New (tank and reefer) 90 gallon build

[jwilson]

First, let me say hi and I'm glad and excited to find and join NJ Reefers Club. May's meeting is a bit too far south for me (I'm in Union County) but I look forward to meeting members in the future.

I'm a returning novice to the SW community. I had a fish only SW tank about 25 years ago; a 20 gal tank with under gravel filter. It went well until I had to take down the tank. I've been out of it for a long time but am now building a new tank. About 5 years ago I started this project but it was postponed for a variety of reasons. I'm doing a 90 gal 1st floor tank with basement sump and support equipment. Pretty much all equipment has been purchased. Unfortunately some of my stuff is now a bit obsolete, but I'm happy to FINALLY be back on track to finish the install. My goal is to create a peaceful reef tank.

What I have:
Tank - 90 gal Oceanic Tech Tank,starphire front class, center overflow, no canopy, no lid planned.
Skimmer - Marine Technical Concepts, HSA 1000 powered by Blueline HD40 pump
Flow - Main return main return pump is Iwaki MD100 RLT, 35.6 max GPM, 23 gpm max calculated with control valve wide open = 1200 GPH or ~13 turns/hr
Aux - (3) Koralia 2 (600 GPH)
Lights - 48" Outer Orbit, 2x 250W 10K HQI MH remote ballast, 2x54W 460 nm T5 HO, 2x54w 420nm T5 HO, 9 ea moon white and nocturnal blue LED
Control - Digital Aquatics, Reef Keeper 2, 8 channel
Temp - (1) 200W heater and (1) 125W heater, located in sump
Sump - 30 gal Berlin style, acrylic, 50 gal total capacity
Fuge - 20 gal long, planned to have just a shallow sand bed and some rubble - purpose is to farm chaeto / pods
QT - 10 gal leader
Ti Grounding Rods
Kits - Elos PO4, NO3, CA, KH
Water - RO/DI (I forget how many GPD)

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this so far and, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, I'll appreciate all of them.

Jim

 

[mnat]

Welcome to the board and welcome back into the hobby. Looks like you have everything planned out pretty well. My only comment at this point would be to get a lid of some sort. The only fish that can't jump is a sea horse and depending on how you are stocking your tank, you could get a lot of carpet surfing. The easiest thing to do it build the BRS cover.

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/miscellaneous/miscellaneous-items

 

[Tazmaniancowboy]

Welcome. Sounds like you have been collecting for a while. Nice size to work with, and you will love the basement sump trust me!

 

[jwilson]

Thanks mnat and Taz.

I do plan on building a net, so I appreciate the link to the BRS materials. I was planning on making something similar although I would like to have the net hinged for feeding.

My livestock (fish) plan at this point is - in order of entry;
royal gramma
firefish goby
lawnmower blenny
pistol shrimp and randall's goby
tank bred ocellaris clowns
some spotted cardinals
yellow tang

My thinking is that the royal gramma should be first because they can be really shy and I want him comfortable.
Firefish next for partially the same reason and also because he should get along well with the RG up front. At least that's the way it was in my earlier tank.
The blenny I want to be really small so the tank and he can mature along the same rate. I have read that they can nip at SPS, but they're thought of as reef compatible. I really like the personality of these fish so I'd love feedback on whether it's a safe choice.
Pistol shrimp and randalls will be next and before whatever anemone I choose for the clowns. My thoughts there are that I don't want the anemone to find a home that ends up getting disturbed by digging. I want these guys for the same reason's everyone does.
Same as the clowns - obvious reasons.
The spotted cardinals are desired for their color and schooling habit.

The tang will definitely be last since he's the most likely to be aggressive.

My dry rock is coming tomorrow, I'll be arranging and cuttting, chiseling for the next week or so then I need to get some LR for seeding and starting it all off. I was planning on PA manado, or maybe a trip up to absolutely fish to take a look at their rock. I am planning on seeding the rock in the sump. This way I can start the cycle and have the skimmer, socks, etc. all working while I finish up the plumbing of the main tank.

I have a lot of time before I start QT my first fish but if anyone has comments on the fish plan please - I appreciate any help I can get.

I'll try and post some pics before too long.

 

[downbeach]

Welcome aboard.

 

[curt]

Welcome! Sounds good so far. I have a couple spotted cardinals and they are the most active fish in the tank.

 

[downbeach]

What are you planning for substrate, i.e. DSB, BB, etc.? Are you going to place anything on the glass under the rock, i.e. starboard, egg crate, etc.? Is it a RR with a megaflow overflow chamber?

 

[mfisher2112]

Welcome aboard!

Looks good so far.

I'd do away with the grounding rods. In my opinion, they pretty much just mask a potential problem. If I have something leaking voltage into the tank, I want to know about it. (and that little jolt you get sticking your hand in the water will CERTAINLY let you know! LOL!) Especially if its a heater. Leaking voltage is the beginning of a potentially catastrophic end.

