- Joined
- Feb 21, 2019
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The tank has been running now for a little over a year and this my build from start to now.
So I got out of the hobby some years back due to moving and now that we are grounded my wife talked me into starting another tank. She now regrets releasing the Kraken!;Vamp
Due to the location of the tank in our new house I was only able to go with a 90G (Aqueon reef ready). So the wheels are turning and this time around I wanted to make a setup that was sleek and easily accessible.
I added a side compartment with access door for all the electronics. Which I would then drill a few holes to run wires and used rubber desk grommets to clean up the wires. Looking back now, I should have added a few more holes to run wires because reaching behind the sump is a little tricky.
Added vent screens for circulation on each end and in the back.
Got it all painted up. After caulking all the inside gaps I went with a marine topside boat paint from my local marine store. I highly recommend this paint for any saltwater application. It's water proof and easily wipes away water. Just give the paint about a week to fully dry. Also went with all stainless steel hardware including stainless steel piano hinges for the doors. I figured I would pay for it now rather then replacing them over and over. I added door matte material to the bottom to help cancel any vibration noise.
I was going to use a left over trigger sump (crystal 30) I had from an older tank but looking at the water volume to tank size I needed to go a little bigger, bigger is better! I switched it out with a trigger Ruby 36 to add more water volume. Doing so sacrificed space below.
When building the manifold I incorporated inline ports for GFO/Carbon canisters to utilizing the return pump flow. This way I didn't have to use more pumps/power outlets. I went with a Reef Octopus varois8 return pump to ensure enough flow to handle the turn over plus manifold ports. Easier to dial it down than up! This VarioS DC pump is supper quiet. Also for "Oh S*@t" measures, I added a check valve and as many unions as I could. I did run into an issue with where the tank was located. As you can see in the picture below & above, the electrical out let is right behind the tank
. I didn't have options. So to make me sleep better at night I installed a recess wall outlet and cut out a section on the back of the stand for quick access. To go even further, I installed a GFI circuit breaker at the electrical box.
running Apex 2016, 2 Gyre XF 250's, VarioS 8 dc return, Finnex Titanium heater, Reef Octopus 150 skimmer, and newly added DOS. The side electrical compartment has come in handy for easy control access. Used some computer cord management to keep it clean.
For the over flow I wanted to try something different to help reduce noise. So I went with the Maggie Muffler. I figured I could always switch back if not but this thing works awesome. Super quite and allows me easy access to the drain pipe for cleaning.
For the aquascape I wanted to go with a pillar or island look to give more open area for flow and coral growth. The rock is BRS Pukani. I thought I would try something different and after reading the reviews on pukani I made sure to cure it a couple months ahead of time. The long cure did help down the road when it came to algae issues that pukani is know for. So far I really have had no issue at all.
Let the cycle begin! I cycled it with the dead shrimp method and after a few weeks I was in business.
Luckily I hung onto some of my equipment from previous tanks and was able to reuse my Reef Octopus classic 150 skimmer. It pays to keep your pumps clean!
Coming from the older generation of MH lighting I was a little skeptical of trying LED's but with MH lighting comes fans and chillers ($$$). I figured I would see what all the crave is about and give LED's a try. I was able to get a used set of AI hydra 52's cheap and yes, they crapped out on me 6 months in;Dead. AI was cool and replaced them with 2 new hydra 52 HD's at a discounted price. That's what I get for trying to cut corners and go cheap. The Hydra 52 HD's have grown on me. I do like the control-ability and energy efficiency. I will say that I did have better growth when running MH's for all those years but I've dialed the LED's in (PAR) and corals are growing! May add some T5's down the round.
I started with a couple clowns and over time slowly added fish. I pretty much ran the tank as a FOWLER for a few months before adding corals. I wanted to let the system get going, PATIENCE! I stayed on top of testing with Red Sea kit's and Hanna checkers, testing every week. After some time I started the Fuge with cheato and rock rubble to get a pod colony going. Once everything was leveling out I started adding corals.
