My 90g project (lots of bad pics and good info)

[SCFatz]

This may be my longest post ever on any message board I have ever used...and thats saying something.I am going to lay it all out for critisism,opinion and suggestion.What I would appreciate is those with experience chime in on whats right and whats wrong IYO.

You will have to pardon the pics...the cam and I are at odds it seems,I know what I want,but I get what it gives me lol.

First a total (and terrible) tank shot.This is just to get a feel how much rock the is...I have no idea of the actual weight (guesses welcome).

I have 80 pounds of coral substrate.A good four inches though out I would say.
I know the pic looks green,but the tank is clear as a bell.The rock and substrate are beige or off white.Very clean and cool look imo even if its only going to get better lol.

The water is tap water though and I know that is not what many do.What I would like to do is test the tank for what makes tap water bad (phosphates for instance) and remove it.I'm not normally an "add chem" kinda guy,but I want this to be my starting point and get a feel for the potential or lack there of so to speak.

Using instant ocean btw.
Rock and substrate:

Right side rock:

Left side rock:

My most interesting piece imo:

There are also two pieces (small) of live rock in there with nice purple and green coraline on it.

Lights:
These are common and seem to be enough for low light coral.The specs are 2 55W at 6700 and 2 65W at 10,000.

Top:

Water pump:
I have a 9.58 utility pump.It more of a pond pump but it it moves a lot of water.Its rated at 950 gph.It currently under the stand with tubing running to both intake and output homemade pvc "things".
This will eventually (soon) be put in a rubermade tub and syphon break holes will be drilled into the inlet and outlet in case of failure.

The pump:

The output...with two outlets,one foward and one along the back of the tank:

The intake and heater (300w visitherm..(.I have one more for I'm going to add,but its on loan at the moment).

Filtration:
The only filtration is on magnum 350 at the moment ..its rated at 350 gph.
I have another,but have yet to see if I can get it working.This filter has two media options,one you see here which is a sleeve too catch solids.
Works well imo.The other is a 1 micron cartridge...havn't tried it yet.It also has options on the inside for charcoal or other extras in an inside chamber.

The tank has two snails in it that came in on the live rock.Thats it for live stock.I added a pinch of food to help whatever bacteria might be present survive and the substrate and the rock were added yesterday.

How does it look equipment wise?

Oh.... I need protein skimmer suggestions as well....gonna get one of those for sure,just haven't yet.

 

[melosu58]

Looks like you are on your way and yes good idea on the protien skimmer. Good Luck and we are here for you

 

[dorian965]

nice padding for the mag pump

looks nice. definitely need a skimmer

 

[demodiki]

I have heard of pond pumps failing after time in saltwater.

 

[SCFatz]

Thanks for the heads up on the pump..I'll watch for that.

 

[roka64]

You might want to keep the power strip away from the magnum or any water source....


Otherwise, it looks good!

The water is tap water though and I know that is not what many do.

This kind of confused me. What are you trying to do?

 

[two11devan]

I just bought a coralife super skimmer for my 120 gal. Did some reading on them and looked like a lot of people like them.

 

[tecwzrd]

Tank looks good so far. If I had to guess on the lr weight I’d say it “looks” to be around 60-80 lbs but the type/porosity varies the weight considerably. Personally I’d add about twice as much as you have currently in there which would not only be more aesthetically pleasing but ensure you have 1.5+ lbs of base/lr to handle bio-filtration.

I’m surprised you don’t have substrate blowing all over the place with the pump outputs so low. As roka said the power strip should be kept at least 6” off the floor. If you haven’t done so already I’d install a GFCI as well.

The Magnum 350 is fine for circulation and occasional media use but I run mine without the media holder or filter most of the time to keep waste from getting trapped and kicking up my no3 levels. If you do run media make sure you rinse the blue filter off every 3-5 days once you add fish. Do you have bio-wheels spinning also with your 350?

The micron filter is mostly just used to clear a cloudy tank quickly. It takes a couple of hours to clog up enough to be really effective which is why I only clean it partially after the first use so subsequent use is quicker. Soaking in a 1 part bleach 5 parts water solution for 2-4 hours is enough to unclog it most of the way. Make sure you give it a good rinse and don’t use it for a couple of weeks afterwards.

Tap contains other harmful elements to a SW tank besides po4 but it varies widely from state to state. A RO/DI filter is your best bet for removing all potentially harmful elements. If your tank does test positive for po4 then you could use ROWAphos or PhosLock to remove it.

For skimmers if not getting a sump the AquaC Remora Pro would be best for HOB IMO.

 

[SCFatz]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I realize tap water can present issues....I just want to use it as a starting point.If needed I'll change the source water if problems occur.

I'll get the power strip elevated tonight.

I knew about needing a gfci but I forgot about until reading it again here...thanks for the reminder.Big help.

No bio balls.

I'm pretty suprised by the job the blue sleeve in the 350 has done until now actually.I had it up and running when I added the substrate...it did a great job with the cloudiness.Crystal clear right now.

More rock is in the plan (later) and I too hope to run the filter without media.

Thanks for the skimmer recomendations.

 

[SCFatz]

I have heard of pond pumps failing after time in saltwater.

Was looking on here for some of my pics from way back and I ran across this so nugget.

The pump pictured did indeed fail.Not only was it throwing the breaker but it also started to leak.Don't use this pump for SW tanks.