abcha0s' 90

[abcha0s]

Originally Posted by Cugio

Hey Brad

Sorry to bump an old journal on a tank that is shut down. Was this your first salt water tank? It is pretty impressive what you did with the closed loop system. If you could go back and do this again, would you still use the PVC pipes to lift the rocks off the sand bed again?

Hi Donny

Always happy to revisit an old thread. The pictures are becoming sentimental.

This was my first salt water tank. It took about a year of planning and six months to build. Of course, there are many other distractions in life.

The closed loops worked perfectly save two major drawbacks. Due to my choice in pumps (Poseidon PS4), they added considerable heat to the tank. Secondly, at 160W per pump, it consumed a considerable amount of power. The turbulent flow was excellent and the corals thrived in the system.

When I setup this tank, my goal was for it to be silent and to not have any visible equipment in the display tank. To that end, I accomplished my goals. However, I've since decided that I can live with a little bit of noise and my new philosophy tends favor function over fashion.

I really like the powerheads from EcoTech and Tunze.

The PVC support structure worked really well and I would say that it probably contributed to the overall success of the tank. By raising the rock, you allow for better water circulation and you allow sand dwelling creatures more habitat. In fact, I did do something very similar on my new tank.

From post 32 of my tank journal:

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I have to say that overall this tank was more successful than my current 300G tank thus far. I'm working hard to turn that around though. My big challenge with this 90G tank was Aptasia which I ultimately took drastic measures to eradicate by basically throwing out all of my live rock and starting with base rock in the new tank. I'm not sure that I would do this again, but at least I don't have any aptasia.

- Brad