90 Gallon Starphire Start-up

[jrf1175]

This has been a long time coming so I am starting a new thread now that most of my equipment has finally arrived. Lots of ups and downs, changes and adaptations have taken place and I am sure more will before this is finally up and running.

So here it is 90 gallon starphire 48x18x24, I will be framing the metal stand next then be getting everything plumbed.

The light is a Aqua-medic Aquaspacelight 2X250 MH 2x 24w PC that is picked up used along with the sump and RO/DI unit. The sump/refugium is 41x18x16 or about 50gallons. I had a Euro-reef RS135 but it is too tall to fit under the stand so i will be swapping it out for an RS100.

Water circulation will initially be handled by a Wavy Sea attached GX-6000 submersible pump.

I also have 80lbs of Caribsea Special Grade reef sand, some ELOS test kits and a Sybon refractometer.

I was a little excited before, but now I just need to get this stand covered and get some water moving through this thing. So hopefully I will have some more pics of the progress with the stand shortly.

Cheers,
Jayme

 

[JFK_Jr]

:whstlr: Congratulations!!! :whstlr:

:chair:

 

[PhilOlsen]

Very nice, cant wait to see the updates as time goes by.

 

[Dentoid]

Nice start. Looking forward to its growth and development.

 

[lcstorc]

Nice start! Can't wait to see it up and running.

 

[theskunk]

looks great......ive been debating on a metal frame stand for my 90gal project myself......cant wait to see it running

 

[boozeman]

looks top notch

 

[swissgaurd]

whats the next step.
looks good .
are you going with a deep sandbed or bare bottom
are you hooking up a refugium.

vic

 

[jrf1175]

Thanks for everyones posts....

I will be going with a sand bed using the Special Grade Reef sand listed above. Hopefully that will be enough. The Sump has a refugium built in...see the attached photos.

I just need to work out how I am going to mount the light since the stand came with the supports too far apart! They will have to build me some an add-on to fix to the top supports. I am thinking about have the light fixture rest on some supports rather than hang it. If I hang it I think it will sit too close to the top of the tank (about 6-7 inches max). Having it sit on top of the supports will bring it to about 10 inches or so. That brings me to a question, is it possible to rest the light fixture on some supports (an extension of the metal frame) towards the of the fixture? Please let me know what you think.

Cheers,
Jayme

 

[boozeman]

home depot sells aluminum square rods/tubing that you could make a bracket with to extend your canopy suport into

 

[swissgaurd]

10" above the water surface is good.
you can attach the fixture using steel tubing mounted onto the stand or better yet is there a way you could mount some brackets to the wall , think of the outdoor steel plant hangers, or even mount some plant hanging hooks to the ceiling

 

[Dentoid]

Is the top of that stand designed to hold a specific light? You could just shorten the cables that hang the light to raise it up or DIY your own cables from the light fixture to the frame, like a V. With that frame, it would be great if you could design some kind of pully system to raise and lower the light at you discretion. Just a thought.

 

[jrf1175]

Well I prefer to use the stand since it was custom made to have the bracket on the back to attach the light fixture too. However, the current supports were not placed in the correct spot so I need to to think of the best strategy to add on a few pieces of tubing to support the light. This will be done by the company that build the frame, not by me.

 

[jrf1175]

Stand in now painted/rust proofed and I have cleared the reef room of my "home office" so I can begin to cover the frame. Heading out shortly to get some supplies. More photos later.

 

[boozeman]

did you do the 'eco-chalenge'?

 

[jrf1175]

We did the North American qualifier and finished 3rd...but there hasn't been an eco-challenge since...Mark Burnette is making too much money with Survivor etc to worry about eco-challenge anymore. I have done a lot of other big races similar all over the world though. Have been retired from it for about 5 years now.

 

[swissgaurd]

is the tank sitting directly on the metal or are you putting styrofome between tank and tubing.


vic

 

[jrf1175]

That is what I was trying to figure out Vic. I went with some 1/2 styro.

Here is an update after the shopping spree!

 

[swissgaurd]

the 1/2" styro should be sufficient

 

[jrf1175]

Vic,

Sorry I had started a thread asking plywood or foam for under tank support. That is what I thought you were responding too. Just picked up the styro yesterday.

Cheers,
Jayme