A Highschooler's Reef Build

Coral Hygiene · Sep 23, 2017

HI R2R, its ya boi starting a budget 90 gallon reef tank. As the title suggests, I am a sophomore in highschool and I like reef tanks. I have been preparing over the past summer and I just finished setting up. Don't feel like writing an entire essay so here's a quick overview:

I got a used 90 gallon drilled tank on ebay for $175
New 40 gallon aqueon breeder for $50
1/4 inch glass baffles for $30
big box of Instant Ocean reef salt for $50
100 lbs of dry rock from Reef Cleaners for $180
40 lbs of CaribSea live sand for $40
2 Jebao PP-8 for $120
Jebao DCT- 6000 for $80
Reef Octopus Prime 150 INT for $175
2 filter socks and holder for $30
used heater from my old tank
still saving up for more supplies

I built the stand and canopy with my dad over the summer and it came out really well, was about $250 in building materials. I started cycling this tank yesterday using Dr Tims ammonium chloride ($8) and 2 bottles of BioSpira bacteria ($30). Tested today and I have ammonia at 2 ppm, nitrite at 2 mg/L, nitrate at 5 mg/L, temp at 78, and pH at 8.1. I'll try to post updates once a week. Hopefully this build thread won't get boring. Here are some pics of my tank-

cracker · Sep 23, 2017

Hello Coral, Great start Man !

679x · Sep 23, 2017

Nice. As another person in high school this will be interesting for me. Following

jsker · Sep 23, 2017

Nice work, looking forward to the progress

dbl · Sep 23, 2017

Nice...first tank?

Mal11224 · Sep 23, 2017

Great job with the tank and doing it on a budget. Wish you the best of luck! Good to see young people with interest in this great hobby.

ngoodermuth · Sep 23, 2017

The stand and canopy look great! Nice scape, have any stocking plans yet?

Coral Hygiene · Sep 23, 2017

679x said:
Nice. As another person in high school this will be interesting for me. Following

Awesome, looks like we're in the same boat!

Coral Hygiene · Sep 23, 2017

dbl said:
Nice...first tank?

Not my first tank, but my first reef

Coral Hygiene · Sep 23, 2017

ngoodermuth said:
The stand and canopy look great! Nice scape, have any stocking plans yet?

Thanks! Not sure what to add yet but I'm thinking of maybe a one spot foxface, a lawnmower blenny, melanurus wrasse, and a flame angel. Corals I'm thinking of mostly lps and euphyllia

Coral Hygiene · Oct 3, 2017

Got my homework done for the night and have a little bit of time to post an update. So my cycle has been going pretty well, ammonia being processed very well with nitrite on the slower end. My nitrates have spiked to around 50 mL/L and staying stagnant, being that I have no nitrate export currently. I dosed ammonium chloride again on day 7 so the nitrifying bacteria wouldn't starve and going to add more ammonium chloride once the nitrates are down to 0. At least that's what the instructions say... My pH, salinity, and temperature are all good and I have not turned on my lights while cycling to prevent any algae growth and it has been successful. I'm planning to add chaeto to my refugium to take up the nitrates and a small mix of snails as an algae preventative once my cycle is done, which I'm hoping is by the end of this week. Quarantine tank is still being setup (20 gal long) and going to get a sponge filter, aerator, Prazipro, Cupramine, and a seachem ammonia alert badge. This is going to cost me about $40 on amazon, where I already have a light, powerhead, and temperature probe for the quarantine. I'm trying to get a fish as soon as I can so that there is ammonia being produced in my tank and preventing my bacteria from starving (will ghost feed for the time being). Letting the bacteria die off would just defeat the whole purpose of cycling. My first fish to go into quarantine that I am planning will be a one spot foxface- its peaceful, hardy, and will graze on nuisance algae. My protein skimmer has been over skimming so I attached a drain line back into the sump, hopefully it will break in soon. That powerhead on the bottom refugium is just temporary. I found an old white light I used an old tank and placed it above my refugium section so that I can grow chaeto later on. Going to have to organize my wires soon. It's not visible in the picture but I put a sock holder with a 100 micron felt sock on the drain line going into the protein skimmer section.

Ranjib · Oct 3, 2017

Great start

reefguyty · Oct 3, 2017

Very nice build! The tank, stand, and hood looks great together. You are patient without throwing fish and corals in your new reef tank.

Coral Hygiene · Oct 4, 2017

Ranjib said:
Great start

Thanks!

Coral Hygiene · Oct 4, 2017

reefguyty said:
Very nice build! The tank, stand, and hood looks great together. You are patient without throwing fish and corals in your new reef tank.

Thank you! I’m typically not a patient person, but when it comes to reefing, I’ll go to any length[emoji23] I really like your macro shots btw

ItsAName · Oct 4, 2017

I'm jealous how cheaply you did this. Looking great! I have a melanurus wrasse, great guy, but hunts my snails like crazy!

Why a powerhead in the refugium? Also, how's the drainage situation?

Coral Hygiene · Oct 4, 2017

Lol, thanks. Imo I would sacrifice snails for a wrasse any day[emoji4]I have a powerhead because when I added sand and the rocks, debris got everywhere and it kept settling in my refugium area, so I put a powerhead to agitate the water. I ended making a stockman standpipe as my drain and didn’t go the herbie route. I know its a “flood harzard” but I will clean the drain line regularly and I will put a net of some sort to prevent snails from getting into the drain. If my tank does flood, my flooring will have to be changed. I never liked my flooring anyway...

Coral Hygiene · Oct 28, 2017

So I got a lot of things done these past couple of weeks... First off, my tank finished cycling on day 10! Ammonia was 0, Nitrite was 0, and Nitrate was 50. I would really recommend Dr. Tim’s ammonium chloride and BioSpira bacteria for controlled and easy tank cycling! Took another nitrate reading the other day and it has gone up to 70 (I’ve been ghost feeding). Will do a series of water changes in the DT when I get some spare time. I also got a small amount of chaeto in my fuge and has been doing ok. I finally got to set up my quarantine last week using a 20 g long that I had, a heater that I had, a thermometer that I had, a seachem ammonia alert badge ($6), sponge filter ($7), air pump ($10), cupramine ($8), and prazipro ($10). I got an one spot foxface from my lfs for $50 and had been doing great so far. Hes been in there for 8 days and is on day 4 of prazipro treatment. The sponge filter I put in the quarantine was already seeded with the bacteria from my DT so ammonia is being processed very well. I’m feeding the foxface some nori and using a turkey baster to suck up any leftover food or poop (he its like a horse!) My protein skimmer is also done breaking in and is skimming stuff (probably dust particulates). Everything is slowly but surely coming together. Stranger Things season 2 also came out yesterday so I got to get that out of the way too!