Dodgersfan's 90 Gallon build thread

[Dodgersfan]

A lot of progress this weekend! The Holliday’s were crazy busy and I finally had some time to get things done. The back has been painted, plumbing is glued, cat5 for the apex has been run to the tank, & the outlet has been changed to GFI. I also ran a 1 1/4” pipe through the wall and down into the basement. I won’t be using this right away, but eventually it’ll connect to a water mixing station in the basement. The valve on the side of the return line will allow me to use the return pump to push water out of the system and down the pipe into a shop sink in the basement for water changes, then use the mixing station pump to bring new water up. I’m using a flexible hose with barb fittings so I can detach the hose from the return line and also use it to put RO into the ATO reservoir. And presto! No hauling buckets around! I still need to clean up the foam I used to fill the wall cavity a little bit (and you can see in the pic where I measured wrong the first time... lol) But all in all I’d say it was a success. I’m going to try and get the apex set up during the week this week, and get it aquascaped and wet next weekend!

 

[Dodgersfan]

We are wet! Aquascaping is done, I just have the heater, return pump, and lights hooked up for now. Will get all the apex components set up in the next week. The eshoppes overflow is a beast. The main drain handles the varios 6 at full speed without even letting the water level get up high enough for the secondary to start working. I think I’m going to have to take @leahfiish ’s advice and put a gate valve on the main drain just to slow it down a bit. I hope there’s enough room between the main and secondary for the valve to fit... if not I may have to put a reducing bushing at the end of the main to slow it down some... but those are just minor details.... the tank is wet!!!

Blues at 70% and whites at 30% (it’s not this blue in person)

And whites only so the aquascaping can be seen better:

 

[Dodgersfan]

Did water tests today... I’m cautiously optimistic that the rock is fully cured. Read ammonia 0 nitrite 0, nitrate 2. I threw a raw shrimp in there just to test the cycle. I’m sure I will get some ammonia readings in the next day or two but what can I expect for the ammonia spike from a fully cycled tank vs un cycled?

I’ve gotta figure something out with the overflow, it’s noisy as hell. The main and secondary aren’t submerged, I need to extend those pipes a little, I know that. But I’m not getting full siphon in the main, air is getting in. I tried raising it up, maybe I just didn’t raise it far enough the water level still isn’t getting to the secondary. I’m kind of wishing I had bought the synergy reef shadow... theirs comes with the internal plumbing so I wouldn’t be messing with this right now... oh well, hoping the tank eats this shrimp well so I can start coral shopping!

 

[leahfiish]

Looking good. I got a modular marine overflow for my 120 that I'll be plumbing next week. I am a little worried about noise and dialing it in, but I am making my plumbing as simple as possible and putting the sump right below the drains.

 

[Dodgersfan]

Looking good. I got a modular marine overflow for my 120 that I'll be plumbing next week. I am a little worried about noise and dialing it in, but I am making my plumbing as simple as possible and putting the sump right below the drains.

You got a new 120? Cool! I have to admit after the 90 was in place a little nagging voice in the back of my head was saying “should’ve gone 120...”

 

[leahfiish]

You got a new 120? Cool! I have to admit after the 90 was in place a little nagging voice in the back of my head was saying “should’ve gone 120...”

Yeah... I love the extra space, plus with the new overflow box I don't have to deal with the huge bulky one in the reef ready 90 anymore. I don't think there's any way I'd go back to that after seeing how clean the new build looks.

 

[Dodgersfan]

Yeah... I love the extra space, plus with the new overflow box I don't have to deal with the huge bulky one in the reef ready 90 anymore. I don't think there's any way I'd go back to that after seeing how clean the new build looks.

Yeah, I’m really glad I waited the extra time for the ghost overflow after seeing it in person, the 90 feels a little thin as it is, can’t imagine what it would be like with a big clunky overflow in there.

 

[leahfiish]

So where are you going coral shopping? Lfs or online?

 

[Dodgersfan]

So where are you going coral shopping? Lfs or online?

Online... LFS’s aren’t great here, only so so frags and very expensive. One newer LFS shows some promise, I’ll likely get some frags there, they’ve got some nice pieces and prices are decent, but they are very small, so selection is hit and miss. I’m leaning towards yourreef they’ve got some great deals on frag packs, I can get about 15 pieces for $150 shipping included. Haven’t found a better deal than that so far. That should be a pretty good jump start. I’m just waiting to hear back from them if they have hammers in stock, I’ve got a point on the left structure that kind of juts out into open water and I’m wanting to put 3 or 4 different colors of hammer on it and let them grow together as the main focal point for the tank.

