ProStar 90 - Reef tank SPS setup - First SW tank!

[blatherdrift]

This is my first reef tank and saltwater setup! I've been keeping FW tanks for about 28 years and finally decided to make the jump. Actually, I cracked the inner wall of my sump by knocking the full ATO over when fiddling with the skimmer. Patched it up with some Flex Seal. Its the middle wall of glass so it isn't a risk to flood. Haven't seen too many ProStars so I thought I'd share!

Plumbing is OK. My pump is a tad oversized which is making it a bit noisier but its still fairly quiet. So far, the nitrates are a bit high and my phosphates are 0.00 so I am working on balancing that out. I'll probably up my feeding and begin lightly carbon dosing with NoPox. The sump is setup with two socks, some bioballs from Marin Fauna, a bag of Purigen and an extra bag of bio media I had laying around from my FW days (to be used to skip cycle a QT when I get one setup)


Equipment used
Radion XR15 x2
Eheim heater (300 watt)
Nero5 x2
60 lbs of CaribSea Liferock Shapes
40 lbs of dry CaribSea Special Grade
Nyos 120 Protein Skimmer
Sicca SDC 6.0 Return Pump
Tunze Osmolator Nano (daisy chained from bucket to internal ATO)

Corals and Fish
2x Divinci Clownfish
2x Zoa of varying colours
1x Duncan
1x Mushrooms

 

[blatherdrift]

Bumped the ato reservoir off the the little edging of the sump after filling it. Sadly it fell onto my sump and cracked an inner wall

Fixed it with some flex seal but was still a sad day

 

[PeterC99]

Very nice setup and rockscape looks great! Best of luck with your first saltwater aquarium!

 

[blatherdrift]

Very nice setup and rockscape looks great! Best of luck with your first saltwater aquarium!

Thanks!

I actually took a rock off the upper left and broke it down to put as islands in the front. This lowered the height for corals that grow up (specifically SPS) and gave me a bit more room in the front for fast growers like shrooms.

 

[Devaji]

perfect timing! I have been thinking of the prostar 90 for a project build.

and you tell us more about the over all build quality? does the stand feel robust?
the pluming with the single drain is a real bummer. is there a gurgling noise?

can we get more pic please

oh and of course welcome to the SW side of think looks like you're off to a great start!

 

[Bfragale]

Nice build! Can’t wait to see what you do so next!

Sorry about the cracked sump. Hope it holds for you.
Take care and happy reefing!

 

[blatherdrift]

perfect timing! I have been thinking of the prostar 90 for a project build.

and you tell us more about the over all build quality? does the stand feel robust?
the pluming with the single drain is a real bummer. is there a gurgling noise?

can we get more pic please

oh and of course welcome to the SW side of think looks like you're off to a great start!

The build quality is pretty nice, I think! I’ve read some complaints that the pcp pipe is cheap but it works fine for me so I don’t really know what to say about that. Although I don’t really understand the point of the gate valve. Why would you want to turn that down?

the stand comes pre assembled and I think it’s a very nice quality. Sturdy. Looks sleek and solid. I’ll have to change the power bar to something with more slots and a proper surge protector.

the drain isn’t 100% quiet. There is a little trickle noise but I wouldn’t call it a gurgle. I can only really hear it if my house is dead quiet. Also think I have my pump a bit oversized for the tank even at 16% power so maybe that’s part of it.

the sump is glass which is nice until you drop the ****** ato on it. It’s also a bit small with no refugium which I find a real bummer. Otherwise it seems ok.

also thinking I got the V1 of their product maybe. It’s hard to say. Documentation is confusing/non existent. Still not sure where I was supposed to put the bubble trap with hole in it. Also a little annoyed they have two filter socks. Seems redundant. I think they fit the Red Sea one so it’s not a standard size.

the glass and seal are very nice! Good experience in all. No complaint. I also got it a few hundred cheaper. The supplier posted the usd price in Canadian dollars. Got lucky they didn’t cancel my order.

more pics to come! I’m picking up some more coral tomorrow (Monti and maybe an acro) so I’ll update then

 

[Devaji]

The build quality is pretty nice, I think! I’ve read some complaints that the pcp pipe is cheap but it works fine for me so I don’t really know what to say about that. Although I don’t really understand the point of the gate valve. Why would you want to turn that down?

