Snackums
New Member
I got into reef keeping over a year ago and started with a 45 gallon tank and a canister filter (I know it’s shameful, but it worked). Size was limited for Quite some time as I lived in an older second story apartment and I wasn’t trying to surprise my downstairs neighbors with a fish tank falling from the heavens. Thankfully after a move I have a place with that sweet, sweet first story weight supporting floor so I did what any sane person who just moved several states and hadn’t even unpacked yet would do...I went and bought a 90 gallon reef ready tank.
After a couple days getting the plumbing worked out, since I wasn’t experienced running a sump and I was too cheap to pony up to that convenience of the Red Sea ready to assemble all inclusive plumbing, we had a workable product.
So, after getting the sump all ready to go the next thing I had to tackle was the lighting. I had a set of radion xr15’s as well as a set of kessil a360x’s but I had only ever mounted them on a tank with the factory mounting arms both companies sell which are great...until you remember you have a canopy on your setup. Quick side bar: some people may be thinking “gosh that’s a lot of light” and in fact it is for a 90 gallon, but I have found most corals love a lot of light (one of the reasons halides are so naturally good at growing corals). Of course certain coral don’t enjoy being blasted as much (lobos) but for most SPS they absolutely love all the light and stuff seems to grow a bit better as well. Anyways, after adding a rust resistant metal bar bolted to the top of the canopy and zip tying the heck out of the lights to said bar I was comfortable enough that they wouldn’t one day go for a swim, cause you know water and electricity...that’s bad mmmk.
For the sump itself I managed to pick up a fairly large used acrylic sump from another reef keeping acquaintance I had made. Is it the perfect design I would like to have for a sump...no. Does it hold water and was it cheap?...yes, so basically it’s the perfect sump. I see a lot of guys do crazy things with their sumps like refugiums, reactors, wine bar...maybe kidding about the wine bar, but I didn’t want to do all that. When in doubt keep it simple. I run filter socks, a reefer 300 skimmer, and some bio media in the sump and that’s about it. Maybe if I’m feeling frisky I’ll throw in some purigen but I prefer it simple and effective.
Flow is another thing I have experimented with in the past. I like to keep strong flow in my tank and then shelter the non SPS that may not enjoy it so much (hammers, torches, gonis). I would say I went with solidly middle of the road pumps having a DC Hydor return pump and Icecap 4K main wavemaker. I have nothing bad to say about either of those.
Things I have learned so far in keeping tanks and in relation to keeping the one I have now: Don’t skimp on lighting. It’s arguably the most important thing in the whole setup (next to water chemistry) and nothing will boil you blood like buying a new light four times because you aren’t happy with the option that saved you a few bucks. Also modular lighting like radions or kessil pucks can easily be added to when the day comes to upgrade tanks. That 48” light bar is awesome until the day you decide you want a six foot tank. Also same rule goes getting a decent skimmer. I enjoy the reefer skimmer because it’s the iPhone of skimmers. There isn’t a lot you can change on it but it does what it designed to fairly well. Having an efficient skimmer has allowed me to feed corals and fish more helping everything grow a bit better since I can remove nutrients effectively. Other than that different strokes work for different folks so find what works for you and stick to it (that thing everyone loves to preach, sounds like stability). Figured I’d share this little bit about my tank for fun. Thanks for taking a few minutes to read all this. Until next time grow baby grow.
After a couple days getting the plumbing worked out, since I wasn’t experienced running a sump and I was too cheap to pony up to that convenience of the Red Sea ready to assemble all inclusive plumbing, we had a workable product.
So, after getting the sump all ready to go the next thing I had to tackle was the lighting. I had a set of radion xr15’s as well as a set of kessil a360x’s but I had only ever mounted them on a tank with the factory mounting arms both companies sell which are great...until you remember you have a canopy on your setup. Quick side bar: some people may be thinking “gosh that’s a lot of light” and in fact it is for a 90 gallon, but I have found most corals love a lot of light (one of the reasons halides are so naturally good at growing corals). Of course certain coral don’t enjoy being blasted as much (lobos) but for most SPS they absolutely love all the light and stuff seems to grow a bit better as well. Anyways, after adding a rust resistant metal bar bolted to the top of the canopy and zip tying the heck out of the lights to said bar I was comfortable enough that they wouldn’t one day go for a swim, cause you know water and electricity...that’s bad mmmk.
For the sump itself I managed to pick up a fairly large used acrylic sump from another reef keeping acquaintance I had made. Is it the perfect design I would like to have for a sump...no. Does it hold water and was it cheap?...yes, so basically it’s the perfect sump. I see a lot of guys do crazy things with their sumps like refugiums, reactors, wine bar...maybe kidding about the wine bar, but I didn’t want to do all that. When in doubt keep it simple. I run filter socks, a reefer 300 skimmer, and some bio media in the sump and that’s about it. Maybe if I’m feeling frisky I’ll throw in some purigen but I prefer it simple and effective.
Flow is another thing I have experimented with in the past. I like to keep strong flow in my tank and then shelter the non SPS that may not enjoy it so much (hammers, torches, gonis). I would say I went with solidly middle of the road pumps having a DC Hydor return pump and Icecap 4K main wavemaker. I have nothing bad to say about either of those.
Things I have learned so far in keeping tanks and in relation to keeping the one I have now: Don’t skimp on lighting. It’s arguably the most important thing in the whole setup (next to water chemistry) and nothing will boil you blood like buying a new light four times because you aren’t happy with the option that saved you a few bucks. Also modular lighting like radions or kessil pucks can easily be added to when the day comes to upgrade tanks. That 48” light bar is awesome until the day you decide you want a six foot tank. Also same rule goes getting a decent skimmer. I enjoy the reefer skimmer because it’s the iPhone of skimmers. There isn’t a lot you can change on it but it does what it designed to fairly well. Having an efficient skimmer has allowed me to feed corals and fish more helping everything grow a bit better since I can remove nutrients effectively. Other than that different strokes work for different folks so find what works for you and stick to it (that thing everyone loves to preach, sounds like stability). Figured I’d share this little bit about my tank for fun. Thanks for taking a few minutes to read all this. Until next time grow baby grow.
