New 90 gallon tank

[Will Penfold]

Hey everyone. Glad that Reef Escape is back and better than ever with 2.0.

so this is my third reef tank build. First one was 6 years ago- built a 75 gallon mixed. That lasted 3 years until I moved to Dunnville. Next was my 32 gallon biocube build. That tank lasted just under two years- unfortunately coincided with my wife having a baby so the tank was neglected for good periods of time.

Just before Christmas I decided to start a new tank because I had an old 90 gallon tank sitting in my basement collecting dust. (And my biocube looked like crap) Had a buddy of mine who owns a welding shop put together a bare bones stand for me.

I wanted something that was sturdy but that I could access from all sides. We tested the stand before hand with lots of weight to make sure it could withstand the weight of the tank filled with rocks and water.

Built my aquascape out of used rock. Bought it off of a few people in Hamilton area who were tearing apart their tanks. Bleached cured the rocks for two weeks and then another week in RODI + Prime.

My past two reef tanks I’ve used Kessil A360’s so this time I wanted to try T5s to see if I like them better. Picked up a used TEK light- 6 bulb from another reefer for $150. Was quite happy with that.

With the exception of turning the light on quickly to see how they look, I'm going to let the tank mature for another month or so before turning on lights full time and start introducing coral.

 

[Limey]

Nice update Will let me know when you are ready fof some corals love to donate some starter softies and LPS.
Keep us updated

 

[Will Penfold]

Nice update Will let me know when you are ready fof some corals love to donate some starter softies and LPS.
Keep us updated

Thanks man! that is very generous of you.

 

[seeks]

Patients, it so pays off!

 

[Will Penfold]

Patients, it so pays off!

learned that the hard way on my past tank. my previous bio cube cycled in a week (thanks to bottled bacteria). Turned lights on and started adding coral. Month in..BOOM, tons of hair algae, and cyano and I could never get it fully under control. Not making that mistake again lol

 

[Will Penfold]

Picked up my bulbs this afternoon. Was researching on optimal combinations for T5's and these seem to be the most recommended combo.

excited to see how they look lighting up my tank.

 

[Luigi]

I have 4 t5's,
and it from back to front..: blue +,coral+,Purple + blue+
I love it all color are popping without being washed out

 

[Will Penfold]

Well last weekend tank was right around two months old so decided to turn the lights on.

Picked up some green hairy mushrooms. Shout out to Niagara Fire Corals for the great deal on them.

Also put in a decent sized rock covered in coraline algae to kick off the growth in my tank. Many thanks to Limey for the rock!

photo was taken day I put them in tank so they look a little pissed off. They've since puffed up and are much bigger than they look in the photo.

also pictured are my grey head wrasse & red coris wrasse.

 

[seeks]

Looking good and I love the green mushrooms!

 

[Limey]

beautiful wrasse, nice mushrooms, good luck moving forward keep us posted

 

[Andrew D]

Love that wrasse!

 

[Will Penfold]

Love that wrasse!

Which one? the red coris or grey head? all the same, yeah both are great. also have a yellow coris wrasse & sixline. really like wrasses lol

 

[Andrew D]

the red coris....

 

[Will Penfold]

Updated shot of the tank. Starting to fill it in with mostly softies.

Thanks to Cliff for the RBTA.

In typical anemone fashion, it picked an inconvenient spot to stay.

 

[Taryn]

Updated shot of the tank. Starting to fill it in with

Thanks to Cliff for the RBTA.

In typical anemone fashion, it picked an inconvenient spot to stay.

Looks great that RBTA looks awesome!

 

[Will Penfold]

Little update on the tank. Didn't take any photos of the mess.

So I use a 44 gallon brute trash bin as my salt water mixing bucket. Its on a dolly so that I can wheel it in and out of the room I store it in.

anyways, last night one of the wheels gave out on it and I got 44 gallons of salt water all over my basement floor.

Fortunately my floor is just cement, but it was still a colossal pain in the ass to clean. Now that its drying, my floor is gritty because of the salt left over.

anyways, theres my update on how my tanks going. lol

 

[Luigi]

Darn man feel sorry, I had something like that, on time while I was having ReefEscape meeting,..

 

[Will Penfold]

Darn man feel sorry, I had something like that, on time while I was having ReefEscape meeting,..

brutal man. yeah it sucks when it happens

 

[Will Penfold]

It's been forever since I posted about my tank on the forum, so figured it was time for an update. Started this tank just under 3 years ago now. For the past year or so I completely neglected it and there was a ton of GHA, cyano and bubble algae in the tank...Like I mean really neglected it. I didn't have many corals in it to begin with, but the only things left standing were the kenyan trees and some zoanthids. All my fish were happy enough to live in the algae though lol.

About 8 months ago, a buddy of mine asked me to home 4 of his damsels because he was shutting down his tank (3 domino & 1 talbot damsel). I like an Idiot said sure. For the longest time there was no issue, but I started cleaning out my tank in mid/late November and then the Damsel's starting damseling and have killed a few of my other fish. As you'll see in the top right hand corner, I purchased a fish trap and have caught 3 of 4 damsels. The largest and most aggressive domino damsel remains elusive.

anyways, here is a shot of my tank. have been filling it back up with softies and LPS. Took me a month of water changes, and lots of manual algae removal to clean up the tank. Bought an emerald crab and he's helping take down the bubble algae too.

I am starting to get some brown, rust coloured algae starting to appear now that I've eradicated the GHA & cyano. Not sure if its diatoms (because I've been stirring up the sand a lot lately, and the sand may still have silicates in it) or the dreaded dino's because my nutrient levels are low.) Guess I'll find out as I go along.

 

[Luke_L]

I have torn tanks apart to catch fish before... lol

I literally just changed lighting, and totally gutted the tank so I'm fighting a little cyano and diatoms at the moment... but it's OK I am back in the hobby again.. lol