The Current 90 Gallon Tank

[JP&JL]

I just posted my introduction thread and it was suggested I put out my tank information so here we go!

First off, my wife and I have been in the hobby for 4-5 years. I can say that I feel incredibly lucky to have such an awesome supportive wife with this hobby. She adds to the fun and enjoyment of it, has no problem doing the daily chores when I'm gone for work and has never taken away from it....love my wife of 8

years to death! We started with a 45 gallon red sea cube that we had for a few years that did great. We moved from NC to Nashville, TN and started working on a 180 gallon and during the build we found a killer deal on a 90 gallon complete setup (the current tank) that we decided to get as an interim tank. Now we can take our time and setup the 180 gallon with everything we want and really spend time thinking through it while still getting our "fix" with a new aquarium haha! My wife is a Pediatrician with a chemistry major and is my sanity check when it comes to a lot of big decisions we make for the aquarium.....kind of like every other part of marriage huh

Tank is almost 6 months old and rocking!

Parameters:
Nitrate - .5
Phosphate- .03
Temp- 78
Calc - 440
Alk - 8
PH - 8.1 to 8.3

Equipment:
Geisseman Aurora LED/T5 light
Mp 40
2 Gyres
Vertex Omega 150
GFO Reactor
BioMedia Reactor
Carbon Reactor
Jebeo UV Light
Neptune Apex system with various add ons. We really nerded out with the Neptune Par meter, coral lighting requirements research and our coral placement

(we aren't big equipment junkies....just try to keep it simple)

We have about 80-90 pounds of live rock

Fish:
Purple Tang
Yellow Tang
Pair of designer Snowflake Clownfish
Blue Damsel
Six Line Wrasse
Spotted Leopard Wrasse (presumably still in there but has been buried in the sand after we got her a month ago lol)
Coral Beauty

CUC:
Nassarius, Trochus and Astrea Snails
a healthy lot of hermits
Tiger Konch
Serpent Starfish
2 cleaner shrimp
1 peppermint shrimp

Corals: I'll probably miss a few but we wanted it to be an SPS dominant tank and just started adding them
x2 Euphyllias
Green Star Polyp rock
A Zoa rock with some Sunny D's and a few other basic ones
A huge ridiculous Australian Duncan (I'm going to have to frag this soon so if anyone is interested let me know, it's nearing 100 heads)
Australian Acan Ultra
Green tipped Toadstool
Montipora Setosa
ORA Birds Nest
ORA Red Planet
Blue Aussie Ice acro
A few random Mille's, genius and other acros straight from Australia (excited to see how they color up)
Walt Disney frag
Over the Rainbow Mille
Some basic Monti's to include Strawberry Field
Giant Neon Green Mushroom that just gave us another little guy
Cali Cali acro

A Gold Maxima Clam

What we add/feed to the tank:
We use ESV 2 part daily,
Feed the fish LRS and seaweed daily
Reef Roids
Phytofeast
Oysterfeast
Selcon
Red Sea's Reef Energy
We use Red Sea Salt


* And what I believe is the best thing we have done for tank success, a 3% water change daily no large water changes. My Mentor was a very successful and knowledgeable LFS owner out of NC that told me early on stability is the key and a 3% water change daily would be most ideal but most people don't want to go through that a** pain.....it is a pain but we do it religiously and IMO has paid off huge!

Next Planned Upgrades for tank:
Neptune ATK v2.0
add another MP 40
get a Chaeto Reactor and decrease GFO usage
Neptune DOS for the ESV 2 Part (I'm thinking I'm going to run the daily dosage throughout the Lights Off period)

Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed reading this and I'll try to post updates as the tank progresses!! I'll also start a tank build thread for the 180 once we really start building that!

My Wife and I are thick skinned, humble and will never miss a chance to learn from those older and wiser than us so don't beat around the bush if you have advice....it will be well received and greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[ndrwater]

Tank looks awesome!!
Looks like you had a good mentor. With the success you have had based on what you have learned, it sounds like many other people new to the hobby would benefit from your story.
Keep the updates coming!!

