New 90 Gal Build

Hello to all you reefer's out there. I've posted questions before about saltwater aquarium and now I am starting my own 90 gal saltwater tank. I first thought that I would do a FOWLR but after looking into the reef aquarium more in depth I realized that the difference between what I was doing (FOWLR) and a reef as far as equipment was concerned was a few extra pieces. So I decided to invest a small amount more and just go for it.

So here is where you all come in. I am a newbie as you all would call me and I have done so much research that my wife says I am going to become a walking encyclopedia. LOL! I haven't started to fill the tank yet as I am still waiting on equipment so I need your help. I need to know if I am missing any equipment or if I am missing anything in general.

Here is the list.

Custom stand and hood
90 gal reef ready tank with corner overflow
custom corner overflow cover to avoid excess light into that very hard to reach place to clean
Cyclone Bio-filter CY194 with Protein Skimmer (rated for 200gal)
Addition 20gal Acrylic sump which I had the manufacturer tie in together with filter via bulkhead.
BRS carbon reactor
BRS GFO reactor
Kalkwasser with BRS 2 part dosing pump w/timer
Tunze auto top off
75GPD RO/DI filter w/seperate chloramine filter
PH and Salinity Meter
Reef test Kit
Hanna Test instruments calcium, phosphate and Nitrate digital testers (I read alot on redundancy)
UV Filter
Heater
Mag return pump rate at 950 gph (return and supply is clear flex tubing)

160 lbs of dry rock between Main Display and bio filter (I replaced the bio media in the filter with rock)
Reef safe glue for aquascaping
Rock in display tank on egg crate about 1 1/2 off the bottom
Dual DC fans in stand to help control heat
6 DC fans in hood controlled by temp sensor which will activate fans if water reaches a temp too high
open top tank with netting to help temp and gas exchange

And finally lighting
1) 48" TrueLumen Pro LED 12k
1) 48" TrueLumen Pro LED Deep Blue
1) 48" TrueLumen Pro LED Marine Fusion
1) 48" R2 Solutions Moonlight

Ok that's all the equipment so far. I am still waiting for some of these equipment to arrive. Am I missing anything? Or am I ok so far? I posting more questions for guidance for all you expects as I start getting this going on the project.

 

Wow that is quite an impressive list of equipment for a newbie. You have done your research!

 

Yeah I've done extensive amount of research that's how I came up with all that equipment. I read a lot of posts here on 3 reef but I know that I have a long way to go before I can become an advance aquarist but then again I have all of you here. I'm sure I'll be posting more questions as I go along. I will admit that the temptation is there to rush this but I am doing everthing I can to resist. I had a freshwater before deciding to go salt so I guess I have some knowledge.

 

I've got a few comments - inserted below:

This is a good way to go - exactly what I do - what are you using as a reactor? Also, did you get the 50 ml version of the BRS pump?

What is your intention with this? If it's parasite control then you will need a significantly higher wattage unit than the package advertises.

What are you doing for flow in the tank?

Lastly, no controller? You've gone all out on everything else, so...

 

Rocketmandb I actually got the 1.1 ml dosing pump. For my reactors I'm using the BRS deluxe model which have the vacuum break button. I actually got two complete sets I didn't want to get the combo unit as I wanted to have better control of the units. I have one for carbon which I'm using Their ROX 0.8 and the other one for phosphate and their high capacity media. As for the UV it's a 13 watt internal model. It's a pretty big boy. It's designed for 1000-1500 gallon ponds. Their 9w is for up to 200 gal aquariums but I believe in overkill. The controller I haven't forgotten I'm just undecided as to which one. What do you use or recommend?

 

wow, that is an impressive list lol. Are you going to use any sand? That is the only thing I didn't see.

 

Sticksmith23 yeah I forgot to list the sand. I will be using live sand but I'll add that in after I cure the rock.

 

You might be able to get away with one bag of live sand and the rest dry sand IMO. It will save you a lot of money as well.

 

For Kalk you need a chamber (reactor) to hold the Kalkwasser, stir it occasionally and act as a reservoir that you feed a dosing pump through to dose the tank with kalk. For dosing kalk my feeling is that the 1.1 ml pump is too small. I use the 50 ml model and dose for 30 minutes, four times per day. I have 600 gallons of system volume, or roughly 4.5x what you will have so you can do some math and see that you'd have to run the 1.1 ml pump almost continuously to match what I'm dosing. You might not need to dose as much as I am as I have a bunch of SPS, but then again, you may.

Kalkwasser Reactor - English

Based on the wattages you've mentioned, I take it you've bought the Via Aqua. I couldn't find the exact dosage, but typically the flow/tank rating is what is required to deliver 15,000 mW-s/cm2 (UV dosage), or what is necessary for algae. Parasites, however, require significantly higher dosages to kill. Velvet requires 6-8 times that and Ich requires 20 times that amount. Without knowing the exact dosage that the Via Aqua puts out, I can't tell you for sure. What I can tell you is that if you wanted to run your main pump through the UV and expect it to kill Velvet, you'd need something more like:

Aqua UV Classic 40 watt UV Sterilizer w/Optional Wiper by Aqua Ultraviolet - AquaCave.com

Unless you run water VERY slowly through the one you've got, it would have no effect on Ich. And of course the slower you run it through, the fewer parasites get exposed.

I run a 200 watt unit on my system, running about 2100 gph through it. At that flow rate I kill Velvet, but not anywhere close to Ich.

Not that having a UV sterilizer for algal control is a bad thing, far from it, just don't think that you've got parasite control with the unit you've got.

I'm extremely happy with the Neptune Apex.

 

Sticksmith23 thanks for the info. I'll definitely look into that.