As usual I'm late to the party. I started this tank if February of 2017. It initially looked like this.
It is a 90 Gallon DFW Reef Ready Tank on a Black Oak Stand with a matching 12" Canopy. As soon as I started putting rocks in it, I regretted the big center overflow partition, but it was too late. The remaining equipment was taken from a recently torn down 75 gallon that had suffered through much of my learning curve. It included:
1. A 16.5" X 30" DIY two-bay sump;
2. An oldie but goodie Reef Octopus NWS 150 Recirculating Skimmer with a 500 gph DC Feed Pump ;
3. Two well used Jebao RW4 wave making pumps; and
4. A DIY gravity fed, level switch/solenoid controlled ATO, with a 30 Gallon Brute Reservoir.
I really didn't want to create or maintain a bunch of systems to manage nutrients. No refugiums, reactors, scrubbers, or etc. were include in the build. I intended to make a basic old school Berlin Method system work. The plan was to muscle through nutrient control in the ugly stages until the organisms in the tank could do it on their own.
I added two Rapid LED Onyx light fixtures totaling 96 Watts, a used Ecotec MP40, and a new 700 gph Sicce Return Pump to get the thing started.
My goal was to create a system that I could afford to operate that would eventually support SPS corals. The system also had to be able to maintain itself for at least 10 days at a time as I am required to be away from time to time.
The rock is a mixture of rock from the old 75 and some new dry Fiji rock I purchased for the new start-up. It total there is about 70 lbs. All the rocks were acid bathed, then cured in a vat and treated wit Lanthanum Chloride until it no longer leached phosphates.
The tank was cycled with ammonium chloride and patience. The first fish were a couple of Percula Clowns for the Grand Kids. I'm looking for more pictures from the last two years. I'll post them as I find them.
It is a 90 Gallon DFW Reef Ready Tank on a Black Oak Stand with a matching 12" Canopy. As soon as I started putting rocks in it, I regretted the big center overflow partition, but it was too late. The remaining equipment was taken from a recently torn down 75 gallon that had suffered through much of my learning curve. It included:
1. A 16.5" X 30" DIY two-bay sump;
2. An oldie but goodie Reef Octopus NWS 150 Recirculating Skimmer with a 500 gph DC Feed Pump ;
3. Two well used Jebao RW4 wave making pumps; and
4. A DIY gravity fed, level switch/solenoid controlled ATO, with a 30 Gallon Brute Reservoir.
I really didn't want to create or maintain a bunch of systems to manage nutrients. No refugiums, reactors, scrubbers, or etc. were include in the build. I intended to make a basic old school Berlin Method system work. The plan was to muscle through nutrient control in the ugly stages until the organisms in the tank could do it on their own.
I added two Rapid LED Onyx light fixtures totaling 96 Watts, a used Ecotec MP40, and a new 700 gph Sicce Return Pump to get the thing started.
My goal was to create a system that I could afford to operate that would eventually support SPS corals. The system also had to be able to maintain itself for at least 10 days at a time as I am required to be away from time to time.
The rock is a mixture of rock from the old 75 and some new dry Fiji rock I purchased for the new start-up. It total there is about 70 lbs. All the rocks were acid bathed, then cured in a vat and treated wit Lanthanum Chloride until it no longer leached phosphates.
The tank was cycled with ammonium chloride and patience. The first fish were a couple of Percula Clowns for the Grand Kids. I'm looking for more pictures from the last two years. I'll post them as I find them.
