Nick's 90 gallon aggressive reef tank

To start off when I set up my 56 gallon tank as saltwater it was supposed to be an aggressive tank. I came shortly to find out that it was a tad small for pretty much every fish I wanted. So it became a stunning reef, I was often times nervous at the amount of money I had in it in coral lol. Anyways I am at the final stages of breaking it down and found a deal on a sweet 90 gallon I couldn't pass up.

It is a drilled 90 gallon with an offset overflow box on the back wall, canopy and stand.
Current stats-

• ~40 gallon sump, with filter socks and baffels to stop microbubbles
  
• Reef Octopus 6" Recirculating Skimmer OCT DNWB150
  
• Pacific Coast Imports Gen-X PCX-30 external return pump
  
• AquaticLife 48" T5 HO 4 Lamp Fixture
  
• 120 pounds of live rock
  
• 2 mj900s, and some large koralias
  
• Also had fish, shrimp and some nice frogspwan and a 15+ head colony of duncans

It also came with a 30 gallon tank that is a holding tank, with LR and sand


Pictures from the afternoon








Lights-

Moons


Actinics (one looks UVish/ purple)


Whites and Actinics

looking good mi amigo! that's some really nice rock!

skimmer is cool. how quiet is it?

Yeah the rock has some great shape, none of the pieces are that heavy either!

At the house I got it from it was quiet, but there were 4 yappy dogs running through the house. I only have enough water in it right now to cover the Live rock, so the sump isn't full. I'll tell you tomorrow once it is full

Very exciting Nick! I look forward to seeing this in person! Do you have any fish or corals now? If so where are they at in the meantime? And excuse my noobiness but what is the difference between aggressive corals, versus stunning reef?

Thanks Dan! At the moment the few corals it came with are in my 56 gallon tank, and I had a friend pick up the fish yesterday. I'm going back in a bit to get the 30 gallon tank, which currently has a grouper and a niger trigger (both of which I have also arranged pickup for!).

What I meant by aggressive reef was referring more to the fish . Instead on housing peaceful wrasses, gobies, and dwarf angels I am considering a mombassa lionfish, coral beauty hogfish, papuan toby puffer, eels, a harlequin tusk and others. All of which lie more on the predatory side. Put a small enough goby in and they will have a snack.

I did put it as a reef setup because I do plan on putting some coral in. Mainly softies.

Oh this sounds like it will be an exciting tank to watch get set up! (Are you up are early or are you still awake? )

Oooooooo, an "aggressive" tank!

It's sad about your 56, but I'm really looking forward to this new one! Keep us updated!!!

Sounds ferocious! and AWESOME!!! hahaha

Thanks everyone! I am just about down filling it up, should only take 4 more hours. The RODI unit has had a good workout so far. I'll clean it up later and post a picture

The rock work is under way, I will have it done (minus the epoxying) by tomorrow and will post pictures up.

I have a new 120watt led unit on the way that has dimmers, so I will be able to match the color output to my existing panel. I also am ordering a 48in ecoxotic royal blue led strip to run as the morning and lunar light.

My current return pump is louder than I would like, and I may be ordering a reeflo blowhole 1100 as a replacement. It is controllable at three different speeds. At 6' head it does 505gph on low, 715gph on medium, and 980gph on high. Low setting should work fine on it and the pumps is supposed to be silent.

Here is a link to a quick diy I just posted.
https://aquarists-at-usf.forumotion.com/t476-epoxying-live-rock-together#4237

Sounds good! Looking forward to pics!

You have a lot of rocks Nick! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with this tank.

Ran into a bit of an issue when I went to put new hinges on the canopy, the part that lifts open is far too big leaving no room for the leds to be mounted on a solid part. Looks Like I may be cutting out the remaining beam and making a new top for the canopy and I can cut the lid to the depth I need.

On a good note, the dimmable LED unit came in today, and it works great!

Sucks about the canopy...

Can't wait to see pics of the tank when you get the LEDs running, though!

So we decided to keep the canopy cooler and to make sure the lights stay dry to just mount them on top of it.





Tank shots

I have been debating for the past day what pumps I would choose for flow in the tank. I am going to do what I considered on my 56 gallon. I am going to get two koralias and their new smartwave controller. It allows you to run the pumps individually at intervals from 3 seconds up to 2 hours simulating a tide flow in and out.

Looking good with the LR!

Those are some pretty Schnazzy lights. The pics don't quite do them justice.

Thanks guys! , I'm having a bit too much fun with the dimmers, I need to stop before I end up breaking something lol

You know I was thinking that exact thing earlier

Nicholas41 wrote:

I'm having a bit too much fun with the dimmers, I need to stop before I end up breaking something lol

Mmmhmm

Looking awesome!! That rock is killer! I'm pretty sure this is gonna turn into a reef tank eventually lol

might have to get one of those dimmable leds.. they look fun

Thanks Eric! It may... one day lol. They leds work great! I'm in love with them.

mangoman wrote:

I'm pretty sure this is gonna turn into a reef tank eventually lol

That's what I said. Mom told Nicholas that he could upgrade to a 90 gallon if it wasn't a reef. So he agreed to a non-reef tank. But then he started saying stuff like, "I'll just add a couple of mushrooms maybe", and "maybe a few zoas and palys".

Lol At the moment I am more focused on fish

I was so tempted by the dwarf lions today, they were about the size of a half dollar and looked so adorable