90 Gallon Mixed Reef Tank Newbie

[Tigweldpro]

Going to start a separate thread for my new 90g tank build.

tank and stand built. Currently building sump....

https://i.imgur.com/WEwkSQol.jpg

[Tigweldpro]

pic of the filter sock workings and full setup before plumbing.

https://i.imgur.com/AP7x0zKl.jpg
Tried 5% auto window tint instead of black paint this time.
https://i.imgur.com/bZ7zKwIl.jpg

[DKoKoMan]

Looking good. I will keep my eyes on this one for the progression.

[Tigweldpro]

All plumbed & Level. I forgot how time consuming plumbing is when your very particular/OCD.
https://i.imgur.com/jt87PEcl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/EUgJDZLl.jpg

And now the fill...... or slow drizzle I should say 75GPD RO with new DI resin running 0 tds for now. see what its doing in 40hrs lol :bathbaby:
https://i.imgur.com/TiWQcVFl.jpg

[Tigweldpro]

Finally tank is full & sump is half full. Dumping 3/4 bucket of salt in the tank felt good. Salt storm!
https://i.imgur.com/6phNOizl.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/e0O9sd5l.jpg

[tang daddy]

Nice build this far, what are your stocking plans for this tank and will you be adding sand or going bb?

[DKoKoMan]

Let the cycle begin. It will be nice when you can get the first additions added.

[Tigweldpro]

Nice build this far, what are your stocking plans for this tank and will you be adding sand or going bb?

Just transferring my current fish\coral from the 38g cube for the now. like to get a pair of bangaii and firefish. If the small yellow tang I have currently does good in the 90 I would like to add a regal tang(dory). Do you think a 90 is big enough for a regal?
Ill be adding seaflor special grade reef sand 60lbs. I couldent go without my monster 2+" tiger pistol shrimp(lobster) hes almost dinner size

[Tigweldpro]

Holy crap this aquascape is going to take some serious work! pretty good mix of different rock I just have no clue where to go...... this scape may take longer than the cycle.
https://i.imgur.com/aTp9pKKl.jpg

[Tigweldpro]

well many hrs later and this is what I came up with...... All the piece that touch the glass are cut flat. There are 5pcs glued with JB waterwweld and cyano superglue. and a few island rocks just placed on bottom.
The water is very cloudy still and the crappy freshwater LED isint helping any.
Any advice before sand? too much rock..... looks good.....I dunno
https://i.imgur.com/vMmhTFqh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jNLX3Oml.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/EhjtDVYl.jpg

[DKoKoMan]

Looks neat! Aquascaping is that of personal touch. As last by as you have good flow throughout it shouldn’t be an issue. IME all the ledges you have as well the flat rock will make perfect places for coral additions. :smile:

[Tigweldpro]

I was really unsure about how the scape looked but after I added the sand and the water cleared I really like it.2 Jebao SW-8 powerheads added today, These things are pretty powerfull for there new smaller size.
Currently lit with 2x 48" t8 5600k shop lights lol.
https://i.imgur.com/JnAmdfIh.jpg

[Tigweldpro]

My tank is still cycling and I added some copepods a few days ago just to see how they would handle the ammonia. There are now loads of them all over the glass and rockwork. I'm having a hard time finding some info on pod blooms, what causes them how long do they last, what are they eating(only dosed phyto after I noticed the bloom), will they disappear?
I wonder if I keep dosing phyto every day or two, can keep the population...
https://i.imgur.com/GvpMhO1h.jpg

[lyall12]

My tank is still cycling and I added some copepods a few days ago just to see how they would handle the ammonia. There are now loads of them all over the glass and rockwork. I'm having a hard time finding some info on pod blooms, what causes them how long do they last, what are they eating(only dosed phyto after I noticed the bloom), will they disappear?
I wonder if I keep dosing phyto every day or two, can keep the population...
https://i.imgur.com/GvpMhO1h.jpg

Awesome, you have quite a few there.

From what I've read, they'll go as long as food lasts. Adding food every few days will certainly help. At some point the population will balance to the amount of food they have available to eat.

They'll eat loads of stuff, phyto, food scraps, etc.

[Livebyocean]

My tank is still cycling and I added some copepods a few days ago just to see how they would handle the ammonia. There are now loads of them all over the glass and rockwork. I'm having a hard time finding some info on pod blooms, what causes them how long do they last, what are they eating(only dosed phyto after I noticed the bloom), will they disappear?
I wonder if I keep dosing phyto every day or two, can keep the population...
https://i.imgur.com/GvpMhO1h.jpg

I should lend you my hungry green mandarin to take care of your pods...lol

Best luck dude! and keep us updated

[Tigweldpro]

For the lighting on this tank I plan on using 2x 165w china black box led's. And I just got a great deal on a 48" sunblaster T5HO fixture that came with a broken 6400k bulb(not a reef bulb anyway).

So what would be the BEST choice for a bulb to add some pop and coral growth to the tank? I feel that the black box led's keep coral healthy & alive but growing quite slow.

