Ron Reefman's new 90g build

[Ron Reefman]

After yesterday's fix of the small drip/leaks, the tank hasn't missed a beat all day today. After breakfast and opening a couple of presents (Elaine and I decided to make this a very simple Christmas) I added some additional structural support for the stand because Elaine was concerned... and it's probably a good thing.

Then I started tuning the drains. I made the durso and emergency drains 2" taller and now the water level behind the overflow wall is just half an inch lower than the water in the tank. It's actually the quietest tank I've ever owned. It absolutely scary quiet!

BTW, my big Christmas present was a book. It's "The Cruising Guide to the Virgin Islands". This was Elaine's way of letting me know that she is willing to do the Road Scholar 10 day trip to the BVI. Eight days of sailing on a luxury 45' catamaran and 6 of those days include a snorkel stop! Yea!!! ;Joyful ;Woot

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Do you like snorkeling or diving more? I prefer snorkeling. Most of the reefs in Florida are in less than 15 feet of water

After yesterday's fix of the small drip/leaks, the tank hasn't missed a beat all day today. After breakfast and opening a couple of presents (Elaine and I decided to make this a very simple Christmas) I added some additional structural support for the stand because Elaine was concerned... and it's probably a good thing.

Then I started tuning the drains. I made the durso and emergency drains 2" taller and now the water level behind the overflow wall is just half an inch lower than the water in the tank. It's actually the quietest tank I've ever owned. It absolutely scary quiet!

BTW, my big Christmas present was a book. It's "The Cruising Guide to the Virgin Islands". This was Elaine's way of letting me know that she is willing to do the Road Scholar 10 day trip to the BVI. Eight days of sailing on a luxury 45' catamaran and 6 of those days include a snorkel stop! Yea!!! ;Joyful ;Woot

 

[Ron Reefman]

Do you like snorkeling or diving more? I prefer snorkeling. Most of the reefs in Florida are in less than 15 feet of water

Both my wife and I share your preference for snorkeling.

I've only done a few resort dives and a scuba certification dive, so not that much experience in that realm. But I'd much rather snorkel, especially if it's in really shallow water where I can legally play with the local inhabitants! Elaine has no interest is scuba at all.

My wife and I go out and snorkel the big reefs along the Keys every 2 or 3 years just for a change of pace, or to see how they are doing. But we go shallow water snorkeling (1' to 6') 2 to 4 times every trip to the Keys and we go to the Keys 3 to 5 times a year. So I guess that works out to about 12 to 15 shallow water snorkels every year on average.

Our favorite spot is a small island just 1/4 mile out from a boat ramp where we launch or little Zodiac. There's about 2 or 3 acres of water that is 1' to 4' deep and the bottom is covered with sponges, broken chunks of sps branching coral (not photosynthetic) and calcareous algae. It's warm water (shallow) and on the lee side of the island given normal prevailing winds and very few others ever visit there while we are there. But we get to play with (and occasionally collect) a wide variety of interesting animals, from zoas and palys to octopus and small sharks (very rare).

 

[45ZoaGarden]

You should take a trip to grand turk! It was beautiful when I went a couple years ago. It is similar to the keys in parts. First time I saw an octopus in the wild was at grand turk. It’s a nice change of scene

Both my wife and I share your preference for snorkeling.

I've only done a few resort dives and a scuba certification dive, so not that much experience in that realm. But I'd much rather snorkel, especially if it's in really shallow water where I can legally play with the local inhabitants! Elaine has no interest is scuba at all.

My wife and I go out and snorkel the big reefs along the Keys every 2 or 3 years just for a change of pace, or to see how they are doing. But we go shallow water snorkeling (1' to 6') 2 to 4 times every trip to the Keys and we go to the Keys 3 to 5 times a year. So I guess that works out to about 12 to 15 shallow water snorkels every year on average.

Our favorite spot is a small island just 1/4 mile out from a boat ramp where we launch or little Zodiac. There's about 2 or 3 acres of water that is 1' to 4' deep and the bottom is covered with sponges, broken chunks of sps branching coral (not photosynthetic) and calcareous algae. It's warm water (shallow) and on the lee side of the island given normal prevailing winds and very few others ever visit there while we are there. But we get to play with (and occasionally collect) a wide variety of interesting animals, from zoas and palys to octopus and small sharks (very rare).

