Plans for a 90 Gal Reef(First SWtank)

[scott-clement]

Planing a 90 gallon tank with 30 gallon sump/refuge. Goal is to have some fish with corrals and a BTA for clowns when finished, with the following.
Livestock i have in mind atm is:
False Percula Clownfish - Mated Pair x1
Neon Goby x2
Blue Hippo tang x1
Midas Blenny x1
Mandarin Dragonet - Green x1
with a clean up crew of: (will add or change as needed)
Blueleg Hermit Crab x2
Feather Duster - Group of 3
Nassarius Snail x20
standard turbo snails x10
Mexican Turbo Snail x3
nerite snails x20
cerith snails x15
As far as equipment, i have been looking at a Refractometer, AquaC EV-120 Protein Skimmer, AquaC Auto Waste Collector 5 liter, Pondmaster Mag Drive 5Aquarium Pump, Hagen powerhead 802 400gph x5, and a RO/DI unit to make my water
I planning on building my own sump with a refuge and auto top-off system.
Do i need a Ca reactor?
I need a 10k - ish MH light to have a wide range of corals that i can take correct?
actinics lighting sounds great but i am not real clear on what they are bulb wise etc?
What are some reliable brands of equipment?
For corals and BTA i need 30x water flow in tank, 90 gallon being 3000 correct?
What are some good brands of tanks? Acrylic vs Glass? not worried about weight.
Would love to see a list of equipment that some of you use for a reef tank to compare to and get ideas from.

I always feel like i am forgetting something important before posting

Thank you all for taking time to help.

 

[niskyvaulter]

first, im not sure if a hippo tang would work in a 90. they really need a 6 foot tank. try bristletooth tangs, like the kole, or zebrasoma tangs, except for sailfins.
for the mh lights, i would probably do 2x250 with 13 or 14k bulbs, that way you dont need to bother with actinics.
you dont necessarily need a Ca reactor until you get a lot of corals and dosing becomes a pain. some people never even need to dose and just keep Ca up with water changes.
for a 90 gal tank i would go with all glass aquariums, or AGA. most fish stores carry them. they can be ordered drill and with built in overflows.
im not really good at naming good brands so ill let someone else cover that.
with flow, the important things is making sure you have no dead spots, so your rockwork will determine how many powerheads you need.
my setup is a 55 gal aga tank with built in overflow and a 20 long sump/fuge. coralife super skimmer 65, mag 7 return pump, sunpod 2x150 mh lighting, 1 x koralia 2 powerhead, 1 x koralia 3, and a coralife pure flow 2 4 stage 50gpd RO/DI unit.

 

[aquaguy24]

welcome to the boards.l ooks like ur off to a great start.. i have a 90g..about 2 months old.. cycled with my old rocks i took from my 24g aquapod...cycle only lasted a week.. well my equipment list..
-90g AGA.
-110lbs live rock
-90lbs live sand
-1 koralia #4 1200gph
-1 koralia #2 600gph
-pro clear wet/dry and overflow box
-aqua c ev 120 w/rio pump-only cuz i have a low stand...
-cpr hob refuge-just a lot easier to get then to change my wet/dry into a sump
-quiet one return pump rated 580 i think..
-corallife pure flow ll 50gpd unit.
-400w hydor heater
-soon to come- 1 more powerhead a koralia #4, refractometer
i also just ordered a 48" outer orbit 250w with T5..still waiting for the ups guy..
ca reactor is not needed..but its better to have one if u have an sps tank...just makes adding calcium a lot easier..for flow u need at least 10 to 15xtank size..for a reef tank u need much more then that..
i would take off hipp tang. a scopas tang or yellow tang..something in that family if u have to have a tang..carefull with the mandarin goby, they are hard to feed if u don't have a mature tank with tons of copepods..imo u don't need that many snails..i have only 5 turbo snails and i have no algea problems.....i don't really like hermit crabs cuz they kill snails for shells...i like emarald crabs better..
my stock list-
-2 true perc clowns
-randall's goby with pistol shrimp
-yellow tang
-coral beauty angel
-1 cleaner shrimp
-1 fire shrimp
-1 peppermint shrimp
-5 turbo snails
-1 hermit crab
-some purple mushroom i got as hitchiker.
the clowns, shrimp and the cuc is from my old 24g aquapod..