Powerman's 90g thread.

Well I didn't know about this site. I had fresh water tanks in the past. I really enjoyed it. Always wanted salt, but never had the money laying around to do it. A coworker was selling his setup. It was a nice system and ONLY 10 months old. This was the 4th system he had set up and sold. He has a short interest period.;D

His loss was my gain. Pennies on the dollar. This is what I started with.



He lived just down the street. The move took all day. My Coral beauty never got over it. Lasted for a couple of months, but then finally died. I did what I could.

This was the start of my system. All cleaned up. I had a mini cycle. Not Amonia, but nitrates got up to 40 before going back down.



Born Aug 25th, 2008

 

Looks awesome!!

 

So I tried to get a handle on chemistry and maintenance. Got on line and started reading a ton. I really didn't know much about salt water, but knew it wasn't over my head.

I added a clean up crew, and a Hippo Tang. Replaced the Coral Beauty and got a couple of Emerald crabs. Still have them. Got some more coral.

The sand really bugged me. Full of rubble. Tried to clean it.



Decided to add some. It was nice and white for a while. But then some of the stuff below came to the top. I just live with it now, but clean white sand does look wonderful.

 

Looks great!

 

My chemistry was going well. I never had detectable nitrates. The PO took out the bio balls, but I actually added a couple of bags of ceramic rings back in. I mechanically filtered aggressively. But I got tired of dealing with filter. The skimmer does a pretty good job.

I wanted to add a fuge, but could not really fit what I wanted under the stand. So I decided to build a bigger one.

Well I have a tendency to escalate things.... so this



Turned into this.



My stairway closet was on the other side of the tank. So I commandeered it. I did do a build thread on that. It has a lot of stuff I changed and added at the time.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/my-sump-fuge-equipment-closet-build-59007.html

That build casued some problems with noise and bubbles. My solution was to go to a Herbie overflow set up. Totally bubble free and completely silent. It has been great to date. To learn more, read the write up I did.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/my-herbie-overflow-write-up-pics-beware-60239.html

 

I wanted more stability in my system. I added a Tunze ATO to keep my salinity in check.

I wanted a bigger skimmer. My EV-120 was doing a good job, but I wanted a 180. Well.... remember that escalation thing I mentioned..... it turned into a Bubble King Mini 160.



I also got lax on my Ca/Alk. I decided Seachem was not going to cut it. I decided to go with Bulk Reef Supply 2 part. I got two of their dosing pumps and automated my chemicals. It was very easy to get going and dial in. I'm so happy I did it.



You can get away with just dumping in Calcium once a day. Do your self a favor though and at least get a dosing pump for the Alk. I dose all night long to keep the PH up.

Last but not least, I needed a controller. There are more powerful for more sophisticated systems, but all I needed was a AC Jr. By far the best money I spent on my setup. Should have done it sooner.

 

That does look great. Keep up the good work!!!

 

My plan was to get my setup dialed in the way I wanted. Then work on system stability. I was not happy with the rock work. I had a 150lbs of Fuji rock. There was not much to do with it except stack it up. I also did not have time during the move to worry about stacking it.

This was my tank up to this point.



I wanted to open it up more. Plus coral placement and water flow was a bit difficult. I had an idea of what I wanted. I paid a fortune for a couple of pieces of Tonga branch. I got a couple of pieces of Lace Rock to go with it and make shelves. I lined up a buyer for the LR I was going to be taking out and dove in.



Now I had a Gold Striped Maroon Clown that loved to dig. It really irked me. I relocated him several times and put rocks down to keep him from doing it. I opened up the left side of the tank and he went berserk. Holes every where. This was previously undisturbed sand too so my tank was a mess for a week. He had to go. I also has a Scopas Tang that I decided need to go too.

I emptied the tank again to get them out. I took them to the fish store. After that, I finally was able to place my coral and clean everything up the way I wanted. This is my tank now









I am so happy I did it. I wound up taking 40 lbs. of rock out. (but I added 20) It just looks less because I stacked it up against the right side glass. Don't really view that side much. Turned out better than I had hopped. Much more open and my fish love the extra room and swim throughs. They love hanging out under the overhangs. I did not want to add anymore coral knowing that I was going to redo the rock work in the future....

Well now I have a green light. My system is setup. My parameters are stable, and my aquascape is how I want it.

 

Congrats and looking good. Keep it up dawg.

 

So I was tired of The GSM Clown stirring up sand all over everything. My Scopas Tang and Yellow Tang would chase each other all day. So I thought removing the Scopas would calm the tank down. I traded them for some Dispar Anthias



They are such an awesome addition to the tank. They only had two, so I will get 1-2 more when they come in.

I also decided some Monti was in order. I think it will look great there when It grows out.



Plus I got a couple of Ricordias.





My plan from here is to enjoy. I want some softies/LPS/SPS that do not over grow my tank and get out of hand. I already had to remove a ton of Clove Polyps. I removed a tone of Zoas during the redo as well. I saw some really cool Blue Xenia. I really wanted some, but passed. I also need to get better at macro photography.

Thanks a ton to every one that helped me with all the advice along the way.