Help me with my 90 gallon build!!!!

[Monkey55]

I am in the stage of designing my 90 Gallon tank. So I will tel you what I am palnning on. I want to house some harlequins, triggers, a maroon clown, and a ton of varying lps, sps, polyps, softies, anemones (small), and a flame angel. I have a passion for shrimp for some strange reason. I like a lot of different types of shrimp.

The equipment I am looking at using.

A 90 gallon Oceanis bowfront reef ready tank with black oak stand and a custom built canopy with doors and hinges to suit my needs that is not just a plain shell. ( WHAT IS SOME OF YOUR OPINIONS OF THIS TANK?)

I plan on using the 2- 250 MH bulbs (at 15000K each); controlled by a electronis ballast;distributed by Seastar (i don't know the brand) and 2 - T5 actinic bulbs mounted in my canopy with proper adjustable fans so I don't have to use a chiller.

I will have the tan drilled ut the back instead of using the stock drill hole so that I can use 1-1/2" piping. I plan on using a sequence snapper pump that is capable of pushing 700-2700gph. I will also have a 25Gallon sump with a refugium.

I also plan on sing a tunze nano strean to provide my variable water movements.

I will use a Euroreef 100 for a skimmer. (Is this big enough?)

I am also planning on buying a three stage RO unit for making my water.

What do you guys think? Any opinions or changes you would make?

Thank you in advance!!

[useskaforevil]

you might want to add a DI to your ro unit. the water that comes out of my ro is nearly 0ppm. but the DI will make sure it is. also that pump range is pretty huge, how do you control it? also whats the rate the overflow can drain at? can your sump handle the excess water if your pump dies?

[Monkey55]

the pump just has a control knob on it
I willask the guy building it if the sump can handle the over flow

[Monkey55]

the overflow has 1.5" pipe drilled out the back, so it should match the pump best at 1500gph.

[alan214]

I really like your plans but you may want to consider a slightly bigger skimmer.

[davidryder]

some things to consider:

is a 25g sump going to fit under the stand? if there is a support brace in the middle of the stand where the cabinet doors are, that will be tough. even measuring the stand won't give you a real idea if it will fit or not. i have a 15g sump under my 90g tank and i had to remove the back brace to fit it in, and it's only 24x12x14.

are your lights going to fit under the canopy? a lot of stock canopys are too low to fit large lights to suit our needs. make sure you get all your measurements before buying anything! i bought a canopy with my stand and the lights didn't fit under it.

bowfront aquariums: i think they look nicer, but i also think they are more difficult to aquascape as it is difficult to make use of the bowed space in the front of the tank.

the livestock looks good, but triggers will eat all your coral

one other thing, if you plan on drilling the tank, it has to be done in production, as tempered glass cannot be drilled.. at least not safely. i'm assuming that this tank will be custom built anyway, so that was probably already thought of

the lights look great!

keep us updated, i want to see everything come together!

[floridagator]

if i was redoing my 90 I would of put a closed loop in it with a oceanmotions.

[Monkey55]

This tank is being put toogether by a guy I know that has done many of this exact setup. He Is includind the whole installation in the price.

This entire package will cost me 2500.00 USD.

He has a package from a company that is 20 0r 30 Gallon sump custom made to fit in the oceanic stand.

And my canopy will not be the stock one. It will be custom made to fit my lights and fans and have more accessable doors and hinges. Because the stock hood apparantly sucks. This is all included in the price.

I still haven't decided if I want a calcium reactor thouh. For the price of 500.00 USD including install. this is a tough decision.


What protein skimmer would you recommend?

[Monkey55]

what should I use for a filter? I completely forgot about this in the plans

[ambaratur]

Originally posted by Monkey55
what should I use for a filter? I completely forgot about this in the plans

Your skimmer is your filter... Along with live rock (hopefully you are considering having live rock)

[trigger111]

I wouldent use a nanostream on a tank that large. I have two 6045's on a 65 gallon tank and they are great pumps but not all that strong. If you have the money a regular stream pump would be a much better choice. The nano streams are great little pumps, but they wouldn't provide near enough flow on a 90 gallon tank.

[Monkey55]

I just want to put something on either side of the tank to provide some oscillating current.

Don't I need to have some type of cannister to put floss into to pick up debris. Also wouldn't a cannister be the place I would put a carbon bag if I needed to?

(Sorry I am new to designing
this large of a setup)

[Monkey55]

anymore else have some advice?

Should I get a calcium reactor?

What kind of auto top off unit would I need?\

Thanx for the help, this is a huge learning curve for me, and this thread already has given me a lot to think on

[three-spot]

Your clean up crew will pick up the debris for you... you should be able to put chemical filtration media in your sump.

[synthesis]

You should take a look at other 90G build threads for some ideas.
Here is mine for starters:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=964757

I would avoid triggers. They are amazing fish, but are meant for fish only tanks.

