90 Gallon Rehab Project

[Monad]

Alright, so this is the start of my journey with my father on building a display reef tank. The tank is a little less than 90 gallons but with the sump installed it may be a little more than that. The dimension are 36 x 16 x 20 = 20736 cubic inches = roughly 90 gallons.

I bought this tank used from a reefer who has a giant collection. His largest tank is 700 gallons so he has no use for his smaller systems anymore. I was very lucky in that he sold me and my dad the tank, the stand, the lights in the stand, the sump, and a pump for $450. He also sold us an old Red Sea AIO 50g, but this tank will be our first project.

Today's goal was to clean out the sump, which was really filthy. I even found a dead mouse in the sump.

I cleaned it out first by rinsing what I could out. Then I refilled it again with water and added a few liters of vinegar. I ran the pump for about half an hour to recirculate the water. Then I emptied the sump out. Rinsed the whole thing. Filled it again with water. Ran the pump again. Then emptied and rinsed again.

Before and after of the sump. I'll have to clean it again, but I managed to get a lot of the sand and detritus, dead hitchhikers, bird seed, and dead mouse out of there.

Here's the display tank. Need to clean that out next.

Found some hitchhikers from the old system that included some what I assume are bristle worms and a starfish of some kind.

I was very lucky in that the reefer who sold me this tank gave me some dry rock for free.

I'm looking for any advice people are willing to offer. At the moment, I'm interested in advice for cleaning this out, plumbing the system, what other equipment I will need, and any general advice for setting the tank up. At the moment, I'll worry about getting the tank cycled for later.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Looks like a good start on cleaning, with the dimensions you gave, the tank is closer to 50 gallons. A regular 90 is 48 18 24. I have done this kinda rehab my self. I would fill the system with regular water add an acid made for cleaning aquariums, they sell it on line or I used white vinegar. You will be able to get it very close to new. Just run a cheap power head to circulate the water while you scrub. As far as plumbing, you can do soft plumbing or hard plumbing. There's a lot of videos on YouTube. I hard plumbed my first sump tank with no issues and it was a blast.

 

[Monad]

Looks like a good start on cleaning, with the dimensions you gave, the tank is closer to 50 gallons. A regular 90 is 48 18 24. I have done this kinda rehab my self. I would fill the system with regular water add an acid made for cleaning aquariums, they sell it on line or I used white vinegar. You will be able to get it very close to new. Just run a cheap power head to circulate the water while you scrub. As far as plumbing, you can do soft plumbing or hard plumbing. There's a lot of videos on YouTube. I hard plumbed my first sump tank with no issues and it was a blast.

I messed up. I gave the dimensions of the second used tank, the old Red Sea AIO.

I’ll definitely check out those YouTube videos.

The next phase is moving the display out of storage and vacuuming the old sand out. I’ll definitely pick up a powerhead since I’ll need one eventually. Thank you for the recommendation.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Monad]

Giant Mega Update.

It has been a long time. I've been busy with some other life issues. I have been slowly working on the tank.

The first thing I did after cleaning the sump was clean the main tank. I used a lot of vinegar and made the mistake of leaving it in overnight. This led to a massive bacterial bloom and I had to spend even more time, and bleach, and rinsing, to fix it. I also used that as an opportunity to plumb the system with my dad.

I must have refilled and emptied that tank nine or ten times.

Above is a picture of the tank during the first fill test and it gives you an idea of the woodwork.

Alas, that wood conflicted with the aesthetics of the den where the tank would finally end up. So I decided to pain the wood of the stand. Next is what it looked like when it was finished.

It looks a lot better. Once that base coat was painted, it was time to move it in place.

Here's the tank as it was being filled for the last fill test/RODI water to clean out anything else.

As they say in the industry, TO BE CONTINUED...

 

[Monad]

IMMEDIATELY

I tried to layout an idea for my aquascape before actually placing it in the tank.

My brother assisted me in this part. He's a nice guy, but he is mentally challenged so him helping was a nice way to stimulate him and keep him engaged.

