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[tomos reef]

Hello everyone. I have a 90g tank I've chosen for a marine aquarium. I need input on what kind of set up I need. I know I will be getting a protein skimmer rated 90-100 gallon. I was also told that the best filtration to have is a wet/dry system. I have also been told recently to try a sump. Can I use a sump and wet/dry filtration system? I am not against building anything either if that helps. Any input is appreciated. I plan to start off with a damsel and or shrimp to kinda get the tank cycled but long term I would like to have a Foxface, Mandarin Goby, possibly a Sailfin Tang and or a lion fish. Not sure how compatible these guys are but Ill do more research. '
Thanks again! - Tomo

 

[geridoc]

Welcome to the boards, and to the hobby. Keep doing your research - you will save lots of money and dead fish. A wet/dry and sump are not mutually exclusive - you will be able to find units that have both possibilities. It sounds like you are planning a fish-only tank, so a refugium isn't 100% necessary, just be sure that your wet/dry system has sufficient space for your skimmer, heater and any other equipment you can cram into it. There is never enough space in the sump part of such a filter. IMHO, it is important to assume that every fish will survive long-term, so you have to plan your additions carefully for long term compatibility. That said, a standard 90 gallon tank is probably too small for a sailfin tang - they get to be the size of dinner plates and are naturally open water swimmers - they really need a 6 foot long tank, at a minimum. Put the mandarin goby on the back burner for a couple of years, until your tank is mature enough to support a healthy population of copepods. A lion could do ok in a 90, so long as it isn't one of the large varieties like a volitans, since it will eat your damsel sooner or later (generally, sooner). Lions and foxfaces make good tankmates, so that is a reasonable plan. And, please don't use the damsel to cycle the tank. No fish's life should be thrown away, nor should the animal be tortured by having its gills burned by high ammonia levels. I can send you directions for using ammonium chloride to cycle the tank, or you can just put a piece of cocktail shrimp in the tank and let it rot - the ammonia from that will start your cycle. You are off to a great start - you haven't committed yourself to a wrong pathway, and you are asking questions. Keep it up.

 

[tomos reef]

Thanks a lot for the input. It is very helpful. I did not mean for it to sound like I would torture a damsel. I was thinking that if I put something in their that the eating and pooping would begin a the cycle but I guess that could take awhile. I would never intentionally kill or put a fish in pain. I am not against doing other types of marine life in my tank I just don't know what to start with. I love crabs to. Thanks again, Tomo

 

[snakeblitz33]

90g tanks can be beautiful if set up properly - their dimensions allow great aquascaping and a wider array of fish that most smaller tanks wouldn't allow.
I personally have moved away from wet/dry systems over the years. I find that they typically are no longer necessary in saltwater aquariums that have a decent amount of live rock in a high flow area. What a wet/dry system does is it uses aerobic bacteria to break down ammonia and nitrite into less harmful form called nitrate. Since live rock and mechanical filtration can also efficiently do this job, maintaining the bioballs in a wet/dry system can be a pain.
What I suggest is to save yourself a lot of money by building your own sump. for a 90g reef tank, a 20g long sump is sufficient enough. I recommend buying a true cone skimmer - one with the pump inside of the skimmer body - which allows it to have a much smaller footprint inside the tank and, in my opinion, much more stable foam production. SWC makes great cone skimmers. I personally use an SC65 on my tank and love it. SC also makes a skimmer for a 150g... the SC150 and it's only $130 with free shipping compared to over $250 for the same style but brand name skimmer.
The first chamber of your sump is a small section which is basically for your overflow and a couple of filter socks and some live rock rubble. The socks filter out fine particulates and have to be washed once a week... but that's ok! Having quick flow and a lot of oxygenated water in this section makes the live rock rubble very efficient at removing ammonia and nitrite from the water column. The second section of your sump needs to fit your protein skimmer pretty snug, but not snug enough where you can't remove it. You should also have enough room in this section to fit a phosban reactor or a carbon reactor if you wish. The next small section can be a refugium - and then at this point, you may want to double or tripple baffle a place for your return pump and put a little mechanical filtration (like filter floss) between the baffles to keep microbubbles from getting into your return pump.
In the sump setup that I described, you can use a couple of different return pumps - including a Danner Mag Drive 7 or a model 9.5. That would give you enough turnover through your sump to process your water. Your 90g doesn't sound drilled, so you will either have to take it to a glass shop and have it drilled for an overflow in the top back corner (s) (look into beananimal design as well... dead silent.) or you can buy an external overflow for your system. I personally use an Eshopps external overflow and it works really well. If you do go with an Eshopps overflow, buy one that is rated for one size higher than you need and buy a maggiemuffler to keep it running quiet.
Read, research, review - ask questions and be an active member of this forum and you will save yourself a lot of time and money and make a lot of friends in the process. Thank you for doing your research online first before going to your LFS and wasting a lot of money, I commend you for that.
Also, something that might help you out is reading the articles in this thread: https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/388776/guides-for-new-hobbyists

 

[flower]

Hi,
I have a 90g as well. Not too large (I can still reach the bottom of the tank) and not too small.