[usmcsgt]

Originally posted by davidryder


the livestock looks good, but triggers will eat all your coral

Not All triggers will and mostly triggers are not fish & snail safe, there are a few triggers suitable and reef safe, I.E. blue throat triggers and niger triggers

[stereomandan]

You have a lot of the right options to start with. Some areas that I think need to change:

The Snapper is too big for the overflow, in my opinion. I have a Snapper on my 90g and it could overcome a 1.5” bulkhead. My guess is that the overflow would get very noisy with that much flow. I would recommend a larger Eheim or a Mag 5 for return pump. You do not need much flow through your sump, and the Snapper is way overkill for flow. I only have a Mag3 for my return in my 90g tank with a 38g sump.

In my opinion, you should use either the Snapper, or the big brother the Dart, in closed loop. I have my snapper in closed loop exiting out of eight ¾” loc-line outlets. It does the job very well and is the only flow for the display tank. The Dart might be even better. This also keeps the ugly powerheads out of your tank.

The lighting sound great as well as the sump.

The skimmer you propose would work o.k., but I would step up to the Euroreef 135 skimmer. I think that is the next larger size than what you mentioned.

I agree with the others that the bowfront seems nice at first, but can be a real pain later. They are harder to aquascape and the fitment of lighting and equipment can be a problem. A standard 90g, with it’s large front viewing window is a pleasure to have. It’s personal preference really, since either can be made to work well.

You do not need a calcium reactor yet. You should buy something like the gallon refills of B-ionic and use that to keep the alk and calcium in line for a while. Then determine if you want a reactor.

You will want a 4 stage RO/DI as mentioned.

Think about how you are going to wire this up. It’s nice to have multiple GFCI’s for safety and so that if one of them trips, they don’t all trip.

This might help. It is my 90g build up thread.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...5&pagenumber=2

Good luck, and have fun!

Dan

[agarza]

Here is a link to my thread, you might find some answers there or maybe more questions.

95 galon tank 130 system

Cheers!

[sterbrock1]

I thought triggers loved shrimp (harlequins). Yum yum!

[willjeff]

You got a good start, Stereoman has some of the feelings that I do. I have a mag9.5 which is plenty of flow through my sump. I woulg have probably gone with a bigger skimmer maybe a ASM G3 instead of the G2. I use 2xSeio's which work great for me. If you really want shrimp then you shouldn't probably go with a trigger, my blue throat has eaten a couple of peppermints., but hasn't touched a coral in over a year. Good luck.

[Monkey55]

Ok. I will go with a 4 stage ro di unit and a euro reef 135. That's great advice.

I thought the whole point of the sequence snapper pump is that it is adjustable between 700-2800gph. I wanted to run it at 1500gph. That way it is never worked that hard. Is this bad thinking.?

what is B-Ionic?

[Monkey55]

HERE ARE MY MODDED PLANS SO FAR.

Oceanic 90 bow front with custom canopy and fans and mounts for 2 t5 actinicc and 2 250w mh pendant electronically controlled ballast.

A couple oscillating pumps on either side of the tank for wave effect (Maybe nanostreams or some type of tunze)

Main pump will work in conjunctio with a 25 Gallon sump and overflow that is raised high enough so that i don't have to worry about power outages. This will use 1.5" pipe out the back. and with 90 degree bends and what not (Apparently the installer has this down to a art, this is like the 25 tank of this specs he has done in the last 3 years)

I will use a sequence snapper pump. Because it is ajustable,(700-3500 gph) In will run it at1800gph. And it is the most reliable says my installer whom has done hundreds of tanks over 20 years. It is also the quietest.

I will use a euroreef 135 skimmer and a 4 stage RO/DI Unit.

I have a couple questions though. Should I use a calcium reactor?

What do you guys recommend for an auto top off?

How many locline outputs should I plumb into for this tank? (2,4,6?)

[sterbrock1]

If your tank is in a good area, for auto top off this is what I did:
Tap a water line, run this to the RO/DI unit. Run the RO/DI unit to a holding tank. Run the holding tank to your sump. You will need float valves or electronic float valves w/ selenoid at your holding tank and your sump.

I would recommend an electronic float valve at least on your holding tank. That way you can control how often your RO/DI runs (short bursts on RO/DI is not good). By doing this I put the selenoid before the RO/DI unit and you get a good positive shut off to the unit. The electronic float valves will run you about $35 and you need to assemble them yourself.

Scott

[Monkey55]

?

[davidryder]

this is how i did my top-off:

5 gallon (usually clear blue) water cooler jug (lowes, walmart)
2 3/8" inch holes near the top, a few inches apart
3/8" electrical grommets (lowes)
float switch (http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...Product=UL1111)
air pump (http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewIt...product=AP7215)
airline tubing (lfs)

the air pump plugs into the float switch, float switch goes in sump, adjusted at the height you want the water to be maintained.
one airline tube goes from the air pump to one of the holes in the water jug. another airline tube goes from the jug to the sump.

the idea is that when the float switch kicks in, it turns on the air pump, the pump pressurizes the jug, and forces water out of the jug into the sump. the electrical grommets may be difficult to get in, but it will help with the seal.

if you want to save some money on that float switch and are somewhat familiar with electronics, you can put together your own float switch from http://www.aquahub.com/store/madisonm8000.html

if you build one yourself, you don't want the float switch directly controlling the air pump. you can get a 12v relay from radioshack. the only problem with this solution is that you need two power supplies (12vDC and 120vAC).

good luck!