Redford's First reef!

[RedfordReefer]

After contemplating Saltwater for about 20 years, I've taken the (hehehe) plunge.

90 gallon AGA. 1" drain with Durso Drain pipe. 3/4" return with two 1/2" Loc-line 6" adjustable nozzles

38 gallon Acrylic sump. (thanks Funnyguymi)!

Home-build stand.


48" Retrofit VHO lighting. (No ballast)



Still need:
Skimmer, Return pump, Ballast

I was looking for a 45 gallon or so Reef to start. I wanted something decent without it being overly taxing on my checkbook. I stumbled across a firesale on another site and decided that If I was going to get a 45 gallon, I might as well get a 90 gallon.



I wish I had pictures of when I got the tank. The tank had been established for years, and was drained about 12 hours before I picked it up. There was Coraline EVERYWHERE. Layers of it. I ended up with half a 2.5 gallon bucket full of Coraline scrapings and some sand/saltwater slurry. It smelled like rotted death. Terrible.

Two days of scraping yielded a mostly clean tank.


I was looking for a sump. Something I could fit under the home-made stand, but something useable. Enter FunnyGuyMi. Handed me a 38gallon pre-drilled sump that I could install my own baffles in! It fits in the stand perfectly (10" to spare).



Up next: Source a cheap, usable pump. Plumbing. Water test with tap water. Purchase RO/DI and salt. Get Live Rock / Live Sand. Get dead rock / dead sand. Baffle Sump for Fuge, Return and Skimmer.

Stay tuned for more information! Watch as a complete newb mucks things up and manages to rectify them with the help of the amazing people here at CaptiveReefs!

[Sir Patrick]

Great start!! We are hear to help!

[tazzy695]

awsome stand and tank that is going to make a sweet reef



Sent from my MB200 using Tapatalk

[Manoj's Reef]

When do you plan on painting the canvas?

It will turn out to be a great reef. My suggestion would be to do some reading on the dos and donts to help you get a good start.

[Argent]

Nice setup - will be following along

[thefishgirl]

Congrats!! I know you are very excited to get this thing going!
Keep the pics coming.

[ReeferRob]

**** of a start! Nice to see someone go 'All In' starting with a big tank and not a 10 or 20.

One bit of advice would be to anty up for a brand new return pump. Last thing you'ld want is to stock the tank with anything and half to jerk around with a used or broken pump that could potentially start a fire or flood the house.

I love the Lifeguard Quiet One pumps. I use the QO4000 on my DT and the 2200 on my grow out. They are very affordable, pump tons of water, and are energy efficient. Quiet, they don't get hot and are easy to work with. A new QO4000 is around $75 bucks I think. For a 90 I would probably look at the 4000HH or maybe the one just above that.

Keep the updates coming, its always awesome to see another build going up!

[RedfordReefer]

**** of a start! Nice to see someone go 'All In' starting with a big tank and not a 10 or 20.

One bit of advice would be to anty up for a brand new return pump. Last thing you'ld want is to stock the tank with anything and half to jerk around with a used or broken pump that could potentially start a fire or flood the house.

I love the Lifeguard Quiet One pumps. I use the QO4000 on my DT and the 2200 on my grow out. They are very affordable, pump tons of water, and are energy efficient. Quiet, they don't get hot and are easy to work with. A new QO4000 is around $75 bucks I think. For a 90 I would probably look at the 4000HH or maybe the one just above that.

Keep the updates coming, its always awesome to see another build going up!

That won't be too much flow though the sump? I was looking at the QO3300 which would put me at ~494GPH through the sump.

My thought is that the more time in the sump, the more time for the Chaeto to work.

I have two Koralia 3's to augment flow inside the tank. I might pick up another Koralia 2 or even another Koralia 3 to further increase the flow.

[RedfordReefer]

When do you plan on painting the canvas?

It will turn out to be a great reef. My suggestion would be to do some reading on the dos and donts to help you get a good start.

I am going to be painting the stand, so I'll paint the back at the same time. Also, that window behind the tank will have blackout curtains as well as blinds to block all the sunlight. That is the south side of the house and I am really worried about sunlight causing algae growth.

I would move the tank but my living room is really quite annoying. It's long with two doorways offset on the East and West walls. There's a built-in closet in the north and a cold air return I can't block on the north side too. There's literally NOWHERE else to put the tank.

[ReeferRob]

That won't be too much flow though the sump? I was looking at the QO3300 which would put me at ~494GPH through the sump.

My thought is that the more time in the sump, the more time for the Chaeto to work.

I have two Koralia 3's to augment flow inside the tank. I might pick up another Koralia 2 or even another Koralia 3 to further increase the flow.

Good point, if your going to harvest Chaetomorpha for nutrient reduction you definitely want a longer dwell time.