New Member - 90 Gallon Setup

Hello all, my name is Brian. I've had my setup for a little over a year now and it's been doing very well so far. I've been trying to get everything in order so I can start adding corals and other exotic creatures. The basic setup:

- 90 gal. All Glass tank (with hood and stand)
- eShopps Sump/refugium with protein skimmer
- 2 x Kessil LED lights
- 1 x Powerhead @ 750 GPH
- 1 x Powerhead @ 400 GPH
- Rena Filstar xp3 with carbon and bio-balls (Going to remove)
- Rio 2500 pump (in sump)
- Live sand base with live rock (unsure of total lbs.)


Current livestock (1.28.12):
- Maroon Clown
- Sail-fin Tang
- Sally Lightfoot Crab
- Green Bubble Tip Anemone
- Green Star Polyp Colony
- 2 x Pajama Cardinals
- 1 x Mystery fish (was adopted from neighbor, can not figure out what it is)
- 23 x Turbo Snails
- 20 x Dwarf White Leg Hermit Crabs
- 20 x Blue Leg Hermit Crab
- 3 x Emerald Crabs
- Reef Safe Starfish
- Peppermint Shrimp
- 2 x Cleaner Clam
- 10 x Nassarius Snail

So far the tank has been running smoothly. I'm looking to upgrade items and gather supplies to make sure I can maintain happy corals.

Also the mystery fish seems to be very aggressive and likes to dig all the sand from under the rocks. I feel like this is a bad thing as it could be releasing all the nitrates and phosphates trapped in the sand bed.

I'm looking into setting up and auto top-off / reserve tank. I plan on buying a RO/DI water set up and storing 30 gallons of water for future water changes. Up until this point I was using straight tap water and changing about 1 every other week (20 gallons per change). I feed the fish 2-3 times a day some flakes and frozen brine shrimp. They also have a garlic soaked green seaweed at all times.

Lights are on for only 10 hours a day. The refugium light is on 24/7 for the plants. I currently (as 1.2.12) have cut the DT lights and put a blanket over the tank. This is done to help relieve the tangs of 'stress' which I hope will help cure the ich. I've added the UV sterilizer as well to possibly aid the process.

At this point in time, I'm trying to figure out what my next moves, best upgrades, and proper maintenance I should be doing. This is why I have come to your online community to get some much needed feedback on my setup as well as my maintenance techniques. So please, fire away! =)

~ Brian

Here are a few pictures of the setup:

 

Welcome to 3reef. Nice tank.

 

Welcome to 3reef!

 

Do you have any specific questions. I know that bioballs aren't really recommended for the reef aquarium. They tend to collect detritus and I always thought that they could cause high nitrate counts. With enough Live Rock you wouldn't even really need the bioballs I wouldn't think.

 

that looks to be around 70-80 lbs of LR. nice set up, how do you like those lights?

p.s. i dont think that UV kills ich. ich will starve itself in 30-40 days with no livestock in the tank.

 

Thank you!!

I have a million questions to ask but I feel most of them can be answered by reading prior posts and threads! I guess if you do not recommend bioballs, would the xp3 even be needed? Would you just fill the three trays with carbon or some other material?

As for the basics, water. What RI/DO setup is common around the hobbyists? I have purchased a huge 30 gallon holding tank that I plan to use as a reservoir. Just curious about what other have done, also is RI/DO a major necessity? What about an auto top-off system?

Water movement, do I need to upgrade my power heads or maybe even get a wave timer/maker setup? I've read the soft corals seem to need much water movement. How do you know if you have enough?

Feeding topic, do I seem to have proper feeding and food sources?

I guess I should stop asking and start reading for now! Thanks for the compliments and welcome-s

Thanks for the estimate, should I have a bit more? I was thinking of building the whole back wall up as much as possible.

The Kessils are great lights! Super expensive, but the anemone seems to love it! It opens up 2 times as big as it did with my t-5 lighting set up. They are super quiet except one start up (even then barley hear them). Very low heat. How ever they tank is getting the needed light for growing, the aesthetic view seems to be dark. It looks better in person (i'm sure you've heard that if you have done some searching). However I wish I had some white LEDs for viewing pleasure. All in all I love them. You can not buy one to see if you'll like them. I had to buy two. After trying one I about returned the darn things. I could almost use another one. I plan on getting some white LEDs to brighting things up a bit.

~ Brian

 

I'd say RODI is a necessity. And an ATO is a good idea.

 

Nice tank!!

 

Any recommendations of brand/products for the RODI setup?