90 Gal reef and 50 gal predator tank builds

[Oxymoron]

Originally Posted by sharuq1

Great start! Are you from a different forum? Your name looks familiar. Loving the LR, looks good. What are you planning to stock the reef with? What kind of lighting are you going to put on it down the road?

Hi Sharuq,
Thanks for the compliments
I actually started out on another forum (not sure if im allowed to name it or not) but found they weren't busy enough for me. So now I check out both from time to time.

Im hoping to stock the reef with a mixture of sps to softies. Im leaning towards housing the rarest species that I can get my hands on.

My next purchase will perhaps be a pair of flame wrasse's and down the line I am hoping to purchase a black longnose tang. This will be several months down the line once I am absolutely certain that my system is stable and I have given myself some additional research time. After hearing that certain members on this board have been able to keep a tang alive in captivity for 9 years or more I have convinced myself to justify the cost.

Oh yeah, I have since added a yellow tang, a bicolor pseudochromis (lfs said it was a royal gramma, bah stupid me), a cleaner shrimp and a sixline wrasse.

I also have added several frags (some from you) as well I bought a toadstool, green bta and a leather coral from my last trip to Calgary.

The frogspawn that you were worried about opened up very nicely btw and has already started growing noticeably.

Everything atm seems to be going well and all new additions are feeding well (added a drop of kent garlic extract). The pseudochromis has actually been chasing the damsel away from his "spot" about twice a day. So far It has been the only signs of aggression in the tank. The black molly that has been in since day 3 is still doing great, I hope she lives to a old age.

I have taken pictures of the whole process and will post them sooner than later.

As for lighting atm I am using a new 36" tek t5 4 bulb fixture (15k and fiji purple) This lighting system is temporary and will be moved to my 50 gal once I find what im looking for. My next set of lighting will not be metal halide due to my need to produce an automated system without a chiller. I am hoping to see an advance in the LED technology and pricing by the time I am ready to upgrade and would like to go that route. If this is not feasible i will most likely settle on a 8 bulb 48" t5 fixture and led's for moonlights (heard I can still get some shimmer with the led's). There will also be a custom ATO, a new skimmer, ca reactor and controller added to the system in the near future.

Well that's about all I have for tonight. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for updates
Oxy

[Oxymoron]

The skimmer that I have decided to go with is the following
http://www.superskimmer.com/SumpBuddy40.htm
This skimmer has been selected based solely on its footprint dimensions.
I am hoping that It will make do on my tank. I did have my heart set on a bubble king. However after trying for quite some time to make it fit under my cabinet I eventually found this one. I actually have only found about 3 skimmers that would fit in the small footprint I have available and this ones seems to be the best bang for my available size.
The ATO will be custom built and the calcium reactor will be a whole new challange.
Does anyone know of a suitable ca reactor for a 90 gal + 30 gal sump with an extremely small footprint? Or perhaps a custom builder?

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Looks good so far. You mentioned not wanting MH because of heat and not wanting a chiller. Many people use MH without a chiller with no problems. Fans if used right work wonders. I have used MH for years and never needed a chiller. Even now I am running 800 watts of MH over a 95G tank and can keep the temperature right between 79-80. I would recommend a controller though if you use MH with fans, so you can have them turn on and off as needed.

Glad to see your getting off to such a good start in this hobby!

Whats going in the aggressive tank?

[Oxymoron]

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Looks good so far. You mentioned not wanting MH because of heat and not wanting a chiller. Many people use MH without a chiller with no problems. Fans if used right work wonders. I have used MH for years and never needed a chiller. Even now I am running 800 watts of MH over a 95G tank and can keep the temperature right between 79-80. I would recommend a controller though if you use MH with fans, so you can have them turn on and off as needed.

Glad to see your getting off to such a good start in this hobby!

Whats going in the aggressive tank?

Thanks for the input
Perhaps I need to do some additional research into lighting. Aquattro had also suggested that perhaps halides were feasible in a hood with proper fan ventilation. Im still not certain as to what im going to do about the lights. When the time comes I plan on contacting aquadigital about setting up a profilux controller. I assume this would be a sufficient controller for lighting and fan control as well as just about anything else. I just worry about the additional heat being displaced into the house during summer time as well...
I have vaulted ceilings over the tank and don't feel that a hanging kit is an option that I am interested in. As you can see im still pretty unsure as to what I am going to go with.
As for the predator tank I am hoping to house a Volitan Lionfish, perhaps a puffer and a trigger.
Im not sure if any of these are feasible let alone all three in a 50 gal.
To be honest at the moment im not sure if it will be setup any time soon. My first priority is to complete the hardware portion of the 90 gal and then perhaps move onto the 50.

[fdiddy]

Yeah, i'm not too certain about housing requirements for the aggressive tank, but i would think that it's a little on the small side. At any rate, glad you're willing to justify the costs. If there was any advice i could give to you, it's to not tally up the money you've spent, you'll be disappointed, and to not be afraid to spend the extra money to get what is best.

P.S. I run a 250W MH over my 40Breeder and have no heat problems what-so-ever. GL and congrats on a great start!

[Oxymoron]

Updated tank shots 5 Months old

[Oxymoron]