Redsea Reefer 450 Build

[gunguy05]

So, I have been looking for a while to get back into things. About 7-8 years ago, before kids 2 and 3, I had a 29 gallon biocube. Ended up breaking that down. A couple of months ago, I got the "itch" for a bigger tank to go on a long wall that we have in our house (new house for us as of 2 years ago). I have always wanted something bigger, and just happened upon a deal.

I picked up a 3rd had RSR 450 with stand and sump. Tank was in immaculate condition considering I'm the 3rd owner. I don't see a single scratch on it. All the silicone looks good.

Also, a
SRO 2000 Int skimmer
Reefbreeders V1.90 (wireless no display)
Jeabo 8000 return pump
Small carbon reactor with pump
DIY algae scrubber
2 jeabo RW4's
A crap ton of rock. (live, but I'm going to nuke it)
A black clownfish, and damsel
Barracuda RODI, almost new
Red sea master test kit
Some other various do dads, chemicals, frag racks, etc

Paid $1000 for all of this. It was about 3 1/2 hr from me, so I had to make a day of it, with some help from the wife and brother.

Still need to move it upstairs tomorrow. We bought a set of "moving straps" from Lowes on the way home. Got ready to move it up.. only 1 strap in the box, not 2. At this point in the day Lowes was 5 minutes from closing, but 15 mintues from my house. I HOPE they are open in the AM, and I can run over, exchange it, and move this HEAVY tank and stand up stairs.

 

[gunguy05]

So, today was the day. These status were more horrible than I thought they would be...

We. Finally. Made. It..my brother looks happy in the pic.. But it was a trip.

This is where I am up to this point. I have the sump cleaned out and set in underneath. I ran my RODI water from downstairs so it's currently filling up tank I'll add salt later on

Time for a break...

 

[gunguy05]

Was able to almost get the rest of the water in last night, and did some aquacaping.

Will. Hookup the return pump today and top off the water.

 

[wackyreefer]

Was able to almost get the rest of the water in last night, and did some aquacaping.

Will. Hookup the return pump today and top off the water.

Looking great so far! Following.

 

[gunguy05]

Before I put the tank into place, I was able to get a couple of 1" tubes in the wall. Today I got those attached to pvc that is snakes through my basement to my shop where water changes will occur. Also, 1/4 is in the for rodi water.

My latest parameters... A little concerned about the phosphates..

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Sweet Deal! Did you need to brace the floor being on the second level?!

 

[gunguy05]

Sweet Deal! Did you need to brace the floor being on the second level?!

I looked at that for quite a while and ended up not. It is on an inside wall, but the wall it sets against sits perpendicular to , and is directly on top of 2x12 flooring members. SO, I feel good about it. It's 5ft long, so it crosses at a mininum , 4 floor joints, so that's 400lbs per joist at most.

The rock I used was out of water for 4-5 days before I got the tank set backup and back in the water. I'm hoping the phosphates are just a small part of cycle, and not leaching out of the rock. We will see I guess. There was a mini reactor in the box of stuff I got, so I am thinking about setting that up as a GFO reactor.

 

[gunguy05]

So, last weekend i decided to a fish (the LFS is an hour from me) to the tank, and see how it goes for a while. I have a bit of a ugly phase going on, but my Nitrate, nitrite levels are still doing good. Ammonia is 0. Phosphates are .1-.2. Added a bag of phosban to the sump. We will see if that brings it down.

Not much else for now. Plan is to next add a couple more anthias, and maybe a blue green chromis or 3. We will see how that goes . Still want to wait out a week or so to make sure things stay level, and the phosphates get cleaned up a bit. I did a 10 gallon water change (my first, with a little help).

Skimmer (still trying to get it dialed in) isn't pulling much from the tank, but I didn't really expect it to at this point.

 

[gunguy05]

I had this cheato reactor pop up on my local group page. So, I decided to jump on that this weekend. I really like the idea of keeping myself clean by having that all contained within the reactor.

