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- Jan 29, 2019
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Welp... I finally did it. I somehow managed to talk my wife into upgrading from our 45-gallon cube to a 90-gallon tank. She is not quite the reefing enthusiast that I am so this was a big deal to me. The secret was to focus my upgrade proposal on how a new tank would improve/refresh the appearance of our living room. And since she loves to decorate, rearrange furniture, and generally just change the decor for no apparent reason, convincing her was a pretty easy task. Besides that, her genuine curiosity about our tank has steadily risen over the years. She helped name all the fish, feeds them, and occasionally even gets her hands dirty on maintenance days. I see this heightened interest of hers as also being a contributing factor to her swift acquiescence. Oh, and the fact that I fulfill the exhausting role of being a trophy husband on a daily basis and therefore am totally due for such an indulgence.
So with the proper approval and a promise not to bring home another "mini-fridge" (more on that later), we headed down to our local fish store and came across this beauty:
I was very tempted to "go big or go home" with a 120-gallon that caught my eye. But I happily settled for the 90-gallon due to space restrictions and the fact that I could utilize some of my current equipment for the 90 a bit more seamlessly. Which brings me to the next part of this build thread- a little backstory and the obligatory showing off of my previous tank.
My interest in saltwater aquariums began in high school after I enrolled in an aquatic science class- intending it to be a blow-off class. We had a year-long assignment of setting up and maintaining a saltwater tank. As I'm sure ya'll can imagine, I became utterly enraptured. I enrolled the next year as an aide to that same aquatic science teacher (thank you, Ms. Newton, wherever you are!) and even set up my own tank at home. Following high school, I bequeathed that 55-gallon tank to my cousin, departed for college, and sadly left this wonderful hobby behind.
Fast forward 13 years. My wife and I were finally moving home after my separation from the Army and were ready to settle down after years on the move. A proposition greeted us almost as soon as we moved into our new home. That same cousin whom I bestowed a great responsibility on made me an offer I could not refuse. By then, he was the proud owner of a 32-gallon BioCube. With four kids and zero free time, he was looking to offload some obligations. I politely said no thanks and that his kids were great and all but I would much rather take the tank instead.
Unfortunately, I do not have pictures, or even words, to describe this BioCube/algae factory/eyesore of a fish tank before I inherited it. But here are a few pictures shortly after transferring it to my house:
Yes, that first picture does indeed have a Blue Tang in a 32-gallon BioCube... Also not pictured was the 4-inch Clown Trigger. Yikes. I took them both to the LFS soon after setting the tank up and thankfully they found new (and much larger) homes.
To make a long story short, I spent over a year reducing nitrates (from off-the-chart levels, literally), battling green hair algae, cyanobacteria, and dinoflagellates, and contending with an ungrateful snowflake clown before damaging the BioCube during a disastrous modification attempt. I then picked up a Red Sea Max E-170 (45-gallon) as an emergency replacement, which is where the "mini-fridge" reference from earlier in this post originates. While searching for a replacement tank I came across a build thread by @revnull. He mentioned that after he set up their Max E-170 in the living room, his wife aptly named it the "giant mini-fridge." Hilariously, and with no knowledge of @revnull's thread, this was the EXACT same reaction from my wife when I brought one home! And I kinda have to agree with her- see for yourself:
And since a white "mini-fridge" didn't complement the decor, we opted for a facelift using vinyl peel-and-stick paper:
Naturally, this evolved to where we are today- upgrading tanks because it just looks soooo much better in our living room. Better than the wood-look "mini-fridge" and its matching sidekick, IKEA's BESTÅ cabinet. But before I get into the details of the new build, here are a few progression pictures of the old Red Sea Max E-170. I want to give a big thanks to the wealth of knowledge and information I discovered here and on many other forums on R2R. A few specific threads/sites were especially helpful in this process:
@revnull (for too many reasons to mention here)
www.reef2reef.com
@sithrico (for the plumbing upgrade)
@Broadfield (for impressive OCD-inspired organization among many other things)
www.reef2reef.com
@Taxus812 (for awesome product write-ups and detailed tank updates)
www.reef2reef.com
1/23/2019 - Added the Red Sea plumbing kit, Eshopps RS-100 sump, AquaMaxx ConeS CO-1 skimmer, and Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152 ATO, and Reef Octopus VarioS-2 return pump.
4/13/2019 - Added a Red Sea sump (not sure which model but possibly an older one and probably not meant for the Max E-170), new plumbing (Red Sea's gate valve was too finicky), 2 Vortech MP10WQD pumps, and a new power management center. I also added an Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid fixture but for some reason do not have a picture.
1/5/2020 - Added a Jebao 4 channel doser, CoralBox 3 Part dosing container, a refugium section to the sump, and a Kessil H80 Refugium Light.
6/19/2020 - Last FTS before I began the upgrade to the 90-gallon.
So I will stop here and call this Part 1 of my 90-gallon build thread. Part 2 will be coming soon and will include lots of pictures of the entire build process. I am excited to document this, share it with everyone here, and hopefully receive some awesome feedback from all my fellow reefers!
