# 90 gallon underway.



## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

So after not having much luck finding a second hand aquarium I decided to bite the bullet and buy new. I was also going to make a sump but I said screw it to that too. So it's been an expensive week. Tank Is a 90 gallon standard marineland. No overflows. Sump/refugium is an Eshopps R 200. I also purchased an Evergrow IT2080 from Nick at reefsupplycanada, who actually lives here in Kelowna too which is nice. He's been very helpful.

Saturday night I drilled the back of the tank for a herbie style overflow and a 3/4 inch return. First time ever drilling an aquarium and it was freaky to say the least. Each hole probably took 3-4 mins but it felt like the whole experience took 2 hours! Sunday I then plumbed everything up and leak tested with tap water that night. Everything was perfect except the one return which was a thread barb 90 degree fitting into a threaded bulkhead. A little extra teflon fixed that. This isn't the final location and I plan on painting the back panel with the cheapest black paint I can find. Pictures are with a 24" coralife t5 unit.























Right now I have 50 lbs of dry rock thats been "curing" with 10 lbs of live rock in a container for the past 2 weeks dosing seachem stability daily. I hope to add that to the tank this weekend and start the real cycle. Which will hopefully be 2-3 weeks max. In that time I'll be adding a protein skimmer and once the cycle is done the clean up crew. What are peoples recommendations for clean up crews? Id like a more gentle temperament reef, with some LPS and easy to care for coral. The most aggressive fish I plan to keep is a bicolour blenny. Which may change if he keeps bullying my peppermint shrimp.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Isn't that black box an overflow box? Or am I seeing things?


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## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

Yep. But the tank came without an overflow because I wanted to drill it this way. I much prefer this look than that of the corner flow units.


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

Looks good, but if I can make one suggestion I'd say lower the gate valve closer to the water in the sump, I find its a lot easier to get your adjustment that was as well as quieter


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

AdamsB said:


> Yep. But the tank came without an overflow because I wanted to drill it this way. I much prefer this look than that of the corner flow units.


Ah I thought you meant that you didn't want an overflow.


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

I drilled my 90 and used the same overflow as you with the herbie drain, and it works awesome, I too prefer the short overflow, gives you more room in the tank and I think it looks better. Looking good so far keep the pictures coming.


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

looks great man! gutsy move drilling your brand new tank! I'll be doing this same thing pretty soon i think, well as soon as I sell my 125 anyway! Cant wait for more updates


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

ah finally saw someone got the Evergrow IT2080 . I have been chasing the US distributor to provide the PAR reading and they refuse or even ignored my request. Maybe you are able to test it and let us know how the PAR reading goes. As 32" 200W is a lot of light(might even be a bit overkill), I hope it provides some exceptional PAR reading also. Keep the pictures coming!!


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## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

Thanks for the input guys. Laurie I'll have to check your tank out a little later. You have pics up?

Mike, it actually wasn't too hard. Don't get me wrong, taking a drill to a 500 dollar glass box sounds dumb but it was worth it. Just be sure the glass isn't tempered. I googled and was 80% sure it wasn't, so that 20% in the back of my mind was scary!

Frank, I have no doubts it'll be overkill. I just like how with one unit I "should" be able to eliminate any shadowing from the center brace. I'll most likely only run them at 60-70% because I wont have any SPS and just a few easier LPS. But it will be nice to have a light that I know I can ramp up if the need arises. I'd be happy to do a par test once I get things settled in.


As for now my RO container is filling. I painted the back panel black and waiting for that to dry. Just going to home depot to grab about 30 foot of 1/2 inch vinal tubing to fill my tank. The water container is higher than my sump, so I'll syphon into my sump and pump it up to the display. I have a ball valve on my return pump so hopefully I can balance the syphon flow with the return flow. In my head it works. I'll no doubt come across a problem. I'm also going to be using fluval salt. My lfs has a special on that each bucket comes with 2 bottles of supplements "of $29.99 value" so I think I'll try that and move away from instant ocean.


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

I am confused, how would that a single fixture eliminate the shadow when the bracer blocking some of the LEDs? I thought it will make the shadow even worse as the light directly blocking by it. Isn't the Evergrow IT2080 a single 32" fixture that has Full LED on the entire fixture?
Also for salt mix, you can try The Aquavitro Salinity Salt mix. It is a very nice salt mix, I switched from instant ocean a year ago and can't be happier.


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## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

I'm just comparing it to other LEDs in my budget. A single tablet wouldn't work on a tank this size regardless of the center brace. But my hope was with just one of these units because there's 15 inches each side of the 2 inch brace it will reduce shadowing and eliminate the need for 2 units. I guess the real test will be when the light arrives. I tried looking for reviews of the unit but couldn't find very much.


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

AdamsB said:


> Thanks for the input guys. Laurie I'll have to check your tank out a little later. You have pics up?
> 
> Mike, it actually wasn't too hard. Don't get me wrong, taking a drill to a 500 dollar glass box sounds dumb but it was worth it. Just be sure the glass isn't tempered. I googled and was 80% sure it wasn't, so that 20% in the back of my mind was scary!
> 
> ...


