LoCoReefer's 90G Mixed Reef

[LoCoReefer]

Hello, I have decided to post my 90G mixed reef tank build. The total system is 130G with sump included. My build started two months ago with a used tank I acquired from a coworker. The tank overall was in pretty poor shape and required a lot of work to bring it back to life. I am currently at the stocking phase so the updates i'm sure everyone is looking for are soon to follow

Equipment
Skimmer: NYOS Quantum 120
Lights: x2 10,000K T6 65Watt, x2 250Watt 10,000K Metal Halides, x2 Lunar (moon) LEDs
Control: Digital Aquatics ReefKeeper Lite, Hydor Smart ATO
Flow: x2 XF230 Gyre Pump (2300GPH) with Controller and a Lifeguard Quiet one 2200 for return
Filtration: Dual 200 Micron Filter socks, Fiji Mudd, Carbon Bag, Reactors are currently offline.
Sump: Trigger Systems Emerald Sump 34inch
Plumbing: Hard Plumbed, standard durso overflow
Refugium: Running Fiji Mudd inside a pre-drilled tupperware container, TaoTronics LED grow light bulb, Chaeto has not been added yet.
Heater: Aqueon 300watt submersible heater

(Picture of tank in previous owner's home. At this point the tank was no longer being maintained.)

(All cabinetry required sanding and a new paint job.)

(Under shot of canopy to show the existing lighting setup.)

(Lunar LEDs, and to show how bad canopy wood had gotten. These old-school Lunar LEDS are amazing too.)

(Removed all old sand from tank.)

(Original Plumbing had to be removed to replace old bulkheads.)

(Sanded down tank trim to prepare for paint.)

(Canopy required sanding and rust removal.)

(Primed all cabinetry.)

(Cured live rock for two months. Ended up being wasted time as I decided to bleach them,. The rocks just had to much nasty algae and organics on them to deal with in new tank.)

(was my original plumbing design until I realized I don't have the space for all of the spicket heads in my sump. Ended up just doing one spicket head.)

(Black paint on all cabinetry and tank trim. Finished with polyacrylic topcoat.)

(Added new soft close hinges, door handles, and completed hard plumbing with successful first try leak test.)

(Aquascape completed, Sand added, Filling tank.)

(Sexy sump shot.)

(Water beginning to clear up.)

(Lunar LED shot.)

All the updates I have up to this point. The next updates will contain fish and coral stocking.


Cheers!

 

[dbl]

Welcome to R2R and thanks for joining...you will love it here.

That is a terrific job resurrecting the old system. You did a great job and the "new" tank looks great. Is this your first saltwater tank?

 

[LoCoReefer]

Welcome to R2R and thanks for joining...you will love it here.

That is a terrific job resurrecting the old system. You did a great job and the "new" tank looks great. Is this your first saltwater tank?

Thanks dbl, this is my second saltwater tank. I currently run a 29G bio-cube upstairs in my office. I plan to move some of the corals from the biocube into this one starting with some of my LPS (octospawn, wellso brain). I am still debating keeping the biocube running along with the new tank as I don't think my knees can handle the water changes. Going from the basement tank up to the 2nd floor office tank is taking a toll on me lol. Here is a FTS of the biocube from awhile back, it has since been filled in with more corals and a RBTA.

 

[LoCoReefer]

First update: A few new tank inhabitants to the 90G.

(Juvenile Picasso Trigger) I've had this little guy in my biocube for a few weeks while I was finishing the 90g build and he's easily become my favorite fish. This fish is more like a dog then a fish, It has more personality then all the fish in my tank combined.

(Flame Angel)

(Exquisite Fairy Wrasse) origin: Africa
(Big Eyed Squirrelfish) I have 3 of these as I am told these fish do better in schools. Typically nocturnal feeders due to their big eyes and mine like to stay under the rock work during the day.

 

[mmw64]

Love to see neglected tanks restored. Good work!