 

[tomos reef]

Thanks a lot SnakeBlitz33 that was extremely helpful. My tank is drilled *sorry i failed to mention that* It has a hole on the upper back wall and a hole on the bottom. I think it used to have a canister filter in it. Anywho I will look for a 20 long to build my own sump/refugium *kinda excited about building it*. I will post pictures as I go along. Not ready to start quite yet. I will be moving in august to a bigger place where it will be set up there. So I figured now is the best time to do research. Also I really want to put some Angels in it later on. Either a Koran, Flame and or French. Any suggestions on them? Thanks, Tomo

 

[rickross23]

Koran and French get HUGE. Too big for your tank. They need 200+g tanks. The flame would work.....reef safe with caution. Are you planning reef tank? They can nip at corals. Angelfish tend to be a hit or miss/ gamble.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomos Reef http:///t/391980/brand-new#post_3478661
Thanks a lot SnakeBlitz33 that was extremely helpful. My tank is drilled *sorry i failed to mention that* It has a hole on the upper back wall and a hole on the bottom. I think it used to have a canister filter in it. Anywho I will look for a 20 long to build my own sump/refugium *kinda excited about building it*. I will post pictures as I go along. Not ready to start quite yet. I will be moving in august to a bigger place where it will be set up there. So I figured now is the best time to do research. Also I really want to put some Angels in it later on. Either a Koran, Flame and or French. Any suggestions on them? Thanks, Tomo
That's awesome. You're right, now is the time to research and get all of your equipment ready. Building a sump is actually quite easy. You may be disappointed how easy it is. lol
While a Koran and French angel fish are out of the question for a 90g reef tank - there is actually a wide array of angels that can co-habit that aquarium. They all will nibble on corals here and there and disturb them, but there is a few angels out there that wont. Sometimes you get one that is completely mean and it will have to be removed and others just don't care at all. You should at this point really decide if your going for a reef tank or just a fish only system with a lot of really pretty fish.

 

[tomos reef]

I would really like to do a reef tank. In my opinion they are prettier. I just don't what is & isn't reef safe. I really just like angels. I don't have to have a particular one those were just some that appealed to me. I would just like to have one or some if at all possible. Would a dwarf Lionfish be ok to have in a reef tank?
-Tomo

 

[tomos reef]

Quote:
Originally Posted by rickross23 http:///t/391980/brand-new#post_3478802
Koran and French get HUGE. Too big for your tank. They need 200+g tanks. The flame would work.....reef safe with caution. Are you planning reef tank? They can nip at corals. Angelfish tend to be a hit or miss/ gamble.
Haha thank you. I did not realize they got to be huge. :'>

 

[tomos reef]

This is what Im looking for. This is a reef tank right?

 

[rickross23]

That is a nice, EXPENSIVE reef tank.....is that the one you are getting?

 

[tomos reef]

lol Im not sure. What do you mean by "getting"? I already have the tank. Will be making the stand and sump. Im assuming the reef is assembled in pieces isn't it? Buying coral, anemones and rock separately? Im sorry to be so naive about this. Im kinda embarrassed. I have only done freshwater tanks so I have next to no knowledge on reef tanks.

 

[tirtza]

Hello and welcome!

