Red Sea Reefer 300XL

[MoccaVLD]

Hey guys!

I'm in the progress of setting up a Red Sea Reefer 300XL. I've had the tank for 2 weeks now and it has been running for 1 week. I'll try to regurlary post updates on the tank. First of all some backstory:

I've always had freshwater tanks with angelfish and discusfish but I've always dreamt of having a colorfull reeftank with many corals. So after 8 years of FW tanks I decided to go into reefing. I first started with a small nano tank (Fluval Evo 13.5). After like 4 months of seeing my "easier" corals thrive in the nano, I decided to go bigger but was a bit scared of a larger reeftank because "how on earth do I maintain a bigger reeftank with many more corals and fish" (just a newbie reefer hahah). Well this pushed me to buy a some what cheaper secondhand tank (Juwel Lido 200) as a "transitioning tank" into the bigger reefing world. The goals with this tank was to experiment wich corals I wanted to keep later on and what reefing style suits me best.

So after a few months of experimenting, I decided to buy a brand new tank for long term. I decided to go with the Red Sea Reefer 300XL. I choose the 300XL above the reefer 250 because of the extra depth and a somewhat bigger water volume it gives. The tank will be SPS dominant eventually with some Euphyllia and Zoa gardens (maybe Acans if the Copperband doesn't peck on them ). I also decided after my other 2 tanks using Caribsea Liverock to go with Marco shelfing rocks. I just love the visual appeal of the rocks

Many equipment will be transfered from the old tank and many will be replaced and upgraded. The Kessils will get the narrow beam reflectors and I'm saving up for extra additional lighting.
2* Jecod Sow4
1* Hydor Seltz 300L/h
2* Kessil A360X with controller
1* Bubblemagus Curve 5 Skimmer

Picking up and leak testing the new tank:

Then I just played with the rocks (I used about 10KG of Marco base Rock and 14KG of the Shelf Rock)

Eventually I made a better scape with more swimthroughs and more negative swimming space. These pictures have been shot on this day. (Lights are on just to show the aquascape).

And I haven't really made up a decission about a stocking list. My 2 Clownfish, Yellow Goby and my Copperband Butterfly will be transfered to the new tank. Other than that I like the visual appeal of Lyretail Anthias (already used to many feedings bc of the Copperband) and a kole tang for algea control. But first, lets cycle the tank!

Thanks everyone for reading!

 

[fishguy242]

very nice ,love the scape

 

[Gabe]

Following along as its very similar to what I'm about to build. I was also looking at the A360Xs, but am curious about the narrow reflectors for this footprint. I know 36" tanks are really awkward to light with LEDs, but are you seeing much bleed or other experiencing anything else to go narrow?

 

[MoccaVLD]

Following along as its very similar to what I'm about to build. I was also looking at the A360Xs, but am curious about the narrow reflectors for this footprint. I know 36" tanks are really awkward to light with LEDs, but are you seeing much bleed or other experiencing anything else to go narrow?

The reason I want the narrow beam reflectors is because I want the light and amount of par to penetrate deeper into the tank because of the "higher par" corals that I eventually want to keep. Plus the light bleed isn't that worse IMO but you can still look into the lens of the fixture and it's pretty bright So the lens will also stop the glare when looking into the tank!