Red Sea Reefer 350 G2 in Texas!

[TX_REEF]

Just to document the process! After a 10+ year break from the hobby, I finally have the financial means to build a system I am proud of! Back in 2012 I had a 20 gallon long with a 50g stock tank for a sump. What an upgrade here! Fishless cycle started ~3 weeks ago, ammonia at .05 ppm. I am excited to share this build with everyone. Any and all comments and criticisms are more than welcome

Equipment List:
-Red Sea Reefer 350 G2 with matching sump and stand
-Kessil AP9X LED with single arm mount
-2x Vortech MP40mQD
-Reef Octopus Varios 4 return pump
-Reef Octopus 150 Classic skimmer
-Red Sea Reefmat 500
-IceCap Pro small algae turf scrubber
-Helio 350 watt heater
-BRS 5-stage RO/DI

Stock List:
-40 lbs live sand
-70 lbs dry rock

 

[blaxsun]

Hound approves! Best of luck with the tank!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Just to document the process! After a 10+ year break from the hobby, I finally have the financial means to build a system I am proud of! Back in 2012 I had a 20 gallon long with a 50g stock tank for a sump. What an upgrade here! Fishless cycle started ~3 weeks ago, ammonia at .05 ppm. I am excited to share this build with everyone. Any and all comments and criticisms are more than welcome

Equipment List:
-Red Sea Reefer 350 G2 with matching sump and stand
-Kessil AP9X LED with single arm mount
-2x Vortech MP40mQD
-Reef Octopus Varios 4 return pump
-Reef Octopus 150 Classic skimmer
-Red Sea Reefmat 500
-IceCap Pro small algae turf scrubber
-Helio 350 watt heater
-BRS 5-stage RO/DI

Stock List:
-40 lbs live sand
-70 lbs dry rock

Love the aquascape design!!!

 

[TX_REEF]

My janky DO/DI setup

And the boxed goods, in case there are other weirdos out there like me who see boxes of equipment and feel unspeakable joy

 

[TX_REEF]

Great news, the skimmer is finally broken in!

Before
After

 

[TX_REEF]

IceCap Pro algae turf scrubber has been installed to deal with those spiking cycle nitrates! It’s a TIGHT fit

 

[TX_REEF]

Got both MP40s up and running, synced to the mobius app. 6am-8pm, reef crest at 30% power. 8pm-6am, 1 second short pulse mode at 15%.

 

[TX_REEF]

Lighting schedule set via Kessil app: fade on starting at 6:33am, crest of intensity is at 3pm, then slow ramp down to lights off at 9:35pm.

 

[TX_REEF]

Cycle is complete and water chemistry is officially on point- I think it’s time to add a pair of clowns!

 

[Tomik]

Cycle is complete and water chemistry is officially on point- I think it’s time to add a pair of clowns!

May I ask you which method used for cycling and how long ? Thank you

 

[TX_REEF]

May I ask you which method used for cycling and how long ? Thank you

Hello - I used Fritz TurboStart saltwater, with Dr. Tim's liquid ammonium chloride. I stupidly dumped the whole bottle of Ammonia in at once, so my cycle is taking quite long (it's been a little over 6 weeks now and nitrites are just now starting to taper off). Others who have used this method and dosed the Ammonia properly have completed their cycles in around 2 weeks or less in many cases.

EDIT: Full cycle took 7 weeks.

 

[TX_REEF]

Nitrites are officially zero, and our first happy residents have moved in! Two captive-bred ocellaris clowns. I used the Accudrip Acclimator from Innovative Marine, which I highly recommend. It’s like an IV drip for your fish, fully adjustable.

 

[Lavey29]

Beautiful set up, hopefully you did QT on the clown prior to adding as they are highly prone to clownfish disease also known as brook.

 

[LeannaBanana]

Love this! Following along.

 

[hbubley]

Nice to meet a fellow texan!! Looking great so far, definitely following along

 

[TX_REEF]

We added some spineless folks from reef cleaners! Cerith snails, nassarius snails, astrea snails (one with a neat tiny feather duster as a shell hitchhiker!), hermit crabs and emerald/ruby mithrax crabs.

 

[TX_REEF]

We added some new residents today! Carmen (a la Carmen Habanera), the flame angelfish, and Dyson, the six line wrasse.

 

[TX_REEF]

UPDATE TIME! Some good some bad...

