90 Gallon Step by Step Setup Guide and Running Log

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#21
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
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New Jersey
#21
well I got back from white plains and I am exhausted (tennis match before going knocked me out!) Heres how it went

Go to White Plains 30 min. late but it was ok because glass cages was an hour and a half late ahah. There was about 10 or 12 other people there and I was talking to this one guy named Flick Ford who just wrote a book and did the artwork for a new book comming about about a variety of fish he has caught (about 70) and there information, cool guy and looks like a interesting book if your into that (gave me a promo thing that was cool)

Anyway Got down and got the tank and stand and it is very cool. I am too tired to take pictures now and my room is a godawful mess. So when I get a chance to vaccum out the tank (has styrofoam bits in it) I will post a picture.

O yea when I got home I realized the damn back of the stand was solid wood... So I went off to home depot at 8 to get a hole drill (yes I agree, wtf am I doing with no whole drill bit??? But its ok because I also picked up some wood to build my light stand out of :) So I drilled two holes in the wood in the back (one for electrical access and one for my pvc pipe return)

One question I do have though is do you guys think I really need to put a peice of 3/4 of an inch styrfoam peice underneath my tank and on my stand? They say not to put it directly on the wood (I have heard this in the past but have given this no thought.) I have the tank on the stand now and dont really want to take it down (heavy) but will if I have to. I really dont see the aboslute importance as I dont know too many people who do it but I thought I would ask.

Pictures tommorow
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#24
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
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New Jersey
#24
yea thats the only reason I was asking was because of there warranty. I was reading it and it said the warranty was void if you doing follow the setup instructions and one instruction was 3/4 inch of styrofoam. However another setup instruction was if its going on carpet to rip up the carpet and make sure its level (Im not ripping up my carpet and its perfectly leveled where it is now...) so either way I techniclly voided the warranty (90 days) but if something was wrong (godforbide) I could easily say I followed them.

Camaro I totally agree. I really didnt want to as it was a pita to do so and also I know of no one who does it and I didnt see any benefits of doing so... so no styrofoam.

Im about to go make my light mounts (gonna make it out of wood and paint it black.) There gonna be ok just to do the job and Ill porbably upgrade them later and atcually put some effort into them. So when Im done Ill post pictures up of the new tank :D
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#26
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
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36
New Jersey
#26
as I am doing this I began thinking to myself... I planned on making the light be anywhere from 3.5-4.5 inches away from the top of the water... However I am not certain what the best distance would be.

How far would you say the light should be (tank deapth is 25 in.)
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#27
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
0
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New Jersey
#27
well I hit a setback with the tank mounts. I was planning on using screws to fasten the wood together but the peices I made to fit together were too small and would split when I tried to drill them. SO after doing some more planning I decided to just use construction grade extra strength polyurethan (sp) adhesive. I was worried about the glue getting heated by the halides but there will be no contact between the glue and the light from the halides (and I think the wood should be fine once painted and finished)

Heres the pictures I promised:


Full Tank Shot


Full Tank Shot without the Black Acrylic Overflow Cover


This is my 38 gallon sump. It is a little bit bigger than expected which I dont mind but my halide ballast wont fit under the stand with it unless it is on its side (but both sides have air vents, one has the light switches, and the 4th has the cords so IDK what I am going to do yet {I want to put it on its side but I dont know if its a good idea)


This is the glass that surrounds the top of the tank and enabled me to make the light stand how it was. It is like that on the left side as well but none on the back of the tank.


This is the light directly on the tank (the frame and the glass in the previouse picture. THe light is only 1in away from the water surface here so the mounts are a neccessity.


Tank with only the Flourescents on. Planning on swaping this out for a higher K rating in 4-6 months (there brand new so no need to replace now)


Tank with only the 10k metal halides on.


Well this is the quick mount I went with to work until I can actually put some time into making one. THe problem with making the mount was that the glass was like a half inch lower than the black rim so I had to make a add on to prevent wobbling. With this as it is it puts the light 3 inches off the tank but I plan on putting on anohter inch for a total of 4 inches. Ill then fill in the cracks and such with spakle, sand, and paint it black and I should be good to go.



And I put this in just for size perspective. Im 6'4 and the tank is a total of 55 inches tall including stand.


thats it for now. Ill finish up the mounts tommorow. Im waiting on my pvc pipeing accessories to get here so then Ill be able to plumb the tank. Still debating Mag 12 vs the 18. I want the 12 but the only ones on ebay atm are 18s (but I heard mags above the 12 are loud...) Gonna get 2 seios and maybe a smaller third powerhead (closed loop in the future)
 

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J

JeLeAk

Large Fish
#29
Jan 4, 2005
491
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40
Alaska
#29
what color is your background going to be? black? if not i would try and paint/switch your overflow cover to the background color, might be a bit odd to have a deep blue background with a black box right in the middle


also one more quick question... where are your nose,eyebrows,ears, and hair lol


after a quick moment of thinking, i would go with maybe a solid peice of wood maybe a 4x4 block or even a 4x6, these can be notched/milled to hold the light fixture a lot better than just setting it on a flat surface, not ot mention no worries about glueing/drilling/ataching differnt wood peices
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#31
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
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New Jersey
#31
Update:

Well since I dont have my RO unit yet and dont want to do anything until I get my return pump as far as filling the tank I decided to begin plumbing the tank in preperation for my return pumps arrival. I have also setup the skimmer (with a mag 5) in the sump to and just wanted you guys (and gals) opinions as this is my first plumbing attempt and dont want to have to redo stuff later..



