90 Gallon Mixed Reef

[Klag]

Hello all!
I am starting my first tank that is not an AIO soon. It was gifted to us, my girlfriend's dad's old tank (he went bigger). He gave us some of his old equipment too.

Equipment:
-90 gallon reef ready tank - All Glass Aquariums (?)
-Eshopps S-200
-Jabeo DCQ-5000
-EcoTech MP40
-Trigger Systems Platinum 26 - got on black Friday for 30% off

Fish and Corals to be moved over:
-Pair of black clowns
-Baby Hippo Tang
-Brittle Star, Pincushion Urchin, Pom Pom and anemone crab
-Various conchs, snails, and hermits

-Green Bubble
-Digitata
-Various hammers and octospawns
-Gold torch
-More...

Questions:
1) First non-AIO, should I hard or soft plumb?
2) I don't want to reuse my rock as I have aiptasia and would like to avoid it. I got 40 lbs of dry rock for the new tank, should I get the rest in live rock or more dry rock?
2.1) Is it safe to reuse the water from my tank if I want to avoid the aiptaisa, or can its spawns be in the water itself?

I will post pictures as I go

 

[ryanjohn1]

Hard plumb. Make sure to use a bunch of unions. Decent gate value for your flow. Yes you can reuse your water. I would recommend using your rock. If you use dry stuff it will cycle.

 

[CBonito]

Hard plumb. Make sure to use a bunch of unions. Decent gate value for your flow. Yes you can reuse your water. I would recommend using your rock. If you use dry stuff it will cycle.

I can't agree more. I hard plumb everything, even if it borders on the ridiculous. Do it right, and you'll never have a problem. Valves, unions and even a manifold for future goods, are your friend.

 

[Klag]

Hard plumb. Make sure to use a bunch of unions. Decent gate value for your flow. Yes you can reuse your water. I would recommend using your rock. If you use dry stuff it will cycle.

I don’t want to knowingly put aiptaisa in this tank. There are visible pieces on every rock in my tank. Would you still reuse it?

 

[ryanjohn1]

Aiptaisa can be managed via livestock or chemical products

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Klag]

looking for some feedback on my sump plumbing plan!

Trigger Systems Platinum 26"

 

[randomfishdude]

I would use old rock and get some fish or shrimp to eat the aptasia.
If you dint reuse old rock you are basically going to be starting from ground 0.

 

[Fredlee]

For your plumbing use two 45's instead of one 90. It improves the flow. also you can use schedule 80 unions which are much better than schedule 40 and still use schedule 40 pipe. They are interchangeable.

 

[Klag]

Here are some updates on the build: this picture was from a while ago, but the plumbing and dry setup complete here

 

[Klag]

We did a cycle with Dr. Tim's for about 2.5 months with some dry rock. We ordered 40 lbs of rock, 20 lbs of sand, and a critter pack. from @LiverockRocks. That came in on Monday and looked fantastic. The rock scape needs some adjustment, we just wanted it all in the tank.

 

[LiverockRocks]

We did a cycle with Dr. Tim's for about 2.5 months with some dry rock. We ordered 40 lbs of rock, 20 lbs of sand, and a critter pack. from @LiverockRocks. That came in on Monday and looked fantastic. The rock scape needs some adjustment, we just wanted it all in the tank.

Appreciated working with you.
Go ahead and mix the 20lbs sand into your existing sand and also turkey baste the rock. Water near the farm is nutrient rich and contains much sediment/silt, so working that into the water column by turkey basting is great for sponges, tunicates and to move debris/microorganisms into the sump.
Macro algae is just beginning to grow again in the warm spring water, so if you don't have herbivores in the tank you may begin to see sprouts of red and/or green macro, wooHOO.

 

[slythy]

where abouts in Indy are you getting your stuff?