Lap's 90 Gal Reef - Need flow help

[Ryan_Lap]

Hello All,

After having freshwater tanks for years I got bit by that nasty saltwater bug. Now I find myself with an empty wallet:biggrin:

I bought the tank back in the beginning of March 2008 with the intention of running a sumpless setup. After many many hours of research online I figured that I may as well go with a sump as there is no better time than in the beginning. I soon contacted the best custom tank and sump guy I could find and the planning began.

The tank is currently still cycling so there isnt anything in it yet. Ill post what I have for equipment thus far below along with some pictures. As I know we all love pictures.

90 gal with custom herbie overflow
Acrylic Sump/Fuge
Custom Stand
75ish Pounds of LR
30 pounds of LS
150watt MH Coralife Fixture
Controllable Koralia with 2 Koralia 4's
Octopus NW-150 Skimmer
Quiet One 4000 Return

Feel free to ask any questions and any questions I have I will surely ask in this thread.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90gal008.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90galx1001.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90galx1005.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90galx1006.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90galx1007.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90galx1008.jpg

[JDigital]

Sweeet aquascaping... How stable is it?

[Ryan_Lap]

Well if look closely you can see acrylic rods. They are 1/2". Just drilled through the rocks and piled em up. I feel comfortable with the stability. I dont expect it to fall over anytime soon.

[Phanman]

nice work! how is your acrylic rods done at the base? just stuck into the bottom rock? or did you make a H type of support?

[Ryan_Lap]

The rods are just but into the bottom rock. I kind of wish Id done a base, but this seems to be working quite well.

[superduperwesman]

I really like the rock work:mrgreen:

[sphelps]

Looks great Ryan, keep us posted on the progress and thanks for sharing.

[Ryan_Lap]

Thanks Steve for building the sump and building the overflow for the tank. A+ Guy!

[Lance]

I really like the rock work:mrgreen:



I agree. It looks great. Can't wait to see some corals on it.

[theredben]

I am in the process of building a similar setup. Can you explain how your rocker switches are setup (ie. wiring, enclosures and the like.)?

[Ryan_Lap]

The enclosure for the switches was just built with wood and installed in the top of the stand to get it as far out of the way as possible.

Most of the switches control my lights. 2 Metal halides , actinics, led moonlights, and fuge light. Each white timer controls one of the lights I want to come on since they all come on and off at different times.

The wiring goes from the switch box to the white timer via a short extension corrd. Then the main cord for the light is plugged into the timer.

Im sure there is some controller I could have used instead of doing all of this, but I had everything laying around from old ventures.

HTH

[Ryan_Lap]

I have not updated this thread in awhile. Heres some pictures of how its coming along:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90g070.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90g069.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90g071.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/MicroPics070.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/MicroPics054.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/MicroPics039.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90g054.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90gpics002.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90g039.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90g051.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90g059.jpg

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/90g047.jpg

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

[Oxymoron]

Looks great. I can't wait to see this one progress.

[Ryan_Lap]

Long overdue update.

Sold all my corals and livestock and decided to start the tank over. Just got it up and running again recently after i changed a plumbing to a herbie. May have to change the plumbing again as I used a knife valve and Im just starting to see the downfalls of that. That wont be very fun as I have to crawl behind the tank and cut and glue a gate valve in. Very tight space, but I think its doable. Will try and keep this updated more often once I start stocking it again.

This is how it currently sits:
http://i41.tinypic.com/30xg0wi.jpg

Any feedback or questions welcome.

[Skimmerking]

looks really good man why the change thou.:question:

[Ryan_Lap]

looks really good man why the change thou.:question:

The first reason for the change was mainly due to the neglect Id shown the tank for the greater part of the summer. I had left the country for a month and upon arriving home my wavemaker system for my koralias had quit working. With that came some problems and obviously some loss. Second main problem for me was mushrooms were over taking my tank. I had added them when I first started my tank and I wasn't really aware of the pitfalls that comes with adding them. Another reason had to do with running the stockman standpipe method. It was never really quiet and not fail proof. Once I realized this I decided that I needed to make the system flood proof to ease my mind. So with all that i just decided Id go with new rock and new sand and start over with the new knowledge I have now. I plan on running a doser as soon as I can, where I will dose alk, calc, and mag. I also plan on running carbon and phosban as soon as I can get a reactor.

[Ryan_Lap]

Over the past month I added some things here and there. A few frags of zoanthids, a hammer coral, couple acan frags, candycane and blastos. As for livestock I have 2 picasso clowns and a starry blenny for the moment. I plan on adding another fish coming mid January, but havnt decided yet.

Added a rock to the left side of the tank that has a hole running through it. I did this with the intention of giving the blenny someplace to hide out.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii239/Ryan_Lap/dec2011009.jpg

Ill try and get better pics for the future. Currently using iphone to take pics

[Ryan_Lap]

I need some opinions on how much flow I should have. The thing that Im confused about is Im running a nano wavebox, so I dont know where the gph factor in for it.

Currently running a:

Nano Wavebox (??)
Koralia 4 (approx 1200 gph)
Single Return (approx 1017gph) probably lower

Not sure what my flow in gph should be so any help appreciated.

As for corals I plan on keeping a few acros, some monti digis, zoas, and lps on the sand or lower

Would a single koralia 4 be enough to add?

Thanks

[Skimmerking]

pick up a vortech and you are taken care off.