Back in the Hobby 90g Mixed Reef Build!

[Meloco14]

Hi everyone, about 17 years ago I started my first SW tanks, a non drilled 55 gallon and an original JBJ nanocube. I played around with those tanks for about 3 years before I had to give everything away due to a new career and frequent moving. I am now finally ready to reboot my reef tank obsession and I finally filled my tank! Here are the specs so far:
90 gallon single overflow glass tank and stand - used
DIY 30 gallon glass aquarium sump with baffles from Melevs Reef
Eshopps S-200 skimmer - used (came with tank)
Coral Box DCA6000 return pump - new
2 - 200 watt Finnex titanium heaters with Inkbird controller - new
Reefbreeders EXO ATO - new
IceCap 4k Gyre - Lightly used, bought here on R2R
Kessil Ap700 - Lightly used, bought on R2R
Coral Box Wifi Dosing Pump - new
TLF Phosban Reactor - new (will add 2nd to run both carbon and gfo)
20# Liferock Shapes
20# Addictive Reefkeeping Shelf Rock
50# Addictive Reefkeeping Base Rock
80# Caribsea Ocean Direct Live Sand
AquaFx Glacial Barracuda RO/DI - new
Glass Top - new
Cheap Chinese LED for refugium
Brightwell Aquatics Salt
Hanna Checkers for Alk, Phosphate (came with tank), and Copper (for QT Tank)
Refractometer
API test kits for cycle


The tank also came with a jebao dc wavemaker and a hydor korallia pump which I will use temporarily. I plan on adding an IceCap 2k gyre since this controller can run a 2nd pump, and maybe a Reefbreeders RPM.
The tank also came with a Danner Pondmaster pump that they were using for their return pump. I will keep it as a spare return pump.

I bought the tank in the beginning of February and have been slowly purchasing all the equipment and accessories. I filled the display tank last weekend and got the sump filled today. Return pumps going and plumbing all looks good so far. I will have to dial in flow and sump water level and all that. I started the cycle with Brightwell ammonia and Microbacter7. I was going to use their fast cycle product but it says it can't be used with live sand or dry rock that's infused with bacteria.
I designed the sump to use the triton system. I want this tank to be low maintenance and fairly automated. The idea of fewer water changes sounds great to me. Pics to follow. Any and all advice/suggestions appreciated.

 

[Doctorgori]

Fish and invert plans? Looks like a good deal on equip..... good luck, welcome back

 

[WIReefer]

Weclome! You’ll be glad you got back into it!

 

[Meloco14]

Heres a tank shot with aquascape and a sump shot

 

[Meloco14]

For corals I most likely will go heaviest on LPS. I never really got into them when I was first in the hobby, but nowadays the color variations are infinite. They are pretty amazing. For softies I love ricordea and some of the new textured mushrooms are pretty cool. 15 years ago striped mushrooms were about as interesting as they got, and were dirt cheap. Zoas dont kill me, although some of the colorations are amazing, but I dont want to risk palytoxin as I have an uncontrollable 3yr old. I dont think I will venture too much into sps right now except for hardier pieces like montis or pocillopora.

I love clams, I was mesmerized by them when I was diving in micronesia years ago, but I wont attempt a clam for a while.

I never attempted an anemone before but it seems like they are much more common and successful now than they were before. I will probably try a BTA of some sort. I am torn on flower anemones, they are beautiful but I have read some bad stories about them on here.

My tentative fish list is as follows:
Pair of tank raised Banggai
Pair of DaVinci Clowns
5 Sunshine or Vanderbilt Chromis
A couple fairy or flasher wrasse. I will refer to the compatibility chart before picking them
Yellow Watchman Goby (this was my favorite fish in my previous tank. His perpetual frown did not truly represent his personality)
Hi Fin Banded Goby or Yasha Goby if I find one affordable
Royal Gramma
Molly Miller or Sailfin Blenny
Squaretail Bristletooth Tang if I can find one, or Yellow Eye Kole as backup
Mandarin dragonet - eventually

Possible substitutions or additions - rainfords goby, blue or yellow assessor

I debated a pygmy angel for a long time, I had one briefly before and loved him. But I think Ive decided that its not worth the risk of him nipping corals or a future clam.

For inverts I want a bunch of Peppermint Shrimp in hopes they spawn. People have bad luck with them but I always was successful with them in the past. A pair of Scarlet Skunk Cleaners, maybe Pedersons or Sexy Shrimp if I get Rock Flower Anemones. And a variety of snails. I want the tank crab free as I had issues with hermits and emeralds being jerks in the past. I love watching crabs, but I have distinct memories of both varieties misbehaving in my previous tanks.

 

[Bryn]

Welcome, this is going to be interesting to have you around.

