Smith's Reef's 90G Rescue!

[McAllyn]

Well, Smiths Reef and I had to postpone the plans for the 125g for a bit, but we found someone with a 90g that they couldn't care for any longer. We picked it up this week and this weekend, the fun begins. I'll try to photo blog the progress which includes:

1. deep cleaning entire system
2. building new custom stand
3. replacing DIY sump
4. repurposing old sump as QT
5. build DIY ATS
6. repairing and plumbing skimmer

Once those things are done, then the REAL fun begins!

1. Aquascaping
2. picking corals
3. picking swimmers
4. tweaking lighting
5. picking a controller/powerheads

We are so excited!

Pics coming soon!

Mac

 

[Tanuki]

So the tank is being rescued, but not the inhabitants?

Should be a fun project, I can't wait to see the resto mods!

 

[McAllyn]

Fortunately, someone came along earlier in the day and rescued the critters. Since we had to break it down to move it and won't be able to install it permanently until we move into the new house in May, we're doing a total tear down.

Mac

 

[McAllyn]

Ok, so the work is fully underway! Saturday morning, Smith's Reef and I wheeled the tank to the door of the garage and got dirty! Literally...

Mac

 

[McAllyn]

Perfect excuse to buy a new shop-vac!

Mac

 

[McAllyn]

Time for a bath and a good night's sleep!!!

 

[McAllyn]

26 hours later... with pruney fingers and swimmer's ear

 

[NVEOUS]

What was used to give it a "bath"? New to the hobby

Sub'd also so I can follow


Sent Via the R2R Forum APP

 

[McAllyn]

2.25 gallons of Distilled White Vinegar and good ol' hose water! Soaked my pumps and powerheads, too, so I just plugged them up to add agitation. Only soaked for 26 hours but everything wiped off with minimal scrubbing.

Someone said something about using muriatic acid as well, but I didn't have enough time to research that. Supposedly, it's much faster, but you sure don't want to stand over the tank and look down in and possibly breath the vapor.

Mac

 

[McAllyn]

While I'm working on the stand this week, I thought I'd post the equipment list of what I have and see if anyone had recommendations for upgrades/additions:

Skimmer: AquaC EV-120 (got this with the tank)
Light: Current USA Nova Pro 48" T5 6bulb fixture (got this with the tank)
Sump/fuge: Eshopps R100 (bought this to replace 29g DIY sump)
Return pump: unknown brand/flow (ordered a Mag Drive 7)
Skimmer pump: Mag Drive 5 (came with tank)
Powerheads: 3x Koralia EVO 1400 (one came with tank, but have 2 others)
Heater: Hydor Theo 300w and Aqueon 250w (both came with tank)

Seems like I've got the makings of a decent setup to get up and running. Anything anyone can think of necessary to get this started?

Mac

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Great cleaning job! Vinegar works wonders!

 

[McAllyn]

OK, so the tank is pretty much ready to go, waiting for a new home. Well, yesterday, Smith's Reef and I grabbed up the power tools and decided to make a new home!

STAND DAY!

This is the stand we got with the tank. After a bit of research, we found out it's a $99 stand from WalMart built for a 40-55g tank maximum!!! How this tank didn't end up spread all over someone's floor years ago, I'll never know! On the other hand, I have new found respect for some of the knock-down furniture from WalMart!

 

[McAllyn]

So, a couple hours later, this is what we had... Going to add the floor, dry box, and paint today if it stops raining. We're not going to skin it until we get into the new house in May, but it's going to get mocked up this afternoon!

 

[Mirelyght]

i've seen pics of home built aquarium stands before with the 3 2x4's for the corner.....coupla questions: are those screws or nails? and did you glue them?

 

[McAllyn]

Glued and screwed. And I shamelessly "borrowed" the plan from someone on another forum with far more building experience than I. That thing is crazy stable. Not just in downforce, but side to side also.

(8) 96" 2x4's, 3lb box of 2.5" screws, one bottle of Titebond wood glue.

Overall size is 48x18x35 tall. It will be skinned with 3/4" maple and wrapped around the bottom of the tank to hide the black plastic base. But for now, I've got a stand I know will support anything I can put on top of it for roughly $35.

Mac

 

[bknapp]

Lookin good so far, best of luck on the rescue.

 

[Mirelyght]

Glued and screwed. And I shamelessly "borrowed" the plan from someone on another forum with far more building experience than I. That thing is crazy stable. Not just in downforce, but side to side also.

(8) 96" 2x4's, 3lb box of 2.5" screws, one bottle of Titebond wood glue.

Overall size is 48x18x35 tall. It will be skinned with 3/4" maple and wrapped around the bottom of the tank to hide the black plastic base. But for now, I've got a stand I know will support anything I can put on top of it for roughly $35.

Mac

thanks for the info.....i'll be building my own stand and i'm really nervous about it....i don't wanna spend the rest of my reef hobbying career wondering if the stand is gonna hold every time i look at it lol.

 

[McAllyn]

thanks for the info.....i'll be building my own stand and i'm really nervous about it....i don't wanna spend the rest of my reef hobbying career wondering if the stand is gonna hold every time i look at it lol.

No doubt. I've built lots of things over the years, decks, furniture, cabinetry, etc. but never something designed to hold roughly 1000lbs of water in my living room... But I did a lot of research and vetted this design very well. I'm very comfortable with believing this will be trouble free for a long time to come.

It never stopped raining yesterday, so I didn't get a chance to put in the floor or dry box, but I will knock that out one evening this week and get it painted. I'll post new pics of that, then when the paint is dry, I'll mock it up and take pics of that step.

Mac

 

[McAllyn]

Quick update, the rescue has stalled a bit. The tank is clean and on the painted stand. Basically, it's mocked up and ready to get wet. However, the reason for the stall is that we have also taken a shot a rescuing a house. Currently, the living room of the house we've adopted is gutted to the studs and I'm in the process of rewiring. Once the wiring is done, the insulation and drywall/ceilings get knocked out. THEN the 90 comes to the new house and gets wet!

Final build plan:

90g 48"x18"X25" RR with corner overflow
home built 2X4 stand
eShoppes R100 sump
Danner Mag Drive 9.5 return pump
(3) Hydor Evolution 1400 power heads
AquaC Evo 120 skimmer
Danner Mag Drive 5 skimmer pump
BRS Carbon/GFO reactor
(2) Aqueon 250w heaters
ATI Sunpower 48" 6 bulb fixture
DA Reefkeeper Lite
100-120lbs dry rock (currently curing)
Kent Maxxus HiS RO/DI
40-60lbs Caribsea Aragonite

In a couple weeks, this thing is really going to take off, and I hope to be able to document everything along the way.

Mac

 

[Reef Fever]

looks good! i started out with a mess of an aquarium too lol