str8juizy
saltygurl
OK, so I am the proud new Mama of a 90 gallon Wave tank thanks to Josh. I wanted to start my own build thread on here since I have never done that before! Over the last 7 months, I have stuffed so much stuff into my 55 gallon that upgrading was the sensible thing to do.
Josh delivered the tank/hood/stand to me last week. Here is a picture of it
My 55 gallon has a black painted back so this time I decided blue would be my choice. On Thursday I went to Ace and picked out a deep blue, had it mixed and brought it home. I like to roller paint the back of my tanks instead of spray painting so I chose a 100% acrylic with primer already in it. After scraping the tank clean & prepping it with tape/sheets I was ready to paint. Saturday I painted the first coat & today I painted the second coat. It looks amazing and the paint stayed really well. Very happy with the primer base! Here is a picture of the tank today, front & back.
So, I have had both drilled/plumbed tanks and tanks that had everything HOB. I really love having the HOB stuff so I am using all the same equipment from my 55 gallon on the 90 gallon. I am using a HOT Magnum, a Prism Skimmer & I have modded a cheap aquarium filter with an attachment to pull water from the top of the tank therefore acting a bit like an overflow and keeping the top of my water clean. I have 2 Koralias for water flow around the tank and a smaller pump for water flow behind my rocks. This filtration system has worked amazingly well for me and my coral growth is awesome. My lighting is a modded set-up... 2 x 175 watt 14k metal halides, 2 x 96 watt actinics & 6 x 3 watt Cree LEDs down the center, 3 blue, 3 white. I will be changing out the whites for blues soon. The new tank is the same length as the old one so the lighting works well. The only thing I have not decided yet is whether or not I will be using the hood on the new tank. I am short and having to stand on a step ladder is scary!
Tuesday I am getting all my live sand and water and will start the process of moving everything over. I will be adding 5 cups of sand from my 55 to the bottom of the 90 before adding all the new, clean live sand. Here is a picture of my 55 gallon with everything in it... I have a big job ahead of me!
Since the new tank is going in the same spot as the 55 I have to bucket everything, move the old tank, move the new tank and then start adding everything. Aquascaping has always been hard for me, I am never satisfied! So, this time I have drawn a diagram or map of where everything should go & how I WANT it to look. We will see if this works or not. After a few trips up & down the ladder I may throw in the towel & start throwing things in! LOL Well, thats my start. I know it's not as exciting as some of the other builds I have read with cool and exciting construction and ideas but I wanted to have something to show what I have done. Any ideas/suggestions as I go along are welcome. Also, anyone not busy on Tuesday that wants to come lend a hand is more than welcome... I will supply beer/wine & pizza
Josh delivered the tank/hood/stand to me last week. Here is a picture of it
My 55 gallon has a black painted back so this time I decided blue would be my choice. On Thursday I went to Ace and picked out a deep blue, had it mixed and brought it home. I like to roller paint the back of my tanks instead of spray painting so I chose a 100% acrylic with primer already in it. After scraping the tank clean & prepping it with tape/sheets I was ready to paint. Saturday I painted the first coat & today I painted the second coat. It looks amazing and the paint stayed really well. Very happy with the primer base! Here is a picture of the tank today, front & back.
So, I have had both drilled/plumbed tanks and tanks that had everything HOB. I really love having the HOB stuff so I am using all the same equipment from my 55 gallon on the 90 gallon. I am using a HOT Magnum, a Prism Skimmer & I have modded a cheap aquarium filter with an attachment to pull water from the top of the tank therefore acting a bit like an overflow and keeping the top of my water clean. I have 2 Koralias for water flow around the tank and a smaller pump for water flow behind my rocks. This filtration system has worked amazingly well for me and my coral growth is awesome. My lighting is a modded set-up... 2 x 175 watt 14k metal halides, 2 x 96 watt actinics & 6 x 3 watt Cree LEDs down the center, 3 blue, 3 white. I will be changing out the whites for blues soon. The new tank is the same length as the old one so the lighting works well. The only thing I have not decided yet is whether or not I will be using the hood on the new tank. I am short and having to stand on a step ladder is scary!
Tuesday I am getting all my live sand and water and will start the process of moving everything over. I will be adding 5 cups of sand from my 55 to the bottom of the 90 before adding all the new, clean live sand. Here is a picture of my 55 gallon with everything in it... I have a big job ahead of me!
Since the new tank is going in the same spot as the 55 I have to bucket everything, move the old tank, move the new tank and then start adding everything. Aquascaping has always been hard for me, I am never satisfied! So, this time I have drawn a diagram or map of where everything should go & how I WANT it to look. We will see if this works or not. After a few trips up & down the ladder I may throw in the towel & start throwing things in! LOL Well, thats my start. I know it's not as exciting as some of the other builds I have read with cool and exciting construction and ideas but I wanted to have something to show what I have done. Any ideas/suggestions as I go along are welcome. Also, anyone not busy on Tuesday that wants to come lend a hand is more than welcome... I will supply beer/wine & pizza
