90G Build following BRS ULM Method

[RajV]

Got a great deal from Craigslist , picked up a 90 Gallon , stand , lights (T5) with dry rocks , skimmer . With a lot of discussion and with the wife's permission the location was shifted from the foyer to the family room . Found a neighbor remodeling her kitchen and throwing away the counter top . Measured 52" thats a one inch clearance on either side to become a sturdy base . Perfect

 

[RajV]

Week 1 - While preparing the tank and rocks , i managed to get a more updated refugium , a 36 inch glass tank modded . After i seated inside the cabinet , i realized there was simply no room for expansion , and would need more space eg ATO tank , any future addon that requires more space . Quickly decided to move everything to the basement and keep just the display tank in the room. This called for a change in my pump selection

 

[RajV]

Week 2 - Pump has been ordered - decided to go with Jebao DCP 18000 , the plumbing completes in the basement. Im already thinking that the new pump is going to take up quite bit of space inside the sump

 

[RajV]

Week 3 - So the size of the pump has been looming on my head , much research from r2r forums led me to think of attaching an extra tank to the current sump . My patience was running out thinking of a glass tank and having to drill it . The biggest draw back in using a PVC tub according to many here , it would warp over time . Thanks to watching BRSTV , plumbing and the advantages of a coupling , i design an add on PVC tub with a gate valve and coupling. In the meanwhile my display tank was loaded with sand , rocks and filled half tank to test for any leaks.

 

[RajV]

Week 4 - Lot of learnings by the end of this week . The tank extension design had a flaw , since the flow between the two tanks is based on gravity , I realize the PVC tank is lower in level though it did not turn out to be a show stopper . I did not find this out of wisdom , I found this when I stopped the pump , the return water back from the pipe was filling it up. Though I had calculated this volume to be about 3 gallons, it did not strike me that the volume arriving back was much more . It is a little later that I realized my return in the display was a good 3 inches down (see previous picture) . One big draw back on a basement sump system , you dont have an eye on the display to see any cause and effect . By the end of this week the sump is fully functional. I had to change the design of the drain to sump from a flexi hose to a hard pipe with a valve . The flexi hose was shuddering a lot and stressing a standalone filter sock adapter . The Ink Bird - powered a stand alone powerstrip just so I can have multiple heater redundancy controlled by a single INK BIRD . The Jebao DCP 18000 was fine tuned to run at 82 percent . I ran for 2 days using tap water and ChloramX then added salt from Instant Ocean. got a small ball of Cheato and powered the refugium with an OXYLED grow . The tank got clearer , i changed the filters in 3 days . The rocks are not arranged as there is still a long way to go . Added Bacteria starter .

 

[RajV]

Week 5 - I talk to the Chaeto everyday asking it to grow . She is the only sign that science is working. There is a dose of mysis shrimp going in every day . The chaeto however is a lifeless ball in the base on the sump . She stays there and doesnt budge till i jiggle it. When I return in the morning shes back down there sulking. I add a CFL to the timer along with the OXYLED .The water testing kits Ammonia,Nitrate etc seems all fine - at least I think. This is no way to start a hobby , I must get something in return for all the time and energy spent for 4 weeks and 3 months prior stalking this forum and watching BRSTV. The next unusual thing I notice is my water evaporation is almost a Gallon a day . I was planning tap water plus chloramx , but more reading puts some sense that tap water wont work. So 2 bottles of ChloramX is shelved . Im buying Gallon bottles of distilled water , forgetting to top off as the sump has capacity to push 2 to 3 days or even 4. I order a Seneye . Meanwhile my display tank has been moth balled not to allow much light during the process. It doesnt trouble me to see a surprising monument in the family room waiting to be unveiled . A quick question on youtube on the BRSTV channel , I realise by mistake I had started the skimmer that has been shut.

