My first attempt at a build thread was a mess. It was a remake of a tank that was already running. I did a poor job documenting things and I didn't keep up on the thread. I'll try harder this time.
Tank is a Redsea Reefer XL 300 G2
Lighting - Reef breeders Photon 32 V2 Pro with a Aquatic life 24 inch 4 bulb T5 Hybrid fixture as supplement for shadowing. May not really need the T5s but I had the fixture and wanted to get plenty of light to the SPS frags in the rear part of the tank.
Return pump - Jebao DCP - 5000
Filtration - Just using Redsea mesh socks. I never had the desire for a roller as I feel it just adds another component to fail. I'm a KISS kind of guy.
Skimmer - An old Reef Octo 110SS that I had laying in the basement.
Flow - 2 nero 5 on the back wall and an MP10 down low on the side to help prevent build up under the rocks
Heat - Inkbird wifi controller and two 300 watt titanium heaters.
Cooling - dual clip on fan
ATO - Stock Redsea as long as it does what it should. Swapped to a osmolator 3155 and a 10 gallon trigger ato
UV- Aqua UV advantage 2000
The tank
Beginning the rock scape. I used rock that I had laying around. Bonding was done with super glue, sand, and E-Marco 400 cement.
I wanted to go with a type of NSA scape and started here
Progressed to this
I didn't think there were enough places for fish to hide so I added some more rock around the bottom to create hiding spots and ended up here. I really struggle with rock scapes . I'm not a very creative person and tend to run out of patience before projects are finished . This is what I ended up with when I added water. I did tweak the scape a little bit later.
Pics of final lighting. The t5 hybrid fixture fit fine just laying on top of the photon.
I run a fuge on all of my systems. I always run chaeto. I run it for the purpose of providing a home to little critters more than nutrient export. I only harvest the chaeto when I absolutely have to. I rinse it but still always end up pulling out some little critters like micro brittle stars
and don't forget about the first aiptasia that appeared today
My CBB has proven to keep his previous DT clear of these little nasties so I'm not worried about them.
Sump progression
The marine pure blocks were from another tank that has been running for several years. I added a container of rock rubble and nasty muck full of cool pods and worms along with some sponges. Gotta love a good bristle worm.
I have never used bottled bacteria before. I started this tank bare bottom with all dry rock and decided to try fritz turbo start 900 . I will say I was impressed and probably could have added a fish or two right away but held off. I'm pretty sure the muck and rubble I added along with the blocks are helping. I just use cheap work lights with led grow light bulbs in all of my sumps and the chaeto grows just fine. None of my chaeto tumbles either for anyone wondering. This is the finished sump shot today
Many of the coral I'm bringing over from other tanks. My goal is to have a mixed reef with LPS and a few softies down low.
First coral in space invader pectinia.
Some others that followed
I wanted to keep an open look and not have a tank just jammed packed wall to wall coral (not that I can grow coral that well but a guy can hope) So I decided to go with staghorn frags and hope they branch as apposed to tabling acros. I ordered a battle box from Adam and received 8 nice chucky frags. Thanks @Battlecorals
I lost the blue clover to RTN but the rest are doing well so far.
So far the tank has been doing well. I really boosted my clean up crew this time. In the past I never really added enough even thought I thought I did. I added a bunch of different snails and hermits from John at reef cleaners. I'm guessing probably 100 or more counting the dwarf cerith snail. I had trochus as well but they kept climbing out and I got tired of taking them away from my dog so I started tossing the trochus in my basement sump that has a rim so they don't climb out. Note to self, trochus snails + rimless tank = dog toys. I also have a two tuxedo urchins and a few large turbo snails that I move around the tanks as needed
I've also started blowing the rocks off daily. I never really did this before (I can be lazy) but I think it really helps to not be over run with dynos and cyano. I had a what I think were dynos early but didn't get over run with them. I'm getting a few small patches of cyano that I just keep blowing off. I did start dosing reef snow and MB7 per the this article by SunnyX . Its too early to tell how well it works but it defiantly helps with water clarity. Fingers crossed I haven't had to deal with any nuisance algae yet. Come on clean up crew keep cleaning.
