noob here with question on starting

[reefguy565]

tank will be deep blue 90 gal and i will drill it and use ghost overflow ( My opinion of 90 gallon tanks... You get no added benefit of a taller tank , it has the same foot print of a 75 gallon , just taller. Since you are making the stand and will have the material anyway , I would seriously look at the 120 for the added 6 inches of depth )
DIY Stand ( Wish I had word working skills!!!!)
rock - undecided but probably pukani ( Know that this is very dirty rock , but makes great aquascaping and looks great)
eshopps s200 or maybe 300 ( Your choice , I would look at the Aquamaxx cone s Q2 , I believe its $100 cheaper and mine is a work horse , I would buy this again )
sicce return pump ( using this myself )
tunze power heads 6055 ( Its a Tunze , you know its good )
Tunze Osmolator ( See above )
sb reef photon v2 48" ot current usa/t5 hybrid not sure yet ( I am currently building a LED/T5 hybrid in a floating canopy , replica of the BRS 160 for my 75) ( I started my build with a 6 bulb ATI dimmable fixture coming back to T5 after having Aqua illumination Sol blues over a cube reef. Missed the shimmer of leds and thought I would try the reef breeders photon v2 . The disco ball effect was ridiculous , immediately I was not impressed. Lasted about a month and put back the ATI T5 . Still wanting the shimmer decided on the hybrid as was my original plan but didn't think I could wire my own retro fit T5 .....I can ...it was easy ! )

awesome man thank you. I can't get the 120 tank as i dont have the space for it, it will stick out too much in a hallway. I looked at the aquamaxx but for the price os the Q-2 i can get find a eshopps s-300 that handles up to 360 gal tank. Now if someone tells me that they are crap lol then thats a different story. Can you post a pic of the floating canopy? I am looking to do similar with current usa in the middle and 2 t5 retro on each side. my issue is mounting. I can't mount them on the walls as wall is to thin and ceiling is concrete and not confident. so my only option is to figure out some type of mounts that will hold the weight of the canopy.

 

[Fishfinder]

Im not trying to tell you what to do. But when I built my tank I was on a budget and trying to save some money. These are some of the things that I did..... I hope it helps you, there is a recent thread about setting up a tank on a budget.

Rock- I don't know if you want to use live or dead. If getting dry rock see if you can get some used and clean it up yourself.
Skimmer I bought new
Return pump- see if you can find used
Powerheads- I got Rossmont, they flow the same as the 6055 and you can get a 2 pack for $115
ATO- I got the do it yourself kit for $40 and a pump for $35. It's not a osmolator but it works good.
(Tunze makes good products not bashing them)
Lights- 2 or 3 black box LED for $100 each. I want a reef breeder but couldn't spend the money.

This isn't the best setup but will grow coral and look pretty for cheap

 

[cjd]

awesome man thank you. I can't get the 120 tank as i dont have the space for it, it will stick out too much in a hallway. I looked at the aquamaxx but for the price os the Q-2 i can get find a eshopps s-300 that handles up to 360 gal tank. Now if someone tells me that they are crap lol then thats a different story. Can you post a pic of the floating canopy? I am looking to do similar with current usa in the middle and 2 t5 retro on each side. my issue is mounting. I can't mount them on the walls as wall is to thin and ceiling is concrete and not confident. so my only option is to figure out some type of mounts that will hold the weight of the canopy.

My canopy is still under construction ...need another paycheck to get the AP700 . LOL . I am looking online at cable grips that look as sleek as the ones that came with the ATI fixture . I contacted BRS to see how they hung theirs and they told me they used a modified version of the Radion mounting kit. So im still trying to figure that issue out. But it will be done !!!!
Concrete ceiling??? you live in a cave ??? LOL Plenty of anchors that can handle that . My canopy isn't all that heavy , ill have to weigh it , but its not really any heavier than my 6 bulb 48 inch ATI fixture that's dangling from the ceiling as we speak! ;Bucktooth
Since you are still building stage you could make a L bracket that extends up the back of the aquarium and over allowing you to hang the lights from that. Plenty of pics of that on this site .

 

[reefguy565]

Im not trying to tell you what to do. But when I built my tank I was on a budget and trying to save some money. These are some of the things that I did..... I hope it helps you, there is a recent thread about setting up a tank on a budget.