 

[Meloco14]

Turned on the skimmer today and wow it's crankin'. I have no experience with large in sump skimmers but it seems like the pump is too powerful for it, the water rises all the way up and overflows. The water level is 9" which is the recommendation, and adjusting the water inlet pipe only makes it worse. After searching this site it seems this is normal and it needs a break in period. Hopefully this is the case. The skimmer is used and came with the tank, but its been deep cleaned. If this doesnt subside in a few days i will try raising the skimmer up an inch and see what happens.

 

[fishguy242]

hi welcome back to the reef going to love it here!!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun....
skimmer is breaking in ,totally normal,just let run as in video until settles,norm a day ,two at most

 

[Meloco14]

hi welcome back to the reef going to love it here!!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun....
skimmer is breaking in ,totally normal,just let run as in video until settles,norm a day ,two at most

Thank you!!!

 

[fishguy242]

is skimmer working properly now?

 

[Meloco14]

is skimmer working properly now?

Yes it is working perfectly! Just took a week to settle in.
Tank is cycled and everything looks great, I just added a couple snails and micro hermits along with some copepods and amphipods and chaeto and ulva in the sump. I temporarily have the coralife light that came with the tank running. I need to get one more mounting arm for my kessil ap700 then I'll switch to that. I'm leaving on vacation for 2 weeks so I wasn't in a rush to get much done. When I get back I'll setup the QT tank and hopefully get my first couple fish. Also need to setup the dosing pump.

 

[Meloco14]

Here's a current pic

 

[Meloco14]

Updated pic with the kessil

 

[Meloco14]

First friends in the QT

 

[Meloco14]

DaVinci clowns from Cultivated Reef

 

[Meloco14]

 

[Meloco14]

 

[Doctorgori]

Check out NYOS reef cement. The young in’s around here and a few asst BRS vids got me glueing my rock scape and I’m glad I did.
Consider it ... Regardless its shaping up ...
Hope those cardinals gel, you gonna stick with 3?

 

[Meloco14]

I will look into that nyos cement, thanks for the tip. I really want a pair of cardinals but the lfs said they were too small to sex them. I am hoping a pair will form and I can take back the 3rd. So far there is a clear dominant one and another one he tolerates, and then a clear odd man out that gets chased by the other two. So he will probably go back at the end of the QT period and I will pick up something else.

 

[Meloco14]

Long overdue update. Out of the 3 banggais that were in QT I lost one due to bullying I am guessing, he was clearly being picked on the most but didn't show any physical damage. One day we woke up and he was gone. Must have been too much stress. Unfortunately the remaining 2 didn't pair up and the most dominant one started picking on the other pretty bad. I didn't want another fish to die so I gave up on the pair idea and returned the bully to the LFS. So I have 1 healthy banggai, along with the 2 clowns that did successfully pair up and are doing great. I've since QT'd and added 3 zebra dartfish, a royal gramma, yellow watchman, hi fin banded goby, and purple firefish to the tank over the course of a couple months. All are doing great except the firefish disappeared and must have died. Never found a body inside or outside the tank. I don't know why he died, no sign of disease or bullying. It must have been due to the tank move which I will mention further down.
I have had mixed success with corals, 3 out of the 5 frags I originally bought are doing well. I had added a few more over time with about a 50% success rate. My issues mainly were with favias/favites and acans, though I also lost 1 yuma and 1 florida ricordea, both of which let go of their rocks and I couldn't get them to successfully reattach. The yuma melted and the florida ricordea got lost during the move. I made multiple posts on here trying to figure out my issue with the favias and acans, and my best guess is lack of nutrients. I had very few fish in the tank at first, and a large refugium, and testing my nitrates with API was always low, 0-5, and phosphates with Hanna checker (not the ultra low one) was always 0. It seems like these corals need some nutrients in the water, as well as some feeding which I did not know at first. By the time I tried feeding I think it was too late. The good news is one of the favias that I had written off is now coming back very quickly. I think it is because I had to move the tank and that stirred up a ton of nutrients from the sand bed. It resulted in a GHA and cyano bloom, but also brought the coral back to life.

So my wife was furloughed due to covid, and her new hobby at home became house shopping. This resulted in us moving and thus having to move the tank, 8 months after starting it and just when it was settling into a stable system. The move wasn't very far and we were able to move everything with the help of my father and his flat bed trailer. It was a late night but fairly successful. We didn't lose anything except the firefish about a week later. We do have an algae outbreak but it's not terrible, and I did some physical cleaning and a water change last week to cut it back a bit. I also now started dosing phyto to help outcompete it. It has been almost 2 months since the move and things look good. The reemergence of my favia gave me confidence in corals again so I added some frags 2 weeks ago and they all look great. My next project is to build a screen lid to replace the glass lid I've been using. The tank runs a little hot and I am hoping this will cool it down a degree or two and help minimize temp swings.

The good thing about moving is we now have space for the 6ft tank that I always wanted. So a year or 2 down the road we will hopefully upgrade to a 180. Also we have a space for a permanent frag tank/invert QT as well as fish QT so that's another project to work on.
Pics to come