Jtnova's Marine Journal (Rip!)

[jtnova13]

Hey guys, so I am starting my journal as I just moved into my new apartment.

This will be the journeys of a 90 gallon reef tank. I took some pics of it set up finally! no water yet, because i need to get some tubing for my return pump.

Quick question, is it bad to afix the powerheads with no water? I just thought about if they fell or something they could crack the bottom.

anyway, I should be filling the tank this week, so i'll post pictures hopefully!

 

[seffieuk]

to the salty side a very addictive place to be

As long as your magnets are secure they should be fine

Really looking forward to watching your journey - please don't forget the photos, emmmmm mentioning photos, I can't see any

What are your plans?

Seffie x

 

[Trod]

to the salty side.
Looking forward to seeing your tank develop and the photos, lots of photos pleeeeeeeease

 

[ben1987]

what equipment have you got/going to get?

 

[bagu]

welcome!
cant wait for pictures!!

 

[youngfisher]

Wohooo!
Another one joins us on the salty side.
I love new journals so good to follow, better than sitting reading through 30+ pages from scratch (no names seffie and trods journal! it is a good read though )
Pictures pleaseeeee.


YF

 

[jtnova13]

lunch break update!

So equipment I have is as follows:
90 gallon reef ready
30 gallon sump
skimmer (coralife 125, i know it's meh, but i got it new for 20 dollars!)
30gph hob filter with prefilter and rowaphos (may get a reactor or 2 later)
775 gph return pump (hoping to get about 600gph at 4' head)
1-1/4" drain line with diy durso
3 modded maxi-jet 900s hooked up to a red sea wavemaker (may cut this down to 2 if they are too powerful)
2x250W MH 15000k, 4x54W actinics, 6 LED moonlights (i will be buying the timers for this soon)
2x150W heaters (is this enough?)

Also, i have a RO/DI 100gpd unit which is yet to hook up. Question on this though, i have braided flex hose under my sink for the cold water line... how do i tap into this or do I need to buy a y-adapter of some sort?


Livestock plan:
~120 lbs of live marco rock
2" sand bed
hippo tang
foxface rabbitfish
pair of clowns
watchman goby w/ pistol shrimp buddy
3-5 of some yet to be decided schooling fish
in the far future, a mandarin

Coral plan:
I want to keep a bunch of lps, sps, and maybe a clam. I am enamored with seapugs reef over on reefcentral. Will probably do something like that where he has it in 3 sections.

 

[Trod]

For your RO unit, these are used for attaching to washing machine, might work
http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...3159fa3e40e45ea
http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...3159fa3e40e45ea

Just make sure you attach it to a mains fed pipe, or pressure won't be enough

 

[youngfisher]

I think you should get Chromis for the schooling group, there amazing.

YF

 

[jtnova13]

For your RO unit, these are used for attaching to washing machine, might work
[URL="http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...3159fa3e40e45ea"]http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...3159fa3e40e45ea[/URL]
[URL="http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...3159fa3e40e45ea"]http/www.ro-man.com/shop/product_info.ph...3159fa3e40e45ea[/URL]

Just make sure you attach it to a mains fed pipe, or pressure won't be enough

Hm i will have to check it out. I'll take a picture under my sink as well when I get ready to post piccies.

I think you should get Chromis for the schooling group, there amazing.

YF

Good suggestion. I was looking at blue green chromis as they stay a bit smaller. How many do you reckon I could get? 6 or so?

 

[rabbut]

Anthias are nice too. Both need a group of 6+ ideally so I've been lead to believe How have you modded the Maxijets? Most mod's I's seen aren't suitable for wave machines, as they need to spin in one direction only, and can start in either direction after mods... I see you have an eye for the stuff needing more care/experience If you want SPS down the line, you'll need a much better skimmer to keep the water pristine (unless you can afford large regular water changes on a tank like that ). This said, a few corals species, and a lot of clams prefer "dirty" water as they need the "dirt" to feed off...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[TigerIssey]

Look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[seffieuk]

You can keep a harem of three Anthias or more - wreck fish look great in a shoal if you can find a group of them there was a group in STM, but not sure where you are in the world?

Be careful on which you choose, if you do choose, as a harem of the bigger anthias would not fit in your tank

Seffie x

 

[jtnova13]

I just did the 1200 gph mod to the maxijets. I am counting on them not firing in the right direction all the time to further randomize the flow. I will have 1 flowing all the time in 1 direction just in case the other 2 decide to spin backwards and there is not enough flow. Further data will have to be taken as to how often the jets will fire backwards.

here's a pic with actinics:

halides (i took the pic before it was done warming up, but i dunno why it is green, the wall is tan):

I have some questions as to how to hook up the RO/DI unit, so i took pics of my plumbing!

Full plumbing shot:

I believe the blue tape means cold tap, do i need to split this? it is already split to the dishwasher. I assume i would have to split it right from the main.

This is the drain from somewhere? I think the dishwasher, but it's awfully high up for a drain. Can i just plumb the drainline from the RO unit into this? or do i need to punch a hole in the metal drain from the sink?

 

[jtnova13]

Anthias are nice too. Both need a group of 6+ ideally so I've been lead to believe How have you modded the Maxijets? Most mod's I's seen aren't suitable for wave machines, as they need to spin in one direction only, and can start in either direction after mods... I see you have an eye for the stuff needing more care/experience If you want SPS down the line, you'll need a much better skimmer to keep the water pristine (unless you can afford large regular water changes on a tank like that ). This said, a few corals species, and a lot of clams prefer "dirty" water as they need the "dirt" to feed off...

All the best
Rabbut

I coulda sworn i've seen clams with sps! I do have a 100gpd RO/DI unit, and I don't pay for water utilities so it is feasible to do large regular water changes... however I'd prefer not to.