Mikearoni's 90g build thread...

[mikearoni]

Well, Ive had my 55g up for about 7 months now, everything is doing great, and my corals are growing. My good friend and neighbor, Sam (Holyscoly), is upgrading to a 150g, and I have decided to buy his 90g and upgrade myself as well.

Last Thursday Sam took down the 90g and placed his corals in a frag tank. Here are pics of the take down:

After this we cleaned the tank up a bit and removed the sand. We finished at about 1am.

 

[mikearoni]

On Saturday, with the help from my dad we were able to move the tank up to my apartment. Here it is now in my living room, and where I plan to have the tank set up.

The sump needs a bit of cleaning

and here is the tank in my balcony

 

[mikearoni]

Some stats on the build

Tank:
-90 gallon (40"L x 26"W x 20"T)

Sump:
-20 gallon custom

Lighting:
-(2) 250w Radiums with ARO Ballast

at first I was going to run 2 175w with icecaps but decided to go this way instead in order to get some really nice colors, and there is a much better bulb choice compared to the 175.

Filtration:
-Euroreef CS-80

I plan on getting the bulk reef supply carbon and gfo reactor to replace the tlf reactor I have now.

Return Pump:
-MAG 9.5 ordered yesterday

Water Circulation:
-Hydor Koralia 3 & 4 maybe more if needed

 

[mikearoni]

Well I ordered the Mag 9.5 yesterday, not sure when it'll come in, hopefully before the end of the year but I doubt it.

Also, I got some goodies in the mail

Radium's Yummy!!

Ive had the reflectors for a while now, I just wanted to post them together with the bulbs and ballst.

 

[mikearoni]

I decided that I will paint the canopy in order to make it look cleaner and make it a bit reflective. So I picked up some enamel spray paint in glossy white and will paint it soon.

here is a before pic of the canopy.

The hinges on the stand were a bit rusted so I will go to HD later on in the week and replace them.

 

[newly salted]

Good luck with the build. Post some pictures when your done.

 

[mikearoni]

Here is the tank after I painted it with Krylon Fusion.

If you look in the background you can see a stand that my neighbors is building for his tank. It looks really good.


Well I gotta get ready for dinner so I cant work on the tank today, unless I wanna end up sleeping on the couch. :roll:


Merry Christmas everybody!

 

[mikearoni]

So I decided to upgrade the outlet where the electronics of the tank is going to be connected to. I wanted to replace the old unit with a GFCI, and make it completely waterproof. So I went to Lowes and got the GFCI, and a waterproof enclosure for the outlet.

Old outlet

turn off the power, dont wanna get shocked now do we

I had to go one by one since they are not labeled.

Heres it is fully installed

The housing makes the outlet completely waterproof.

I was a bit worried about doing this, since last time I replaced the fan switch in the master bedroom I got shocked 8O.

After I installed everything I turned the power back on, and checked the GFCI. Works just fine.

 

[mikearoni]

I replaced the hinges on the stand as well.

here is before

and after

should I coat them so that they don't get rusted like the ones before?

what can I coat them with?

 

[macawmagic]

random question..but when somethings plugged in (the fish tank) won't the clear cover be open aka not waterproof??? it doesn't look like it's covers and seals around the plugs. maybe im wrong?

p.s. again, I loveeee that tank!!! lol

 

[mikearoni]

yeah the plastic cover stays a bit open but it still seals around the outlet.

I think I got the wrong one though...
its supposed to seal like this

ill have to go back to Lowes tomorrow

 

[mikearoni]

all right I got a bunch of updates


I got the right outlet cover

and I started working on the sump.

the sump wouldnt fit my skimmer the way I would like, so I ended up removing the baffles

the pump is a mag7 used for size reference for the mag9.5 I should be getting tomorrow.

baffles removed

and cleaned sump

I plan on placing the baffles farther to the other side so that it can fit the skimmer and yet leave a nice size area for the return.

 

[mikearoni]

I also got a light controller

and this is how the tank sits now, in my living room

 

[mikearoni]

ok some more after dinner updates


I finished making the durso today. Total cost $.67. I got most of the pvc from my dad that works in pool construction, I only needed to buy a bushing from Lowes.

here it is in the overflow

the other line is the return that will have two loc lines coming out of it, and the other on the left is plugged up and will not be used.

here is a pic water testing the bulkheads

no leaks, good!

 

[BluegrassReef]

the more I look at that tank the more I love it. I wish my 90 were those dimensions. Almost makes me wanna order one. Some sweet aquascaping potential.

 

[ficklefins]

I love this tank photoblography, I feel like I am there with you! Keep it up.

 

[mikearoni]

So got some weekend updates, Ive been staying up late these past days trying to get ahead on this build since school is starting back up but I was really tired today so I decided to take a day off the build and get some rest.


Yesterday during the day I took a trip to Cultivated Corals wiith Sam(Holyscoly), since Sam had ordered his mag return from them, we got to see what goodies they had and and I got these

haven't really opened up yet but they are very nice.

We also went rock shopping got a good deal on the rocks

just random placement, getting ideas


Last night I also wired the ground wires to the ballast and finished placing and adding silicone to the baffles in the sump.

will two baffles be enough to minimize the micro bubbles? or should I add another baffle?

 

[mikearoni]

I finally got the package that I was waiting for.

 

[rarelyseriousb]

keep this detailed build up. this is so fun

 

[mikearoni]

keep this detailed build up. this is so fun

Thanks! I'll try.