G&D's Foray Into a 90G Tank (Take One)

[gridley]

For about 21 of our 24 years of marriage Deborah and I have maintained a freshwater tank and for several years a pond. We have often dreamed about taking a foray into the ocean of salt water. Until now our hobbies have taken us separate directions - Deborah loves crafts and sewing and George loves wood working. However, cutting cloth straight on a table saw is a real challenge and sawdust makes a mess of the dining room! As we begin this undertaking together, we are looking forward to the rewards, challenges, mistakes and successes.

First Purchase. We purchased a used 90 G tank with a canopy, corner overflow, stand, 600 gph pump, approx 30 G sump, 300 W heater, four Hydor Koralia powerheads, and a refractor.



Where to put it? Once we purchased the tank we needed to decide where to put this thing! Living room, family room, dining room . . . ? The family room won – which displaces the freshwater tank . . . So what to do with that, move it to the dining room or sell it? We still have not decided. Another consideration was whether to re-carpet the family room right away, or be satisfied with the current carpet for the next many years. The final decision was to save the $2000 and live with the carpet as it is.

Refinishing the stand. The first challenge was to refinish the stand, which wasn't a challenge, it just took some time. Then, being a bit cautious, I decided to add an internal 2x4 frame to the manufactured stand. That being done I think the stand is ready to go.


Lighting up the tank. A next task was to think through the lighting. We had thought that the lights in the existing canopy would be sufficient – three T5s. As we had talked with a number of people we have realized that for corals to thrive at the bottom of the tank we will likely need better lighting. We are looking at a MH T5 combined unit or just make the jump to LED. At this point we are leaning towards the LED.

Rocks. Another question was rocks. We are leaning towards purchasing Marco base rock and seeding it with live rock. This will obviously take longer to get the tank fully operational, but it will save a few $$.

We are hoping that sometime in the next few weeks we will have the time to be able to set the tank in place, get some rocks and start the process.

Any comments or suggestions along the way are welcome. Thanks to Subman for the tutorial on getting pictures into this!