92 Corner Bow Front Upgrade Build From a 29G Regular
 

Bought a used 92G corner bow front with oak stand and canopy for only $350. We hadn't intended to upgrade so soon, as we have only been back in the hobby for 8 months or so...but things have been going well with fish and corals in general, and we couldn't pass up this deal. The only wall space we have big enough is a corner so here we are. I know that corner tanks present lighting and space challenges so I thought I would document the whole upgrade for anyone interested and comments are always welcome and in fact encouraged.

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oak stand

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painting the wall sides, canopy on the left

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From our current tank we plan to use:

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15G sump which has a good chamber full of chaeto and some rubble, and the ASM Mini-G skimmer. Smaller than ideal but we have constraints due to the size of the cabinet. The lighter foam above and below the black foam on the skimmer is my trickling water sound reducer mod and it works perfectly. The skimmer is on that orange pad which is a silicone sound deadening mat. It works incredibly well. So the sump is pretty much silent. I figure that since I will have live sand and 100 pounds of rock give or take, my filtration will be adequate.

We ordered 46 pounds of BRS eco-saver dry rock. It is now soaking in a tote of heated water (1.025 SG 80 Degrees, ciculator) and is covered. Per BRS advice (they have videos that explain everything about their rock) we are allowing it do get a slime coat which will cut down on nuisance algae. We will let it soak 2-3 weeks. We will be adding about 80 pounds of Carib Sea live sand and seeding this with a cup from the 29G. I don't want to use anymore of the sand from the 29G as initially we did not use RODI and there may be a lot of phosphates and other junk stuck in there.

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From the current tank below we will take the 40 pounds of live rock in here and add it to the new tank once the dry rock is ready to be added. We will keep a piece or two in the 29G until the fish are ready to moved over.

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current 29G old photo

Lighting: this was a tough one and my brain almost exploded from all the reading I did. We decided to go with AI Sol Blue LED's and will probably end up changing out the 40 degree puck lenses for 70 degrees lenses. We will initially start with one module at least a foot awl and see how that goes.

For fish I want to add a Kole or similar smaller tang to my current fish I haven't thought of any others as of yet. I will get about 5 more nassarius snails and my peppermint shrimp are staying in the sump! I don't like them.

Pumps: New: Eheim Compact Plus Pump 5000 for the sump, Koralia Evolution 750 for cirulation. Tunze Nanostream 6025 from the 29G.

Heater: Eheim Jaeger: 250W

So now I wait until the rock is ready. By then my lights will be here.

Looks good so far!!!! :wave:

I miss my corner tanks but still have some pics of my 92 with 2 AI SOL blues and stock pucks 40's and 70's, You will need two AI's for coverage.
Hope this helps.

very nice start and well thought out IMO . that tank will bring you years of enjoyment for sure , and the price was great !

Thanks Dave.

Liquidplummer, how high are your lights fwl?

That's a sweet deal on that setup, that's a real nice stand and hood.........not your typical pet store stand.

I've been looking around for 54 corner setup, and the only one I've found worth it was for $350......so you got a great deal.

Only potential issue I see is the baseboard heat. That's going to put heat right onto the tank in the winter causing fluctuations in temp.

Steve

Wow, great deal. The tank, stand and canopy look great. As does the 29 gallon. BTW, what is that on your FF outflow? Looks like sponge and duct tape? And on the other side of the FF there's something that looks like a prescription drug container?

Thanks Myram. You make an excellent point. We rarely use the heat, we use a wood stove but it will come on when it gets really cold out. We can close those vents which will cut down on any air coming through. I could even lay towels on the vents if I had to.

Buzz, not sure what ya mean by FF and where you are talking about. The prescription bill bottle is exactly that. It's my muffler! It cut's down on the noise coming through the air hose. It has cotton balls inside it. Whoever said women weren't mechanically minded was wrong! lol.

Buzz I think I figured out what you mean....the thing under the Eheim outflow pipe? That is just a prefilter I stuck in there to get populated with bacteria etc in case I need to set up a quick QT. The reason it is partially under the pump is because the pump now and then starts humming. This seems to fix that. Because this tank is upstairs it is amplified below us and drives me crazy. On the other side by the skimmer, right behind it, is a sock held in place by the strip of wood placed diagonally across the corner of the tank. This will be changed in the new set up.