Rock- I don't know if you want to use live or dead. If getting dry rock see if you can get some used and clean it up yourself.
Skimmer I bought new
Return pump- see if you can find used
Powerheads- I got Rossmont, they flow the same as the 6055 and you can get a 2 pack for $115
ATO- I got the do it yourself kit for $40 and a pump for $35. It's not a osmolator but it works good.
(Tunze makes good products not bashing them)
Lights- 2 or 3 black box LED for $100 each. I want a reef breeder but couldn't spend the money.

This isn't the best setup but will grow coral and look pretty for cheap

Im not trying to tell you what to do. But when I built my tank I was on a budget and trying to save some money. These are some of the things that I did..... I hope it helps you, there is a recent thread about setting up a tank on a budget.

Rock- I don't know if you want to use live or dead. If getting dry rock see if you can get some used and clean it up yourself.
Skimmer I bought new
Return pump- see if you can find used
Powerheads- I got Rossmont, they flow the same as the 6055 and you can get a 2 pack for $115
ATO- I got the do it yourself kit for $40 and a pump for $35. It's not a osmolator but it works good.
(Tunze makes good products not bashing them)
Lights- 2 or 3 black box LED for $100 each. I want a reef breeder but couldn't spend the money.

This isn't the best setup but will grow coral and look pretty for cheap

which model Rossmonts you have ? did you also get the wave controller?

 

[Fishfinder]

I did not get the controller. But that is why I got the rossmont. When I have the money I can upgrade to it. For a 90gal I would get the 1500 pumps

 

[beaslbob]

NYC here also

I am in New York City

NYC here also

I'm not.

 

[beaslbob]

To cut down expenses, Petco every few months has a $/gallon sale. So I got a 55G for $55.

Also please consider the refugium with macro algaes. I did an in tank refugium by using 1/4 sq plastic grid (egg crate) sold at building supply places for light diffusers in dropped ceilings.

Basically I put it 3" in front of the back glass, held off with lava rocks (bottom) and power heads at top. And added 2 2tube 4' fluorescent shop lights 6" behind the back pointing forward.

Costs were ~$12 eggcrate ~20 fixtures, ~$12 6500k tubes, and a couple of power heads ($60 or so).

Now the important stuff. With the macros thriving the tank will balance out and stabilize. With no need for any other filtration, chemical, water changes, live rock, live sand.

So save all that money usually spent on those things and buy a bigger tank to begin with.

For instance.

A recent sale at pets mart was 60g tank and stand for $200. (they also included 2 small strip lights but that doesn't really count LOL)


So with that as a starting point
$200 tank stand
$10 salt
$30 limestone rock (from local quarry)
refugium above
$12 egg crate
$20 lights
$12 tubes
$60 powerheads.
$5 chaeto macro algae.

$349 total if my math is correct LOL

set it up and let run for a week.

add 5 male mollies and don't add food for a week.
then start feeding very very small amouts each day.
after 3 more weeks the tank should be ready for marine only fish.

and just replace water that evaporates. No water changes. But best to have an extra bag of salt in case of leaks or accidents.

If you can afford $600 get a 90g or so. LOL

my .02

and sorry about long post.

 

[beaslbob]

Nyc

I'm not

 

[reefguy565]

To cut down expenses, Petco every few months has a $/gallon sale. So I got a 55G for $55.

Also please consider the refugium with macro algaes. I did an in tank refugium by using 1/4 sq plastic grid (egg crate) sold at building supply places for light diffusers in dropped ceilings.

Basically I put it 3" in front of the back glass, held off with lava rocks (bottom) and power heads at top. And added 2 2tube 4' fluorescent shop lights 6" behind the back pointing forward.

Costs were ~$12 eggcrate ~20 fixtures, ~$12 6500k tubes, and a couple of power heads ($60 or so).

Now the important stuff. With the macros thriving the tank will balance out and stabilize. With no need for any other filtration, chemical, water changes, live rock, live sand.

So save all that money usually spent on those things and buy a bigger tank to begin with.

For instance.

