My 90Gallon Build

[kmirtsching]

So I bought a 90 gallon to move everything I have into 1 tank. How should I go abt doing this? Should I let the tank cycle, or would it be ok to go ahead and move everything? I have approx 40 lb of rock total, and plan on getting more. I have 25 lb of sand from my 14 gal biocube, and

 

[kmirtsching]

Stupid smart phone!!! It posted and I wasn't done! I have a 30gal tank with abt a 2 in sand bed, not sure how many lbs is there.
How much more sand do u think I would need? I have two koralia 240 PHs. I know I will need some bigger ones. What size do you guys recomend? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[mr_X]

what are your intentions with this tank? a reef? i would probably use a pair of 1000gph power heads if so.
if you are getting more rock i would probably get the rock and then cycle the tank with the new rock, then move everything over.
to make a 2" sand bed in a 90 gallon, you need about 90 pounds of sand.
http://www.reefcentral.com/calc/SandBed.php

 

[Felix T Cat]

As for the old sand unless you plan on rinsing it very well then letting it dry I wouldn't suggest re-using it. I have taken down a number of tanks over my what seems to be a continuous upgrade cycle and the sand will be pretty nasty depending on how long your tank was set up. Save a little to seed the new sand you will place in the 90 and either trash or rinse the old stuff well.

 

[kmirtsching]

This is going to be a reef tank. I'm going today to get some more rock and sand, hopefully my powerheads as well. If I use my old sand and rinse it, can I use RO water, or do I need to rinse with salt water? I hope that didn't sound like a stupid question! As far as lighting, I have been looking into one of the combo units. What do u guys think of those?

 

[Felix T Cat]

I've rinsed with reg tap water (put sand in a 5g bucket and stick a hose into it). I figure I use reg tap water to rinse off new sand so old sand shouldn't be any different.
Define "combo" unit ?. I have used Nova extreme Pro's (all T5's) on all of my tanks and now have an outer orbit (2x250 MH and 4x T5) on my 90g. Other than the fan noise I love the shimmer of MH's but I like the color options of the T5's.

 

[kmirtsching]

That may be what I do with my sand d/t funds at the moment. That was the kind of combo lights I was talking about. I want some that have the MH and T5. Maybe a blue moon led too.

 

[Felix T Cat]

The Outer Orbits have built in blue and white LED panels (3 panels, 6 LED's each on the 48"). They have been discontinued by Current but you can find quite a few used for sale as people move to LED's. I got mine used for $200 with 4 month old MH bulbs and needing new T5's.

 

[Gti_Leo]

felix, have you compared your MH fixture to a T5 individually reflected fixture on the same system? i would be curious to see the difference in growth between this one and an 8lamp t5 unit that most people put on their 90gallons. i mean there is almost a 300 watt decrease in power consumption with the t5 unit

now i know that this fixture uses 4 T5s itself but most MH use PC which don't put out the same PAR as t5s which is the reason i'm asking

 

[Felix T Cat]

Before I got this fixture I hung my 36" NEP (6x39w) over the tank as a temp solution and I got nowhere NEAR the same light (granted it was 39w bulbs and not 54's in the 48" fixture so not a completely fair comparison). I had a 33g cube set for a while with a 250mh pendant (talk overkill) and that was my first experience with MH. I personally preferred the brightness of the MH bulbs to when I had the T5's on my old 40 breeder.

I would love to try a 48" NEP fixture over this tank to compare the two but I don't have one to play with locally. This fixture is probably overkill as I'm not a real fan of most SPS anymore but it's only been set up for a few weeks so it's too early to tell.

 

[Gti_Leo]

i would like the see a comparison, i've read a few articles about comparisons between some setups on a 75g stating the T5s gave better growth and color to the corals, as well as the corals branched out in all directions like they do in nature where as with the MH they corals branched towards the light source. the T5 fixture was 6x54watt while the MH was 2x250watt, but i can't remember if the MH was using supplemental lamps or just the MH alone and i'm not at home so i can get the link

 

[Felix T Cat]

I will say that I would not have gone with a purely MH fixture over this tank. The main reason I wanted this fixture was for the supplemental T5 lights for coloring. The color combinations you can get with T5 bulbs IMO fully win over just MH bulbs on their own. Right now it has the stock bulbs which suck compared to some of the ATI blue+ and purple+ color bulbs. I will be changing out the T5's with more colorful bulbs soon.

On my 135g I had 4x VHO bulbs and got what I would consider the best color and growth (SPS and softies) out of those but they are def outdated tech.

 

[Gti_Leo]

for sure, even in actual lighting they are out dated, but then again in box stores and warehouses T8s are used and whatever MH highbays were used are now beign replaced with T8 highbays

i totally agree with the way T5s color things up its just incredible and they still give a bit of a shimmer effect, but not liek LEDs are MH do

 

[mr_X]

i don't see any shimmer with T5s.
i have an extra 8 lamp t5 fixture you can borrow if you want to do a test. i'm not sure which bulbs are in it though....

 

[Felix T Cat]

Doug,
I might have to take you up on that one day. I can take some pics with the MH and then the T5's for comparison.

 

[kmirtsching]

So after two days of running around

 

[kmirtsching]

So I have my tank up and starting to cycle. Just waiting on the water to clear now then I will test my water tomorrow. I'm super excited!

 

[Greenturtle]

What is your planned stocklist? I would recommend a trio of Blue Reef Chromis, a Midas Blenny, and an Algae Blenny. I love mine in my 90.

 

[kmirtsching]

Since. I already have a 30g that I will be moving over into the 90 later, I'm not sure what I want to add. I have a tomato clown and a one other that I'm not sure what it is(he was given to me by a friend and havnt really figured out what kind he is. If I can get a good pic of him I will post it) a six line wrasse, yellow watchman goby. I have 2 pepppermint shrimp, a coral banded shrimp and a sally lightfoot crab, and several corals. I was quickly running out of room for everyone. I also have several corals as well.

 

[kmirtsching]

The first pic is one of the clown fish I am unsure of. The second is of my mushroom rock, and the third is a pic of some of my corals