I have something similar on mine. I used a small glad plastic bowl. They work great. ASM skimmers suck a bit of air, and the muffler really quiets them down.

Water is about half way....what a slow process for us as the RODI is upstairs and the tank is downstairs. It's a good workout! The sump is in (never to come out again, but easy to access the chambers via the doors) and for now the refugium has heat and circulation, but just in the sump, no circulation yet between tank and sump. The skimmer sits in a 10G tank/sump with the 29g at the moment. Once the water is high enough, in goes the salt to circulate for 24 hours and then the ecosaver rocks will go in. They are being seeded and "slimed" per the pic in a previous post. Once the AI Sols come in we Have everything we need.

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That is an awesome stand.

I'm building mine from 1x4s of pine. looking good so far. I need to get some pics before I put it all together.

My lights were 9" from water level to the bottom of the lights.
About 4" apart in the middle and covered the tank well.

Liquidplummer I might be able to get away with one if I change out the pucks to all 70s and have them at a foot awl. So I will see what it looks like. I'll have to send the husband out to work two jobs if we need another! Lol. Thanks Mdlnewman...looking forward to the pics.

I've been following your posts lately. Good to see it's all coming together! I'm starting my 55 corner tonight (my marco rocks are coming today per Fedex's tracking website :celeb1: ) and I'm so excited!

Hope you were able to figure out a working solution to your light fixtures.

Keep the updates coming! Subscribed!

EDIT: And I paid 300 for my tank/stand and it's only a 55! Nice deal!

Well she's up and running! Egg crate, eco rocks, sand, circulation, heat and some live rocks. It's exciting! But I have to say I am a little disappointed with the Eheim vibration noise even on the suction cups. But I am very finicky about hums. I put it on my skimmers silicone pad just to see if that helped, it didn't. The whole sump is on a rubber pad. The other Eheim, made by Eheim, is almost totally silent. Alas it's too small for this tank which is why I bought the other one. BUT, I have to dial the Eheim all the way back to 650 gph or the flow is too fast and the sump gets too low. The overflow is smaller than the box on my 29G. And it makes a trickling noise which isn't unpleasant. Is the box too small I wonder? This pump can go to 1350 gph but I can't even get to 900 which is the magic number. In terms of skimming and water quality, will this be ok? It's not like I have a choice. I don't plan to have a ton of fish, but I love the corals and now since my anomone split I have two of those. Otherwise it looks great even with the rocks jumbled in there and a temporary florescent light. Will have pics as soon as I set up my aquascape. Stay tuned!:D

This is most of the rock and all the sand. There is one live rock added from the 29G and there are 4 other good size rocks still in the 29G to be added to this one. Not sure how I will fit them into my aquascape. I added a few cups of live sand from my 29G as well. The LFS said the AI Sols still haven't left the warehouse! It's been two weeks. I am not happy about this as I want to get everything out of the tank into the new one asap. I am probably looking at 2 weeks when it leaves the warehouse. So no updates until then :-(

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We ran the flood test successfully. The sump can hold the extra water in the event of a power outage.

i have a couple of lights that could fit the top a 250 watt mh with new bulbs ? it is my own personel unit that is just sitting on a shelf at this time . not trying to sell them but if you wanted to borrow them . heck you wont see the AI for at least a few weeks now with the new year comming up .tank looks great though nice choice for sure !
let me know Dave

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Definitely miss the depth a corner tank offers for aquascaping. I'm sure you'll love it!

very nice ,that whole living room goes together very well !

My light came today!

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So I spent the afternoon moving corals, fish, some snails and the 2 anemones. I had both tanks at the same temp, salinity and PH so I did not acclimate. I have to say, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the AI Sol Blue and can get away with one module very nicely. It's about 14 inches awl. The lighting timer possibilities are endless and the ramp up/down is pretty cool. I really like the controller for its ease of use and endless combinations with the three bulbs. It will probably take a year of me tinkering before I settle on a fixed schedule! My lighting right now is not exceeding 20% of the maximum brightness. I don't have a PAR meter so I am being safe. I plan to increase about 5% a week unless my corals tell me otherwise.

