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A 90 Gallon Quest For Tank Of The Month
Hi everyone, My goal is to make my Reef Tank of The Month. But I'll need as much help as possible to make this happen.
I just purchased a tank from GlassCages.com. It should be here on Jan 5 2008, you know I can't wait. Tank Specs: 90 Gallon 48L X 18W X 25H (Starphire glass panels) Custom Stand and Canopy. Sump: Triggersys BERLIN sump with attached REFUGIUM. My first goal is to get my lighting & Protein Skimmer straight. My lighting: I'm thinking about 4 t-5 tek retros with 2 pfo mini HQI How do you guys feel about pfo mini pendants? Can they fit a 400watt bulb?
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#2
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Here some pics of the Sump:
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#3
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The sump also has an effluent box. So the water coming from the CA reactor can be monitored. The box aslo has a place to neatly place ph probes. I hope this keeps my system neat.
You can also see a refugium to the left. I will us a coralife pc to light the refugium. In the middle I will place a protein skimmer there. I'm thinking about Bubble King Mini. Its looks like a plug n play skimmer, and I don't wan to waste a whole bunch of time adjusting the skimmer. I really love this sump!!!!
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#4
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More pics of the Effluent box:
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#5
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Here is part of my lighting set up:
I hope these are good reflectors, but they are the only hqi retros available. I need a small retro HQI set set up so I can fit more t-5 in my canopy. Here is a pic: Link: http://www.aquacave.com/detail.aspx?ID=1537# Quote:
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#6
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I used a pair of those reflectors for a temp lighting system until my LumenArcs came in...they are horrible. Hot spots and shadows. Spend the money on real reflectors, it does make a difference.
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Jack S.L.A.S.H. Custom Made for Enthusiasts. And the more I know, the less I understand All the things I thought I'd figured out I have to learn again |
#7
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Nice sump, keep the pics comin
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#8
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thats a pretty ambitious goal. Looks like you doing good so far. What are your plans for livestock? Keep the pics coming
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-Kyle |
#9
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Quote:
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#10
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Your going to run a 400W bulbs but the main strength will be from your T5's?
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#11
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I have that reflector and like it pretty well. JME I run a 150w HQI out of it.
Sump looks kinda cool. Let's here some stocking plans.
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THE MEDIOCRE MIND IS INCAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING THE MAN WHO REFUSES TO BOW BLINDLY TO CONVENTIONAL PREJUDICES AND CHOOSES INSTEAD TO EXPRESS HIS OPINIONS COURAGEOUSLY AND HONESTLY |
#12
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No kidding. Yes those reflectors are horrid.
The ReefOpticsIII would be a better choice. With only 18" width you made a poor size choice in having a tank custom made if your goal was to squeeze all that lighting in there. A pair of 250 watt bulbs would be plenty and you would have room left for a few T5's. If you are going for shimmer you should know that fluorescent lights will dull out some of that shimmer.
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Jack S.L.A.S.H. Custom Made for Enthusiasts. And the more I know, the less I understand All the things I thought I'd figured out I have to learn again |
#13
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I use 2x ROIII with 250w 14k de bulbs. You could still fit maybe 2x t5 also in there with them.
To get TOTM with a 90gal you are going to have to spend A LOT of money on rare coral/fish. It is a lot easier to win TOTM with huge tanks. |
#14
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I would like to see a 90 TOTM. It could be done, with a lot of planning. The problem is, you just don't have room for error. Everything must be perfect and rare corals a must. You would probally have to create something that has not been seen before. I like the goal, but don't sell these TOTM short. They are very established tanks with owners with lots of experience.
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#15
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Thanks for the love
Quote:
I have been wooed by the zeovit filtration method, any one has any sucess with it?
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#16
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Quote:
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#17
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Quote:
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#18
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With a 90 your room for error is very low. In a larger tank you can hide more thigs, that just don't look perfect. You have less room to create something that flows and looks natural. I would go with smaller rocks.
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#19
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I'll try the reflectors I bought, if they're wack I will change them. Being 6" wide, this should allow me to fit 4-5 HO (ice cap 430 ballasts)Bulbs. I will also fit 4 bulbs inbetween the MH fixtures(tek ho reflectors). I will be using a dual galaxy 250watt ballast
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#20
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Quote:
I don't look at the size, anyone can gave a massive set up, But skill is what makes it worthy of TOTM... IMO. The guy that has kept a SPS with a Softy and 3 leathers in a 10 gallon nano with a pair of clowns and their babies for 5 yrs. has a shot at TOTM. This shows skill w/o miss. I've seen 300+ gal. tanks where people could not even keep a snail alive....BUT they did have a big tank? In short... Build your 90 gal. put your heart into it and love it. If I see this comitment in it you'll get my vote. Lucky
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Fast women... Expensive hobbies... Whats left? |
#21
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With my lighting settled, here is some more equipment:
Reef Keeper/ Premium Aquatics Controller: For Flow: Wavy Sea/ 4 way OM Squirt CA Reactor: Knop
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#22
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Quote:
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#23
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IMO your biggest challenge will be aquascaping and coral placement. Should be natural looking, yet unique and have depth to it.
Good luck! |
#24
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Starting to plan out the filtration. I like the zeovit method, and I want to incorporate their filtration set-up.
So for protein skimming I'm going with a bubble king mini 180 skimmer. http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merch...ode=bubbleking My other choice was going to be an Aqua-C 180, but my experiance with them involved a lot adjusting. A good skimmer overall but I don't want to fiddle with them again. I know they are expensive but most of use spend mucho dinero on live stock anyway. This was one of the reasons I wanted a 90 gallon. Bigger tanks are very expensive and energy hogs.
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
#25
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Quote:
This will be the slowest tank build ever
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The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. Benjamin Franklin |
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