I placed a very thin layer of sand, I used a combination of Ocean Direct Live and some Dry Carib Sea Aragonite. Then I placed down the large dry pieces as bases, filled in with more sand, and added the rest of the dry rock in. (Well all dry is not technically true. Two thirds of the rock were previously used in the tank of the guy I bought the tank from. But they sat in his garage for god knows how long and were completely dry when I took them out.)

A strange thing happened though as I rinsed all the rocks with RODI. Some of them developed a greenish tint and one of them turned dark green on one side.

I have no idea why. It didn't feel slimy at all. It just felt like freshly wet rock with a deep colored green.

I placed my aquascape in the tank and began filling it with saltwater.

It took more than a day to fill this tank since our RODI system takes 24 hours to process sixty gallons.

 

[Monad]

I filled the tank up and it got super cloudy and an ugly protein foam filled on the surface. I turned on the pump once it filled completely and tried to catch as much as I could in the filter sock. It worked out okay. It stayed really cloudy for a few days.

Here's a picture of it right before I turned on the pump.

I waited a few hours before I started cycling the tank. I first checked the ammonia levels with an API test kit. It read zero. I followed the direction on the Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride bottle, waited for it to circulate and barely got any reading. I ended up adding the rest of the bottle, waited a few hours, and still got no reading. It did not make sense to me.

A day later I tested for ammonia, found none. Tested for nitrite, found none, tested for nitrate and found somewhere between 30-40ppm. I did a huge water change about 1/3.

Two days later, I went to my LFS and bought a bottle of the microbacter ammonium chloride. I would have gone sooner but it is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. I wanted to make sure the tank was properly cycled and this wasn't just a fluke. I did the test again. All the levels were the same except for the nitrate which had gone down because of the water change. I added 15ml of the new bottle of ammonium chloride to the tank, directions said 5ml was good for 25 gallons and the tank has a 90 gallon display plus the sump. I waited a few hours, checked the ammonia and it read a little less than 2ppm.

The next day, it read higher than 2ppm, closer to 4ppm. I was worried.

Then today I did the test again this morning. It read between 4ppm and 8ppm ammonia, closer to 4ppm. No nitrite. I decided to do a 30% water change.

I did it again after the water change and now the tank appears closer to 8ppm. I have no idea what is going on or why it's spiking.

But the water has cleared up.

I also may have jumped the gun and introduced phytoplankton and 5280 pods from Algae Barn today after the major water change. I ordered them on Tuesday and they arrived today. I didn't know how to keep them so I added the copepods. I plan on adding their Galaxy Pods after the tank is finished cycling.

 

[Monad]

Forgot one last thing, I also started painting the lids where the lights will eventually go.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Looks like you are on the way!

 

[Monad]

Tank is set up and the cycle has started. I have been having a difficult time since I was using API test kits and my ammonia levels have been fluctuating wildly. I’ve decided the best course of action is to stop obsessing and just let the tank sit for a week.

Anyway, I installed a light. My LFS only had one. Its placement is okay, but could have been better. I now know more and will place the other in a better spot. I’m not running it all the time, only when I’m in the room. It is a AI Prime 16HD.

Here’s a pick. Top is now on too.

 

[Monad]

Little update. I modified the scape to make it more stable. I may grab another rock to make a small island, either for an anemone for some clowns or another zoa garden.

I accidentally stalled my cycle. I was away for a week and when I got back I checked my ammonia with a Red Sea test kit and it came back blue, so way more than 2.0ppm. My seachem ammonia badge never moved either. No nitrites detected.

So I did a massive water change, probably about 60-70%, added a small bag of live sand and a small piece of pre cycled rock. My local fish store says it only has bacteria and diatoms.

Ammonia is still high, dark green, but I did a nitrite test and it came back positive. I either introduced some nitrite with the live sand or the cycle has finally started.

I ordered some Fritz Turbostart 900 from Algae Barn. I hope it can speed up my cycle so I can finally add the two clowns I want.

 

[Monad]

I realize now I never posted a photo of the sump now that it’s in place.

 

[Monad]

I just got the Fritz Turbostart 900 into the tank. It came at a cool but not cold from algae barn so hopefully it didn’t cook in the heat. Luckily it is cooling down outside so hopefully it didn’t get too hot or cold on the way here.

I rearranged my display tank.

