My 90 gallon updated video

[Zack]

Love the aquascape and just how clean the tank looks in general. Keep up the good work!

[johnsutter71]

Thanks Zack. I had a lot of trial and error before I got to this point. Months of planning and consistant water changes. I would just like to add for anyone just starting that I take a very conservative approach and use very few chemicals. I do weekly 10 gallon water changes with kent salt and only use RO water. I haven't even installed a RO filter yet because I live within 2 miles of a Oasis water store and 10 gallon refills only cost me 3.00 My ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and phosphate are at undetectable levels. I have consistant flow around all my life rock with no dead spots, and I only feed my fish every other day. I also drilled my rock so if anyone has any questions I'd be happy to share my experiences.

[Zack]

I just actually switched to kent marine salt. How are you liking it?

[johnsutter71]

Funny you should mention it. The reason I used Kent is because I buy it in bulk 200 gallons worth so I don't have to buy more for 5 months at a time. I'm very consistant with my 10 gallon weekly water changes. I purchased a refractometer I found from city of Industry California that cost me only 20.00. At first I thought it might have been a scam until it was delivered a week later. Same one they sell at Marine depot for 60.00. Well Anyways I keep my salinaty at 1.026. Aside from PH buffer I don't ever add anything else. My PH usually runs around 8.0. I don't take elaborate steps in my water preperation. I just do a quick mix of 5 gallons RO with 5 scoops salt and pump it into my refugium. I check my levels once a week and might add 30ml of pro buffer DKH on occasion, maybe twice a month. My total water volume is about 115 gallons with my fuge. Even with a Tridacna clam my calcium levels are optimal. I have green, yellow, purple, and white sponges all over my tank that began appearing all over my rock after I moved from my old 55 gallon. I have hundreds of those crappy little feather dusters that provide natural filtration and thousands of copapods. Some of my pods in my fuge are close to a cm in size.