With all the different brands and each one having many flavors I really don't have a clue what would be best. I can only pick 1

From reading online I'm leaning towards ATI Coral Plus, but I would like to hear from some long term T5HO users.

Thanks

[Tigweldpro]

The pic speaks for itself. Amazing

https://i.imgur.com/Penay2Fh.jpg

[Dash]

Love my YWG / shrimp buddies. I see you have 2 gobies - did they come as a bonded pair? I have no idea how to sex them but It would be nice to get my goby a mate. My goby was the first fish in the tank. JL told me it would change from grey to yellow & I was sceptical but lo and behold, they told the truth:)

In the 2 years I've had the tank, it went thru a few ebbs and flows. I took the advice of riding it out and it worked for me. I had a crazy amount of bristle worms, started thinking about traps, wrasses etc etc. Then over time they disappeared and now I see them occasionally which is perfect. Same thing with pineapple sponges. First they were cute, next thing I'm googling what will eat them. I had a huge number of pods too. At night, amphipods were swarming the rock like cockroaches. They only came out at night after my puffers went in the tank. Now with my mandarin, I think I need to boost my population.

My budget has made it necessary to add things slowly but I think that has its benefits as well.

[Tigweldpro]

Love my YWG / shrimp buddies. I see you have 2 gobies - did they come as a bonded pair? I have no idea how to sex them but It would be nice to get my goby a mate. My goby was the first fish in the tank. JL told me it would change from grey to yellow & I was sceptical but lo and behold, they told the truth:)

In the 2 years I've had the tank, it went thru a few ebbs and flows. I took the advice of riding it out and it worked for me. I had a crazy amount of bristle worms, started thinking about traps, wrasses etc etc. Then over time they disappeared and now I see them occasionally which is perfect. Same thing with pineapple sponges. First they were cute, next thing I'm googling what will eat them. I had a huge number of pods too. At night, amphipods were swarming the rock like cockroaches. They only came out at night after my puffers went in the tank. Now with my mandarin, I think I need to boost my population.

My budget has made it necessary to add things slowly but I think that has its benefits as well.
I think the grey goby is female and the yellow is male. the grey one was yellow when I got it. I've googled and I don't think anyone knows what the colors mean.
As for the mandarin you should get it eating frozen food, I have 2 spotted mandarins eating mysis daily from a Gatorade bottle. Its a lot easier than people make it sound. The yellow tang tries very hard to get its flat self inside but has not succeeded.:biggrin:
https://i.imgur.com/7RdeyZ6h.jpg

[Dash]

I've tried to feed my mandarin everything (except nutramar ova, couldn't source it). I just tried live baby brine & think he might've eaten some. He runs away from offered food lol. He's been living off the pods for over a year now. I added some tisbe pods & think I'll try Algae Barn's mix as the Apocyclops pods sound good & will add diversity. I read the spotted are less picky - should've gone with those instead haha.

[Tigweldpro]

Been a while since I updated

This is what the tank looks like today. 1 48" ATI Coral Plus & 1 china black box on sps side. Will add my other one after I empty my 38g tank.

https://i.imgur.com/HJt4VsWh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/bxSukwWh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/75DEkW9h.jpg

Current fish list
4 percula clowns
1 yellow corris wrasse
2 bangaii cardinal
1 yellow watchman goby
1 tiger pistol shrimp
2 green spotted mandarin
2 skunk cleaner shrimp
1 lawnmower blenny

Planning to add 6 line wrasse, leopard wrasse, blue tang

[kien]

Coming along nicely. Enjoy the grow out phase. :biggrin:

[DKoKoMan]

I like how you have divided the tank for sps grow out and have a lot of corals that display flow movement on the other side.

[Tigweldpro]

Been about 10mo since an update so heres a pile of pictures.


https://i.imgur.com/dgUm1fch.jpg

Left side
https://i.imgur.com/PSxnB0hh.jpg

Right side
https://i.imgur.com/kzqDavmh.jpg

Needle in haystack/Pacman
https://i.imgur.com/Pof1Bpwh.jpg

Rainbow Acan
https://i.imgur.com/GuQsRowh.jpg

Green/Gold tip milli
https://i.imgur.com/VR4rgqfh.jpg

Purple Valida
https://i.imgur.com/Nrgxc2Oh.jpg

Miami hurricane chalice
https://i.imgur.com/FxO3lDsh.jpg

Dragon soul favia
https://i.imgur.com/knKY0Q9h.jpg

Berserko cyphastrea
https://i.imgur.com/GZCxtnUh.jpg

Superman chalice
https://i.imgur.com/m8plGy7h.jpg

Enchanted forest birdnest
https://i.imgur.com/ccOOvcIh.jpg

Blasto merletti
https://i.imgur.com/zWkAgBMh.jpg

Rainbow loom
https://i.imgur.com/NM9DgsSh.jpg

Purple/green favia
https://i.imgur.com/adCWyPhh.jpg

Booty bounce shroom
https://i.imgur.com/invLoOph.jpg

Lava lord favia
https://i.imgur.com/Fn8bkSEh.jpg