Jandrew's 90 gallon upgrade!

So guys, we picked up our new 90 gallon tank today! So as of now we are in new tank setup mode! Haven't moved tanks ever before, so any advice would be greatly appreciated. We are also newer to the hobby and any advice on how we should go about setting up a successful 90 gallon tank would be AMAZING! ;D we are going to set up a sump, still trying to make decisions about that, as we don't know much about it. research is definitely piling up there haha

we're planning on keeping this thread going, so follow it and help us out

currently have a 36 gal bowfront with 2 black ice clowns, 2 yellow tale damsels, a purple firefish, and a diamond goby. I know we have about a fish or two too many but we were going to stop at the firefish, but decided the goby would be a good decision. ammonia and nitrites are staying low, nitrates are a little higher, usually about 30ppm, hoping that switching to the 90 gallon will help that.

We have about 25-30 lbs of LR, were planning on getting more, but are waiting until we can get it in the 90 gallon so we can cycle it properly.

we also have some corals in there, all appear to be happy. we have a GSP, a rainbow riccordia mushroom, a branching hammer, goniopora, xenia, torch coral, candy cane coral, and a few assorted mushrooms.. most of these are smaller frags.

So I thought we'd post a few pictures of our tank now, along with a picture of the new tank! let us know whatcha think!

oh yeah, and i just realized the picture i'm posting of the whole tank, corals are closed up because i just did a a water change, and it wasn't the most graceful thing i've done to say the least. I need to practice not being so clumsy.

 

New tank looks awesome!! Don't worry about grace when doing water changes, not possible

Your plan is to move everything over to the 90 eventually? If you add some of your existing rock to the 90 while cycling, that would probably help. You don't want to move any corals or fish over though until the cycle is complete.

Are you planning on having some sand in the 90 as well? You may want to put some sand in there while cycling. You don't need to buy live sand (you can use a cup of your 36 to seed the sand) You will need to rinse it well though. You also don't need to get live rock, you can use base rock and seed this with some of your existing in the 36. I should caution though that you don't want to take out too much live rock at any one time from the existing tank - it should be gradual......

I hope I made sense in this post. I'm sure others will chime in with advice. Definitely continue the research and put in a sump. It seems that is the best way to go.

I'll be following - just subscribed!

 

thanks for the advice on the base rock! i had never done the research on using that! didn't even realize it was an option! that'll be a huge help money wise! decided we wanna get the tank cycling so we're off to the LFS to get some base rock, sand, and more salt! will post a picture later with the tank all filled up!

I do have a question though, I read that people add a yellow tail damsel to help kick start the cycle too.. what is everyones thoughts on that?

 

I would get some microbacter7 to help with the jump start. Also, many on here have used just a nice chunk of shrimp to jump start. That way a fish doesn't suffer in the process......

 

Nice tank Jandrew.

 

Yeah that's what I was thinking! Just wanted to see what other people thought! Thank you!

We got sand, salt, and two good pieces of live rock (about 10 lbs) I know we need way more, but money just didn't allow for too much more today! The cloudiness of filling up the tank is still settling, so we'll post a picture, probably tomorrow!

Next pricey purchase is going to be a new protein skimmer. So any advice on a good one for our tank is greatly appreciated! We're currently running a coralife HOB for up to 65g. I forget what model it is. But it was kind of an impulse buy, and we made the mistake of listening to the guy at the lfs.. Sooo yeah, we want to upgrade obviously for the bigger tank.

 

bump for your question! I use a hang on as well so not real knowledgeable about in-sump skimmers.

 

self-bump

 

bumpity bump I know there have to be 3reefers out there with awesome advice!!

 

I use SWC Xtreme 160 on my 90 gallon. Many people seem to like Reef Octopus skimmers too. Do you have a lot of space in the sump (if you're planning on having one)?