New Reefer 170 build

[Matt Cole]

My work has taken me to San Antonio and I'm living in an apartment away from my family and my 1yr old Reefer 250 in Dallas. I got tired of coming home to an empty apartment with nothing to do so I decided to sell the JBJ 32 I was using up in Dallas as a coral quarantine and set up a new Reefer 170 here in San Antonio. This allowed me to change a few things that I would do differently if I was starting the 250 over. Mostly in regards to lighting, if I had a do over I would go with two Hydra 52's instead of the 26's as I think I would have better cover and less shadowing. So for my 170 deluxe I swapped out the 26 for a 52. I have a love / hate relationship with my Apex in Dallas, mostly because I live in the boonies and have internet barely above dial up. This has led to a few connection issues that have plagued me. However I couldn't find a control system that I liked better so Apex it is for this one. ( plus I had an extra DOS pump so...) There is no room in the cabinet for much of anything so I searched high and low for some kind of cabinet to mount everything. Finally I stumbled upon a white kitten cabinet at Lowes. I had them cut a piece of black granite tile for the top ( $4.35 a tile ) and then painted it high gloss black. I think you could leave the white with the granite top and it would probably look just as good. Total price was around $86.

 

[Billldg]

Looking good, keep it up.

 

[NoWaiAma]

Nice!

 

[hwntunda]

Nice and clean looking!

 

[Matt Cole]

I went with Marco rocks and cycled with ammonia. The tank has been up and running for about a month now. Shout out to the guys at Austin Aqua Farms as they have some of the best deals on Acans that I have found. I also wanted to show a very cool Timor Wrasse I picked up from a LFS here in San Antonio. I had never seen one before. A few other things , decided to try out the Neptune Wav pump, very quiet and a very smooth programing system but complete over kill on this tank... I run on 10% power. Also hooked up a Amazon fire tablet as a permanent display screen. Went with the Reef Octopus skimmer this time, not because I was dissatisfied with the Eshopps on my 250 but just wanted to try one out. Stayed with the Vectra pumps but went with the s1 on this build. My plan is to go with a field of different Euphylia on the lower shelf and some Sps around the upper rock.

 

[Matt Cole]

Also seem to have a big discrepancy in salinity measurements. Float hydrometer says 1.026, icecap digital says 1.026 and 34.6, Apex shows 37.5 after calibrations. What do I trust and where would you run it? Btw I keep my 250 at 35 per my Apex... haven't taken the Icecap up to Dallas with me to test its' results on that tank.

 

[Raptor72]

Updates?

 

[Matt Cole]

 

[Matt Cole]

I thought I would post an update showing current growth and system setup.
Under the things I wish I knew then tab...
Turns out I didn't need to spend a bunch of money on a custom sump for my Reefer 250 I have set up in Dallas in order to have a nice cheato refugium, a Tunze submersible light bar in the overflow section works great.
Sometimes more light isn't better...it's just more. I decided I wanted more spread than the Hydra 26 that came with the tank so I traded it in on a Hydra 52. Too much light, I had to crank it down to about 50% and in retrospect would have saved money and been better served with a pair of Prime's.
Marco Rocks rock. I have been very happy with the look and lack of pests and problem algae. This will be the way I go with my next build.
The side cabinet was a 18" wide kitchen cabinet from Lowe's that I painted black and mounted a black granite floor tile to the top. Works great, looks good and cost me about $65 all in.

Specs : Reefer 170
Lights : AI Hydra 52
Pump : Vectra S1
Controller : Apex
Dosing : 2 part with Neptune DOS
Top off : Tunze
Flow : 2 Maxpect Gyre 230's

Fish : Purple Tang , Timor Wrasse, Davinci Clown, 2 Green Chromis and a Two-Spot Candy Hogfish

 

[BranchingHammer]

Nice.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Tank looks fantastic!