 

[Ron Reefman]

You should take a trip to grand turk! It was beautiful when I went a couple years ago. It is similar to the keys in parts. First time I saw an octopus in the wild was at grand turk. It’s a nice change of scene

Thanks for the tip, we'll have to look into that as a future trip possibility.

It's kind of funny that we live in a very warm (some might say hot) environment here in SW Florida, yet the 3 Road Scholar trips we've taken so far (Albuquerque NM, Churchill Manitoba and Moab UT) involved being out in cool or cold weather. Albuquerque was only cool before dawn when we were out at the hot air balloon launch. Chuchill was 35 degrees below zero while outside watching the Aurora Borealis. Moab was cool most of the week, but cold for the 4 sunrise photo shoots. In fact it was only 11 degrees when we were at Mesa Arch for this shot (check out the clothes).

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Yikes! That’s too cold for me. I’m fine with at freezing (32°). I was in -20° in New York a couple years ago on my way to Vermont. Man I was shaking trying to pump gas LOL

Thanks for the tip, we'll have to look into that as a future trip possibility.

It's kind of funny that we live in a very warm (some might say hot) environment here in SW Florida, yet the 3 Road Scholar trips we've taken so far (Albuquerque NM, Churchill Manitoba and Moab UT) involved being out in cool or cold weather. Albuquerque was only cool before dawn when we were out at the hot air balloon launch. Chuchill was 35 degrees below zero while outside watching the Aurora Borealis. Moab was cool most of the week, but cold for the 4 sunrise photo shoots. In fact it was only 11 degrees when we were at Mesa Arch for this shot (check out the clothes).

 

[Ron Reefman]

Yikes! That’s too cold for me. I’m fine with at freezing (32°). I was in -20° in New York a couple years ago on my way to Vermont. Man I was shaking trying to pump gas LOL

I hear you! But at 35 below I got to see this!

 

[Ron Reefman]

OK, back to being a build thread! LOL!

So I've got the drain and return plumbing working the way I want in terms of no leaks, great flow and almost dead quiet! Here is the plumbing and sump.

So I've drained the tank of fresh water and cleaned it up. Then I added the sand I washed from my old tank. Now I'm adding saltwater as I make it 25 gallons at a time. One Brute load in the tank and a second one currently mixing new saltwater.

 

[45ZoaGarden]

OK, back to being a build thread! LOL!

So I've got the drain and return plumbing working the way I want in terms of no leaks, great flow and almost dead quiet! Here is the plumbing and sump.

So I've drained the tank of fresh water and cleaned it up. Then I added the sand I washed from my old tank. Now I'm adding saltwater as I make it 25 gallons at a time. One Brute load in the tank and a second one currently mixing new saltwater.

Do you plan on having a fuge with the section the socks are in? Or just space for equipment

 

[Ron Reefman]

Do you plan on having a fuge with the section the socks are in? Or just space for equipment

It will be a fuge. In the past I've used a variety of macro algae in the fuge. But this time I may just try to keep it to chaeto as it's easier to deal with and cleaner.

I have a nice reactor for use with carbon or GFO, but I only use those when it's needed for something that's gotten out of control (very rare that it gets used).

I'm hoping that I can get enough saltwater made up to fill the tank and get the return pump and skimmer running. I always have enough RO/DI as I have a big system that makes about 20gph. I got it from a friend who was getting out of the hobby and he got it from a coffee shop that was going out of business. The 40g tank beside the RO?DI maker is RO/DI water. The old RO/DI on the wall is a back up (actually my old RO/DI).

This is the guts of the system. The 2 long stainless steel tubes are RO/DI membranes that cost about $100 each.

 

[Ron Reefman]

My new 90g aquarium project is moving forward and so far I couldn't be happier with the results. This morning the water in the tank is perfectly clear. So today I start testing the water and adding some of the rock I've had in a Brute full of saltwater and a big pump that has kept the water VERY stirred up and oxygenated.

The next big step is working out the lighting. I have 3 good led light fixtures, but all 3 are currently in use over holding tanks in the reef room (a spare bedroom my wife allowed me to take over). I want to move the Photon V2+ over the new tank. But I still need to figure out exactly how I'm going to mount it.

I'm seriously considering rotating the legs 180 degrees so they stick straight up (that part is easy and they can still slide in & out of the fixture to any length. Then I can cut the vertical leg off short enough so it can stick through a hole in the stainless steel arms I have mounted on the tank. I can thread the small length of leg that sticks up through the arm and put a stainless steel nut on it. Or I could use a sleeve with a set screw that can slide down over the vertical leg and then lock it in place with the set screw. That might be easier, but I think it will look uglier and be a bit less secure. A tip to the hardware store today seems very likely!

