[davemartin88]

Hi, just wanted to introduce myself and say that there looks to be a lot of good information here. We are new to the saltwater aspect of the hobby and setting up a 90 gallon + sump reef aquarium. Will have a few fish but more interested in coral and invertabrae. Tank was set up over the weekend, live sand, 105 pounds of cured live rock. Posted a couple of pictures in the gallery, added a few crabs and snails as well given we went with the live sand and rock, they seem to adjusting well? Will want to add some more rocket but giving the credit card a rest. Will also set up a small quarantine tank in the near future as well to get ready for new livestock down the road.

Look forward to sharing information and helping others in the future.

Dave Martin

[Taras1]

Welcome and LOL!

Keep checking those water parameters over the next 3-4 weeks.

What kind of lighting did you decide on, especially since you're interested in inverts and corals.

[pogodzib]

Welcome to RB. Your tank's looking nice. One of the toughest parts now for you will be waiting for 4-6 weeks before adding any livestock. You shouldn't add any additional snails or crabs until you start seeing some algae/diatom growth. If you want, you can setup your q-tank and add a fish to it so that once your DT is ready for fish, you have one that is clean and healthy and ready to be added.

[davemartin88]

Originally Posted by Taras1

Welcome and LOL!

What kind of lighting did you decide on, especially since you're interested in inverts and corals.

Have two SunPaq retrofit kits, each kit has two dual bulbs, a daylight and an actinic so net is 2 double daylight flourescents and two double actinics- think they were 460 nm. Also have an LED moonlight so the hood is pretty packed! I built the stand and the hood and ended up with 3 of the four sets of light on the door that opens and one of the daylight sets attached at the back with the moonlight near the front. Coverage seems to be good so far.

We're also going to hold on the livestock as suggested but will get the QT tank set up so we're ready when the tank is ready. This is really my wifes tank, she will handle the livestock and regular maintenance but I'm in charge of gadgetry and getting things set up. Posted in another thread about buying an RO/DI system as really don't want to be lugging jugs of water home from the LFS!

Thanks again.

[thelastmucci]

That's a great looking tank you have there...I love the color of the wood. A RO/DI unit is probably one of the best investments you can have. That if you start to have problems down the line you can say to yourself, "well at least we know it isn't the water" I'd also invest in a TDS meter...I think they sell them on ebay for around 14 or so. Welcome to RB hope you and your wife enjoy the site.

[Taras1]

Sounds like you've got it goin' on. I second the RODI unit.

[davemartin88]

Ordered an RO/DI unit, seems to be worth it in the long run.

Thanks for the comment about the tank and color. Another hobby for me is woodworking and I salvage trees from the yard/neighbors and mill the logs to lumber. The wood for the tank and hood is cherry- a tree I took down last spring and dried through the summer.

The color was to match other furniture, in the perfect world, you'd wait 20 years for that kind of dark finish to develop naturally but since we didn't want to wait, I went ahead and stained it and then used exterior varnish figuring the inevitable spills will be pretty hard on it. Was an interesting project, design is a variation on ones I saw in the LFS. Tried to find some plans on line and really didn't find any that accommodated a sump, most had internal bracing and shelving that couldn't be removed without sacrificing the ability to carry the weight.

Given how much this hobby is going to cost, thought I could at least save something by making the stand as they are rather expensive in the store.

For the woodworkers who might read this, yes, I know it's not right to stain cherry but did it anyway.

Thanks again to all for looking.

[Jeremy0322]

Are there pictures here, i am not seeing any?

[thelastmucci]

Jeremy check his profile and the pics would come under that HTH