Most of the corals are scattered on the sand. When acclimation is complete and I can get up to about 70% intensity, then I will start placing the corals. I am so happy to be rid of my algae blenny and the peppermint shrimp!! They were a pain in the derriere.

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The above pic is lighting at 20% white, blue, royal blue. I find the almost neon blue stripe on the heater a little distracting!

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Check out the mutant clown fish above! Lol. Interesting photographic artifact..couldn't repeat it if I tired. One anemone was easy to peel off the glass. The other on a rock....not so much. Since I had decided to leave this rock behind anyway due to some bad things growing on it, we chiseled a section of the rock and moved it that way. So it was already anchored and seems pretty happy. The clowns didn't take long to find it. The other moved around on the sand and then ended up where you see it. Not my choice as it is somewhat hidden, but when fully extended I expect to see it pretty easily.

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Tomorrow is a trip to the LFS to pick up a Tomini Tang, neon goby and a few other odds and ends. The now old tank will serve as the quarantine tank for the new fish.

The next project is to figure out how to pretty up the light/chain. It's not the prettiest. At the moment we are keeping the canopy off. It's too difficult for me to get into the tank since I can't take it off by myself.

Tang got picked up along with a few snails, two parasite cleaner shrimp whose scientific names I have forgotten and a lovely pocillopora with neon green tips. We traded in the peppermint shrimp and the blenny. Do we ever walk out of the LFS with just what we intended to buy? Still to purchase are more snails and about 6 Nassarius snails, once we have something for them to eat.
The tang is in the old 29G for quarantine. I know it's not an ideal bare bottom Q tank but I think having live rock to pick at will make it feel more at home and I am not about to move all that sand. He is shy but is eating. So far no sign of ich at the end of day 3.
I know I said I would wait to place corals but having watched them closely, some asked to be placed a little closer to the light. I started at 20% which is being very careful and I am now at 30% intensity. Increases of 1%/day from here on in. All are doing well except the Kenya Tree which the Algae Blenny constantly picked at. I think it will come back tho'. After messing around for 10 minutes, not understanding why I couldn't get the flow right today after moving various corals I realized the Koralia had reversed. I restarted it and it fixed itself. The coral placement is not final, any suggestions are welcome.
I moved the heater up so that blue stripe is out of the picture now.

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You can see the angle the lenses throw in the tank by looking at the wall behind it. The slight shadowing on the edge of the tank sides is not due to the light but due to the dumb, opaque triangular pieces on the top of the tank at the corners. So I think one module is doing the job. BUT I need suggestions for prettying up that DIY hanging kit. If we put the canopy back on, it will look a lot better as you will barely see the wires. The piece of chain hanging down the middle will be gone once we decide on a permanent height. The problem with the canopy is that it adds 8 inches and has a teensy opening so doing things in the tank is very difficult. Maybe after things are somewhat permanent we will use it...or maybe not. What do you guys think? Does it look a lot better with the canopy on top?

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Traded my clone RBTA and some candy cane for some really nice corals yesterday, thank you Adam of Endicott! I replaced my chewed up blue star polyp, got a nice Christmas favia, pink zoas (these are really pretty), purple death, a frag of a gorgonia, and a nice hammer head. I think I am done for now. I will let the corals grow out and add the Tomini Tang when he is finished with quarantine, he is eating well and now eats off the clip but is still quite shy of people. Now some pics!

I get an hour of mid-morning sunlight. I really like the natural look of that light my tank.

My various corals are moved to mostly their final homes now. With another 30% more light to go, some may move. I think I will end up at 70% light intensity for 6 hours and then maybe mess around with the blue percentage at that point.

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Probably my favorite, the pocillopora bought at ABC Reefs

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Love this guy. Tough to place out of the current. I find it challenging to place low current corals in a place where they can be seen, yet provide the various other corals the right current. It's a balancing act for sure.

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baby poci and orange setosa

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Christmas favia, needs to get the green outline of its polyps back

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The gorgonian in strong current, the star polyp and the pink zoa

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Left half of tank

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Right half

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I'll post back in a few months. Stay tuned.....

ooops forgot the natural daylight shot (taken before corals were moved/added):

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