90 Gallon Step by Step Setup Guide and Running Log
- Thread starter OCCFan023
- Start date
Well I got my live rock today (65 +/- a pound or two) and Im semi pleased. I got a couple smaller to medium pecies than I was hoping (got a few big nice pourose ones though) but for the most part I will be needing more to finish off the aquascaping to my likeing.
I will snap a few pictures of it in a little. My only real main concern with the rocksquaping I have now is its more leaning on glass than making rocks to swim around for the fish, but I think I can fix that (and create some caves) with another 40-50 lbs of rock.
I will snap a few pictures of it in a little. My only real main concern with the rocksquaping I have now is its more leaning on glass than making rocks to swim around for the fish, but I think I can fix that (and create some caves) with another 40-50 lbs of rock.
O yea I forgot to ask this.
I plan on going bare bottom for level of care purposes and had a opinianted question. I was reading that with barebottom tanks it is vital to have mass amounts of flow to keep debris from settling on the bottom and decaying. I saw somewhere it say the turnover rate should be like 60-80 times the tank volume (Im at 39 and thought this was high) and that you need to skim wet to succesfully pull off a bare bottom (and reap its benefits) Any truth to this?
I plan on vaccuming debris weekly and doing 10-25% w/cs bi weekly or just combine the two bi weekly depending on how much debris...
any info on the subject regarding the matter is appreciated
I plan on going bare bottom for level of care purposes and had a opinianted question. I was reading that with barebottom tanks it is vital to have mass amounts of flow to keep debris from settling on the bottom and decaying. I saw somewhere it say the turnover rate should be like 60-80 times the tank volume (Im at 39 and thought this was high) and that you need to skim wet to succesfully pull off a bare bottom (and reap its benefits) Any truth to this?
I plan on vaccuming debris weekly and doing 10-25% w/cs bi weekly or just combine the two bi weekly depending on how much debris...
any info on the subject regarding the matter is appreciated
yes there is merit in what was said........very high water flow (remember that water flow is decreased by the volume of rock in the tank) is necessary to keep any detritus in suspension to be pulled out by the skimmer. Personally I prefer the esthetics of the sand bed as I think it looks more natural......opinion only.....
Have you tried stacking your rock on a pvc framework? this may allow you to aquascape without buying more rock though I think that without a sandbed that you should really have at least another 40-50 lbs in a 90......I think you should aim for 2lbs per gallon as you won't have the denitrification advantage found in a dsb.........also you can tie rocks together using cable ties etc. all this the ties and the putty and the pvc will be covered with corraline before you know it anyway.......
good luck and shoot us some pics....
Have you tried stacking your rock on a pvc framework? this may allow you to aquascape without buying more rock though I think that without a sandbed that you should really have at least another 40-50 lbs in a 90......I think you should aim for 2lbs per gallon as you won't have the denitrification advantage found in a dsb.........also you can tie rocks together using cable ties etc. all this the ties and the putty and the pvc will be covered with corraline before you know it anyway.......
good luck and shoot us some pics....
well with the bare bottom I want as little rock to bottom contact as possible this way I can keep water flow through the rock up and keep the bottom with substantial flow.
Im about to go do some rerockworking (yes I can make up words
) with the amount I have now to see if I can get it a little better off
Im about to go do some rerockworking (yes I can make up words
) with the amount I have now to see if I can get it a little better off
Rock is very stable (main concern as I was worried about the bb with this especially)
I just ordered another 70lbs of fiji so I will have a total of 155lbs (or 1.7 lbs per gallon)
After I get this and I let it sit in the tank and everything (and all paramas are normal) I will then be ordering some cleaners and then fish.. Stocking list up in the air and I have a plan to try something very unussual but would really have to be ballsy, will talk about it later.
Ill take pics of current rocks tommorow for a before and after of when the new rock comes
I just ordered another 70lbs of fiji so I will have a total of 155lbs (or 1.7 lbs per gallon)
After I get this and I let it sit in the tank and everything (and all paramas are normal) I will then be ordering some cleaners and then fish.. Stocking list up in the air and I have a plan to try something very unussual but would really have to be ballsy, will talk about it later.
Ill take pics of current rocks tommorow for a before and after of when the new rock comes
This is a early rockscaping picture. I dont expect to keep it this way and just put it in for cycling purposes. I only rearranged it once and decided to hold off until I get my next lr shipment in which I think I will be set for rock needs and aquascaping possibilites. I figured Id post it up just for the fun of it. That is about 80-85 lbs of live rock...
Also a note on the lighting. THat is with just the Halides on (still thinking there above 10K, maybe more like 14?) I didnt put the flur. on because it makes the water yellow. I however will be ordering 2 super actinic (with built in reflectors) to take there spot and in the next months I will replace the halides with 10k for opitmal growth from the halides and the blue for the flur.