My parameters are staying pretty stable . My last test had Nitrates at 9.6, Phosphate at 0.1, and alk at 7.7. I dose 5ml of ESV 2 part daily but only the alkalinity. My calcium has been a little high at 480 without dosing, Mag was 1400 last time I checked. All of my talks require dosing alkalinity but not calcium or mag. I'm not sure why unless its the salt I use. I mix instant ocean and reef crystals at a 50/50 ratio. I have no real reason I use these salt mixes except they are always available and I stock up when they are on sale and most things look happy. I'm not a big fan of chasing numbers and complicating things with additives etc. I've been down that road and it just caused problems and frustration for me. I'm trying to pull from what I've learned through the years and make this reef tank successful but also simple. I'm retired so I have plenty of time. I do manual water changes of 2 gallons or so every day or 2. I'm not strict and sometimes stretch it out.
Dosing is done manually as well. ATO is the only automation I have besides lights and heat control. I thought about a controller like apex or similar but I just don't see the need in my situation. I don't travel and if I did I wouldn't want to know my tank is crashing while I'm away and helpless to prevent it. I have no one I could call to go fix things so it would just ruin our trip. That and I see too many post with people having problems with the high tech gear.
I'll keep this thread updated with images and hopefully not too many horror stories. I'm really hoping the mature media I added at start up will help with the ugly stages but only time will tell how that is going to play out. Frags are all mounted to the rock and knock on wood still doing good. Fish I have are a yellow tang, flame angel, copper band, and a sixline in QT for utilitarian purposes. I'm not really planning on adding more fish but who knows what the future may hold. This is tank number four that I have running so its not like I don't have plenty of things to focus on.
Well if you made it this far I would like to say thank you for taking time out of your day and sharing it with me. This is the tank today 87 days after adding water. I just fed so pardon the food floating in the water.
Tank is a Redsea Reefer XL 300 G2
Lighting - Reef breeders Photon 32 V2 Pro with a Aquatic life 24 inch 4 bulb T5 Hybrid fixture as supplement for shadowing. May not really need the T5s but I had the fixture and wanted to get plenty of light to the SPS frags in the rear part of the tank.
Return pump - Jebao DCP - 5000
Filtration - Just using Redsea mesh socks. I never had the desire for a roller as I feel it just adds another component to fail. I'm a KISS kind of guy.
Skimmer - An old Reef Octo 110SS that I had laying in the basement.
Flow - 2 nero 5 on the back wall and an MP10 down low on the side to help prevent build up under the rocks
Heat - Inkbird wifi controller and two 300 watt titanium heaters.
Cooling - dual clip on fan
ATO - Stock Redsea as long as it does what it should. Swapped to a osmolator 3155 and a 10 gallon trigger ato
UV- Aqua UV advantage 2000
The tank
Beginning the rock scape. I used rock that I had laying around. Bonding was done with super glue, sand, and E-Marco 400 cement.
I wanted to go with a type of NSA scape and started here
Progressed to this
I didn't think there were enough places for fish to hide so I added some more rock around the bottom to create hiding spots and ended up here. I really struggle with rock scapes . I'm not a very creative person and tend to run out of patience before projects are finished . This is what I ended up with when I added water. I did tweak the scape a little bit later.
Pics of final lighting. The t5 hybrid fixture fit fine just laying on top of the photon.
I run a fuge on all of my systems. I always run chaeto. I run it for the purpose of providing a home to little critters more than nutrient export. I only harvest the chaeto when I absolutely have to. I rinse it but still always end up pulling out some little critters like micro brittle stars
and don't forget about the first aiptasia that appeared today
My CBB has proven to keep his previous DT clear of these little nasties so I'm not worried about them.