So with the proper approval and a promise not to bring home another "mini-fridge" (more on that later), we headed down to our local fish store and came across this beauty:
I was very tempted to "go big or go home" with a 120-gallon that caught my eye. But I happily settled for the 90-gallon due to space restrictions and the fact that I could utilize some of my current equipment for the 90 a bit more seamlessly. Which brings me to the next part of this build thread- a little backstory and the obligatory showing off of my previous tank.
My interest in saltwater aquariums began in high school after I enrolled in an aquatic science class- intending it to be a blow-off class. We had a year-long assignment of setting up and maintaining a saltwater tank. As I'm sure ya'll can imagine, I became utterly enraptured. I enrolled the next year as an aide to that same aquatic science teacher (thank you, Ms. Newton, wherever you are!) and even set up my own tank at home. Following high school, I bequeathed that 55-gallon tank to my cousin, departed for college, and sadly left this wonderful hobby behind.
Fast forward 13 years. My wife and I were finally moving home after my separation from the Army and were ready to settle down after years on the move. A proposition greeted us almost as soon as we moved into our new home. That same cousin whom I bestowed a great responsibility on made me an offer I could not refuse. By then, he was the proud owner of a 32-gallon BioCube. With four kids and zero free time, he was looking to offload some obligations. I politely said no thanks and that his kids were great and all but I would much rather take the tank instead.
Unfortunately, I do not have pictures, or even words, to describe this BioCube/algae factory/eyesore of a fish tank before I inherited it. But here are a few pictures shortly after transferring it to my house:
Yes, that first picture does indeed have a Blue Tang in a 32-gallon BioCube... Also not pictured was the 4-inch Clown Trigger. Yikes. I took them both to the LFS soon after setting the tank up and thankfully they found new (and much larger) homes.
To make a long story short, I spent over a year reducing nitrates (from off-the-chart levels, literally), battling green hair algae, cyanobacteria, and dinoflagellates, and contending with an ungrateful snowflake clown before damaging the BioCube during a disastrous modification attempt. I then picked up a Red Sea Max E-170 (45-gallon) as an emergency replacement, which is where the "mini-fridge" reference from earlier in this post originates. While searching for a replacement tank I came across a build thread by @revnull. He mentioned that after he set up their Max E-170 in the living room, his wife aptly named it the "giant mini-fridge." Hilariously, and with no knowledge of @revnull's thread, this was the EXACT same reaction from my wife when I brought one home! And I kinda have to agree with her- see for yourself:
And since a white "mini-fridge" didn't complement the decor, we opted for a facelift using vinyl peel-and-stick paper:
Naturally, this evolved to where we are today- upgrading tanks because it just looks soooo much better in our living room. Better than the wood-look "mini-fridge" and its matching sidekick, IKEA's BESTÅ cabinet. But before I get into the details of the new build, here are a few progression pictures of the old Red Sea Max E-170. I want to give a big thanks to the wealth of knowledge and information I discovered here and on many other forums on R2R. A few specific threads/sites were especially helpful in this process:
@revnull (for too many reasons to mention here)
Build Thread - "Giant Mini Fridge" - Red Sea MAX E-170
Hello R2R! Up until now, I've been documenting my tank progress in a forum managed by my local reef club. A few weeks ago, they had an issue with the software and I feared that the content may have been lost. Luckily, the forum is back online with all content intact, but I though it might be...
www.reef2reef.com
@sithrico (for the plumbing upgrade)
@Broadfield (for impressive OCD-inspired organization among many other things)
Build Thread - Broadfield's Red Sea Reefer 450 Build - OCD Inspired... Going Back To a Reef
Current state of tank: FTS by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr FTS + Stand by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr IMG_6030 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr I am absolutely no stranger to posting build threads on a forum, just not of a reef tank... it's always been of vehicles.:) So this is my first! I...
www.reef2reef.com
@Taxus812 (for awesome product write-ups and detailed tank updates)
Build Thread - Terrys Red Sea Max E170 Build thread
Here we go. I started my tank build before getting to R2R but I did make a log of what was going on so I can do a bunch of catch up posts until I get current. Some of this is in my introduction so I am sorry about the repeat information Background of what I want and how im going about building...
www.reef2reef.com
1/23/2019 - Added the Red Sea plumbing kit, Eshopps RS-100 sump, AquaMaxx ConeS CO-1 skimmer, and Tunze Osmolator Nano 3152 ATO, and Reef Octopus VarioS-2 return pump.
4/13/2019 - Added a Red Sea sump (not sure which model but possibly an older one and probably not meant for the Max E-170), new plumbing (Red Sea's gate valve was too finicky), 2 Vortech MP10WQD pumps, and a new power management center. I also added an Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid fixture but for some reason do not have a picture.
1/5/2020 - Added a Jebao 4 channel doser, CoralBox 3 Part dosing container, a refugium section to the sump, and a Kessil H80 Refugium Light.
6/19/2020 - Last FTS before I began the upgrade to the 90-gallon.
So I will stop here and call this Part 1 of my 90-gallon build thread. Part 2 will be coming soon and will include lots of pictures of the entire build process. I am excited to document this, share it with everyone here, and hopefully receive some awesome feedback from all my fellow reefers!
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