 

[RajV]

Week 6 - The seneye arrives . I realize there is a waiting period of 2 days for the chip to give the right readings . The setup is very easy . My Chaeto wasnt growing much , I revisited BRSTV and decided to study the OXYLED spectrum and PAR using the seneye . The Kessel H380 which had the maximum growth of Chaeto , had a par rating of close to a 1000. The OXYLED was pushing 100 . I ordered a MAXISUN becuase this model allowed some amount of spectrum adjustment .
https://www.amazon.com/MAXSISUN-Dim...1521121516&sr=8-1&keywords=maxisun+grow+light

I also knew that the Automatic Top Off was becoming a necessity , an RO DI is also working mathematically cheap over a years cost of buying distilled water.
I ordered in the Tunze ATO and BRS RODI
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/tunze-osmolator-universal-3155-auto-top-off.html

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/5-stage-150gpd-plus-water-saver-ro-di-system-bulk-reef-supply.html

The MAXISUN came in quick , I made a mistake in the install , it was off to the right , i need think a little more as it will sit over the drain pipe . However , the good news is my Chaeto doubled in size within 5 days , algae started to grow .

The Seneye monitor started to give me insights into the relationship of PH wrt refugium etc etc . This is a must have product , it is an early warning system of things to go wrong . It had a key draw back , alerting was only by email/sms . No alarms . You wont know if something went wrong in your sleep . I quickly put a solution to receive a Phone call on your mobile device . You can find it here

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/g...f-you-are-using-any-monitoring-system.368300/

I installed the ATO and filled the freshwater tank (my neighbor gave his 40 Gallon for free) with a few bottles of distilled water as I was waiting for the RO DI unit to arrive.

 

[RajV]

I completed the ATO and RO install . Gone are the days of hauling gallon jugs . Disaster struck me , i forgot to shut off the ro unit and I dont have a float valve in the tank . This obviously caused an overflow flooding my basement , but its unfinished and just concrete so i was lucky . However my ATO continued to push fresh water into the refugium , may be close to 3 gallons . The pipe level was a little low it created a siphoning effect . The mistake I made was looking at the top line of my refugium tank and the top of my fresh water tank , but the pipe was a good two inches down in my refugium .I now need to figure a way to fit a float half way down a glass aquarium tank . I dont want to hold 40 gallons (my tank size) , Id rather have 10 to 15 on hold and keep making fresh ro water more often than allow it to stagnate for a long time .
Any suggestion on how to install a float half way down the tank ? I would love to see your suggestions .

The Chaeto is picking up speed and Seneye is giving me comfort on my parameters . Im learning a lot of the chemistry thats happening during ghost feeding , when the refugium is running , when its off - its quite a science class im enjoying . Im thrilled to see some of the rocks in the refugium go from white to some colors , the pink especially is intriguing me and I am not jumping to any conclusion. Just keep an eye to see if its what its supposed to be I snagged a video of this to see a before after effect . its here


I leave out of town for 2 weeks - this will really put things to test . I have me neighbor trained on the system and he has a login to seneye .

 

[RajV]

Seneye was my Hero . I was away from town and woke up to a increasing temp on my display . Called my son to see if I had a heater failure or a thermostat failure , it was neither . My Inkbird thermostat probe got buried under the sand , thus the sensor was detecting much lower temp in the sand and the water temp was climbing . A quick fix resolved the issue . I was feeling lucky that I had anyways automated the pump to shut down if the temp had gone up by another .5 degrees . Glad to have done this . I introduced my first snails and a goby and removed the dark covers of my display. Its now under ambient light . My next step is to organize the rock scape add a gyre and leds

 

[Mark Gray]

Following my 90 should arrive soon

 

[RajV]

Finally the Tank is up with the Maxaspect xf250 Gyres and 2 AI Hydra 26 HDs . The gyre was a bummer - it had to be put vertically on one side as the width was not enough due the corner return . But i have a 2 different flows configured as a result . I am loving the lights . The HMS mount was a bit of a bummer , it is not meant for rimmed tanks , though the BRS site said otherwise . I had to get a 1 inch shim and add two credit card thickness to the 1 Inch shim so that the mounts sit right . I am following a very interesting thread and some posts by @Orcus Varuna - need to get his inputs on the AB+ profiles etc