The picture you showed above is definitely a reef tank. It has numerous species of coral. I'm still a 'rookie' but I have a few bits of advice and hopefully I can help you a little.
A 'reef tank' is a salt water aquarium with coral. The other salt water option is a 'Fish Only with Live Rock' also known as a FOWLR. When you set up the tank, aside from choosing equipment (filtration, lighting, heater, etc...) you'll want to decide if you'd like a reef tank or FOWLR. Knowing that will help you decide which fish would be appropriate in your system, it will also help you decide what sort of equipment you'll need.
Some fish are considered 'reef safe', which means that they won't harm your corals, and some fish aren't reef safe (they'll nip at your corals and eventually kill them). Another important thing to take into consideration is your lighting. Some coral require really strong lighting, while other types aren't photosynthetic and only need low to moderate lighting. It looks like the tank in the above picture probably has some really strong lighting (based on the type of coral that they have).
Once your equipment is set up, water/sand/live rock added, then you'll want to kick off the nitrogen cycle of your aquarium. Make sure you get a test kit and monitor your water as it goes through it's initial cycle. The water in your tank will continuously cycle. It's during the first cycle that you'll have 'spikes' in ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. Only after your water parameters are safe and consistent should you add fish.
Before you add any fish to your 90 gallon DT (display tank), I highly suggest setting up a basic QT (quarantine tank). It's cheap and easy to set up a QT and it could potentially prevent fish illness/death, save you lots of $, and stress. Even if you if you trust the place where you get your fish, you just never know...
After your fish have spent time in the QT (the amount of time differs depending on who you ask) and the water parameters of your DT are safe than you can move them into your new tank. If you decide to have a reef tank, then after some time (that amount of time also differs depending on who you ask), then you can begin to slowly add coral. You'll want to QT your new coral just like you do for new fish.
There are a lot of threads on SWF.com with advice on how to set up a QT.
I hope I was able to provide some help. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions

 

[tirtza]

I forgot to add: I noticed that you said you were planning on building a stand for your tank....when you build the stand keep in mind the final weight of the aquarium when it's filled with salt water, rock, and sand, has lights and perhaps a hood. It's surprising how much a filled tank can weigh and I'd hate to hear if your stand crumpled beneath that enormous amount of weight!

 

[tomos reef]

Haha yes I have taken that into thought. Thanks for checking though. So yes I am doing more research fish wise. I will work on my QT tank. Any size recommendation? -Tomo

 

[tirtza]

The size of your QT somewhat depends on the size of the fish that you are going to be putting in there. It certainly doesn't need to be as big and fancy as your DT. Since the fish you'll be getting will be okay for a 90 gallon....maybe a 20 or 30 gallon?? I'm not positive though.....I'd refer this question to someone with more expertise.
I only have a 30 gallon DT and my QT is 10 gallons which I've been told is sufficient.

 

[snakeblitz33]

A quarantine tank should be as big as it needs to be to house your largest adult fish for up to six weeks without being stressed. For the typical tang, this might be a 55g tank or even a long tank like a 100g for enough swimming room. Other smaller fish that prefer tighter places such as clownfish, gobies, blennies, hawkfish, pygmy angels, and other fish that only swim short distances can go in 20 to 30g tanks.
A simple quarantine can just use hang on back filtration and some plastic decor. Most likely these tanks will at one point be medicated. You NEVER medicate your display tank with anything - even if it does say "reef safe" on the bottle.
If you want a reef tank, you will have to heavily research lighting systems... I am partial to T5's and Metal Halides but LED's seem to be a close up-and-comer on the market as far as quality and PAR values. A good Reef LED system will typically cost $400 per unit, and for your 90g standard you would have to use two units. The benefits, however, might be worth it - since you don't have to replace bulbs yearly and the LEDs don't add as much heat to the water as other conventional lights.

 

[rickross23]

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/391980/brand-new#post_3478883
A quarantine tank should be as big as it needs to be to house your largest adult fish for up to six weeks without being stressed. For the typical tang, this might be a 55g tank or even a long tank like a 100g for enough swimming room. Other smaller fish that prefer tighter places such as clownfish, gobies, blennies, hawkfish, pygmy angels, and other fish that only swim short distances can go in 20 to 30g tanks.
A simple quarantine can just use hang on back filtration and some plastic decor. Most likely these tanks will at one point be medicated. You NEVER medicate your display tank with anything - even if it does say "reef safe" on the bottle.
If you want a reef tank, you will have to heavily research lighting systems... I am partial to T5's and Metal Halides but LED's seem to be a close up-and-comer on the market as far as quality and PAR values. A good Reef LED system will typically cost $400 per unit, and for your 90g standard you would have to use two units. The benefits, however, might be worth it - since you don't have to replace bulbs yearly and the LEDs don't add as much heat to the water as other conventional lights.
if you are referrring to the AI sols for 400 a pop, you need more than 2. they have bad coverage.

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by rickross23 http:///t/391980/brand-new#post_3478886
if you are referrring to the AI sols for 400 a pop, you need more than 2. they have bad coverage.
Bad coverage is relative to what the users desires and requirements are. Any fixture can be raised or lowered to increase or decrease the spread of light that they put out. You need to compare them all individually to find what is going to get the job done on the budget that you are looking to spend.
And, rick...I think it's more than been proven that 2 A.I. modules could certainly support a health mixed reef tank of this size.