90g Mixed Reef

[leahfiish]

Most recent FTS:


Tank: 48x18x24 90g reef ready with plumbing modded into a herbie overflow
Lighting: Kessil ap700 on mounting arms at max height, 40% intensity peak
Sump: Eshopps r-200
Return pump: mag drive 7
Powerheads: 2 koralia 3rd gen 2400 on all the time
Skimmer: reef octopus 152-s
Chemical filtration: phosguard, carbon, and Purigen in the sump
Dosing: ~15ml 2 part (reef fusion) per day, 2ml Vodka+vinegar mix per day
, fuel 1-2x/week
Live rock: caribsea life rock, mix of branch and regular, also have a lot of Matrix in the refugium section of my sump
Sand: caribsea special grade reef sand, about 60lbs plus some crushed coral and Matrix for jawfish


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Hello everyone, I finally decided to make a thread for my tank to track progress.

This is not my first saltwater tank, but it is my largest home aquarium that I've ever had, so I'm really excited. I've been researching/saving up for this tank for a while and I'm glad to finally get everything started.

I have a (used) 90g (48x18x24") reef ready tank that I acquired along with a stand.
I painted the trim and stand black, and redid the plumbing to create a Herbie style overflow.
My sump is an Eshopps R-200. Right now all that's in there is some Matrix in the refugium section for some biofiltration. I'm using a Mag Drive 7 for the return pump. I still need a skimmer.

In the display I have about 75 pounds of CaribSea LifeRock. It's a mix of shelf, branch, and regular liferock. I spent a pretty good amount of time aquascaping... it is difficult to work with the branch rock to make it look natural. I started with a 40lb box of regular liferock, and arranged an arch that I really liked. Then I got a 35lb box of mixed rock, with the goal of creating a similar structure on the left. I didn't want to mess up the arch that I already had on the right since I was completely satisfied with it. It probably took 20 hours to come up with something that I liked, that was stable without any glue or rods, and had enough room for coral and hiding spots for fish...

And looking at it again now, I still want to change it... it's too close to the wall on the left side. Ugh.

I still don't have lighting, saving up and still deciding on what to go with, currently leaning towards LEDs.

I put it some bottled bacteria and a few cubes of brine shrimp a few weeks ago. I had a small ammonia and nitrite spike which quickly leveled out. Should be ready for fish soon, but I plan to do TTM for all fish so it'll still be a bit before they're on display.

To do:

• finish eggcrate/mesh top
• silence the plumbing
• fix the cord mess
• acquire lighting
• acquire skimmer
• acquire CUC
• acquire fish

Here are some progression pics:

What I started with (40lbs):


Made this awesome arch:


Couldn't decide on what to do after that with the new rock...


Ended up with this... it doesn't look that great in the photos but I think in person it is really nice.

 

[Maritimer]

Tank looks really nice - that is an awesome arch on the right, and I like the way its left end comes around and encloses a patch of sand inside!

Also like the greater height / mass on the left - it makes a nice contrast with the more delicate arch.

~Bruce

 

[Maximizer]

Welcome to R2R!!! I really liked the second to last photo the best. But all that matters if you like it. Will look great once you start filling it with coral.

 

[leahfiish]

Tank looks really nice - that is an awesome arch on the right, and I like the way its left end comes around and encloses a patch of sand inside!

Also like the greater height / mass on the left - it makes a nice contrast with the more delicate arch.

~Bruce

Thanks. Not sure if the right pics showed up in the right order, so for clarification this is what I have now.

It is really hard to tell from the picture but there is another little alley that goes behind the rocks on the left from left to right, and the leftmost rock also creates an overhang. Theres also a nice little slope along that left ridge. I'll try to get a better pic within the next few weeks.

Welcome to R2R!!! I really liked the second to last photo the best. But all that matters if you like it. Will look great once you start filling it with coral.

Thanks. I liked a lot of the arrangements I had but they were just not stable enough, usually. Or there wasn't enough hiding spots for fish. I might still mess around with it.