 

[LoCoReefer]

Second update: Tank is cycling well, nasty brown diatom phase is in full effect. Performed water tests today and the PH is quite high sitting at 8.8. I plan to just let the PH naturally adjust itself because none of the corals and fish seem to be affected. I have some new additions to the tank to show off as well.

(black clownfish pair)

(Yellow Tang enjoying some seaweed)

(Pink-spotted goby in his burrow under the yellow seabae anenome)

(small acro frag with good polyp expansion)

(brain coral)

(octospawn, taken from the nano tank)

(bubble coral)

(pink-tipped haitian anenome, he's currently in annoying spot right now, but I'm sure he'll move soon enough)

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R, congratulations on your upgrade, looks awesome

 

[LoCoReefer]

Thank you! Nice to see fellow reefers from Virginia

 

[LoCoReefer]

Hey everybody,

It's been awhile since I have been on to update, and a lot has happened with the tank since I last posted. Some things good and some not so good, but anyways on with the update. I will start with the not so good, I had a ich outbreak that was almost wiped out my entire livestock of fish. I lost my picasso trigger, 1 Squirrelfish, yellow tang, flame angel, and the exquisite Fairy wrasse. I was able to throw the clowns and remaining squirrelfish into my QT tank and treat with cupramine which saved them. Needless to say I was super bummed about losing most of my fish, but I went ahead an invested in a 25W Pentair UV sterilizer. Pentair was formally known as Emperor aquatics incase anyone was wondering about the quality of the sterilizer. Now I did not realize how large this thing truly was until it arrived. It was definitely not going to fit in the sump area of my tank and it required me two drill two holes for the intake and outake coming out the back of the tank stand. I also had some serious user error on my part when setting it up. I screwed up on the quartz seal that is supposed to keep the water from coming in contact with the bulb. So I managed to short one bulb out and when pulling the bulb out I managed to drop the quartz enclosure and shattered it all in the same day. So I ordered a replacement quartz enclosure and new bulb. I tested the seal this time with a paper towel and success no water was coming through the seal. Now this is where I got even more upset and makes me wonder if I am to actually blame on this. I leaked tested first and ensured no water was coming through the seal, but yet somehow condensation got into the second bulb and shorted it as well. I am not an expert with UV sterilizers but I am pretty sure that is not supposed to happen. When I removed the bulb and quartz sleeve I could see there was not one drop of water inside the quartz tube just a drop or two of condensation inside the bulb. I am pretty confused at this point, but I have ordered another bulb anyways which is beginning to get pricey. If anyone has advice for me on this front please let me know.

Anyways, enough of the bad news and I can provide some positive updates for the tank now. Tank is past the brown diatom phase and is beginning to stabilize quite well. I added two blood shrimp and a lot of new corals which I will post pics of hopefully sometime this week.


Tank Upgrades:
Return Pump:I replaced my lifeguard return pump with a Varios 4 controllable DC pump (1050 GPH) Reef Octopus. This pump doubles my turnover rate and is beast.
Lighting: Stripped out my old T6 rig and added two 2x24W Aruba SUN V T5HO-Hamilton. Each T5 ballast has one 24W ATI Coral Plus and one 24W ATI Blue Plus. I also added two of TrueLumen 12-Inch TrueLumen Pro LED Strip Light, Actinic Pacific Blue with Canopy. My two 250W metal halides remained in the current setup. This lighting upgrade required me to build a whole new canopy that is not quite finished yet so when I look at the tank it currently blinds me from the front lol.
Dosing Pump: added a Jebao Programmable Auto Dosing Pump DP-4, which I can honestly say was an amazing upgrade for the price and unbelievable simple to program. I am now dosing Aquaforest Component 1+, 2+ and 3+ at 40ml a day.

I broke down my 29G nano upstairs and migrated all of my corals, 2 clowns, 2 damsels, RBTA anenome, and my CUC to my main tank.

(Here is what the new canopy lighting contains)

(FTS 4/2/2017)

My next update will contain pics of my new corals, and I promise my next update wont take me a month this time!