We added a Diamond Goby in May! His name is Toby (yes it rhymes with Goby, but also he reminds us of Toby from The Office)

We left the tank in care of our dog sitter for 2 weeks while traveling. Unfortunately, she somehow didn't notice the deteriorated condition of the tank visually, and also the blaring heater alarm warning of low temperature. This happened because the ATO line got clogged, so the display water level dropped to the point that it was no longer draining into the sump, where the heater is. I wish she would have told us so we could have called the LFS for service... Luckily casualties were limited to snails, an emerald crab, and possibly Toby, who we have not yet seen for 2 weeks...

After some heavy cleanup and water change, water chemistry is back to ideal. We added a Kole Tang. She still needs a name . If we find out that Toby is no longer with us, we may add one more small fish at some point. Next, we'll be wanting to add a Black Widow BTA.

 

[TX_REEF]

Long overdue update!

Changes:
-Added Diamond goby, disappeared without a trace after house sitter failed to alert me on low temp alarm due to failed ATO
-2 more Diamond gobies added and lost. One jumped, one apparently stopped breathing and was found in the claw of an emerald crab.
-Kole tang added and died a couple mo the later. Apparent respiratory distress sudden onset, no cause of death identified.
- started religious weekly 10 gallon water changes
- started dosing Liquid Reef at the advice of LFS. Did not appear to have any positive effects, SPS appeared less happy if anything. Stopped dosing it.
-started dosing ALK and calcium, corals all seem generally happier. (LFS showed me evidence of low alk, calm and Ph which promoted this.
-added 2 power heads for surface agitation
- added Acan Lord frag, love the orange color. However, caugh emerald crab red handed feasting on it. Emerald crab will be banished to sump or something, currently in quarantine box. DO NOT TRUST EMERALD CRABS! They eat SPS and I believe they “help” fish die, especially bottom dwellers
-added a couple SPS frags, my first time in the hobby trying these
-added rainbow BTA, successfully hosting clowns after spending a week together in quarantine box

ONGOING ISSUES:
-I cannot get my wall hammer coral to stay consistently happy and open. I think it was getting too much light previously under the Kessil at 8 or so inches below the water line, moved him down to the sand. Fingers crossed
-BTA won’t stay still. Had to pull him off the power heads twice so far, luckily no serious physical damage.
-I honestly have no idea the PAR levels in any given area of my tank. Have ordered a PAR meter from BRS to place my frags more intelligently
-Hanna salinity tester doesn’t stay calibrated for more than a couple weeks at a time. I highly recommend not buying one. Have to rely on refractometer.

THANKS FOR READING! New pics below, I welcome any and all questions or comments!!!

 

[ajremington68]

Long overdue update!

Changes:
-Added Diamond goby, disappeared without a trace after house sitter failed to alert me on low temp alarm due to failed ATO
-2 more Diamond gobies added and lost. One jumped, one apparently stopped breathing and was found in the claw of an emerald crab.
-Kole tang added and died a couple mo the later. Apparent respiratory distress sudden onset, no cause of death identified.
- started religious weekly 10 gallon water changes
- started dosing Liquid Reef at the advice of LFS. Did not appear to have any positive effects, SPS appeared less happy if anything. Stopped dosing it.
-started dosing ALK and calcium, corals all seem generally happier. (LFS showed me evidence of low alk, calm and Ph which promoted this.
-added 2 power heads for surface agitation
- added Acan Lord frag, love the orange color. However, caugh emerald crab red handed feasting on it. Emerald crab will be banished to sump or something, currently in quarantine box. DO NOT TRUST EMERALD CRABS! They eat SPS and I believe they “help” fish die, especially bottom dwellers
-added a couple SPS frags, my first time in the hobby trying these
-added rainbow BTA, successfully hosting clowns after spending a week together in quarantine box

ONGOING ISSUES:
-I cannot get my wall hammer coral to stay consistently happy and open. I think it was getting too much light previously under the Kessil at 8 or so inches below the water line, moved him down to the sand. Fingers crossed
-BTA won’t stay still. Had to pull him off the power heads twice so far, luckily no serious physical damage.
-I honestly have no idea the PAR levels in any given area of my tank. Have ordered a PAR meter from BRS to place my frags more intelligently
-Hanna salinity tester doesn’t stay calibrated for more than a couple weeks at a time. I highly recommend not buying one. Have to rely on refractometer.

THANKS FOR READING! New pics below, I welcome any and all questions or comments!!!

Love the rabbit holes of people's builds I can dive down in the middle of the night. You must be proud of what you have created as I would be. Aspire to have your level of self-control by not indulging in a ton of corals and fish right away. (suffering the consequences of battling ick with my Powder Blue Tang). All in all, the pictures don't do justice, jealous you're the only person to experience the true aesthetic of this build. Continue updates as I will check next time I go down a rabbit hole