And added some more dry rock to my sump. I’m hoping to make a place where the pods can hide and reproduce in the fuge.

I definitely have enough surface area for bacteria.

With the new bacteria and ideal ammonia, I hope Fritz can get this cycle going again. I wasted two weeks of what could have been good cycling time because of the high ammonia.

 

[dedragon]

dont stress too much even if ammonia goes down a lot. Once it hits zero you dont need to keep adding more ammonia as the tank should be cycled already. I use fritzyme 9 to cycle and/or remove ammonia from qt systems. It works very quickly, realistically if you pour in enough you can have it cycled in a day.
If you shop from algaebarn i would recommend the pns pro bio. It is good stuff, helps with establishing a mature system faster and stopping the ugly stage a bit. Good luck

 

[mythesis]

Good luck to you! I think I have the same tank (also bought 2nd hand). I recognize the lid /cover thing.

It's been 2 months so far for us, so will be fun to watch your progress!

 

[Monad]

dont stress too much even if ammonia goes down a lot. Once it hits zero you dont need to keep adding more ammonia as the tank should be cycled already. I use fritzyme 9 to cycle and/or remove ammonia from qt systems. It works very quickly, realistically if you pour in enough you can have it cycled in a day.
If you shop from algaebarn i would recommend the pns pro bio. It is good stuff, helps with establishing a mature system faster and stopping the ugly stage a bit. Good luck

Oh yeah. I have stopped dosing ammonia. The Fritz was Turbostart 900. I will definitely take a look at the probiotic algae barn sells. If it helps my tank mature, I’m all in.

 

[Monad]

Good luck to you! I think I have the same tank (also bought 2nd hand). I recognize the lid /cover thing.

It's been 2 months so far for us, so will be fun to watch your progress!

I’ll take a look at your tank. I’m sure we can help each other. We’ll probably go through a lot of the same ups and downs.

 

[Monad]

Alas, the cycle still continues. I did a massive water change nine days ago. My ammonia was still too high. I got it down to a little below 2.00ppm. I completely drained my sump. My LFS says that ammonia can settle at the bottom of systems. Apparently a lot accumulated in the low flow section of my fuge. That massive water change involved draining the whole sump except for an inch or two of water.

The next day ammonia dropped a little more to about 1.2ppm and my nitrites rose to about to 0.1ppm.

Ammonia then hovered steady. Nitrites rose but only a little to more than 0.2ppm and stayed their. Tank stayed in this state for about a week. I went to my LFS where they did water tests. I learned an important lesson. Levels are all good except my PH and dKH had dropped. Nitrate is about 1.0ppm. I have no clue why the PH and dKH. I added some Seachem Reef Buffer to restore the dKH to about ten, which is where my salt is when it's mixed. I did go a little overboard on the dKH. But the next day PH and dkH looked good.

I added some Aquavitro Seed yesterday. My LFS uses it to cycle their saltwater tanks. Apparently it's made by Seachem and is an update to Stability, which they says does not work on saltwater tanks.

We'll see if it works like they said. Today the nitrites were about 0.5ppm. Ammonia is still around 1.2ppm and has not changed. I cannot figure out why the ammonia is not going down except something is rotting in my tank. If it is, it's probably critters that lived in the dried out live rock I've mentioned before. Still, I'll take ammonia staying level over it continuing to climb.

 

[Monad]

It has begun!

I added the first animal life to the tank. No more shall this tank host only single cell organisms alone. Now those organisms need to share it with 2x Cerith Snails, 2x Nassarius Snails, 2x clowns whose breed I have already forgotten.

One of the snails may have died. Three of them immediately started digging into the sandbed. The fourth did not move and has not moved for two hours.

If he’s still like this tomorrow morning, I’ll bring him back to my LFS. I drip acclimated the snails.

Clowns are doing nice too. They seem to like their new home. They’ve been super active and have now started to calm down. I think they’ve familiarized themselves with enough of the tank that they do not feel as panicked.

My one fear is their reflection in the acrylic. I hope they don’t try to fight their reflections. Right now I want to minimize their stress after their move.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

As far as reflection, you can see it from the outside of the tank, but as far as the fish in the inside it looks like a window.