard mixed reviews so we'll see where this takes me. I also put the controllers in the canopy for the night time feature on those wave makers.

Some other purchases I have made are the Vivid Creative Aquatics RFG also a great purchase combined with my Jebao DCP6500 return pump.

Just this week I have purchased a BRS Single Stage Reactor and running GFO and carbon in it. Just set it up today (02Nov2020) so more to follow on that. Also this week my DIY ATO also decided it didn't want to work so purchased the JBJ ATO (waiting for Amazon to deliver today) and utilizing a cheap $7 pump as my evaporation isn't too bad. I refill my 4 gallon reservoir about every seven days depending on the temperature in the house.

My only new addition as far as livestock are:

Yuma Mushroom (trying to recover it from a crashed tank)
Dragon Soul Torch
A red and green Chalice
A red and Blue Acan
A Green Blasto

Anyway thanks for viewing. I'm sure there will be further updates soon lol.