Rick's 90 gal Deep Blue Adventure

[z nano reefer]

Well, its been 2 weeks since my wife surprised me with a wonderful new tank & Stand made out of Cherry wood. positioned the tank where I want it so I can see it everyday and got it level. Trying to slowly set up the filter and sump, each day a little more work to be done. So now I'm at the point where I have to make a decision with what Skimmer to go with and I'm leaning towards Reef Octopus extreme SS. 3 days ago I received a box of rocks from BRS I got 55 lbs of their Pulkani rock, I love the look and the lightness of the rock . They sent huge pieces one is actually 2.5 feet long, "gigantic". I read on the forum that the Pulkani dry rock leaches Ph04, so I'm not sure of what to do. It's cooking in salt water with a chemical mat to remove phosphates. Others on the site mentioned a pool product SeaKlear Phosphate remover, I ordered a small bottle and not sure how to use it or if I want to use it at all. I will wait a week before testing for PH04 and then decide. UPS guy out of breath delivered my sand tonight. I went for the Tropic Eden
Tonga reef flakes, i must say it looks whiter than any other sand I've seen, I think I made a good choice. I'm trying to take my time but getting anxious to get water in this glass box.
I'll post pics as much as I can
Rick

 

[PSU4ME]

That looks very nice Rick..... Lucky you. I think the reef octopus skimmers have a good rep so not a bad choice there. Plans for a refugium in the sump?

What kind of lighting?

 

[tnwillia]

Great start! Have fun with it!

 

[mcentire1123]

Nice tank!

 

[z nano reefer]

That looks very nice Rick..... Lucky you. I think the reef octopus skimmers have a good rep so not a bad choice there. Plans for a refugium in the sump?

What kind of lighting?

Thanks, not sure what to do with the sump, the Eshopp's sump she bought me with it doesn't have much in the way of dividers, so i'm still trying to figure things out with that.
As far as lighting is concerned I'm having 2-78 watt LED units with the combination of white & blue's made for me similar to the AI SOL's with the Crees that I want and mixture of 30 & 70 degree lenses. and they have dimmers on them.
Thanks,

 

[tnwillia]

Your sump, looking at the picture, just has the two chambers, no fuge area... 1 big area your sock is in and lots of room for a skimmer then baffles and Return pump chamber. That works!

 

[z nano reefer]

Well,
It's been a week of ordering things on line, finally ordered my Skimmer after speaking to Jeremy over at Coralvue and I ordered the new reef octopus 1000LS with its improved pump and 3 year warranty. Also ordered their MF 800B Media reactor, and R2 moonlights and a couple of other things needed to get up and running. I'll be happy to see the UPS guy next week
Meanwhile the rock is in the basement in a tub and I added a 1/2 cap full of Seaklear Phosphate remover and have 2 PO4 chemi-pads in their to remove any phosphate leaching from the rock
I will test the levels in a couple of days. I added the substrate sand and I'm not sure if I want to build up a 3" base like I have on my tank now, I seem to like the less is more look better, what do you think? Also got this cool little auto top off acrylic container from Elite Aquatics

 

[ScottB]

looks good Rick... sounds like you're well on your way

 

[z nano reefer]

Yesterday I Picked up a brand new demo for store use only Vortech MP 40 W for a really great price,
Is one enough for the 90 gal tank or do I need another power head on the opposite side?

 

[tnwillia]

One is enough BUT, what you can do with 2 MP40s for flow pattern and reef water movement simulation with the patterns is really something! If you can get 2 and run Master/Slave Anti-sync you will not regret it!!!

 

[seabass]

Beautiful start!!Congrats.

 

[dmatt88]

Oh ya beauty of a tank n +1^ on the 2 mp40s

......blah blah blah.

 

[z nano reefer]

Ok guys,
I got my Reactor in and wondering do I fill it with GFO or go with the Bio pellets? whats the advantages of either of these media's??

 

[Tru2nr]

GFO will focus solely on phos. Reduction where at biopellets focus on phos and trates...nice tank though...I love my deep blue tank

 

[z nano reefer]

My Reef Octopus Skimmer and Reactor arrived today, so I set some time to begin setting it up Looks Like I crammed a lot of stuff in the sump, hope it's ok
I like the look of the new 1000 LSSS skimmer hope it works as good as it looks....

 

[BLADEYAMAHA]

Looks Great!

 

[z nano reefer]

It took over a day but my tank has H2O now, so now comes my tinkering around with the mechanics of my filter system.
Big question the corner in tank overflow set up is making a gurgling noise thru the air hole on top, what can i do , maybe put a needle valve in there to quiet it down?
and what can be done about the splashing noise into the sump end where it drips into the filter sock, can that be quieted down and how?
Happy reefing!!

 

[z nano reefer]

Ok guys I need your Opinions, whats the best way to move the rock, fish and corals over, the tank is ready!!! and I need to break down the rsm-34 to sell it ...( reef funds??)
thanks,
Rick