revamping the 90

[ZIGGY63]

well with the move over, and trying to settle in now. my mind is shifting back to setting up the 90 gallon tank. their are a few things that need to be done first.

1. new stand to be built (old stand was to high in my opinion + plus it got damaged when the basement flooded)

2. new sump the old one was small and crowded (plus old stand wouldnt allow a bigger one) for this im thinking about going with a 20 long

3. different light my old ati fixture was falling apart. their is no rush really on lights as i do have a set of ocean revive t247 i can use in the mean time

 

[ZIGGY63]

Update cleaning out tank and equipment. Picked up a 20 gallon long form pet supplies. The baffles for the sump should be in Saturday. No stand construction yet

 

[ZIGGY63]

Well look what showed up a day early

 

[ZIGGY63]

anyone local running a bare bottom tank? got to watching brs/wwc hybrid tank and was thinking about going that route, with the whole 4 month cycle.

 

[ZIGGY63]

Some stand building, I think it’s the same height as the old one? But it can still be lowered. The last one is just mocking up and looking.

 

[BlueDevil]

Looking good man! Excited to see this come together. Are those acrylic baffles? From what I’ve read, it is hard to get acrylic to bond to glass.
regarding bare bottom, I recall reading something from WWC where they suggested against going bare bottom at least initially on brand new setups. I believe they suggested using a bed initially until the bacteria had populated and then removing the sand slowly if you want to go bare bottom in the long run.

 

[ZIGGY63]

yes its acrylic. the one big problem I had; in my first experience with sumps was not leaving any room for the acrylic to expand. so in the end my first sump adventure left me with a busted sump and a wet floor. the manufacturer for the baffles recommended ge silicone.

I know in the brs video they said if you went bare bottom the first year would be difficult. just looking at different options. When I purchased my current tank their was not much you could change. because of the livestock and etc. it was pretty much tear down and moving then reassemble.

I'm debating on a floating canopy above for the light fixture. with a possible t5 / led lights. but I'm getting ahead of myself, purchased the rest of the stands stuff today.

 

[BlueDevil]

yes its acrylic. the one big problem I had; in my first experience with sumps was not leaving any room for the acrylic to expand. so in the end my first sump adventure left me with a busted sump and a wet floor. the manufacturer for the baffles recommended ge silicone.

I know in the brs video they said if you went bare bottom the first year would be difficult. just looking at different options. When I purchased my current tank their was not much you could change. because of the livestock and etc. it was pretty much tear down and moving then reassemble.

I'm debating on a floating canopy above for the light fixture. with a possible t5 / led lights. but I'm getting ahead of myself, purchased the rest of the stands stuff today.

Just my personal opinion, since I have a Radion/T5 hybrid combo. It is very tricky and comes with some challenges. Specifically how to account for the massive PAR increase that the T5 bring in. In my case they add about 100 PAR at the very least! I have found it to be quite a struggle bringing them on full time without causing bleaching due to the significantly higher PAR. I started with only running them for 10 mins at a time and gradually increasing the duration. That didn’t seem to work quite well. If I had to do it over I would do Radions (or any LEDs for that matter) and use the Reef Brite XHO strips for supplemental lighting. BRS did a great video comparing the Reef Brite to T5 and their finding just added to my confidence that that is the sweet spot in a hybrid set up. Check it out if you haven’t already.

 

[ZIGGY63]

Really? Thanks for posting that. I would have never thought it would add that much. I was just thinking of adding the retro fit kit they have.I will have to look in to video. I have though about reef brute but never researched them

 

[BlueDevil]

Really? Thanks for posting that. I would have never thought it would add that much. I was just thinking of adding the retro fit kit they have.I will have to look in to video. I have though about reef brute but never researched them

Here is the link to the BRS video.

 

[ZIGGY63]

Just a few updates. Mainly the top , skin and doors are all on. Not much progress ; but last week was to busy really to get anything done. I’m debating on adding a storage on the right side of the stand. Someday I will figure out how to post these in order.

 

[ZIGGY63]

Leak testing today, I sorta skipped documenting the sump set up and plumbing. But their wasn’t much to those steps. No leaks

 

[ZIGGY63]

For this weeks work I shifted to the light canopy. I forget to take progressive pics while I’m working . This is just the framing it up

 

[ZIGGY63]

Finished product mounted

 

[ZIGGY63]

Beginning to figure out how to do the scraping now

 

[ZIGGY63]

I think I finally got it figured out.need to start making water and start the cycle

 

[ZIGGY63]

Finally starting the cycle, only had two small leaks in the plumbing

 

[ZIGGY63]

Still working the cycle, cut the lights on for the photo. Going to start working on the apex station next

 

[ZIGGY63]

Been working on the apex stand and 2 part dosing station.

 

[ZIGGY63]

More pictures