90g set up

[smokin' reefer]

ok, yesterday i posted a thread about a 75g setup and only received a couple of responses. i've done a bit more research and have what i think is a good setup. please give your opinions.

i have upgraded to a 90g setup. i am going to call around today and get the best price i can on a predrilled rr tank, stand and canopy. i plan on having a 30 gallon sump w/ refugium. an octopus protien skimmer ps 150 internal (i had trouble deciding on the brand). i'll probably use store bought sand and put a bag or two of live in it; about 100 lbs total. live rock, hopefully from some members or salt water city; about 180 lbs. a tek, 6 bulb light fixture. and of course heaters, pumps and power heads as needed.

i will eventually put a top off on it; i just havent researched it enough yet.

thoughts, comments, opinions would be appreciated. i'm sure i am missing something

 

[roland jacques]

Id change the octo NW-150 to the NW-200 not much price differance but almost twice as big.

 

[smokin' reefer]

well, yes, dead sand.

 

[smokin' reefer]

thanks barbara. and i had originally started to buy all live sand. i may rethink that.

what brand of protein skimmer do you use?

 

[mojo]

smokin' reefer;134056 wrote: ok, yesterday i posted a thread about a 75g setup and only received a couple of responses. i've done a bit more research and have what i think is a good setup. please give your opinions.

What exactly would you like to know? Sounds like you're doing your research, and have the basics covered, but without a specific question, it'd be easy to talk in length about any item you mentioned here. And without knowing what you're planning long term, it's hard to give any specific advice...

My first thought mirrors Barbara's - get decent sand (not HD brand), and don't waste your money with so called "live sand". Get your system up and going, and put out a request for a cup or two from a members' tank, and they'll most lilkely oblige (even in Athens).

My second thought is from this statement:

pumps and power heads as needed.

I've probably put more work into the correct pumps, powerheads, and related flow, than I have any other single item in the tank. Flow in a reef tank should be carefully considered.

Lastly, what are you using to control everything? I'd recommend a simpler controller such as the ReefKeeper 2 to something more complex. You can do everything with timers and such, but you're better off long term buying an RK2 from the beginning.

 

[mojo]

Barbara;134095 wrote: Hey Chris, your opinion is a little different than mine, in that you just reference "quality sand" as opposed to "live sand". What kind of quality sand, and where would you get it? I'm curious.

Well, in my opinion, it really just boils down to what you like vs. what's convienient in a reef tank with a lot of flow. I'm not a proponent of the "play sand" that everyone advocates- it's like working with powder- too fine to easily use in a reef (not to mention the possible silicates it supposedly has). My own preference is the Caribsea Seafloor Special Grade Reef Sand - I think it looks awesome and is a very good consistency:

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Unfortunatetly, I'm not using this sand in any tank I currently have... I've recently switched to the less exciting Florida Crushed Coral, which is bigger, but I don't have mountains of sand to contend with because of the Tunzes.

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Yes, you can mess with the Tunzes enough to get them so they don't create mountains of sand, but I find that if I do that, then my corals suffer. So... larger substrate it is.

Sammy sells both of these. So does Avarium (locally). DFS sells them, but you have to pay shipping.

I've also recently setup a nano tank with Tropic Isle Tahitian Moon sand (ok- "black sand"). I typically would steer people away from this, since you lose any available buffering capacity (for calcium, alkalinity, pH, or anything for that matter), but it does look cool , and I will soon have it plumbed into my main system, so all that won't be an issue:

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Again, I think it comes down to personal preference and what you like to look at vs. what you can control in your tank. Some critters need really powdery sand (esp. the gobies and other fish that sift sand over their gills), so this should be taken into account to. I simply avoid these types of fish; I'd like to have them, but the corals' flow takes precedent...

Hope this helps-

 

[smokin' reefer]

thanks for the posts so far.

mojo - thanks for the suggestions on sand and power heads. i will do more research on powerheads and flow, i just haven't gotten that far yet. any suggestions? the tank will sit in my livingroom, so i will want it to be as quiet as possible, but i know there will be some noise.

 

[mojo]

It really depends on your budget. The "best" powerheads right now are Tunzes, based on their wide flow patterns and low power requirements, but are expensive. Most serious reefers uses Tunzes now over anything else - you'll laugh when you see the price, but sooner or later, you'll turn to the dark side...

You can make the tank nearly silent by use of powerheads for your main flow and not relying on a large return pump. This is common practice these days.

The Velocity T4 external return pump is completely silent (and I mean completely), but it does add heat to the tank.

There are options - just ask around - the more specific, the better.

 

[smokin' reefer]

ok, so i'm going to want minimal flow through my sump for sound purposes, what would be the minimum? I plan on keeping LPS and softies to start with but may go to SPS in the future, how much flow would i need inside the tank? if i go with tunzes, how many and which models for a 90g tank?

 

[down and outman]

I have 2 Koralia 4 powerheads. They rock! I used 90# Caribsea Sugar sand. It does blow around somewhat from the Koralias. My rock stays nice and clean from the flow. I have a Mag 7 pump, I feel it's probably a little small, but my tank is happy so it must be working.