Sump progression
The marine pure blocks were from another tank that has been running for several years. I added a container of rock rubble and nasty muck full of cool pods and worms along with some sponges. Gotta love a good bristle worm.
I have never used bottled bacteria before. I started this tank bare bottom with all dry rock and decided to try fritz turbo start 900 . I will say I was impressed and probably could have added a fish or two right away but held off. I'm pretty sure the muck and rubble I added along with the blocks are helping. I just use cheap work lights with led grow light bulbs in all of my sumps and the chaeto grows just fine. None of my chaeto tumbles either for anyone wondering. This is the finished sump shot today
Many of the coral I'm bringing over from other tanks. My goal is to have a mixed reef with LPS and a few softies down low.
First coral in space invader pectinia.
Some others that followed
I wanted to keep an open look and not have a tank just jammed packed wall to wall coral (not that I can grow coral that well but a guy can hope) So I decided to go with staghorn frags and hope they branch as apposed to tabling acros. I ordered a battle box from Adam and received 8 nice chucky frags. Thanks @Battlecorals
I lost the blue clover to RTN but the rest are doing well so far.
So far the tank has been doing well. I really boosted my clean up crew this time. In the past I never really added enough even thought I thought I did. I added a bunch of different snails and hermits from John at reef cleaners. I'm guessing probably 100 or more counting the dwarf cerith snail. I had trochus as well but they kept climbing out and I got tired of taking them away from my dog so I started tossing the trochus in my basement sump that has a rim so they don't climb out. Note to self, trochus snails + rimless tank = dog toys. I also have a two tuxedo urchins and a few large turbo snails that I move around the tanks as needed
I've also started blowing the rocks off daily. I never really did this before (I can be lazy) but I think it really helps to not be over run with dynos and cyano. I had a what I think were dynos early but didn't get over run with them. I'm getting a few small patches of cyano that I just keep blowing off. I did start dosing reef snow and MB7 per the this article by SunnyX . Its too early to tell how well it works but it defiantly helps with water clarity. Fingers crossed I haven't had to deal with any nuisance algae yet. Come on clean up crew keep cleaning.
My parameters are staying pretty stable . My last test had Nitrates at 9.6, Phosphate at 0.1, and alk at 7.7. I dose 5ml of ESV 2 part daily but only the alkalinity. My calcium has been a little high at 480 without dosing, Mag was 1400 last time I checked. All of my talks require dosing alkalinity but not calcium or mag. I'm not sure why unless its the salt I use. I mix instant ocean and reef crystals at a 50/50 ratio. I have no real reason I use these salt mixes except they are always available and I stock up when they are on sale and most things look happy. I'm not a big fan of chasing numbers and complicating things with additives etc. I've been down that road and it just caused problems and frustration for me. I'm trying to pull from what I've learned through the years and make this reef tank successful but also simple. I'm retired so I have plenty of time. I do manual water changes of 2 gallons or so every day or 2. I'm not strict and sometimes stretch it out.
Dosing is done manually as well. ATO is the only automation I have besides lights and heat control. I thought about a controller like apex or similar but I just don't see the need in my situation. I don't travel and if I did I wouldn't want to know my tank is crashing while I'm away and helpless to prevent it. I have no one I could call to go fix things so it would just ruin our trip. That and I see too many post with people having problems with the high tech gear.
I'll keep this thread updated with images and hopefully not too many horror stories. I'm really hoping the mature media I added at start up will help with the ugly stages but only time will tell how that is going to play out. Frags are all mounted to the rock and knock on wood still doing good. Fish I have are a yellow tang, flame angel, copper band, and a sixline in QT for utilitarian purposes. I'm not really planning on adding more fish but who knows what the future may hold. This is tank number four that I have running so its not like I don't have plenty of things to focus on.
Well if you made it this far I would like to say thank you for taking time out of your day and sharing it with me. This is the tank today 87 days after adding water. I just fed so pardon the food floating in the water.
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