Also, picked up some more fish as my levels have been pretty good over the last couple of weeks.

More pics of that later!

 

[gunguy05]

So, I have battled gha for the last month, but I think I finally got it under control. Did a blackout for 3 days. After that I spent a good 2 days blowing off the algae with a baster and then did a big water change.

Today I picked this guy up. I hope he helps to keep the algae under control.

Coraline is starting to take off on thr bottom pretty well.

 

[Biglex]

Looks awesome man!! Great find!! I’m lovin my 450 aswell

 

[Rrwilson1223]

Great build thread! I’m a big fan of the Reefer series of tanks! I’ve got a thread for my 750 on here too if you are interested.

 

[gunguy05]

A few new additions and work over the last few weeks.


I picked up a few frags of acan, hammer, zoas, and a coral banded shrimp.. I know thetr is some hesitation on these in a reef but I'm going to give it a shot..

He's been in there about 2 weeks now, and already molting.

Also, I have been working on a basement (not really a basement, but my house is off the ground about 8 feet) water changing station. I will post photos of that later, but I ran into an issue with the pump. Turns out my Jeabo DC8000 IS NOT able to hold water OUTSIDE of the tank. SO, i currently have it inside the tank, and can make it work for now. It still saves me a ton of time lugging water buckets up stairs to do water changes. Ideally I would have it hooked up between 2 tanks but for not this will have to work. Will post a photo later.

 

[gunguy05]

Happened to be out this morning when I turned on the lights for my morning check before I'm off to work. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. He's always hiding!

Not sure what it is, but I just love the look of these guys.

 

[dungdatinh]

Nice tank

 

[gunguy05]

Not much going on, other than some #&^$ turf algae in the tank.

Going to try a DIY algae scrubber. I the PO i purchased the tank from had one in it, I modified it a bit and added a full spectrum LED to it. We will see if this helps to clean things up a bit.

I seeded it a bit with some of the algae that I pulled off the rocks in the tank. Going to run it 12hr on/off for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I HOPE this will help things a bit.

 

[gunguy05]

Next up! I found a good deal on a couple of G4 xr30's, so I had to jump on it.

Got those installed and temp wired in (need to do big cleanup on that)

I was expecting some shadowing but the spread seems to be just right.

 

[gunguy05]

So, things have been looking up for thr last few weeks.

I sold my reefbreeder and as apart of that deal I picked up a acid splash anemone.. I was doubtful because of my rather high nitrates, but it has been over a week now and it seems to be doing it. I put it on a rock by itself and we will see if it stays there.

Also, the algae scrubber seems tj be taking off. I did a cleanup last night and scrapped a good amount of algae off the scrubber. Also, I have been slowly dealing with 1 rock at a time, and add I clean them off, the algae doesn't seem to be coming back.

Trying to get those all cleaned up so I can more permanently attach them in some sort of aquacape.

 

[gunguy05]

Just a short update.

Anemone is still doing great. What's the saying, if it isn't broke don't fix it? Guess the nitrates are doing it well?

Found a great deal on a bunch of frags (acually chunks) a couple of hours from me. Got ALL of this for $150 .

A few frags of acros, 3 different montis, some GSP, other SPS. I'm a happy camper.

 

[gunguy05]

So, today. Today was the day I got one of those deals that I almost feel bad about. I mean, like I stole it bad.

Saw a post for a neglected but well stocked biocube popup on the local Band page. I JUMPED on it.

I got a:
2 med size clownfish
Colony of duncans, 16-18 heads
Large colony of red monti cap (about 8-10")
dragon soul favia
Orange Acan
2 small RBTA
Large other cap (im horrible with names).
A few rocks of mushrooms
A Large reverse superman monti rock
Some other random sps that i don't know the name too.
Kenya tree
green kenya tree

OH Yeha, and a biocube 29 , with stand and mars aqua light. Not pictured, but it's in good shape. Should cover the cost of the livestock.

ALL for $100!