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Great scape for that tank. I tried and tried to do islands but never liked what I came out with in my 90. So a big fat wall it is. Lol welcome to The madness that is R2R

 

[leahfiish]

Great scape for that tank. I tried and tried to do islands but never liked what I came out with in my 90. So a big fat wall it is. Lol welcome to The madness that is R2R

Thanks. It is still a work in progress. I really wanna make some kind of island/pillar/arch look work. I have found so far that it is much easier to do with less rock, because negative space is important for those kind of looks and cluttering up the tank makes it look messy. But it also doesn't give enough hiding spots and retreats for fish... so it's tough to balance.

 

[jsker]

Very nice setup, and remember it is never to late to drop in some stick rock to make arches and height.

 

[leahfiish]

Very nice setup, and remember it is never to late to drop in some stick rock to make arches and height.

Thanks. I was considering that too.

I was originally trying to use the branch rock as a base to prop up an arch on the left. Kind of like a beach house. So there would still be flow and caves under the main structure. But I only have 3 branch pieces so it wasn't working that well.

 

[Salty1962]

Looking good!

 

[revhtree]

Looking great!

 

[leahfiish]

Added some live rock rubble that has been seeded in a tank with tons of pods and coralline algae for a few weeks. I don't really want a lot of coralline, as I plan to keep all sided of my glass clear, but it would look nice on the rock I guess. Hoping to do a small water change tomorrow.

 

[leahfiish]

Got most of my supplies for my qt setup:
2 10g tanks
2 50w heaters
2 thermometers
1 air pump
A bunch of air stones and airline tubing
Seachem Prime

If you couldn't tell I'm going to be TTMing all of my fish.

Also have a spare 29g + heater + misc powerheads for longer term qt.

Right now I plan on using tap water for the qt tanks unless anyone has any compelling evidence not to.

I haven't gotten to do that water change yet (oversalted my water storage bin so still waiting to make enough water to dilute it) hopefully will be done tomorrow.

Also added another bag of matrix to the refugium. So now I have about 2l in there.

Hoping to get some inverts early next week.

 

[leahfiish]

Did ~10g water change.

 

[leahfiish]

Filled the qt tanks with dechlorinated tap water and salt to let them mix with a powerhead overnight. Swapping out the powerheads for an airstone once I get airline tubing. Got a pvc elbow for each tank, too. Still need a lid.

Still considering changing the left side... Here's a pic with natural lighting.

 

[Maritimer]

In the natural light, I can see openings and channels that weren't as evident in the other photos ... I like the left side better now! (>_<)

In the end, the only person who needs to smile when they look at this aquascape - is you.

~Bruce

 

[leahfiish]

In the natural light, I can see openings and channels that weren't as evident in the other photos ... I like the left side better now! (>_<)

In the end, the only person who needs to smile when they look at this aquascape - is you.

~Bruce

Heh. Like, I like it overall. But I think I could make some improvements. That might be tonight's project.

 

[leahfiish]

Added some algagen tisbe pods to the refugium last night.

Also spent a few hours working on my aquascape but have nothing to show for it. I was really trying for another, taller arch on the left but I don't think it's gonna happen. Instead I think I'm gonna go for 2 pillars. But we'll see.

 

[leahfiish]

I say that... And I end up with an arch that's very similar to my previous tries... [emoji58]

I'll let it go for a few days and see how I like it.

 

[leahfiish]

I got a great deal on a barely used skimmer last week. It's a Reef Octopus 152s, and I put it in last week. It's still producing a ton of foam so I'm just running it without the skimmer cup and letting it overflow. I suspect I'll have to raise it but I'm out of egg crate so I might have to figure something out. I also put in one trochus snail last week that seems to be doing well. I'm hoping to get my lighting soon.

 

[leahfiish]

Got my lighting... Kessil ap700 mounted with 2 of the A series mounting arms.

It was very easy to setup and install by myself, no tools needed except a step stool and a measuring tape. I'm still adjusting the settings and playing around with it but I'm happy so far. I have it very high off of the water right now and at a very low intensity. I might lower it a little bit but then the mounting arms will be visible through the back glass which I am trying to keep clear. If I lower it I'd probably have to add a black background. I still have to clean up some of the cross from the powerheads and stuff anyway.

Livestock wise I still have just one snail but I'll be picking up some fish this weekend and probably some inverts and corals too. I'm very excited!