Dan's 90 build

[Youngster Dan]

Originally Posted by chris121277

how have the bio pellets worked for you so far? I read a few mixed review on them that have made me hesitant to try them...so for now I have an empty reactor hanging in the side of my sump....lol

how much turn over do you have with the 4 K's?

As far as I can tell, the pellets (in combination with other things) seem to work for me as I consistently have not had detectable nitrate/phosphates ever since I have put them on. That being said, ever since I put them on I have had better equipment as well (ie, no more sea clone 100! yuck). I always do less than is what is recommended, and then slowly work my way up. So I don't have a lot of pellets in the reactor. I would recommend them, just don't expect them to be the wonder cure to all your nitrate phosphate woes, just one more piece of the puzzle.

As far as turnover, I don't really conceptualize flow in terms of numbers (which means I simply have no idea, but I guess I could calculate it). I go more by "feel" and how my corals are looking. I feel that my sps in some areas could have had better polyp extension, and the polyps weren't waving like I would have liked. I think "random" flow would help as well, but so far I just have a few steady streams, and no wave making gizmos.

Progress so far has been good, but like always I have run into some hurdles. Plumbing is done, and I have to say I am a fan of the flexible PVC, over the rigid stuff. Much easier to work with. Unfortunately, after putting my first drops of water I noticed that the overflow is not water tight. So I will either slap some silicon, or orca glue or something to make it water tight. I am running a "herbie" overflow system, and from my understanding a watertight overflow is essential if I don't want the entire tank to drain during a power outage.

I also lost a firefish to the floor, as he apparently was not a fan of the temporary rubbermade.

Enough blah blah. Here are a couple pictures.

New tank! On stand, with sand.



My helper was supervising diligently, and not overly impressed. That and constantly drinking from my reservoir of RODI water.

[Youngster Dan]

Well, everything is moved over into the tank. It took me longer than I would have liked, and some of my coral spent much too long without light and so are a little unhappy with me. I'm pretty sure everything will perk up, except for a green birdsnest mini colony stn'd on me so I fragged it all up.

The tank is still a little cloudy, and I'm finding that the return is putting a few micro bubbles into the display.

Here she is, being scandalous and showing what's under her skirt.



The frag rack is in it's temporary home, and I will throw it in the refugium where I will hopefully have a mini frag/refugium tank. I'm curious to see what this guy does, and if it will grow any of my frags. Time will tell



I also picked up a Reefkeeper light, and am pretty happy with how it is working out for me. It may not be as fancy as some controllers, but golly it is much cheaper! I may look into adding more expansions, but for now it will do.

This picture depicts quite well one of my my pet peeves of my new tank: Koralia cords. I was pretty happy when my partner told me that I "needed" to get an mp40 for the tank. So that will be the first big purchase for this tank.



I'm only about 25% pleased with my aquascape, so it will have to change. I am looking into maybe drilling the rock and creating more intriguing structures, rather than two little mounds. Any suggestions to aquascape? I have fair bit more live rock kicking in my sump, that I could add or take away certain pieces.

To do list includes:

Hanging the light fixture.

Changing the 'scape. (just want to let everything settle in a bit before I start mucking around)

Mounting the corals.

Fixing the microbubble problems.

And probably some more I can't think of.

[chris121277]

Lookin good so far man

I agree with your partner though.......the cords have to go...lol as for the aqua-scape maybe a 2 island look? I think that would be sharp in there.

[freezetyle]

looking good Dan!

[Youngster Dan]

Thanks Chris, and Jon.

[Youngster Dan]

So I got a little bored, and I aquascaped the tank. A little bored is a giant understatement. Here's the proof:





But what about the stuff that lives in the live rock, even...

[Youngster Dan]

Please tune in tomorrow for the completed look! I will also unveil some freaking awesome goodies I picked up!

Dan = 1

Boredom = 0

[Lysa.anne]

My "helper" regularly helps herself to my RODI water... Apparently her bottled water isn't good enough! She's great around the tanks though, their like walls that she avoids!

Sorry to hear about your tank, should have waited Until I got to the end before commenting. Good luck with the next one!

[Youngster Dan]

Well, I'm back!

I moved into a new apartment, and I have a space waiting for the tank to be moved in. Basically, I just need to stop procrastinating and move the darn thing from where it is in storage and set it up again! New things in which I am going to work on:

Fish:

The only thing I have left from my old tank, is a flame angel and two clowns. I'm considering doing something a little different, if anyone has some suggestions I'm all ears. I was considering a fuzzy dwarf lion, or maybe even abandoning the fish all together and going for some dwarf cuttlefish. Hmmmmm

Corals

I am going to try mostly SPS in this tank, whereas my last tank was more LPS

Lighting

I'm thinking of putting three DIY LED "pendants" Details will follow, and I will chronicle their progression.

Maintenance

I would like this tank to be as low maintenance as I can afford. It may mean getting a doser, and an ATO. I spend 8 hours a day cleaning, feeding and just doing general fish related things. While this is awesome, coming home to more fish work is not exactly what I want to do.

I think I will accomplish this primarily through keeping a small fish bioload. I feel that this will keep my nutrient levels in check, and just keep most of the headaches at bay. Though, it will be hard to resist the urge to add "just one more fish" every time I visit the LFS.

[Blue World Aquariums]

Originally Posted by Youngster Dan

maybe even abandoning the fish all together and going for some dwarf cuttlefish. Hmmmmm

This.