 

[crusso1993]

Wishing you and your family nothing but good health and happiness in 2020!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks! And the same to you and everybody else here at R2R!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Things have been progressing fairly well. The last photo was with sand in and the tank half full. Here is a shot with the tank full and water flowing through the plumbing and sump. I am still amazed at how quiet this system is. The hum of the skimmer, which is very faint, it the loudest part of the system. And once I installed the front doors to the cabinet, the system is almost dead quiet! Now the new rockscape platform is in with the first official rock on top! I have the Coral Box DC9000 running at top speed and it's blowing the sand around quite a bit. I'll dial it down and probably put 'Y' fitting on both return lock line nozzles which should split the flow and blow less sand around.

I have temporarily installed my 24" Photon V2+ over the tank using the stock legs. I've decided I need the light to be further forward over the 30" width of the tank than the new brackets I had made will allow. So I'll probably have new ones made.

I've been moving a few new rocks from my Brute full of prepped live rock and a few of my coral and a couple of anemones from the 3 holding tanks in the back room. The water parameters tested perfect except SG was a bit low until I added more salt.

There are a couple of pvc end caps on the 2nd level of the egg crate platform that have a RFA and a mini max anemones. I have a green branching leather on a magnet at the back of the left side glass. And at the very front, on the sand, in the middle of the tank, is one of two Lightning Venus Clams, the other one has already dug it's way into the sand.

Our flame point siamese cat, Maia, loves to watch water move. She really pays very little attention to the fish and far more to the water surface.

These clams were collected near Little Money Key about 2 years ago. I put them in my 16g holding tank and they disappeared and I forgot all about them. When I was cleaning the sand out of that tank as I was tearing both tanks down, I found these guys. They have lived 2 years in the sand. So I took a small tupperware container and filled it with sand and these 2 clams. I topped it off with tank water and put the top on. Then I moved them to the 40g breeder holding tank where all the corals were going during the tear down and new build. Now I had some issue I never identified and over the first couple of days I lost every stony coral in that tank. Over the next few days I lost 3 of my 4 fish and all of my snails. I did 3 water changes of 90% to 95% of the water during those first several days. The zoas, soft corals, my clown fish survived.

Now while the old tank was gone, we had to re-pipe the entire house. We had old polybutylene pipe which was failing. Re-piping involved tearing massive holes in the drywall to get new pipe down to and installed with new valves at every sink, toilet and shower in the house. The spot where the new tank would go was the biggest hole. So after the plumbers finally came, installed and left, I got to do major drywall repair and lots of painting!

This is the dining room wall after new pipes were installed. The soon to be rebuilt aquarium stand is to the right in the picture.

Now it's several weeks after everything, including the 2 clams in the tupperware container had gone into the 40g breeder holding tank. So I was pretty sure that since all the snails had died, even the clams in the tupperware would be dead as well. Low and behold, they are still alive and willing to dig their way into the sand in the new tank within just a minute or two of being placed on the sand!

 

[45ZoaGarden]

Looking good!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I had a busy day yesterday. I have been picking rocks, corals and anemones out of the 3 holding tanks I put them in. The 40g breeder had some kind of issue that killed all the sps and lps corals, all the snails and 3 of 4 fish (1 clown survived and is happy in her new home).

The rocks and frags really became a mess with some hairy algae and some run away macro algae. So I've been taking each frag and each rock to the kitchen sink to clean. Between my fingers, a pair of forceps, a tooth brush, a dental pick, a small semi-soft wire brush and a gental stream of , I've been getting most of the algae cleaned off. BTW, the new tank is not getting rockscaped yet. I'm going to wait until I have all my rocks with coral and all my frags ready for final placement before I even start.

Then there is the aiptasia out break. So I set up another small tank to put rocks in and treat the aiptasia. I also ordered 3 fish, 8 shrimp, and 25 Astraea snails to help with both the algae and the aiptasia. One fish arrived almost dead and died overnight. The 2 small tangs are busy feasting on small bits of new growth algae. The shrimp went into a small tank with a dozen small aiptasia to make sure they would eat them. They did a good job in the very first day and are now in the big tank.

