Amanda's 90g Reef (upgrade)

[amanda_marie]

I wanted to start a thread to document my upgrade to a 90g reef ready tank and for questions I'll have along the way. I am currently running a 60g that has been up since the beginning of November. Here is a FTS I took of the 60g yesterday.

Here are the specs for my 60g:

85lbs of rock

Fish:

Starry Blenny
Ocellaris Clown Pair
Melanarus Wrasse
Solandri Puffer

CUC:
Various Snails
Various Hermits
(2) Peppermint Shrimp
Tiger Sand Conch

Corals:
Ricordeas
Purple Rhodactis Mushrooms
Multiple Zoa Colonies
Snowflake Polyp Colony
Sinularia Leather
Blue Actinodiscus Mushrooms
Lobophyllia
Playgyra
Trachyphyllia geoffroyi
Trachyphyllia radiata
Torch
Frogspawn
Green Toadstool

Equipment:

Reef Octopus BH-2000
(2)Koralia 1050s

Lighting:

(2)72w 24" LED Fixtures

I purchased the 90g off of Craigslist and it was delivered to my house on Saturday. The seller also assisted with hooking up the plumbing, my first time dealing with a sump and I was clueless.

The tank is reef ready and has a corner built in overflow. It came with the stand and canopy. The sump included is a Eshopps ADV 300, here, Eshopps ADV-300 Advance Sump - Up to 300 gal. | ThatPetPlace.com The pump, new in box, that was included was a Via Aqua 3600. There is a cheap skimmer included as well. I may use it for now, just until I research what would be best for this tank. I'd utilize my HOB skimmer as well. I also got 80lbs of live rock from the same seller, $100. I'll start the curing process and see where the levels stand before I add it to my tank. It has been kept wet in 5 gallons buckets but without heat and circulation.

The 90g will be going where my 60g is currently set up. I hope to have them switched out in the next day or so. I've got someone, should be at my place any minute, that is adding some support underneath my place where the 90g will be going. Its a good amount of weight more than my 60g, especially with the sump. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

All of my current stock will be moved over (I've got tubs/heater/powerheads for this process). I am not sure what other plans I will have for stocking in terms of fish, more corals are a given. I've also got 40lbs more of sand that will be added to the 90g. The sump does have space for a fuge but I'll be waiting a bit before getting that part set up, need to do some more research.

I believe this covers most everything for now. I am nervous about the transfer as this is the first time I've done anything of the sort. I don't want to have any causalities.

Here are a couple quick photos.

Tank/Stand/Canopy

Overflow

Plumbing

Sump/Fuge

I began to clean some last night. Thankfully its not bad at all, the seller hosed it out for me. Its mainly just some water stains I need to get taken care of.

Beginning of the cleaning process

My next step is filling it up with tap water and letting it run for a bit to check for leaks or anything of that nature.

I'm both very excited and nervous about this upgrade since it will be my first.

Any comments/suggestions/etc are definitely welcome and appreciated!

Thanks for looking!

 

[Jamroz37]

looks good cant wait to see progress

 

[amanda_marie]

looks good cant wait to see progress

Thanks!

 

[amanda_marie]

I filled the 90g and sump up with tap water to let it run so I'm able to check for any leaks and such. Its been filled and running for almost 24hrs.

No leaks!

The pump seems to be working well. The only issue I'm having is that the overflow is quite loud, where the water flows from the tank into the overflow.

The flow into the sump was quite loud as well but adding another length of PVC has helped this problem. I removed the bioballs from the area the water flows into the sump. I'm sure the bioballs would have helped muffle the sound but they're not something I want to use in my sump. I'm not sure how to solve the problem with the overflow though. It seems there needs to be more water in the overflow to help with the noise but I don't know if there is something that needs to be adjusting or what to fix this problem. Or if it is something as simple as adding more water to the tank/sump.

Right now when I turn the pump off and the water flows back into the sump there is still space for more water in the sump. From my understanding cutting the pump off would show what would happen if the power was to go out. I was worried about any potential floods so this is good. I'm just afraid to keep adding water, to see if this will help with the noise, and overflow something somehow.

First time dealing with a sump, overflow, etc and while I know more now that I've got this tank and setup I still have some learning to do.

I'd like to get a better understanding of this setup before trying to set this tank up where my 60g is since my current stock in the 60g will be sitting in tubs during the upgrade. I want to eliminate any time I can from the process to lessen the stress to my fish/corals during the move over. Once I figure out what is going on with the overflow and understand more about it I'll go through with the upgrade. I'd like to get everything moved over soon as the 90g is kinda in the way. I'll need to see when is best with my work schedule and make sure my daughter is either asleep or someone is there to help. I wouldn't be able to go about this very easily with a toddler running around.

Excited to get everything moved over and running though!

I had been looking into what stock I'd like to add now that I'll have a 90g. I'll need to get opinions on all of that first though.

 

[Ingy]

Looks to me like the stand pipe in the overflow is missing. There should be a long PVC pipe that plugs into the drain bulkhead and comes up to the top of the overflow. On the top end of that there will need to be some type of noise reducer/muffler.

 

[amanda_marie]

I believe that pipe is in there, maybe, I don't see how there could be any more pipes. There are two pipes (if thats the correct term) in the overflow. One has a sort of bulb, for lack of a better term, on top that keeps the top 'floating' where the water level is. I'm not home at the moment and can't give much more of a description, like on the other pipe, my mind is drawing a blank.

I'll have to take a photo when I get home.

I don't know exactly what is supposed to be going on in the overflow, in terms of the plumbing and such, to know if its something like that that is causing the issues.

I pretty much have no idea what I'm looking at or what I should look for in terms of the overflow chamber in the tank.

 

[Ingy]

Are both the pipes part of the drain, or is 1 drain and 1 return?

 

[amanda_marie]

Are both the pipes part of the drain, or is 1 drain and 1 return?

One drain and one return.

Here are a few pictures of the overflow. Excuse the quality. It is difficult to get photos where the tank is set up currently, I had to lighten it up quite a bit on photobucket just so it was visible.

Overflow assembled

Overflow with drain pipe disassembled

Pieces disassembled from the drain pipe

If I'm understanding correctly the piece with the bulb on top is what determines the water level in the overflow, which I need to raise to lessen the noise. However, I can not adjust the height of that piece the way it is currently set up. There is not a snug fit between it and the pipe nor is it very tall so it just slides back down. I'm guessing the best/easiest way to solve this is to add on another piece of PVC.




Also, I'm having problems deciding on an in-sump skimmer.

These are two I'm considering

ASM G-3 Protein Skimmer - AquaCave.com

Bubble Magus Curve 7 in Sump Needle Wheel Protein Skim | eBay

I want one that is rated above for my current tank to allow for some leeway when I upgrade as I'm sure I will. I'd also like something around the same price and no larger footprint. I'm happy with the skimmer I'm running on my 60g but it won't be enough for the 90g and sump. I'm still fairly new to skimmers and am not sure of what brands are best for quality/performance/price/etc. Suggestions/recommendations appreciated.