Brew's 90G rebirth

Wow, it has been a long time since I visited this awesome forum.

School and life in general has kept me very busy. I've moved house twice, and haven't had my tank up and running for over a year.

I just signed a lease on a home to live in, and I've decided to start up the tank again.

Check out my tank stand build here:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/tank-stand-build-103228-5.html#.UltJXOhPtlU

So today is day 4. I set up the tank, put in the fuge, did all new plumbing, and made 100G or so of RO/Di water. I took a sample to the LFS, and the TDS meter read 0.01, so I'm good. I bought 90lbs of live west carrib sand, and spent a few hours each day working on some rock work.

I also threw about 10 mangrove shoots into the fuge today. Hopefully they'll start growing soon.

Check out my progress so far!

I'll post an equipment list when I get a chance. Off the top of my head:

90G tank with a sump I made myself.
2 Hydor Corallia 4s?
700GPH return pump
Aquatic life 4 bulb + night LED T5 setup
Reef Octopus Skimmer
Phosban reactor


IMG_7524 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr


IMG_1294 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr


IMG_5202 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr


IMG_4177 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr
I apologize for the awful pics. Running late to get to bed.

Hopefully when I wake up the water will be a little more clear.

 

And of course, plenty of picture full updates to come. I work the next three days, so not much will happen then. '

Plans for the week include finding some good base rock to build some more structure out of, picking up some new test kits, and getting a fish in there to start the cycle up. (It is ALL live sand, so he's not going to be tortured )

 

Sounds like a great start. I look forward to following your thread. I'm hoping to start a 90 gal reef with my 8 year old daughter in the next few months.

Coach

 

Love the bonsai rockwork

 

Thanks. The last aquascape I had didn't provide much space for corals.

I tried my hardest to give myself as much shelf space as possible, while having as much exposed sand on the bottom of the tank, while also giving my fish as much free swimming space as I could.

 

Update

Finally got the last pieces of rockwork finished and in the tank once they were totally dry.

Got all my chem where I want it. Added some aquapods. Put some brine shrimp in the tank a few nights ago to see if it'd cause an ammonia spike at all, but nothing.

I'm going to pick up a damsel or two today.

Here are some pics.


IMG_4983 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr


IMG_9977 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr


IMG_6516 by Brett Marillier, on Flickr

 

Great work on the scape. How did you make the flat plateau pieces?

 

Most of them were pieces I've collected over the past couple years here and there. Everytime I go into any FS I check out the rocks. If they have a shelf, I grab it up.

Took a lot of cementing pieces together though. One piece, let it dry, add the next piece, let it dry... etc.

 

I love the scape. Following.

 

I really like your rockwork! Very nice restart! Welcome back to the hobby!