Reefer 350 feeling intimiated

newfishkeeper88 · Sep 9, 2017

Hi all I currently own a innovative marine 30L for the lasted 2 years. 2 clowns and a six line with a zoa garden. this tank is a all in one tank and I haven't had any issues. I just ordered a red sea 350 and im feeling overwhelmed by the sump. I want to just do a protein skimmer but every sump I see is all this hard plumbing with multiple reactors. I don't want to learn that right now I only plan to keep 7 fish or so and zoas. Im considering just sticking with the 30 gallon as im very put off. Any advice.

abecker · Sep 9, 2017

You can plumb it the way it comes in the kit. If in the future you want to expand to multiple reactors and a return manifold and more advanced items you can always switch out the plumbing.

amazongb · Sep 9, 2017

Don't be intimidated. I went from an SC 24 to a Red Sea 425. I took my time to plumb, it's actually super easy. I did plumb for having reactors later on, but I wouldn't worry about that.. you can always change your plumbing later as you decide which way you want to go with your tank. As ABecker said, you can use the plumbing that comes with the tank, and just use a rubber hose for your pump return to start.

newfishkeeper88 · Sep 9, 2017

and I spelled crap wrong in title lol long day. Just seems like so much I have about 2 weeks to plan this out before tank gets here. I just want my clowns to get to their new home to enjoy it as soon as I can. I would prefer to learn how to hard plumb it from the beginning. Heres a noob question so there is a way to cut the water coming from the DT to the sump? so I could change the plumbing when ever?

Centerline · Sep 9, 2017

newfishkeeper88 said:
Hi all I currently own a innovative marine 30L for the lasted 2 years. 2 clowns and a six line with a zoa garden. this tank is a all in one tank and I haven't had any issues. I just ordered a red sea 350 and im feeling overwhelmed by the sump. I want to just do a protein skimmer but every sump I see is all this hard plumbing with multiple reactors. I don't want to learn that right now I only plan to keep 7 fish or so and zoas. Im considering just sticking with the 30 gallon as im very put off. Any advice.

Don't be intimidated at all. Most of the hard plumbing you see comes from the owners preferences (often driven by OCD behavior

. If you need reactor you can hang it off the back, set it in the sump - whatever. The reefers are really easy to set up and run. Nice and simple setup. Your going to love it.

Jason mack · Sep 9, 2017

It's easy , no need too feel overwhelmed or intimidated, you can keep it as simple as you want all you really need is 3 compartments,with bubble traps in between ,one for your drain , one for your skimmer , and your return .. you can keep extra rock in your drain for extra filtration .. don't need anything more too start with .. my only advice would be get the biggest sump you can fit in there ... there's hundreds on videos on you tube for sumps !!

Scurvy · Sep 9, 2017

Don't let all the super tanks and manifolds worry you. I have a 250 with just a skimmer and tubing to the return it works just fine. It's my first tank I'm really happy I went with a sump. I bought an AIO as my 2nd tank and am constantly thinking of ditching it for a sumped tank.

Scurvy · Sep 9, 2017

newfishkeeper88 said:
and I spelled crap wrong in title lol long day. Just seems like so much I have about 2 weeks to plan this out before tank gets here. I just want my clowns to get to their new home to enjoy it as soon as I can. I would prefer to learn how to hard plumb it from the beginning. Heres a noob question so there is a way to cut the water coming from the DT to the sump? so I could change the plumbing when ever?

Yep, you just kill the return pump and the drain pipe will empty.

OREGONIC · Sep 9, 2017

I have a 170 and i am running the plumbing that came with it. The only change i have made was i cut the soft line on the return and added a T so i could run my algae turff scrubber off my return. I also drilled the auto top off container to house my ATS, already had an ATO. It was extremely easy to set up with the plumbing that comes with it dont feel overwhelmed.

newfishkeeper88 · Sep 9, 2017

Thanks guys. I was on the edge of just canceling it and running my 30. But after putting tape on the wall and such to see how much bigger the 350 was its huge compared to my 30L. its very crammed and I have 3 fish but want a baby yellow tang and dwarf angel. I would like to just buy a M1 and a oversized skimmer and then use the carbon bags and filter floss I have been using in my filter socks. I will do a 10 gallon water change every sunday and that should work. About 7 fish and only zoas is my plan.

newfishkeeper88 · Sep 9, 2017

I have read thought that the m1 doesn't fit without some sort of special connector pipe to the reefer 350 fitting so I will have to see how that goes

OREGONIC · Sep 9, 2017

newfishkeeper88 said:
I have read thought that the m1 doesn't fit without some sort of special connector pipe to the reefer 350 fitting so I will have to see how that goes

I bought a current loop dc pump and it came with the fittings to attach to the return hose. I would think the m1 would come with an assortment of barb fittings aswell, if not should be easy to get the correct one as it is a popular pump.

Scurvy · Sep 9, 2017

The Reef Octopus VarioS pumps come with all you need as well.

newfishkeeper88 · Sep 9, 2017

I will go look into those right now as well. I have read some stupid things in regards to the m1. I guess they sell a barbed fitting that you have to glue in place. that's stupid because if I change to hard piping that pump would be useless.

jasonamyers · Sep 10, 2017

I felt the same way when I started looking at the Reefer forum and panicking. It makes it look nice, but you can work up to that step by step or not and still have a great reefing experience. To me what matters is what is inside the tank, learning and watching things grow.

Centerline · Sep 10, 2017

jasonamyers said:
I felt the same way when I started looking at the Reefer forum and panicking. It makes it look nice, but you can work up to that step by step or not and still have a great reefing experience. To me what matters is what is inside the tank, learning and watching things grow.

I have a friend with a 200 that does zero maintenance aside from GFO and dosing, has power cables and ballast in a spaghetti ball, sump is a total mess that he has never cleaned and yet... one of the best looking SPS tanks around... seems unfair ;(