How are you planning your plumbing using a separate tank for the fuge? (Curiosity mainly on this one. Seen many attempts get scrapped half way through the process)

Stocking looks good. Although I will say, get your lawnmower blenny used to supplemental algae right away (like nori strips on a clip or something) or they do have a tendency to strip the palatable algae clean and starve. Got lucky with mine, he picks at just about everything in the tank, but will also snatch of nori flakes as well as pick at the nori on the clip that I put in every few days.

Good luck and keep us posted! Don't forget, depending on where you are, May meeting is May 12th in Swedesboro!

 

[jwilson]

Thanks for the info on the grounding rods. I understand your point but I'm not sure I want to lose the safety they can provide. Maybe keep them and disconnect/test on a monthly basis?

God tip on the blenny too. I hadn't thought of it but I guess he would have had to learn to eat nori in the QT anyway.

I'm going with a shallow sand bed - about 1.25 to 1.5 inches of aragonite - I'm planning on buying the carib-sea special grade. From what I've seen that is compatible with the shrimp/engineer and still be shallow enough for the cleaning crew to keep control of.

I'm not planning on putting rock on egg crate but I'm open to it if needed. I bought the Pukani from BRS and I'm hoping to be able to use a hacksaw, angle grinder ect. to make relatively flat bottoms where needed. I have some 1/4" clear acrylic for mounting also. Basically my plan is to use acrylic or egg crate only where needed to keep everything stable but not cover the entire bottom. Do I need to bind the rocks together with putty or the stuff Marco Rocks sells or fishing line? I was thinking that I would just try and make a stable arrangement the methods mentioned above and use some putty if needed.

Yes, it's a reef ready tank with center overflow. It comes with twin mega-flow drains and returns, e.g. four drilled holes, two 3/4" bulkheads and two 1" bulkheads. I plan on a "herbie drain" set-up having one 1" bulkhead with a siphon drain to 1.5" pipe, the second 1" as the emergency drain, also to 1.5" pipe. Since I'm dropping 12 feet the actual need is no where near 1.5" but that way I have plenty of margin for error.

The return will be 1" up through the wall and split to two 3/4" lines under the tank to the bulkheads.

The separate fuge will be fed from a gate valve controlled branch of the return piping and drain to the unskimmed/return side of the sump using a durso style drainpipe. I drilled a center hole in it too because I have a back-up plan of a very reduced siphon drain as a secondary drain for pod collection and putting the fuge's main return into the skimmer side. I plan on hooking it up without the siphon drain and then integrate that if I don't get enough pod transfer. Although my main reason for the fuge is algae growth nitrate removal, I would love the free live food.

Thanks for the interest and help.
Jim

 

[TanksNStuff]

Jim, you must have been planning this for a while because everything is well thought out IMO. Really happy to hear you already have the QT plans as a priority!

For bonding rock together, the most popular method seems to be drilling holes straight through the rock, then running an acrylic or plastic rod through the drilled holes... epoxy to "glue" together where the rocks touch. The rod will help give it strength and keep the upper rocks from slipping off the lower rocks. It's also very good for helping support the rock to make caves, etc. You can drill the holes on angles too, like this (the slashes / and \ are the rods, dashes --- are just spacers):

-------Rock
------ /----\
Rock /------\ Rock

Hope that makes sense.

Anyway, welcome to the club and can't wait to follow along on the build.

 

[jwilson]

Thanks George. I have been planning this for a while and it's also my personality to be a bit obsessive and detail oriented.

Your diagram is perfectly clear. Since I can use a hacksaw I'm guessing that a regular fluted drill bit will work but I have a hammer drill too if needed. I'll use some sand to support the rock while drilling. What's a good diameter for the rods - 1/4?... 3/8?

 

[mfisher2112]

Sounds like you have a great plan!

Definitely looking forward to following along! Take lots of pictures and post often! We all love to live vicariously through others builds, especially considering for most of us, the build is the most fun part, and we can't build a new system every week! LOL!

 

[jwilson]

Thanks Matt. I'll post some pics tonight.

So far:
I have RO/DI plumbed in and the waste/permeate calibrated.
I have the sump positioned and the drain plumbed.
I have the cement pad down for the mixing station (basement floor was uneven).
I made a shelf for the top off tank but I still have to mount that above the sump.

I bought 60 lbs of Pukani dry rock from BRS that arrived yesterday. I plan on working out how I want to sculpt and place the rock this weekend. Then I'll do some temporary plumbing so I can run the return pump close loop on the sump and cycle the rock in there so I have use of the skimmer and socks while curing. That way I can get the ball rolling on that while I finish up display tank and refuge plumbing along with the other ton of work I have to do! I plan on adding some LR when I move it to the DT and add the sand.

Other than what I need to do to the rock for aquascaping does anyone have suggestions on if I should do anything to the rock? I've seen where people do nothing to the extreme of muriatic acid dips.