 

[Orcus Varuna]

Finally the Tank is up with the Maxaspect xf250 Gyres and 2 AI Hydra 26 HDs . The gyre was a bummer - it had to be put vertically on one side as the width was not enough due the corner return . But i have a 2 different flows configured as a result . I am loving the lights . The HMS mount was a bit of a bummer , it is not meant for rimmed tanks , though the BRS site said otherwise . I had to get a 1 inch shim and add two credit card thickness to the 1 Inch shim so that the mounts sit right . I am following a very interesting thread and some posts by @Orcus Varuna - need to get his inputs on the AB+ profiles etc

Beautiful tank I can’t wait to see it in a few months! I have never been a fan of the gyres, they are large and difficult to clean. But I will say they provide awesome flow. Also, any questions you have on the lighting and profiles let me know. Happy reefing

 

[RajV]

Hey @Orcus Varuna , Im so glad you were tagged and you responded , my post on rc to you never made it as i was a new member . In any case here is the question , I have a 90g , 48 inch long 24 inch height tank. It has 2 AI Hydra 26 HDs on it to begin with these are 8 inches above water . will be mix tank ultimately but plan to go slow on it . In one of your threads you mentioned of an AB+ low power profile , but i could not locate it on the OneDrive . What would the right profile be for this 90g given the 24 inch height , I will have a few of the following a Duncan , a flurry psamacora , mummy eye chalice , rasta, and a Hollywood stunner - this i do not plan to introduce anymore till i learn more about how these behave with light and water compositions. Also what is your take on triton ? . May I request you to post your onedrive link here as well ?

 

[RajV]

My first few living creatures have gone in . Its from a fellow reefer in the city . @Orcus Varuna , when you get a chance do respond to the lighting question . I am planning on building a jaRcam which will be submersible and be able to do a time lapse of this reef over the next few months

 

[Orcus Varuna]

My first few living creatures have gone in . Its from a fellow reefer in the city . @Orcus Varuna , when you get a chance do respond to the lighting question . I am planning on building a jaRcam which will be submersible and be able to do a time lapse of this reef over the next few months

Sorry for the delay my Tapatalk stopped sending me notifications... But to answer your question in the hydra thread, the low power ones have been renamed with t5ho due to some confusion months back between low and high power. The win t5ho settings are a direct 35% reduction in light output of the main settings. Enjoy and I can’t wait to see the tank!

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Akco_cmvvLNrgZdidaM1bosnUqv21g

 

[RajV]

Sorry for the delay my Tapatalk stopped sending me notifications... But to answer your question in the hydra thread, the low power ones have been renamed with t5ho due to some confusion months back between low and high power. The win t5ho settings are a direct 35% reduction in light output of the main settings. Enjoy and I can’t wait to see the tank!

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Akco_cmvvLNrgZdidaM1bosnUqv21g

Thanks , for the mix im running , should i use the full power profile?

 

[Orcus Varuna]

Thanks , for the mix im running , should i use the full power profile?

Two 26’s on a 90 gallon absolutely run full power. At one point before I switched to a hybrid t5 setup I was running a 52HD and 2 aj prime HD’s on a 24” cube.

 

[RajV]

Two 26’s on a 90 gallon absolutely run full power. At one point before I switched to a hybrid t5 setup I was running a 52HD and 2 aj prime HD’s on a 24” cube.

Thanks for your advice

 

[RajV]

Quite an eventful week . The tank had a bloom of diatoms and i Lowered the feed level . Quickly I could see my hermits and snails go after them . I settled in after much reading about the yellow/rust colored algae and understood that its normal for it to occur in a new tank. Please let me know if its is otherwise . I managed to get a few pics and videos of the crab feasting .

 

[Jo dy]

In the process of setting up my 90g so I am following.