My 90gal bowfront build...

[Grootzilla]

Looks great! What are the plans in terms of livestock?

 

[luckylepgw]

You don’t necessarily “need” more rock from a filtration standpoint provided you use other means of nutrient export. I ran that same 100g pictured towards the end of its life with very little rock, some sand and tons of livestock. It also had a biopellet reactor and protein skimmer in the sump which was more than adequate at keeping nitrates at scary low levels. If you like that “open” look in your tank by having less rock, you can absolutely do it and have great success.

I do, but... I also want to add a high wall in the back right right where that piece of shelf rock is holding the future base rocks spot. Some of the acquired height might come from those magnetic rocks

 

[luckylepgw]

Looks great! What are the plans in terms of livestock?

Thanks

Right now i have 2 clowns, 2 bta and a green wrasse. I'm wanting to do a mixed reef with some gobies, a pistol shrimp, some schooling fish, a yellow eye kole tang, coral beauty, some anthias and who knows...

 

[Crustaceon]

I do, but... I also want to add a high wall in the back right right where that piece of shelf rock is holding the future base rocks spot. Some of the acquired height might come from those magnetic rocks

The great thing here is that you can conceptualize how you want your tank to look without dealing with hordes of coral falling into each other. If you take this opportunity to design “flow paths” to keep detritus from building up behind and under your rockwork, it’ll save a lot of hassle down the road. When setting up rocks, I hold a running circulation pump in my hand and point it at various locations in my tank to find potential dead spots. If you can’t find any at any angle, you’ve got a good setup.

 

[luckylepgw]

The great thing here is that you can conceptualize how you want your tank to look without dealing with hordes of coral falling into each other. If you take this opportunity to design “flow paths” to keep detritus from building up behind and under your rockwork, it’ll save a lot of hassle down the road. When setting up rocks, I hold a running circulation pump in my hand and point it at various locations in my tank to find potential dead spots. If you can’t find any at any angle, you’ve got a good setup.

Yea, I'm going to hold off on most corral for a while. At least till i can get a better light... But also need to upgrade 2 pumps still... And more rock...

 

[Crustaceon]

Look for a four-six bulb t5 light fixture and jebao pumps. It’s hard to go wrong with either and since most people seem to eventually upgrade to leds (not sure they’re any better than t5s TBH) and vortech pumps (not sure they’re worth it compared to jebaos, lol), you can find either of these for really cheap.

 

[luckylepgw]

Look for a four-six bulb t5 light fixture and jebao pumps. It’s hard to go wrong with either and since most people seem to eventually upgrade to leds (not sure they’re any better than t5s TBH) and vortech pumps (not sure they’re worth it compared to jebaos, lol), you can find either of these for really cheap.

Right now i have the ic loop system with 2 1050 gph pumps. Gonna add one of their marine pro strips, a 2100 gph pump and a new sump pump. Next build will have better stuff, but gonna stick with this cheap setup for now. Unless I hit the lottery that is...

 

[Crustaceon]

That’ll give you enough light and flow for zoas and lps. Cool stuff.

 

[luckylepgw]

That’ll give you enough light and flow for zoas and lps. Cool stuff.

And then the extras come that will support the sps... Lights for the next controller, some pumps... Then cheap controller will go to future fowlr build...

 

[Crustaceon]

I actually went backwards on my build. I went from an 48” 6-bulb ATI powermodule and dual maxspect gyre xf250’s at one point to my current setup of two 54w coral plus bulbs and two arcadia marine blue led bulbs, all built into my canopy. Flow is handled by two Sicce Voyager 4 pumps on a Hydor Smartwave controller. Differences in an sps vs. zoa tank, lol.

 

[luckylepgw]

Been awhile since I've posted an update. Seems like i just keep messing up. In my haste to set up the 90, i overlooked a metal clamp the previous owners installed on the return pump. Long story short, my nems and hammer died.

Any who, i finally plumbed in my temporary display macro garden refugium.

My son got a hold of my mangroves and broke the tops off down to the pods. It appears tho it triggered a root growth. Also, the mangrove that lost its top in shipping sprouted a new top couple weeks ago.

Current status of dt

But on the bright side, i got a marine pro light coming in tomorrow to go with the ic and have a few more species of macro tomorrow and Tuesday.

Hopefully this second light will give me the boost i need to be able to keep some well placed sps.

I guess next will be some heavy water changes and ordering/adding the rock to the back wall...

 

[luckylepgw]

Wanted to show a little progress. After my emerald crab got a hold of my dragons tounge, i was left with a piece about yay big.

That piece today

 

[luckylepgw]

Finally got some more light

Before

After

Also got some more macros, a bit upset how the green macros arrived, all clumped in 1 ball, tried to pick what i could out to separate but most went into the trash...

Before

After

 

[luckylepgw]

Finally got the rest is my rock. Bought 35lbs of white rock from my lfs and he turned around and gave me about 30lbs of live rock for FREE!!! also added a lawnmower belenny and a dragons soul favia i couldn't leave without... Will get better pic when coral camera filter gets here...

Soooo not a good pic

 

[luckylepgw]

Slightly new configuration with the rock. Got rid of some shadows and got top tip 2.5 inches bellow the surface.