A recent sale at pets mart was 60g tank and stand for $200. (they also included 2 small strip lights but that doesn't really count LOL)


So with that as a starting point
$200 tank stand
$10 salt
$30 limestone rock (from local quarry)
refugium above
$12 egg crate
$20 lights
$12 tubes
$60 powerheads.
$5 chaeto macro algae.

$349 total if my math is correct LOL

set it up and let run for a week.

add 5 male mollies and don't add food for a week.
then start feeding very very small amouts each day.
after 3 more weeks the tank should be ready for marine only fish.

and just replace water that evaporates. No water changes. But best to have an extra bag of salt in case of leaks or accidents.

If you can afford $600 get a 90g or so. LOL

my .02

and sorry about long post.

Thank you for the write up but I am not sure if I am reading your post right. why would I use male mollies that's a fresh water fish in a salt water tank? I don't agree with NOT doing water changes but some people don't do it.. I think even with macro algae in a refugium you still need to do bi-weekly water changes. can I see a pic of your macro algae thing you did with the egg crate? I am getting a new 90 gal deep blue for $230, stand I am building it myself

 

[beaslbob]

Thank you for the write up but I am not sure if I am reading your post right. why would I use male mollies that's a fresh water fish in a salt water tank? I don't agree with NOT doing water changes but some people don't do it.. I think even with macro algae in a refugium you still need to do bi-weekly water changes. can I see a pic of your macro algae thing you did with the egg crate? I am getting a new 90 gal deep blue for $230, stand I am building it myself

Mollies can thrive in full marine saltwater. Male so no babies. They are inexpensive, hardy, and eat ugly algae. Plus if you can acclimate them to saltwater, acclimating the more expensive marine only fish is much easier.

The idea is to balance out and stabilize the tank so that water changes are not necessary and can actually degrade the system. Water changes will eventually result in the changes between water changes divided by the fraction of water changed (plus whatever is in the replacement water). For instance, if say nitrates are increasing at 1ppm/day (14ppm biweekly) and you change 1/10 of the water, the tank will wind up at 14ppm/(1/10)=140ppm nitrates. Which is why we have to dose calcium, alk, and magnesium even with water changes.

In the 6-7 years I ran the 55g I only used 3 bags of salt. And one of those after an accident dumping water during a tank move. LOL

I did have to dose cal, alk, mag per the diy 2 part of Dr. Holmes-Farley

Don't have a pic at work but most on line said it was ugly. But those people who say the tank in person thought it was awesome. Obviously you could use a more attractive partition than the egg crate. The fish sure enjoyed it tho and nitrates dropped down to unmeasureable in 3 weeks.

my .02

 

[reefguy565]

Mollies can thrive in full marine saltwater. Male so no babies. They are inexpensive, hardy, and eat ugly algae. Plus if you can acclimate them to saltwater, acclimating the more expensive marine only fish is much easier.

The idea is to balance out and stabilize the tank so that water changes are not necessary and can actually degrade the system. Water changes will eventually result in the changes between water changes divided by the fraction of water changed (plus whatever is in the replacement water). For instance, if say nitrates are increasing at 1ppm/day (14ppm biweekly) and you change 1/10 of the water, the tank will wind up at 14ppm/(1/10)=140ppm nitrates. Which is why we have to dose calcium, alk, and magnesium even with water changes.

In the 6-7 years I ran the 55g I only used 3 bags of salt. And one of those after an accident dumping water during a tank move. LOL

I did have to dose cal, alk, mag per the diy 2 part of Dr. Holmes-Farley

Don't have a pic at work but most on line said it was ugly. But those people who say the tank in person thought it was awesome. Obviously you could use a more attractive partition than the egg crate. The fish sure enjoyed it tho and nitrates dropped down to unmeasureable in 3 weeks.

my .02

thanks man I am going to do more research on this will it work if I just get 1-2 Mollies for a 90 gallon tank? is there a need to QT the Mollies?

 

[beaslbob]

thanks man I am going to do more research on this will it work if I just get 1-2 Mollies for a 90 gallon tank? is there a need to QT the Mollies?

1-2 is fine to get things going. that said I used 5 on my old 55g.

I wouldn't think you would have to qt the FW mollies. Just putting them is saltwater should be qt enough. In fact I used aquarium salt to treat and prevent a white cottony fungus on FW.

my .02