90G New Build - Added Dry Rock

This is my new 90 gallon build that I am upgrading from my previous 20 gallon nano tank.

I was going to start this thread a while go, but I decided to wait until I got to the point where I was waiting for my tank to cycle and then back post.

Before I even had a new tank yet, I had a spot picked out for it in my office. I knew the size footprint I could fit in (Length and Width), which allowed me the option of either getting a 75g or a 90g tank. Either way, as the only difference was height (and weight) I decided to start building a DIY stand.

Below are the pictures of the frame and the completed stand. As I never build a stand before, I decided to play it safe and sacrifice weight by over engineering it by using 4x4s on each corner and a 2x4 for the middle, rear post. I wanted to leave the front middle open, without a post, so I had enough room to do maintenance in my sump.

The final pictures are of the completed stand with my existing 20g tank on top of it.

 

Looks really good

 

With the stand build, I decided to go with the 90g tank over the 75g tank. While some people don't like the extra height of the 90g, I figured it's just a 3" difference but I would get more total water volume and maybe more room for some fish to swim around.

I ordered 100lbs of BRS reefsaver, pukani, and shelf dry rock. Having problems with hitchhikers in the past, I decided to use 100% dry rock and dry sand and seed it with Dr Tim's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria.

Attached are pictures of the rocks, test structures, the rock in the tank with water, and a nice little crab that was hiding in one of the rocks I broke up.