Hockeynut's new 90 gal build

[Hockeynut]

Well I am new to this site and thought This might be my way of introducing myself my name is Rob, aka Hockeynut ( Go Devils )
I'm building a 90 mixed reef with a 70 gallon Sump refugium. At this point I'm almost ready to add salt water to the tank. it's been running with fresh water for about a week now to test all the systems..

The tank sits on the custom cherry stand which I built myself on a base of two by fours. The lighting system is Tao tronics dimmable LEDs (trying them for the first time)
My skimmer is a reef octopus nw150 6530b.
My system is controlled by a DA reefkeeper elite v2
Two power heads are hydro korilla evolution 1400s controlled by the reefkeeper
My main return pump is from brs and is a ocean runner or3500 which I was skeptical about but it moves the water great and is up till now almost dead silent.
All of my rock is from previous tanks and has been cleaned dried and cured
My Sand in my refugium is nice and large due to using the old 70 gal plenty of room down there...
The tank will be viewed from all sides I have had tanks like this before and love to look from all angles.
Let me know what u think ill follow up once its really going making ro/di water now

 

[kschweer]

Looking good man. I really like the stand. Very nice work.

 

[Zippy69]

Welcome Rob, nice tank and great job on the stand! It looks like you have it in the middle of the room and i was curious if the tank is resting on a load bearing wall or a slab?

 

[Hockeynut]

Built the house myself there is a gerder right under the tank plenty of weight bearing. I'm a builder... But also built furniture for a number of years

 

[Hockeynut]

The top is not quite finished and I'm not sure I like the top but ill live with it for now

 

[mnat]

Welcome to the club, love how the tank is in the middle of the room and viewable from all sides.

 

[falconut]

Looking really nice. I like the tank placement, in a nice high flow area of the house.

 

[ahvrivera]

Welcome to the club! Nice build and placement. Just flip the couch around and it will be perfect .

 

[hcker99]

Nice to see another Jackson reefer on the site. Tank looks great.

 

[kschweer]

Nice to see another Jackson reefer on the site. Tank looks great.

There seems to be a bunch from Jackson. I grew up there and my family still lives there so I'm in town fairly regularly.

 

[Hockeynut]

Thanks for the kind words hope to be letting her rip pretty soon..
I can't wait to see some color on those bare rock piles
Maybe one day I will meet up with some of u guys and check out some of your tanks and grab some knowledge that I'm sure I need. I have had reef tanks before but that was a long time ago and as all of u know things have changed progress is great.. I remember a 70 I had in the early 90's it was tough back then just to keep my corals alive never mind have them grow, now it seems pretty Commonplace. I'm now running a 20 gallon in my sons room that has a couple of coral frags which seems to be doing well. It's been running now for over two years. I'll try to post some pictures of it but I'm still not exactly sure how to get the pictures to show up in between my ramblings. I saw a thread about the meeting you guys had this past weekend but I was up in Boston at my son's hockey tournament otherwise I was considering going. Maybe next time here's another I try not to keep too much in this tank my son is only nine and I don't want to make it difficult for him to Maintain.

 

[mnat]

I am in point pleasant not to far from you if you want to swing by. I think I am doing a meeting in a few months

 

[adesimone1]

Welcome to the club and the tank is looking great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jgraz]

Welcome to the club. Love the tank, especially placement. I wish I had a spot like that in my place where I could do a all around view.

 

[Hockeynut]

Mnat, I'll be there

 

[Hockeynut]

Well I started Making water and I realized that I was blowing through DI resin Luckily I posted a question about this and was quickly informed that the reason I was blowing through resin was probably because of CO2 in my well water.
A couple of guys on the site help me through the process of eliminating CO2 so I set up a bubbler and now I'm bubbling water and getting it ready to run through my DI resin. I didn't realize that my well water contained so much CO2 but now I do.


The photo Shows a temporary drum set up For bubbling the water. After my initial set up I think I will drop the size of the drum down to 30 gallons for bubbling and then 30 gallons for storage.
Tomorrow night I'm hoping to drain the tank of fresh water clean everything up and set it up permanently.
After reading a bunch of threads I hope that I did the right thing by buying the LED lights some guys like them some guys don't. The only saving grace is is that I have a metal halide fixture with two 250w and 4 t5's if I don't like the LEDs
I Still Haven't chose an auto top off system for the tank Any recommendations would be appreciated.

 

[jverna1]

Looking good man. I really like the stand. Very nice work.

+1 The stand and canopy are awesome!

 

[Hockeynut]

Thanks jverna1, I saw some picks of your tanks on another post and they look great, I hope I can get this one to look that good one day, I'm sure it will be a long way off

 

[Hockeynut]

Good night tonight made 50 gallons of water, getting close now...
Also I stopped by ultimate corals and picked up a couple frags for my sons nano, I'm still real sketchy with names but I'm sure over time ill remember more.







Two hours in the tank and everything is opening up nicely..

I liked so many different pieces but in the end I couldn't take everything.

Thanks mark, By the way my wife loved your dog.

 

[hcker99]

Thanks Rob. Great meeting you guys too and Bandit liked you guys as well. From top to bottom you got Cinniman Grande Polpys, Pepperment Acans, Ninja Star Zoa's.