the stand comes pre assembled and I think it’s a very nice quality. Sturdy. Looks sleek and solid. I’ll have to change the power bar to something with more slots and a proper surge protector.

the drain isn’t 100% quiet. There is a little trickle noise but I wouldn’t call it a gurgle. I can only really hear it if my house is dead quiet. Also think I have my pump a bit oversized for the tank even at 16% power so maybe that’s part of it.

the sump is glass which is nice until you drop the ****** ato on it. It’s also a bit small with no refugium which I find a real bummer. Otherwise it seems ok.

also thinking I got the V1 of their product maybe. It’s hard to say. Documentation is confusing/non existent. Still not sure where I was supposed to put the bubble trap with hole in it. Also a little annoyed they have two filter socks. Seems redundant. I think they fit the Red Sea one so it’s not a standard size.

the glass and seal are very nice! Good experience in all. No complaint. I also got it a few hundred cheaper. The supplier posted the usd price in Canadian dollars. Got lucky they didn’t cancel my order.

more pics to come! I’m picking up some more coral tomorrow (Monti and maybe an acro) so I’ll update then

thanks for the feedback and your experience. in the end if you love it that all that matters. alot better then my 1st tank thats for sure!

a gate valve is on overflows with a e drain so you can get a full siphon with out the air in the pipes making a bunch of noise. again my 1st cpl tanks were pretty loud until the quieter overflow came out. not sure why the PS 90 has the gate valve on a single drain I bet it does make it a lot more silent than with out.
I talked to a dealer of the PS and was asking about the safety of the singe drain he said there is a pretty good screen so the likely hood of things clogging the drain a pretty slim.

that said I would be growing macro algae in the tank if I go the PS route and its possible that a big piece could break off and loge the drain? IDK maybe I am over thinking it.
but I would feel alot better if it had a E drain like Red sea or water box and the like. but that means the overflow boxes are pretty big to. soooo

but man its a sharp looking tank and a pretty good price point. yours does look great
keep the build going man i'll be fallowing!

 

[flyfisher2]

Enjoy your tank
It’s looking good. Always remember it’s a hobby and as such you’ll take on the challenges and correct them. Makes the process more interesting and the satisfaction is great in the end.

 

[blatherdrift]

I started playing around with my return pump. It was noisier than it should be; I could hear trickling water and so I played with the gate valve a bit. Pretty useless and I can see how dangerous it is. Anyway, it turns out I had my pump on too low.

My SDC 6.0 is rated much higher than what the tanks limits are supposed to be. I think proclear set the upper limit around 600gph so I threw mine on about 16% and called it a day. Turns out this is where the noise was coming from. On a tip from the lfs, I bumped it up to 47% and it’s much quieter.

the added pressure blew off my return pumps hose which was annoying. I got it on much tighter now but in the process I bumped my float valve and when I fixed it I put it upside down. It emptied my ato into the tank so that kind of sucked but an easy fix.

I added new new corals! A montepora, a montepora digitata and a birds nest.

I also added three chromis which gave the tank a lot more life. Sadly the addition has caused a bacteria bloom so my water has been a little cloudy for the last few days. Hope it clears up.

Thanks for the support guys

 

[blatherdrift]

So, my tank has gone through a lot! It started with me getting monti eating nudi, which resulted in me tossing most of my monti. Then when I added the last fish I wanted to stock, a royal gramma, it ended up giving the tank brook and wiped out everything so far but four chromis and a watchman goby.

otherwise my corals are growing great! I installed an apex controller and added a trident which has been fantastic. I also managed to squeeze in a nyos torq into my pitifully small sump somehow and run carbon so far.

I’ve been dealing with some cyano which had been super annoying. I tried treatment with red x but it didn’t do much. I’m just going to leave it be and hope it goes away soon.

my tank has gone from being monti dominant to acro dominant. Birds nest, confetti, rainbow loom and a few others. It’s also regularly showing nitrates and phosphates so that’s a big help. also ordered a tunze macro reactor from Europe to add chaeto soon.

not sure what to do about brook being in my tank. I have survivors so it complicates things. I guess I’ll go fallow for 3 months then do a molly test to see how it goes. I lost a lot of nice fish specifically a tomini tang and a blenny. Also my two clowns.

I’ve setup a waterbox peninsula mini 25 to use as a qt for coral and fish. It’s cycling now. Lesson learnt!

 

[Devaji]

sorry about the fish and montis that does suck we feel your pain. but over all tank is looking good!