My 90 Gallon Reef Tank!!!!

Well since im so damn happy with my stand... I figured Ill give this guy more work and have hime build me some side cabinets. these side cabinets will hold my ato water resoivoir, ballast, auto doser and other items. in the future plan on having a chiller (i know will need more airflow) and a calcium reactor. He starting the build next week on side cabinets ;D

front view of side cabinet


back view of side cabinets. open strip is for cables and plumbing.


this is what the whole view in cad will look like including stand already holding my tank ;D

 

I absolutely had a nightmare of a weekend with my tank. Everything that could have went wrong went wrong :-[. I replaced my bulkhead fittings to my overflow so I can run pvc and rid my tubing. Thinking it would be a few hour project turned to all night saturday and all day sunday. Main problem was my new fittings at the overflow were dripping water. They were leaking. I came to the conclusion that I didnt clean the surface where the gasket seals. I am sure that I had some detrius or other substance there not allowing a prefect seal. I didnt find out until I had piped everything in. Dripping water all over my ballast. NOT GOOD!!! But I safely escaped a disaster. There was a lot more involved than expected than just replacing some fittings. There was more hurdles to jump to finally get it done. I originally had piped my return... but I got fed up and put the original bulkhead back on and ran tubing back to it so I was half successful in my little project.

I also replaced my sump... Baffled a 20 long to keep a constant water level for my XP.

Some pics of finished mini project. Before and After

Before


After

 

Looks like you have a bit more room in the sump now


Do you get gurgles from your return piping from time to time? If you do, or you want to pretty much eliminate the bubbles from venturing outside the PVC, LMK. I know, you just re did your piping, but this is an easy add on that won't have you need to redo the rest of the piping.

 

dude, that sucks, but it is done now. Sort of...;D

Well the sump looks good. Won't have to worry about that. How is the skimmer doing?

 

Im not getting any gurgling noises.... I do have a blast of bubbles though... which IMO is normal. But Im sure there is a way to rid all that.
This piping that I have done is not a final product. more or less a temp. I plan on adding more equipment within the next 6 months such as a chiller, refugium and a ca rx. I know you had a ca rx on your 90 and was curious to how you had it setup... pumps, piping, etc. Chillers and ca rx are all new to me and have some more learning to do on em. not so much the chiller but the reactor. I have the basic basics of em. I am getting two side cabinets built this month that are going on each side of the tank and am not sure if pvc piping will be ran to them. This is why my piping is temp. So i definitely will be needing help... I was thinkin when the time nears Im gonna start a thread on piping if need be for my Ca RX, chiller and refugium. Sump may not be permanent also. Needed something for my xp (collection cup removal and steady water level). So I still have a some time before Im completely setup in regards to equipment on my 90.

This is the rendering of my side cabinets that I had mentioned. ialread have the stand. Im sure ill be having pvc ran to one or both sides of these... maybe not. Plan on having Ca rx on left possibly refugium also if I cant accomodate one under tank. chiller and ato bin on right.


Horkn... I know you and some others here on 3reef are going to be able to help me so I have an open ear to any suggestions.

What should I be thinking first??? any tips or suggestions???

Skimmer is doing well.... I cleaned collection cup this weekend which had 2 inches of skimmate from a weeks worth. But now I am really keeping tabs on it since water level is constant.

 

i love all the frags on the back of your tank . very nice !

 

If you put the CA Reactor in one of the side cabinets, you will be fine. That is pretty much how I had mine on my 90g, except I set it on a 10g the long side up.LOL

I simply ran a MJ900 for the feed, had my ph controller next to the reactor, and the co2 tank on the ground next to the 10g.

What kind of CA reactor are you looking at? I can recommend Geo's since they are extremely well built, don't cost a ton, really are frugal on the Co2 unlike some reactors out there, and have arguably the best customer service if you would need it. That, and I don't think any other company has as much experience with CA reactors as Geo.

JM2pennies

 

Looking good. I know you mentioned a chiller, is that right? I ask only since seeing the ballast in the cabinet they may add a little heat.

I know I have had from time to time, mainly from me messing with things, a return hose or SOMETHING pop lose and water ends up on the cabinet floor-nothing disasterous as I have always found it quickly except once-that was a f'n nightmare-calc reactor hose (1 of the 5) got loose form me messing with rearranging and I lost prob. 3 gallons-carpet has a peally good absorbtion factor-lol, love my wet/dry vac.

ANYWAY-my point being, I could not have the ballasts on the floor of my cabinet-it would be an accident waiting for ME-I hope you have better luck-

 

just a comment on the blast of bubbles in the sump(i dont know about you but its super noisy). I have the same problem on my 90 over flow. it only happens when there isnt enough water from the return pump going to the DT. That either occurs when i need to top up the water or the return pump isnt opened up enough in my setup.

 

The tank is looking great Tat. I am almost done cycling my new 90 (you are much further along!). I am also just building a Ca reactor into the system (I got a Korallin system), so I will let you know if I have any big brilliance moments piping it in. Also, I just finished installing my Apex controller, it is working very well now. The only thing I do not have working is accessing it from my computer at work (I got it to send me alert emails and control everything).

Anyhow, it all looks great, please feel free to ask if you have any questions with the Apex. I think I have learned a lot lately on how that thing needs to work...