 

[Dodgersfan]

And I was just clicking around and see they have a live sale this weekend... this could get dangerous...
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/y...-sat-feb-3rd-kickoff-time-2pm-pacific.355386/

 

[Dodgersfan]

This is the spot I’m thinking about for the hammers, all of those flat stumps where the other pieces of the coral broke off look perfect for mounting some euphyllia to. I’m debating hammers vs torches, flow might be too high there for torches...

 

[Brynn]

Hi Everyone! I've been keeping tanks for about 15 years now, mostly freshwater, but some FOWLR, we've been bouncing back and forth between coasts for a few years, and the time hasn't been right to make a big investment, so it's been a couple of years since I've had a tank up and running. We've finally settled down for the foreseeable future, so its time to set up a new tank! i chose a 90 gallon because i wanted something of substantial size that gave me a lot of options, but wasn't a monster, its also going in my living room, which is over basement, and 1000-ish pounds was about the most i was comfortable with. For livestock i will be focusing mainly on Wrasses, coral wist the thank will be LPS dominated.

This may be a slower build thread as we had a minor flood a few weeks ago (nothing tank related) and are in the process of replacing the floors on the main level, which put me about a month behind where i wanted to be with the tank, but at least its giving me more time to research and plan...

I'll start with the stand, I had this custom made by my LFS, it has a side door for controller & releated equipment, no center brace for easier access to equipment under the stand, & a hood that is hinged for cleaning & has smaller feeding doors.

Beautiful. Glad i can follow!

 

[Dodgersfan]

24 hours in, the shrimp has turned orange-ish but not much else. Getting some readings though. Nitrite is 0.05, Nitrate is 2, maybe a hair darker, but definitely not as dark as the next grade which is 5... so we’ll call Nitrate a 3... ammonia is reading 0.2. So mr shrimp is definitely doing something. I’m sure it’ll take a few days to see a spike.

 

[Dodgersfan]

Took some pics with just the whites so the rockscape can be seen better: pics are from left side to right side

 

[Brynn]

What did you pay for this? Where?

 

[Dodgersfan]

What did you pay for this? Where?

That is Tonga Shelf w/base From BRS: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-tonga-shelf-with-base-dry-live-rock.html (currently out of stock) I ordered it on sale for about $3.50 a pound, ordered the minimum (15 Pounds) cost around 50-60 bucks with tax (they were running free shipping at the time.) and got two other pieces with it. one is in the upper right of the same structure, i didn't use the other one. here's pics of them when i received them. they let you make special requests I asked for a mix of round and oval pieces about 10-12 inches in diameter and that's exactly what I got. also I think they sent me more like 18-20 lbs rather than the 15 I paid for. I'd highly recommend it, I'm super happy with what I got, especially for the price.

 

[Dodgersfan]

Nitrate and nitrite are a bit up today, nitrite is at 0.1, nitrate is almost to the 5 but not quite dark enough so we’ll call it 4. Ammonia is still holding at 0.2. I dosed som dr. Tims today, the shrimp looks like it’s about to turn...

 

[Dodgersfan]

So I’ve got a pretty bad issue that’s just developed... I’ve got a slow leak coming from one of the bulkheads in the bottom of the overflow box. It has just developed tonight, most likely because I’ve been messing around with the dang internal plumbing in the overflow because I can’t get it to stop slurping. I’m really not sure what to do here, it is literally the most inaccessible point behind the tank. There is no way to get my hand to it from underneath. I can get to the inside part of the bulkhead from a ladder, but I won’t be able to tighten it if I can’t get the the bottom too. I really really don’t want to have to drain the tank, but not sure what else to do... silicone the inside of the bulkheads? I’ll post some pics tomorrow. I’m really bummed right now...

 

[leahfiish]

Gotta find a way to reach the bottom part. Or take out the whole box, tighten it, and put it back in.

 

[007_reef]

Likely two issues at play here. If you’re messing around with the plumbing under the tank, it’s likely that you’re correct, and your plumbing is binding the bulkhead, causing the bulkhead to not seal properly. I’ve done this, and the good news is that it’s a simple fix, just figure out which pipe is causing the stress, and adjust gently till the bulkhead stops leaking (happens on my return line almost every time I pull the return pump out to clean it).
You second issue, the noise, is caused by the lack of a gate valve on your main drain; your pvc can likely flow far more gph than your return, so you use the gate valve to balance the siphon flow and return flow.