 

[P-Dub]

Nicely done!
If you REALLY want to make you 3% daily water changes to finally be completely painless, Purchase another DOS and have that take care of the changes for you. That was likely the single best purchase/decision I made for my tank. Something that I have begun to do as well, I have the additions of Red Sea colors and some Ca & Alk done via my large reserve reservoirs for the ATO and AWC. At this point, in addition to my Ca reactor, I don't have to run my dosing pumps any longer. So far so good but get that DOS for water changes... life-changing.

 

[JP&JL]

Nicely done!
If you REALLY want to make you 3% daily water changes to finally be completely painless, Purchase another DOS and have that take care of the changes for you. That was likely the single best purchase/decision I made for my tank. Something that I have begun to do as well, I have the additions of Red Sea colors and some Ca & Alk done via my large reserve reservoirs for the ATO and AWC. At this point, in addition to my Ca reactor, I don't have to run my dosing pumps any longer. So far so good but get that DOS for water changes... life-changing.

Nice! Great ideas....we are in the brainstorming stage of how we are going to automate stuff. Will moving that much water with the DOS cause a lot of wear and tear on the pump in it? I know they’ve got pretty good reviews on longevity for the DOS

 

[P-Dub]

Nice! Great ideas....we are in the brainstorming stage of how we are going to automate stuff. Will moving that much water with the DOS cause a lot of wear and tear on the pump in it? I know they’ve got pretty good reviews on longevity for the DOS

They are designed to be able to perform water changes. How long they last... time will tell. Just a heads up, they are loud, loud, loud. Fortunately, our bedroom is on the other side of the house and one floor up. I have water changes performed between midnight and 06:00. Something to consider if you sleep anywhere near the tank.

 

[Peace River]

Thank you for the thorough description of your system! Although it may be too much for many, if you really want automation then in addition to a controller like the ones from Apex or GHL, you may also want to check out the Kinetics Reefbot that does automated water tests and later this year they will be releasing an accompanying doser. I look forward to hearing more about your progress!

 

[JP&JL]

They are designed to be able to perform water changes. How long they last... time will tell. Just a heads up, they are loud, loud, loud. Fortunately, our bedroom is on the other side of the house and one floor up. I have water changes performed between midnight and 06:00. Something to consider if you sleep anywhere near the tank.

Haha oh wow! Yea didn't think that little guy would be so noisy!....It's on the opposite side of the house from where we sleep but I do appreciate the heads up...I'm sure there are plenty of people that got an unpleasant surprise lol

 

[JP&JL]

Thank you for the thorough description of your system! Although it may be too much for many, if you really want automation then in addition to a controller like the ones from Apex or GHL, you may also want to check out the Kinetics Reefbot that does automated water tests and later this year they will be releasing an accompanying doser. I look forward to hearing more about your progress!

I'll definitely check that out! Thanks....seems like thats the next big piece of equipment to tackle in the hobby is the all-in-one tester. I'll be very curious to see the review on the Kinetics Reefbot. Looks like it could be great!

 

[ndrwater]

I'll definitely check that out! Thanks....seems like thats the next big piece of equipment to tackle in the hobby is the all-in-one tester. I'll be very curious to see the review on the Kinetics Reefbot. Looks like it could be great!

From the few people that I know who have one, nothing but rave reviews. I also know from talking to the inventor, it is almost infinitely customizable as long as whatever test being used is titration.

 

[JP&JL]

From the few people that I know who have one, nothing but rave reviews. I also know from talking to the inventor, it is almost infinitely customizable as long as whatever test being used is titration.

Oh that’s awesome news. I mean all the other tests that aren’t titration, for the most part, I’ve already got through Neptune. Thanks for the response, it’s great to hear first hand experience on equipment!

 

[JP&JL]

Nicely done!
If you REALLY want to make you 3% daily water changes to finally be completely painless, Purchase another DOS and have that take care of the changes for you. That was likely the single best purchase/decision I made for my tank. Something that I have begun to do as well, I have the additions of Red Sea colors and some Ca & Alk done via my large reserve reservoirs for the ATO and AWC. At this point, in addition to my Ca reactor, I don't have to run my dosing pumps any longer. So far so good but get that DOS for water changes... life-changing.

What size reservoirs are you using for the water change and where do you put them? I don’t have a sump room. Just fishing for ideas but I think my wife and I are going to try and make that work. I REALLY like the idea of a daily water change happening over an extended period of time