SC Aquariums 90 Gallon SPS Tank

[CiCikl85]

This build has be in the making for a while, but I will post pictures of some of the progress. I am planning on this tank being a SPS Dominate tank with a few LPS that are in the 60 cube.


Equipment

- 90 Gallon Rimless Starfire SC Aquarium with PNP systems overflow (Herbie overflow)
- ATI 8x54 T5 Sunpower (undecided which bulbs to use as of yet)
- 75 gallon DIY Sump
- 40b Frag/Grow out tank plumbed into 75 gallon sump
- ATI 6x24 T5 Sunpower for frag tank
- DIY Stand
- GHL 2.1 SA 4 pump Doser
- Eshopps Axium x-160 Protein Skimmer
- Reef Keeper Elite Net Controller
- BRS Dual Reactor
- Maxspect Gyre 130 and Jebao PP8 power heads
- Jebao DCP 10000 Return pump
- Finex 300w Titanium heater (will more than likely add another for redundancy)
- Mars Hydro 300w Full spectrum Grow light (not purchased yet)
- JBJ ATO
- 40lbs Marco rock and 40 lbs of Marco prime cuts rock
- 80 lbs of Caribsea Dry Special grade reef sand


Now for the fun stuff.... Im going to go with the Triton Method or ATI Essentials (undecided at the moment), with designing my own sump with the 75 gallon tank gives me all kinds of options, but the Triton Method suggests putting the Fuge before the Skimmer so the Fuge is supplied with unfiltered tank water. Fuge section is 20 1/2" x 17 1/2" x 13" giving me roughly 20 gallons of fuge which should meet the requirements of the Triton Method of 10%-15% of water volume. The Sump will be located in a unused closet behind display tank giving me plenty of space to put what ever equipment I want and plenty of space to do maintenance on tank and not making a mess and have hoses, barrels, buckets, pumps ect. laid out everywhere while I'm doing such tasks. The 40b Frag tank will be drilled and plumbed into 75 gallon sump and located in same closet that sump is in. RO/DI filter and and salt water mixing barrels will be located in same closet. The only equipment that will be located in stand under display tank will be a Reef Keeper Power Bar for the lights and Power Heads, and minimal plumbing that will go through wall into closet.

The Wife is helping me finish the stand and She and I have decided to use reclaimed pallet wood and give it a distressed finish with chalk paint, and add a few colors in the finish to match decor of house, but because I decided to involve her in this part of the project it has made her more "excited" about tank!

Wish me luck!

 

[CiCikl85]

 

[CiCikl85]

Sorry for the delay in the updates, the month of January has been crazy, Then family Plumbing Business that has been running since 1995 that my Dad started all by himself closed its doors Jan 1st mainly due to him having a heart attack and being hospitalized for over a month, so I have been super busy finishing up some unfinished projects on my own and its kept me pretty busy. Now about the tank there has been lots of progress on build this fish room is 95% complete, everything is plumbed, hooked up, wired up with a couple odd and ends that need to be finished. The 60 cube has been transferred to the 40b frag tank in fish room and everything is settling in nicely. The 90 has been moved to its final resting place and has been Plumbed into sump w/ the exception of needing to pick up a new 1" bulk head for the return (I grabbed a Threaded one and not a slip...), rinse sand, and start making some saltwater. Here are some pics!

 

[CiCikl85]

Update on 90, its coming along and right now things are starting to settle down, Diatoms from new rock and new sand are quickly going away with CUC, it took Chaeto a bit to get use to the Marshydro LED grow light but now it is growing and has doubled in size and has stabilized my PH at 8.16-8.1 day and night running it on a reverse schedule. NO3 was sitting around 8ppm last weekend and I tested this morning and it has dropped to 6ppm so its coming down, P04 was at .08 last weekend and this morning it was around .04 so chaeto is doing its job which I was expecting higher levels because I have been feeding heavier than normal this last week... I'm going to wait a couple more weeks then I will start adding some more SPS...

 

[TheEngineer]

Nice aquascape! What kind of rock is that? I’m assuming you cemented it together?

 

[CiCikl85]

Thank you! This was a combination of Marcos prime cuts and Marcos base rock and lots and lots of BSI super glue. I played and played with it until I finally came up with something I liked, I would aquascape it and then leave it for a week or 2 and if I wanted to change something I knew it wasn’t right and would start over

 

[TheEngineer]

I just noticed you also have one of my favorite fish, the melanurus wrasse

 

[CiCikl85]

Melanurus Wasse's are cool, and he does a great job at scouring the tank over looking for pest's and IMO they are "nicer" than the 6 line wrasse, only if he would leave my CUC alone lol, I have to get creative because of him... All the Live stock including SPS as of now are from the 60 cube so they were transferred over to the 90 with the exception of my Rainbow Bubble tip anemone and his A hole freind the gold banded maroon clownfish (which is probably my favorite fish in tank but he is a jerk and I wanted a pair of clowns for the 90) both are in the 40b frag tank ...

 

[ryshark]

Melanurus Wasse's are cool, and he does a great job at scouring the tank over looking for pest's and IMO they are "nicer" than the 6 line wrasse, only if he would leave my CUC alone lol, I have to get creative because of him... All the Live stock including SPS as of now are from the 60 cube so they were transferred over to the 90 with the exception of my Rainbow Bubble tip anemone and his A hole freind the gold banded maroon clownfish (which is probably my favorite fish in tank but he is a jerk and I wanted a pair of clowns for the 90) both are in the 40b frag tank ...

How are your sps doing after the transfer?

 

[CiCikl85]

SPS are doing lots better, I’ve had issues with getting my DKH steady, I Lost some frags and some got burnt tips but everything is bouncing nicely.

 

[CiCikl85]

Things are going well, it was tough getting tank to stabilize, I think it was the Dry Base rock.... I lost a couple frags due to DKH swings but now that things have stabilized things are bouncing back nicely!

 

[ryshark]

Things are going well, it was tough getting tank to stabilize, I think it was the Dry Base rock.... I lost a couple frags due to DKH swings but now that things have stabilized things are bouncing back nicely!

How is the tank? Did everything stabilize and acros are growing?

 

[anthamm93]

Love that rock structure. Beautiful tank