Thread: Starting over again.. 90G Reef tank

Hi all,

I am starting over again. Had a 120g I bought off someone else as my first tank. I was new, did not study as much as I should, and the tank I bought was also a bit of a misconfigured monster. Six years later and a pump failure has led me to start over.

Knowing more now than I did then, I downgraded to a 90g with a 30g sump. Brought over the best of the remaining live rock, a little live sand with some new sand, and the last two fish from old setup. For circulation, the power heads I had in old tank have slowed down a bit even after a good cleaning. I bought two new ones for constant water circulation and the two older ones I use on timers to give some alternative turbulence in some potentially dead areas. Also added in some bleached out coral pieces I found on a beach in Grand Cayman, just to give some different shapes.

This time around, I want to go slow with a plan so I can eventually build out my own reef with corals, sponges and other fund stuff.

First big question I have is around the live rock. I know I am starting with a mixture of bare rock and some lightly live rock. I want to add in some nicer rock to fill out the setup. Looking at the attached picture,
https://1drv.ms/i/s!ArkbKcwKkRmnieApBLOvypQY4AaU-A


How much more live rock should I buy? Is there a recommended dealer?

Chris

Chris, it looks like you have a good amount of live rock. I would look at opening it up a bit. Make sure there is lots of flow between and through the rocks. All of the local sponsor shops should have a good supply of rock. If you do buy more, look at flat shelf rock.

Thank you both. I plan on getting some flat pieces tomorrow to help spread things out. Locally, is there a store that has a lot of live and dry rock? I know Fish Gallery has a box of live rock.

I am also wanting to get a few pieces of live rock from somewhere to get some more variety in the tank

Hi cpv0310,

Welcome back
The tank looks so lovely...How is it going so far?
Do you plan to add any fish?

Zhenya

Thank you all! I made some updates based off the feedback. I did pick up 2 flat rocks from FJW (Awesome shop!). I also did some rearranging of rocks to open up more space with what I have. Here is a pic of it-
https://1drv.ms/i/s!ArkbKcwKkRmnieAq0mPt1iSzstX3Uw

I was wondering, I saw a tank at fish gallery (woodlands) that had a wall of live rock on the back. That is a look I like because the back of the tank is painted black but I am wondering if there are issues with that king of setup?

Right now, I have 3 damsels in the tank along with 5 turbo snails and 11 red legged hermit crabs. The tank has been going now for a little over two weeks.

Is this enough life going in the tank to start things up or do I need to add some more?