Jumping ahead, the tank has been rolling along now for a little over a year and everything is doing great. This was a fun build because I took my time and planned it all out. The one thing I have learned in this hobby over the years is patience. Yes, their a couple things I would change but for the most part it turned out the way I intended. Their has been some additions along the way and like everyone, I want cram a piece of everything in there! Hope you enjoyed my build!
So I got out of the hobby some years back due to moving and now that we are grounded my wife talked me into starting another tank. She now regrets releasing the Kraken!;Vamp
Due to the location of the tank in our new house I was only able to go with a 90G (Aqueon reef ready). So the wheels are turning and this time around I wanted to make a setup that was sleek and easily accessible.
I added a side compartment with access door for all the electronics. Which I would then drill a few holes to run wires and used rubber desk grommets to clean up the wires. Looking back now, I should have added a few more holes to run wires because reaching behind the sump is a little tricky.
Added vent screens for circulation on each end and in the back.
Got it all painted up. After caulking all the inside gaps I went with a marine topside boat paint from my local marine store. I highly recommend this paint for any saltwater application. It's water proof and easily wipes away water. Just give the paint about a week to fully dry. Also went with all stainless steel hardware including stainless steel piano hinges for the doors. I figured I would pay for it now rather then replacing them over and over. I added door matte material to the bottom to help cancel any vibration noise.
I was going to use a left over trigger sump (crystal 30) I had from an older tank but looking at the water volume to tank size I needed to go a little bigger, bigger is better! I switched it out with a trigger Ruby 36 to add more water volume. Doing so sacrificed space below.
When building the manifold I incorporated inline ports for GFO/Carbon canisters to utilizing the return pump flow. This way I didn't have to use more pumps/power outlets. I went with a Reef Octopus varois8 return pump to ensure enough flow to handle the turn over plus manifold ports. Easier to dial it down than up! This VarioS DC pump is supper quiet. Also for "Oh S*@t" measures, I added a check valve and as many unions as I could. I did run into an issue with where the tank was located. As you can see in the picture below & above, the electrical out let is right behind the tank
. I didn't have options. So to make me sleep better at night I installed a recess wall outlet and cut out a section on the back of the stand for quick access. To go even further, I installed a GFI circuit breaker at the electrical box.running Apex 2016, 2 Gyre XF 250's, VarioS 8 dc return, Finnex Titanium heater, Reef Octopus 150 skimmer, and newly added DOS. The side electrical compartment has come in handy for easy control access. Used some computer cord management to keep it clean.
For the over flow I wanted to try something different to help reduce noise. So I went with the Maggie Muffler. I figured I could always switch back if not but this thing works awesome. Super quite and allows me easy access to the drain pipe for cleaning.
For the aquascape I wanted to go with a pillar or island look to give more open area for flow and coral growth. The rock is BRS Pukani. I thought I would try something different and after reading the reviews on pukani I made sure to cure it a couple months ahead of time. The long cure did help down the road when it came to algae issues that pukani is know for. So far I really have had no issue at all.
Let the cycle begin! I cycled it with the dead shrimp method and after a few weeks I was in business.
Luckily I hung onto some of my equipment from previous tanks and was able to reuse my Reef Octopus classic 150 skimmer. It pays to keep your pumps clean!
Coming from the older generation of MH lighting I was a little skeptical of trying LED's but with MH lighting comes fans and chillers ($$$). I figured I would see what all the crave is about and give LED's a try. I was able to get a used set of AI hydra 52's cheap and yes, they crapped out on me 6 months in;Dead. AI was cool and replaced them with 2 new hydra 52 HD's at a discounted price. That's what I get for trying to cut corners and go cheap. The Hydra 52 HD's have grown on me. I do like the control-ability and energy efficiency. I will say that I did have better growth when running MH's for all those years but I've dialed the LED's in (PAR) and corals are growing! May add some T5's down the round.
I started with a couple clowns and over time slowly added fish. I pretty much ran the tank as a FOWLER for a few months before adding corals. I wanted to let the system get going, PATIENCE! I stayed on top of testing with Red Sea kit's and Hanna checkers, testing every week. After some time I started the Fuge with cheato and rock rubble to get a pod colony going. Once everything was leveling out I started adding corals.
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