Well as you can see I decided to build my own Durso Standpipe and instead of using the other bulkhead as a return made it a drain aswell. I wanted to keep the second pipe a open standpipe to handle flow if the other durso ever got clogged... However I think I may have to raise the lower standpipe because I dont know if there is anyway to prevent a flood in that one if the power went out (I will drill holes in the larger one when I know exactly where the water level will be.) Any ideas on how I could flood proof the lower drain pipe?



Full sump shot of the new plumbing and the skimmer. THe larger pipe is 1.5 in and the small one is 1 in so I should get as much flow as I want and can reduce it with the ball valves.

I wanted to put the skimmer on the left side of the sump but thought it would end up recleaning more water and pushing back the dirty water. In this position I felt since the skimmer is blocking the water flow the water automaticlly gets sucked up by the mag (by how its positioned) and the skimmer return blows the clean water over to the return mag pump (not in yet)


Another sump shot. The coralife timmer will be screwed into the back wall, I just havent made up my mind where yet..


This is the two return tank outlets I made for the return line. I just put them there to show there look. I can make the black part smaller (loc line fittings are sweet!) I havent plumbed the rest of it yet because I dont have my return pump but will be useing alot of 45 degree angles and try to avoid right angles to reduce flow restriction (and still desperatly looking for a mag 12! mag 18s and 9.5s everywhere but no darn 12s!) and also because I dont know where they will be positioned yet (depends on where I place my seio 1100 and 620(s)


side veiw of the return. I will add 1 in pvc to plumb it into the sump and the return mag. I have both the flarred nozzle and the direct nozzle fitting but dont know which one to use as of now.


And lastly the finished light mount. Not the best looking mounts but they work and will blend in well. Not to shabby for a not so handy person and minimal tools :D


thats about it for now. Still in the hunt for a mag and once I get that and my RO (or RO/DI) its go time!
 

1979camaro

1979camaro

Ultimate Fish
#32
Oct 22, 2002
5,862
2
0
43
San Ramon, CA
#32
i think you might have a problem with the dual standpipes if they aren't at the same height. i think the water will never make it high enough to reach the Durso, so you will, in essence, only have a single overflow

BUT, I'm not sure on that so you might need to look around for more info on that
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#33
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
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New Jersey
#33
I was following this for the standpipe construction:

Reef Page 2

I emailed him a couple of times and it seems to work out for him well. If the flow started to go to low in the overflow I could always close the smaller standpipe a little to help build up the water or just raise the lower stand pipe. The only way I will be able to determine if it works is when I get water in the tank though so I have no way to test it.

and I also cant determine where I need to place syphon breaks yet until I know where exactly my water line in the overflow is. That is still my main worry in the smaller stand pipe is if the power goes out how will i break the shypon.. I was thinking the water would eventually stop overflowing into the overflow and then eventuall y the wate rin the overflow would step before my sump would overflow but I just dont know.
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#34
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
0
36
New Jersey
#34
wow the more I look at it I think you may be right. In the actuall top veiw of the overflow shot it looks like the open standpipe is close to the top of the water with the durso inlet being lower? I was going by the drawn diagram but that might just be a drawing not to specific length. I guess another email is in order (and also to see what he does for flood proofing..
 

Likes: lordroad
lordroad

lordroad

Large Fish
#36
Sep 2, 2004
989
7
0
43
Shelby, NC
www.joshday.com
#36
Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn

I disappear for a couple months and you get a 90 gallon? Awesome. Here's a very belated congratulations!

Looks great OCC. I may have to hire you to set up my 220 freshwater stingray tank if I decide to plumb if I do that wet/dry filter I'm thinking about. ;)
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#37
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
0
36
New Jersey
#37
damn its good to see you around posting Josh.

If you do a 220 stingray tank that would be crazy (my sister was harping me to get them but just ignored her ahah) PLumbing it would be very interesting ahah

and yea mft in the salt world is a little different I got it not for more tanks just biggggggger ahah (20 could no longer satisfy :D)
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#38
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
0
36
New Jersey
#38
Update:

wel I decided to order this RO/DI Unit:
eBay: Reef Aquarium RO DI Reverse Osmosis Water Filter 75 gpd (item 270015984818 end time Aug-16-06 20:22:39 PDT)
looks solid and should get the job done. I also purcashed a TDS meter to make sure I knew it was workin correctly and to know exactly when I need filter changes

I finally found a mag 12 (I was really close to bumping up to a mag 18 which I didnt want to really do to avoid too much flow in the sump) and hopefully it will be on its way soon so water should be in the tank soon (hopefully by the end of next week
)
 

OCCFan023

OCCFan023

Superstar Fish
#40
Jul 29, 2004
1,817
5
0
36
New Jersey
#40
Well I finally finished plumbing my tank. I setup the returns today and all I need now to finish it is the mag 12 to hook up the return pipeing to. I had to use some teflon on some pipes because glueing them wasnt a possibility but I glued 95% of the rest of the connections so Im not too worried for the freshwater test run.

With the black background that will be going on I think it will come out nicley with the black loc line fittings and return units (should disapear into the back of the tank, hopefully)

im hoping for the mag arrival to be next wednesday at the latest

The next big battle will be trying to figure out how to setup the RO/DI unit as I dont think my sink will allow it and I dont know if the connection will be right for my shower end so I may be running to lowes/home depot alot to try and figure it out and or (probably and) asking many questions about it on here:rolleyes:
 

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