I got all of the RFA out of the holding tank. The ones in pvc end caps did just fine and are still in their caps after 3 or 4 weeks in a messy tank with no sand. A handful of RFA that were on rocks did move off the rocks and attached to the bottom glass. This was OK by me as that made them easy to remove and they are all now in end caps in a small holding tank with no flow overnight. And I'm happy to report I thought I had 40+ RFA when I tore the old tank down, now I know I have 48 RFA's and more than 2/3rds of them are in end caps.

I've cleared out the 40g and the 10g and just have 8-10 bigger rocks covered with algae and aiptasia to deal with.

My goal for today is to get all my RFA's into the new tank. Get a 2nd frag rack into the tank and move as many small rocks and corals as I can onto it. And start treating some of the bigger rocks with lot of corals... as well as some algae and aiptasia, treated so they can start finding their way into the tank.

 

[jtl]

I had a busy day yesterday. I have been picking rocks, corals and anemones out of the 3 holding tanks I put them in. The 40g breeder had some kind of issue that killed all the sps and lps corals, all the snails and 3 of 4 fish (1 clown survived and is happy in her new home).

The rocks and frags really became a mess with some hairy algae and some run away macro algae. So I've been taking each frag and each rock to the kitchen sink to clean. Between my fingers, a pair of forceps, a tooth brush, a dental pick, a small semi-soft wire brush and a gental stream of , I've been getting most of the algae cleaned off. BTW, the new tank is not getting rockscaped yet. I'm going to wait until I have all my rocks with coral and all my frags ready for final placement before I even start.

Then there is the aiptasia out break. So I set up another small tank to put rocks in and treat the aiptasia. I also ordered 3 fish, 8 shrimp, and 25 Astraea snails to help with both the algae and the aiptasia. One fish arrived almost dead and died overnight. The 2 small tangs are busy feasting on small bits of new growth algae. The shrimp went into a small tank with a dozen small aiptasia to make sure they would eat them. They did a good job in the very first day and are now in the big tank.

I got all of the RFA out of the holding tank. The ones in pvc end caps did just fine and are still in their caps after 3 or 4 weeks in a messy tank with no sand. A handful of RFA that were on rocks did move off the rocks and attached to the bottom glass. This was OK by me as that made them easy to remove and they are all now in end caps in a small holding tank with no flow overnight. And I'm happy to report I thought I had 40+ RFA when I tore the old tank down, now I know I have 48 RFA's and more than 2/3rds of them are in end caps.

I've cleared out the 40g and the 10g and just have 8-10 bigger rocks covered with algae and aiptasia to deal with.

My goal for today is to get all my RFA's into the new tank. Get a 2nd frag rack into the tank and move as many small rocks and corals as I can onto it. And start treating some of the bigger rocks with lot of corals... as well as some algae and aiptasia, treated so they can start finding their way into the tank.

H2O2 dip was always my goto plan for algae of all types. Diluted dip if the rock had coral on it and full strength if the rock was bare. So many people let algae get out of hand before they deal with it making it much more difficult to erradicate. I learned to nip it in the bud and once I did nuisance was no longer an issue.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Thanks John. Before I do my final rockscape I'll do the dip on any rocks with algae showing. Thanks for the reminder/tip!

BTW, now that you've sold off your reef, are you just here to follow friends? Personally, I'm just glad you are still around.

 

[jtl]

Thanks John. Before I do my final rockscape I'll do the dip on any rocks with algae showing. Thanks for the reminder/tip!

BTW, now that you've sold off your reef, are you just here to follow friends? Personally, I'm just glad you are still around.

I follow a few people and occasionally comment on threads where I believe I have something to add that may be helpful. As you know there are lots of interesting people in this hobby. Just being a "lurker" of sorts is much easier than maintaining a system according to Debbie who did most of the cleaning and arranging. Like you I have been in and out of the hobby a long time (35 years for us) and even with the vast amount of knowledge in sites like R2R I am amazed at howmany people are still making the same costly mistakes and they aren't all newbies.

I still want to do something with the Miata club. I thought about the trip to the Center for Great Apes but it appears to be sold out.

 

[Ron Reefman]

I still want to do something with the Miata club. I thought about the trip to the Center for Great Apes but it appears to be sold out.

Yes it is. We missed this the last time a few years ago. We will be in Gainesville doing a Road Scholar kayaking trip on 3 of the natural springs in the area the week before. So we are going to join the Miata Club at the event as we will be coming down from Gainesville.

Have you been to the Ringling Brothers School of Art & Design? We'll be doing that trip as well.