Yep, check out my pictures in the tank journal section : 90 gallon reef


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## aQ.LED (Nov 13, 2012)

You can find some review on 3reef as reefbreeder is one of their sponsor and they carry the same fixture.That is where I try to find the PAR reading but really not having much luck.


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## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

Tanks filling as I type. It's going to be a 2 day process with my 75gpd RO/DI unit and a 55 gallon container for the water. But here are a couple of pics 

This is where I originally wanted to place the aquarium but it made placing the furniture too awkward.








This is where I had to settle on. 








Upgraded from a hydrometer to a refractometer. What a cool piece of equipment! View through the eyepiece with iPhone.








Laundry closet that houses my RO system and water storage. I have a ball valve on the bottom and use 1/2 inch vinyl tubing to "syphon" from the container to the sump. Eventually I will have a power head and heater in here to use as a salt water mixer for water changes. 








Sump with the water container I'll use for my ATO.


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## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

So, today was fun. Got the tank filled up, salt and rock added. Frustrations with the siphon on my overflow. Turns out the siphon wont work when plugged into the bulkhead over my filter socks but will if i attach some more 1 inch pipe and bring it to the bottom of my sump. I'm not sure if having the pipe below the water line is a necessity, but its one I'll have to work on. Anywho, some pics. Rock is just placed in there I'll get stacking over the weekend. Theres also a little less than 10 lbs of sand in there too. Within 15 minutes I could spot 4 snails, and some bristle worm while moving it over.
















So a quick question. How many of you run filter socks? I've read pros and cons. Should I be running one during my cycle?


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## spit.fire (Jan 3, 2011)

For my setups I don't run an elbow for my main drain, just a screw in screen to stop my wrasse from ending up in my sump but I do run one facing up on my emergency to keep the water level in the box a bit higher.


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

spit.fire said:


> For my setups I don't run an elbow for my main drain, just a screw in screen to stop my wrasse from ending up in my sump but I do run one facing up on my emergency to keep the water level in the box a bit higher.


+ 1 I do the same cuz my clown goby goes in there sometimes.


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## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

Thanks for the tip guys. Between that an making the output I the siphon below the water line in the sump I have a completely silent flow. My return pump is making a little noise that sounds like air in the line. Which there couldn't be. I'm going to give it a while and see if it works itself out.

My it2080 came yesterday (Friday) and I'm really impressed with it. Not sure how I feel about the reds but ill play around with it. Nick the owner of reef supply canada has been more than helpful. He even dropped it off personally but unfortunately I was at work. The iPhone really can't take pictures of lighting but ill try and dig out my old camera and see if it's any better. Got the light hung yesterday and it's about 1/4 inch off. I'm not sure if I can live with it because things like that really bug me. I may fix it before the end I the day. 

After giving up stacking my rock last night due to frustration I managed to finish it this morning. Then added the sand so I should have a bit of a wait till the water is clear. I'm thinking of doubling up a filter sock to help it along. Ill probably have to clean it twice before I go to bed but hey, whatever it takes. 

Pictures coming soon


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## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

Quick update. I move my clown fish, mandarin, green brain and clam over a few days ago along with 3 cerith snails, 1 scarlet and 1 blue hermit. Water parameters are perfect, although difficult to read on my seachem kits.

Started to get a small diatom bloom unfortunately, I have 3 roomy sized spots on the sand but I cancer it getting bigger pretty soon I'm not sure if I should cut the light down at the risk of inhibiting the growth of my clam and open brain. But I'll research it. Removing the clam from my live rock in the small tank was kinda scary using a knife. I just have to research how to remove the 2 toadstools and then catch the dottyback and my 20 gallon is empty. Ill then leave it in darkness for a month or so to kill the hair algae and then either use the rock in my tank or in my sump with a power head for pod production. I'm not sure if ill do an actual refugium just yet.

Here are a few update pics. From an iPhone so please excuse the lack of colour


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## monkE (Aug 4, 2010)

the rock arrangement looks pretty slick! nicely done! keep the updates coming!


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## JTang (Apr 21, 2010)

I only used filter sock in week 1 to catch the debris during initial setup.

Great job on the drilling! Everything is looking good! Keep it up!


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## AdamsB (Oct 18, 2011)

Got my cleanup crew yesterday from J&L. Love dealing with the guys and girls there. Fantastic service. But anyway, onto the neat stuff.

Among my assorted cerith, astrae, cleaner shrimp etc. I also got a high fin goby and candy cane pistol shrimp. Which have paired up and made a burrow in nice view. I'm looking forward to seeing them grow. I have a cerith snail with what I believe is a zoanthid on its shell. Dunno how that happens! The centre glows bright pink under the moonlights, kinda neat. I also have a red legged hermit that found himself a great looking shell (pictured)









Speaking of pictures, what cameras do people use with Led aquaro lights? My iPhone comes out very blue and my crappy digital camera is slightly less blue. I need to use the flash which I always said was a no no because it looks bad.


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## dabandit1 (Dec 6, 2010)

Looking good


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