96 gallon progress

[evojoe67]

just started setting up the 96. i've got 1/3 of the water, from the original set up, added. i've got a pump and heater, in the water.

today i plan on adding the sand,and setting up the rock work, along with adding more water.will leave about 1/3 of the water out, to add water from my 210 reef, when all filtration is set up.

yesterday, i purchased a fu man chu lionfish, along with a volitains lionfish, and a niger trigger. the day before i purchased a beautiful neon green and pink wrasse. i "donated" my giant tomatoe clown, to my LFS.

the above fish are in my 29 gallon hospitol tank. they are all pretty small, so there is more then enough space for the short period of time they will be living there.besides, the lionfish don't swim around much.

i wanted to purchase these fish now, not because i am in a hurry to get started(who is'nt?), but because i wanted to observe them for a while, to make sure i did'nt introduce any disease into the new tank.
pictures below are of tank before teardown, at previous owners home.

[omard]

Whoooo, very pretty...nice job.

But have to say you are going to have to get your impatience under control!

Likely going to be months, even after initial cycle, before your tank can handle that kind of a bioload.

If you just have to keep that many fish initially, be prepared to do frequent, significant waterchanges, maybe will have to do a couple a week, or possibly more depending what your water params tell you.

Test daily. I would even suggest twice daily (morning and night) for first month or so.

System probably going to take much, much longer to stablize and build up bio-filter due to frequent water changes.

Instinct probably going to tell you to try and keep under control using supplements. Don't.

Wish you luck...

Keep us posted.

[omard]

- forget all of above if rock from original tank - missed that...Scott

(except "good job!" - )

[evojoe67]

thanks, you had me nervous there!

i'm using pretty much everything that was in the tank, before, except the sand.

i understand some have said i should use the sand, but it had an over load of those pesky star fish, and i wanted to start fresh.

i kept the sponge that was in the filter, in the tank water, with a heater, and power head. this along with adding some of my reef water, should speed up the process.

[lunatik_69]

Looks good, keep the pics coming! Luna

[evojoe67]

Originally Posted by lunatik_69

Looks good, keep the pics coming! Luna

hey luna, check out my 210reef pics. been waiting for your comments

[evojoe67]

just some info on recent progress
tank is full set up, and functioning. 20 gal refugium has a protein skimmer(not running yet, want to let things build up)phosband reactor, coralife u.v.
has about 70lbs of l/r, some of which was from the original set up, some from my established reef, and some from my LFS.
have 40lbs live sand.
have one hydro koralia #4. flow is excellent!
have 2 actinic blues, and 2 actinic whites. i'll let you know the wattage. not looking to add coral, so don't think that really matters much.
i've got a 250, 15k, metal halide, i was gonna add, but why, right?no sense, since not adding corals.
my goal is to wait a month, before adding any fish.