Craig's Red Sea Reefer 300XL Journal

Craigk · Sep 1, 2020

Hello fellow reefkeepers and welcome to my tank journal.

I purchased the Red Sea Reefer 300XL shortly after they became available in the UK in early 2020. I'm going for an ornamental-looking mixed reef with a raised, almost minimalistic, aquascape to accomodate SPS at the top.

- Current state (1 September 2020) -

FTS:

Cabinet:

I've swapped the refugium and skimmer compartments around as compared to Red Sea's recommendation to allow easier skimmer cup access and prevent Chaeto being sucked into the skimmer pump. This has the added benefit of naturally tumbling the Chaeto in the rear chamber. I've also added a second media basket in place of the filter sock and built a small internal cabinet/shelf unit to create a small electrics box. The top of the unit will eventually hold the doser / controller while the space at the bottom will accomodate the RO reservoir (currently a 25l water container located next to the cabinet).

Equipment:
Red Sea Reefer 300XL (white)
Evergrow (equivalent to Reefbreeders) IT5080 V2 Pro
Jecod (essentially Jebao) DCP4000 return pump
2x AquaEL (equivalent to Cobalt) Ultra Heater, 150w each
Deltec 600i skimmer
2x Tunze 6095 on a 7096 multi-controller (tidal, storm modes and moonlight)
Tunze 3155 osmolator ATO
Maxspect bio media
50w grow light

Fish List:
Yellow Tang (yes, I know)
Royal Gramma
Pair of Common Clowns
Springer's Damsel
Midas Blenny (in QT)

Inverts:
Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Peppermint Shrimp
Trochus and Cerith Snails

Starter Corals:
Single Duncan head
Single Lord head

Fabiant15 · Mar 20, 2021

i just started the cycle on my 300xl so in about a month ill be ready for fish but i was wondering if you would recommend putting the skimmer in that front chamber and the fuge in the back bcuz i just feel like it would make it pretty hard to get to the back of the sump to deal with the chaeto or do you you think the pros outweigh the cons thx

AJsReef · Mar 20, 2021

Nice build, I laughed at the “ (I know) “ for the YT. With your scape and the size of the tank I don’t see that as an issue.

I dig your controller board nicely done

Craigk · Mar 20, 2021

Fabiant15 said:
i just started the cycle on my 300xl so in about a month ill be ready for fish but i was wondering if you would recommend putting the skimmer in that front chamber and the fuge in the back bcuz i just feel like it would make it pretty hard to get to the back of the sump to deal with the chaeto or do you you think the pros outweigh the cons thx

Clearly, I've forgotten about this thread. Thanks for the reminder.

I've been running the sump this way for about 6 months now and I highly recommend it, if your skimmer fits in the front compartment and is rated for that static water depth. I chose this arrangement for a few reasons: 1) I'm probably not going to fit a skimmer drain line so removing the skimmer cup in the rear compartment was a pain; front is much easier. 2) I found that small pieces of chaeto/other muck from the refugium would clog the skimmer needle wheel when the skimmer was in the back because the debris would float to the top of the front compartment and straight over the weir - this is now a non-issue. 3) I am able to control light spill from the refugium much better with it at the back because the rear compartment has blacked out walls on the inward-facing sides. Before I swapped over, light spill into the filter sock area (and out of the cabinet) was far worse. Now, I really don't have much nuisance algae to fight outside of the fuge area.

I don't have too much of a problem accessing the rear refugium because I generally work there when the skimmer cup is off for cleaning and because my fuge light is attached to an arm secured to the top of the electrical cabinet on the right. The arm can swivel a bit so I can move the light around a little. (I had originally designed the arm when the skimmer was at the back and it allowed me to swivel the light right out of the cabinet to access the skimmer. I recommend this if you keep your fuge at the back.)

TL;DR: No regrets!