Reefer 170 Build/Reset

Orcus Varuna · Mar 19, 2018

Well during a nightmare of a move which took 18+ hrs(when I planned for it to take 3), I ended up loosing all of my livestock sans a few fish. So with 3 years of growth and collecting flushed down the toilet I am now starting fresh with a Reefer 170. My initial thought is that I will do a nice sand dwelling anemone with the rest of the tank being predominantly SPS. For equipment I decided to sell off all of most of my existing stuff and focus on quality high end gear since this is about a 30% smaller build then my last one. I hope you all enjoy and follow along. The tank started cycling on March 3rd so it will be awhile before the real fun begins. Enjoy!

Main Equipment:

Light- 24” ATI Powermodule WiFi
Circulation- 3 MP10’s
Skimmer- LifeReef SVS-24 with Rossmont Riser Feed Pump.
Return- Jebao 8000 (will be traded out at some point for a vectra s1)
Doser- undecided between GHL and DOS
ATO- Tunze Osmolator 3155
Controller- Apex 2016
Heater- Finnex 300watt controller by inkbird thermostat and backed up by apex.

Orcus Varuna · Mar 19, 2018

The sole survivors [emoji24][emoji225]

Bpb · Mar 19, 2018

First in line to follow!

cwalton00 · Mar 20, 2018

Following along!

Orcus Varuna · Mar 20, 2018

cwalton00 said:
Following along!

ReefBros assemble!

HolisticBear · Mar 20, 2018

Sorry about the losses, great equipment choices, the light will look amazing.

Annette Garcia · Mar 20, 2018

Following

Orcus Varuna · Mar 20, 2018

HolisticBear said:
Sorry about the losses, great equipment choices, the light will look amazing.

Thanks! The losses stink but so is they way of life I’m trying to view it as an opportunity to right some wrongs of my last build and go as pest free as is possible. The light is downright awesome... As soon as I opened the box it’s price tag stopped giving me a heart attack. The components and build quality are top notch and it really does just ooze quality.

HolisticBear · Mar 20, 2018

Orcus Varuna said:
Thanks! The losses stink but so is they way of life I’m trying to view it as an opportunity to right some wrongs of my last build and go as pest free as is possible. The light is downright awesome... As soon as I opened the box it’s price tag stopped giving me a heart attack. The components and build quality are top notch and it really does just ooze quality.

I find the overflow casts a significant shadow on the 170, it's the same size overflow as the 450. So in that regard, your T5 will really make all the difference with a 24" wide light. It won't be dark space in your tank.

abbas.jaffer5 · Apr 1, 2018

Nice!

Orcus Varuna · Apr 17, 2018

And so it begins the first fish are in and just placed another order which will be in Saturday to finish out the stocking list. After those go through qt I’ll have the following.

4 Pink Skunk Clownfish
1 Chromis Veridis
1 Six Line Wrasse
1 Melanarus Wrasse
1 Royal Gramma
2 Aurora Watchman Gobies

Should be a nice stock and will be well segmented into different tank areas once I add a Long Tentacle Anemone for the clowns!

jpluttme · Apr 25, 2018

It's nice to see pink skunk clowns in your tank. They're a nice alternative to the usual designer ones everyone is buying. I had a pair and they weren't nearly as aggressive as some of the other species I've had. They also took to their anemone readily.

Orcus Varuna · Apr 25, 2018

jpluttme said:
It's nice to see pink skunk clowns in your tank. They're a nice alternative to the usual designer ones everyone is buying. I had a pair and they weren't nearly as aggressive as some of the other species I've had. They also took to their anemone readily.

Thanks I am not in to the designer genetic freak clownfish at all. I actually find it quite cruel to inbreed them so badly as they often end up with many other deformities as well.

Orcus Varuna · Jul 1, 2018

Haven’t posted any updates in awhile but the system is coming along great! I’m really loving that I went with a minimal aquascape and a thin sand bed as the system is remarkably stable for a 4 month old tank. I have begun adding some tester acropora which are doing great so far. Also, added a long tentacle anemone back in may for my clowns and it too is doing great. Since I have such a shallow sand bed (about a 1/2”) I devised a sand cup for the LTA to anchor its foot in 4-5” of sand and much to my surprice it worked exactly as intended, giving the anemone a place to anchor without having to run a deep sand bed! Finally, if everything goes well when I’m on vacation over the next 10 days I will be ordering a battlebox when I get back. I’m already sweating that purchase as I have never dropped $5-600 on corals in one sitting before [emoji23]

Orcus Varuna · Jul 1, 2018

On the equipment side I purchased an artfully acrylic lid about a month ago, which is lovely by the way and well worth the cost. I attempted to make my own lid using the Red Sea kit but my lord that was difficult even for someone like myself who is not an idiot when it comes to diy. I have made screen lids before too so I knew it was going to be a pain going in but making the cuts for the overflow proved way to difficult and the result was a lid that didn’t quite fit right lol. So rather then shell out another $50 on a kit I just bit the bullet and spent the $130 on the lid. I do wish however I would have spent the extra $30 and got the lid with the feeding door. I may end up ordering one and selling my current lid.

Other changes of note include switching out the Jebao 8000 from the return to the skimmer (I get frequent brownouts where I live now and the Jebao controller goes into error mode if the brownout is less then 5 seconds or so) and purchased a RO VarioS-2 for the return. I am very happy I made this switch as I have since programmed the VarioS via apex fusion to enter into a back flow prevention mode when feeding. This is a really neat feature to have and something you don’t realize you want until you have it. Also, I purchased a DOS and made some dosing containers out of pickling jars but have yet to set it up. I can probably use to begin dosing a bit but I have been very busy recently. Plan is to get the DOS set up when I get back from vacation in the middle of July so I can tune it prior to getting my battlebox. Finally, I added a VCA return nozzle which I am not really sold on yet as it adds a ton of bulk and sticks down quite far into the display. It also tends to cavitate as you push flow higher which is annoying and causes salt spray. The issue is compounded by the fact that it also doesn’t have a siphon break so if you angle the nozzle to where it stops sucking air you then draw way too much water into your sump. This forces me to operate the nozzle below the flow levels required to get the max level of flow randomization. So I may end up taking this off at some point or adding a siphon break so I can angle it where I want.

I almost forgot to mention a cool idea I stole from another reefer was adding a T barb and some ball valves to my reactor effluent to create an easy way to do water changes. I simply flip the ball valves and pump water right out of my sump. Seems silly but makes me not dread water changes [emoji23]. Well I hope everyone enjoys and happy reefing!!!

Orcus Varuna · Jul 1, 2018

Orcus Varuna · Jul 26, 2018

The long tentacle and pink skunks are doing very well. The LTA has gone from pink to a deep purple and seeing how much color it’s gained I’m shocked it made considering it was so bleached.

On another note, one thing that bothers me is the deformities on captive clowns from being so inbred. It’s healthy so I’m not complaining per say but it’s just unfortunate how deformed it’s mouth is. If aquaculture is going to work long term we have to fix this inbreeding problem...