 

[downbeach]

I bought 50 lbs. of the Pukani last year. Although it's dry, it still has a lot of dead serpent stars, sponges, and other stuff I couldn't identify, in it. I tried to pick out as much as I could get to, and hosed it off. I placed it in a 55 I had set up for curing, and within a couple of days, it had rehydrated the remaining debris, turned the water opaque, and smelled like crap(it was nasty). I realized I had to etch it. So, I took as much as would fit into the bottom half of a 32 gal. brute and added enough vinegar and water (50/50) to cover it, added a power head and let it sit there for two days per batch. You can not reuse the water, so you need to make a new solution for each batch of rock you do. I then hosed it off again(if you have a power washer use it), and placed it back in my curing tank for about a month. (I was going to use it in an established tank, so I didn't want to create a large cycle.)

 

[NyteGTI]

Thanks Matt. I'll post some pics tonight.

So far:
I have RO/DI plumbed in and the waste/permeate calibrated.
I have the sump positioned and the drain plumbed.
I have the cement pad down for the mixing station (basement floor was uneven).
I made a shelf for the top off tank but I still have to mount that above the sump.

I bought 60 lbs of Pukani dry rock from BRS that arrived yesterday. I plan on working out how I want to sculpt and place the rock this weekend. Then I'll do some temporary plumbing so I can run the return pump close loop on the sump and cycle the rock in there so I have use of the skimmer and socks while curing. That way I can get the ball rolling on that while I finish up display tank and refuge plumbing along with the other ton of work I have to do! I plan on adding some LR when I move it to the DT and add the sand.

Other than what I need to do to the rock for aquascaping does anyone have suggestions on if I should do anything to the rock? I've seen where people do nothing to the extreme of muriatic acid dips.

because pukani is so porous some people have noticed that it has a lot more junk on it(dry rock) that needs to be cured. make sure you rinse it pretty well first before sliding it on the rods or epoxying the pieces together. since this is a new tank you could just cycle the tank slowly with ammonia while running your skimmer to get the gunk out. if you decide to use dr. tims or biospira or w/e quick cycle product you can find you might have some early phosphate issues but nothing a good skimmer & time won't cure.

also even if it's just an empty tank or equipment,

 

[jwilson]

Thanks Jim. It seemed that some of the rock was fairly clean and white and I didn't notice too much stuck in it. Just one or two pieces were pretty brown and seemed to have more stuff inside the holes and crevices. Other pieces looked pretty clean but had some dried out sponges and mini mussel shells and stuff inside. I'll pick out what I can and then soak/re-hydrate the rock like you suggested and then power wash it.

Since I'll be soaking and power washing with chlorinated water do I need to let the rock dry out again to rid the chlorine before I start cycling it?

 

[jwilson]

also even if it's just an empty tank or equipment,

Got it!

 

[downbeach]

Thanks Jim. It seemed that some of the rock was fairly clean and white and I didn't notice too much stuck in it. Just one or two pieces were pretty brown and seemed to have more stuff inside the holes and crevices. Other pieces looked pretty clean but had some dried out sponges and mini mussel shells and stuff inside. I'll pick out what I can and then soak/re-hydrate the rock like you suggested and then power wash it.

Mine was nice and white looking too. This is exactly what I did, and found that it wasn't sufficient. Since you're not trying to preserve anything that's on/in the rock. I would etch it too. You will not believe how much more will come off the rock from the etching process. You are going to put a lot of work into building your aquascape, using rods, cement, etc. I would do everything possible to eliminate potential problems now, before you get all this put together. It will be next to impossible to do later.

Since I'll be soaking and power washing with chlorinated water do I need to let the rock dry out again to rid the chlorine before I start cycling it?

I didn't, I used tap water for the power washing and etching, then just a drip dry and into the curing tank.

 

[jwilson]

Mine was nice and white looking too. This is exactly what I did, and found that it wasn't sufficient. Since you're not trying to preserve anything that's on/in the rock. I would etch it too. You will not believe how much more will come off the rock from the etching process. You are going to put a lot of work into building your aquascape, using rods, cement, etc. I would do everything possible to eliminate potential problems now, before you get all this put together. It will be next to impossible to do later.



I didn't, I used tap water for the power washing and etching, then just a drip dry and into the curing tank.

Thanks - and I couldn't agree more with your comment about doing everything possible now to avoid problems later. This tank has been a REALLY long time in coming. I'm not about to rush through something now just so I can kick my own arse.

 

[jwilson]

Right now I have no plumbing take offs for GFO/GAC, Ca reactors, UV, O3, etc. I figure I will need add a Ca reactor since I want to have some SPS, so I'll make accommodations for that.

How necessary are the others? Are they pretty much required or just band aids to solve symptoms that could otherwise be prevented. In other words, how essential is it that I plan for these add-ons in the future?

Should I just add some 3/4" taps off of the return line or drill the sump and add another bulkhead for a manifold?

Thanks.