From Betsy aka the wife: For Lawrence's 40th birthday and my dowry, I decided to buy him his first ever salt water tank. After doing a bit of homework, I found this forum hoping to glean a few things about what to buy him and where... And luckily stumbled upon a comment about thr 90 gallon tank and setup that Miss Goldielock76 aka Brandie was selling as she sets up her 210. I contacted her, and over the course of several weeks, learned about her tank and agreed to buy it. Lawrence will really be the one learning the finer ins and outs of managing the tank, but we both hope to take advantage of everyone's expertise and maybe even give back one day!
If I understand the lingo correctly, Lawrence is working up to a nice LPS tank. We've been diving in Honduras and Tahiti, and are particularly drawn to the fish in those parts. We expect glimpsing into our tank will take us back a little bit to those romantic getaways!
Here's what we know, and I'm sure Brandie will correct if we get something wrong. We don't even have the tank yet! Feedback and questions are welcome, this will definitely be a learning adventure.
The following is from Brandie's original emails to me:
"The tank is just a year old. Everything was bought new at the beginning of last year, and it sat empty probably until about June. It went thru a dark cycle, and set empty until September. Everything but the canopy was bought new, ie the tank, stand, sump, rock, substrate. The canopy was bought off a fellow BAR member, but we refinished the whole thing, put bigger fans on it, and replaced all the hardware with stainless steel, and just cleaned it up in general. It has reinforced vinyl tubing, so nothing's hard piped. "
For our exchanges and my limited reefer-speak, I understand our setup will include:
...and, of course, the fish!
I'll attach photos when I get on my laptop, as well as a diagram I worked up.
A bit on the set-up, again from Brandie's emails...
"The 90 is drilled, which means it has an overflow that drains the water into the sump/fuge. The aqueon proflex (which I linked you in an earlier reply) is basically a hybrid of a refugium/sum. My overflows drain into a chamber that has space for two filter socks, but because of detritus build up, I removed them and added more live rock. The water then flows into the 'fuge, where I have my macro algae and more live rock, then into the sump portion, where I have my skimmer and return pump. The pump returns the water back in to the tank in the same corner that the overflow is in, thru a different pipe, back into the tank. The Danner Mag 9.5 pump cycles the water about 6-7 times an hour, so that's why I went with that particular pump. "
And her suggestions on the rock...
"If you're looking for what I would do, I would rethink the rock work and let it dry out [...] that will also give you the option to get more dry rock from somewhere like Marco rocks (they have awesome prices on man made dry rock) and you can add more, and change things up a bit so your hubby can make it "his" tank. Just make sure you let the tank cycle for a while if you do do it this way.... you can add some Dr Tims and be in business with in a week or two. The "live" sand will help a great deal when it comes to cycling. "
And one last word to the wise from Brandie:
"In addition, there is aptasia in the sump, but only one or two have ever moved to the main display, but we're pretty quick to zap those with aptasia x, so we've never had a problem. There is also a copperband butterfly who eats the smaller ones. All part of the maintenance "to do's" "
We can't wait to get started...
If I understand the lingo correctly, Lawrence is working up to a nice LPS tank. We've been diving in Honduras and Tahiti, and are particularly drawn to the fish in those parts. We expect glimpsing into our tank will take us back a little bit to those romantic getaways!
Here's what we know, and I'm sure Brandie will correct if we get something wrong. We don't even have the tank yet! Feedback and questions are welcome, this will definitely be a learning adventure.
The following is from Brandie's original emails to me:
"The tank is just a year old. Everything was bought new at the beginning of last year, and it sat empty probably until about June. It went thru a dark cycle, and set empty until September. Everything but the canopy was bought new, ie the tank, stand, sump, rock, substrate. The canopy was bought off a fellow BAR member, but we refinished the whole thing, put bigger fans on it, and replaced all the hardware with stainless steel, and just cleaned it up in general. It has reinforced vinyl tubing, so nothing's hard piped. "
For our exchanges and my limited reefer-speak, I understand our setup will include:
- Sump/Refugium:Aqueon Proflex. filter socks removed and has live rock from LiveAquaria
- Plumbing: Spa flex and reinforced vinyl tubing
- Heater
- Lighting (metal halides, actinic strip by ecoxotic)
- Sump (including the chaeto and mysis in it)
- Return pump: Mag 9.5
- Skimmer
- aquacontroller with probes
- BRS single reactor
- Substrate: Tropic Eden's Aragasnow, There's about 2.5 inches of sand in the display, and about 5 inches in the fuge.
- Corals: she's leaving behind a few softies. A blue mushroom, a green mushroom and a blasto. There also might be a frag of a purple hammer in the rock somewhere.
- Rockscaping: designed by fellow BFAR member Johnny (jestersix), with some of Brandie's additions
- Possibly a few blue leg hermits or my peppermit shrimp and ochtodes (a purple macro algae). Latest count: three emeralds and about twenty hermits
...and, of course, the fish!
I'll attach photos when I get on my laptop, as well as a diagram I worked up.
A bit on the set-up, again from Brandie's emails...
"The 90 is drilled, which means it has an overflow that drains the water into the sump/fuge. The aqueon proflex (which I linked you in an earlier reply) is basically a hybrid of a refugium/sum. My overflows drain into a chamber that has space for two filter socks, but because of detritus build up, I removed them and added more live rock. The water then flows into the 'fuge, where I have my macro algae and more live rock, then into the sump portion, where I have my skimmer and return pump. The pump returns the water back in to the tank in the same corner that the overflow is in, thru a different pipe, back into the tank. The Danner Mag 9.5 pump cycles the water about 6-7 times an hour, so that's why I went with that particular pump. "
And her suggestions on the rock...
"If you're looking for what I would do, I would rethink the rock work and let it dry out [...] that will also give you the option to get more dry rock from somewhere like Marco rocks (they have awesome prices on man made dry rock) and you can add more, and change things up a bit so your hubby can make it "his" tank. Just make sure you let the tank cycle for a while if you do do it this way.... you can add some Dr Tims and be in business with in a week or two. The "live" sand will help a great deal when it comes to cycling. "
And one last word to the wise from Brandie:
"In addition, there is aptasia in the sump, but only one or two have ever moved to the main display, but we're pretty quick to zap those with aptasia x, so we've never had a problem. There is also a copperband butterfly who eats the smaller ones. All part of the maintenance "to do's" "
We can't wait to get started...
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