O yea when the new LR shows up I will be utalizing zip ties for aquascaping and moving all seios higher in the tank and possible hiding them behinds rocks if possible.. once again just there for cycling purposes.
Thought lr would be here on Wednesday but looking more like Thursday
definitely at least 14k they seem aweful dim though.
I understand that the lr will deflect much of the current, but I have to say that 90x turnover seems like alot. I have about 40x and it seems perfect. You spoke of raising the seios but you may have to leave 1 or 2 lower to keep the detirus of the bottom.
Love the creeping lr look.
I understand that the lr will deflect much of the current, but I have to say that 90x turnover seems like alot. I have about 40x and it seems perfect. You spoke of raising the seios but you may have to leave 1 or 2 lower to keep the detirus of the bottom.
Love the creeping lr look.
I only have 39x turnover 90 would be crazy..
As far as the detrius I have a powerhead hidden behind the right side rocks on the very bottom blowing underneath all of them and to the front (also the rturn loc lines are pointed directly down for this purpose as well)
Halides will be replaced in 2-3 months tops and the camera does no justice to the brightness of them.
I may keep the rock work like this and work around it but am not sure atm, really depends on the lr I get and the shpe and size.
Ryan~ yea the halides have to be upper spectrum.. wills witch over to 10k though.
I want the lr to come soon Im affraid it may not come until next week because of a misunderstanding on my part of ordering deadlines.. I hope not
As far as the detrius I have a powerhead hidden behind the right side rocks on the very bottom blowing underneath all of them and to the front (also the rturn loc lines are pointed directly down for this purpose as well)
Halides will be replaced in 2-3 months tops and the camera does no justice to the brightness of them.
I may keep the rock work like this and work around it but am not sure atm, really depends on the lr I get and the shpe and size.
Ryan~ yea the halides have to be upper spectrum.. wills witch over to 10k though.
I want the lr to come soon Im affraid it may not come until next week because of a misunderstanding on my part of ordering deadlines.. I hope not
I got my "70" lbs of lr today unexpeting at that. I have the 70 in "" because I weighed (WITH SHIPPING SUPPLIES) and I got a total of 55lbs not 70. Now I know I had to give a little leway maybe like 65 but not 15lbs (the difference in price including the added shiping wiehgt was 65$ so now I gotta use my kick *** side to get him to do something baout it or I take it up with ebay)
Ill show you pictures tommorow and I like the way the rock looks so I can add cleaners soon and coral!
Goin to try tweaking my skimmer (I think I have to upgrade the mag 5 to a mag 7 soon to get my desired skimmate, almost swicthed to a euro reef but decided to hold off)
Ill show you pictures tommorow and I like the way the rock looks so I can add cleaners soon and coral!
Goin to try tweaking my skimmer (I think I have to upgrade the mag 5 to a mag 7 soon to get my desired skimmate, almost swicthed to a euro reef but decided to hold off)
just wanted to throw this picture up because I said I would. I didnt have my light on the tank (just had a power outage and had to do some fiddling with the powerheads so I removed the light.) Its not the best picture due to flash but you can make out the majority of the rockwork. It really doesnt do the tank justice but whatever.
Left side of the tank:
On another subject I recently ordered a auto top off controller (suffering from around 2-3 or 4 on hot days of evaporation was already a problem) from TopDose products. I decided I would install it today and get it ready for use.. You can see the mount I made for the float switch I made on the right of the skimmer out of pvc pipe, elbows and a cap. I then wired it together to the input of the controller and boom. The main controller is the gray box the blue lines go to.
This is the TopDose unit on the bottom and the aqualifter pump I will be using for freshwater top off (with chemical additions possibly)
FInally this is where the reservoir for the freshwater top off will be. The aqualifter is positioned ontop of my lighting ballast (the gray wire connects to the light but is disconnected atm so it looks a little messy) The reservoir will be in front of the ballast and the tubing will run behind the tank into the sump. I didnt buy enough tubing so I need to purchae that and the reservoir to fit the space more efficently than a 5 gallon bucket..
Left side of the tank:
On another subject I recently ordered a auto top off controller (suffering from around 2-3 or 4 on hot days of evaporation was already a problem) from TopDose products. I decided I would install it today and get it ready for use.. You can see the mount I made for the float switch I made on the right of the skimmer out of pvc pipe, elbows and a cap. I then wired it together to the input of the controller and boom. The main controller is the gray box the blue lines go to.
This is the TopDose unit on the bottom and the aqualifter pump I will be using for freshwater top off (with chemical additions possibly)
FInally this is where the reservoir for the freshwater top off will be. The aqualifter is positioned ontop of my lighting ballast (the gray wire connects to the light but is disconnected atm so it looks a little messy) The reservoir will be in front of the ballast and the tubing will run behind the tank into the sump. I didnt buy enough tubing so I need to purchae that and the reservoir to fit the space more efficently than a 5 gallon bucket..
