☢️Radioactive Red Sea Reefer 350☢️

[Kryssie]

Hello again everyone! I’ve been working very hard on my new tank for the last two months.

Equipment:
-Red Sea Reefer 350 (white)
-Synergy TS-26 (atomic green)
-Neptune Cor20 Pump
-Neptune Apex Fusion Controller
-Neptune WAV powerheads
-Nyos Quantum 160 Protein Skimmer
-Aquamaxx XS Media Reactor
-Neotherm 300w Heater
-Kessil AP700 (x 2)
-GHL Doser
-Tunze 3155 ATO
-Kessil H160
-Tropic Eden Tonga Pink sand (30lb)

Intended Livestock

Fish

• Golden Dwarf Moray
• Blue Throat Triggerfish
• Lavender Tang
• White Tail Tomini Tang
• Blue Cheek Goby
• Lyretail Anthias
• Bimaculatus Anthias
• Resplendent Anthias
• Rose Fairy Wrasse
• Labouts Fairy Wrasse
• Exquisite Fairy Wrasse
• Lineatus Fairy Wrasse
• Black Storm Clownfish
• Mocha Storm Clownfish

Clean Up Crew

• Rainbow Bubble Tip Anemone
• Black Widow Bubble Tip Anemone
• Longspine Urchin
• Fighting Conch x2
• Electric Blue Hermit Crab x2
• Halloween Hermit Crab x2
• Nessarius Snail x6
• Trochus Snail x10
• Astrea Snail x10
• Cerith Snail x6

I’ll be updating this build thread as I go. Thanks for looking.

 

[miPapareef]

Congrats on the new tank!

Looking forward to see the pictures

 

[Kryssie]

To start with, I ordered the tank the first week of October. It arrived later that week. Everything was great except I had minor damage on the left door, which Red Sea promptly replaced. Their customer service was top notch.

I started putting the stand together after a week of rearranging the living room in order to have optimal viewing angles for both my tank and my wife’s tank. She also has a Reefer 350 which she started in January.

Once the furniture placement was finalized, I could finally start.

I also custom ordered a Synergy Reef TS26 sump in atomic green. While I waited for the sump, I used Aquaforest Stonefix to set up my aquascape. I cured my rocks for a month in a brute can with saltwater, a heater, and a powerhead.

 

[Kryssie]

Once my sump arrived, I started dry fitting my plumbing. I took a ton of inspiration from @Broadfield and used his build thread for plumbing advice. I used the same pvc fittings he recommended in his thread. Since this was my first time ever plumbing anything, I was very grateful to have a resource I could follow along with as I go.

It took me about two weeks to gain the courage to move the 140 pound display tank from my garage onto the stand, so during that time I worked on some aesthetic stuff for my tank cabinet. I painted my gate valves fluorescent green with Krylon Fluorescent green spray paint and my unions and other gray pipe fittings black with Krylon Fusion Gloss Black.

I picked up some melamine from Lowe’s in order to make some shelves for the dry side of my cabinet and painted those fluorescent green, and pink.

Once the tank was moved to the stand, I finished up my plumbing (which is crooked and I will be redoing later). I also wrapped my aquamaxx reactors with some clear green and pink vinyl as well as adding some clear green and pink vinyl to the clear front panel of my sump.

 

[Kryssie]

As of now, my plumbing is glued and attached to the tank. I filled the tank with 30 lbs of sand, put my cured rocks in the tank, and started adding water.
Here it is as it cycles.

 

[Kryssie]

I’ve still got a bunch of equipment to install, but it’s coming along nicely.

 

[Antics]

Awesome photos! Love the unique color choices.

 

[Kryssie]

Awesome photos! Love the unique color choices.

Thank you so much!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Really looks great! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Kryssie]

I got my Apex and Wav pumps the other day and have been working on my dry cabinet. Now I’m waiting on a few more things. I’ll most likely get my two AP700s on Black Friday.

I’m trying to decide on a protein skimmer. I’m leaning towards the Nyos Quantum 120, which my wife has, but I know the skimmate cup is really hard to remove.

I’m also having way too much trouble with my Tropic Eden Tonga Pink sand blowing everywhere, so I’m going to remove it over the next few water changes and switch to the largest grade of Reeflakes or Caribsea Special Grade.

 

[Kryssie]

I’ll be getting my Toplid, GHL Doser, and some erlenmeyer flasks soon too. I’m also pretty sick of using a bucket to top off my tank every few hours, so I will be getting an ato ASAP as well. Thanks for looking!

 

[NY_Caveman]

I love when people put as much thought into the look of their stand and sump area as the tank itself. Something I did not do, LOL!

 

[Kryssie]

In addition to working on my tank, we’re also redecorating our living room, as you can probably tell by looking at this photo.

Initially, the TV was mounted where the blue chair is between the tanks. We’re waiting for DirectTV to come move our coax cable to the new position of the tv so we don’t have a cable hanging down between the tanks. We’ll be putting some art over the power outlet above the chair and getting new couches.

 

[Kryssie]

I love when people put as much thought into the look of their stand and sump area as the tank itself. Something I did not do, LOL!

Thank you so much! It’s a long process, but it’s coming together nicely. I was worried the colors would be too much at first, but I’m more comfortable now.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Best seat in the house!

 

[Kryssie]

Best seat in the house!

Definitely. It’s actually my Malamute Khaleesi’s favorite seat. She’s the one in the bottom of the photo.

 

[Kryssie]

I’ve ordered my GHL doser, a Neotherm 300 watt heater, 50lbs of CaribSea Special Grade live sand, and an XP Aqua Duetto ATO.

I’m slowly removing the Tropic Eden Tonga Pink sand to prevent any parameter spikes. I’m just really annoyed with having to keep my flow so low with this sand. It blows everywhere even with my Wav pumps only at 7% and my Cor only at 57%.

I’ve been noticing hydroids on my glass the past week, which is pretty cool. I’ve read that they will go away on there own, so I’m not too concerned about them. It’s pretty neat seeing the different types of life that develop as my tank matures. My tank has officially been cycling for only 3 weeks, so it’s still a baby.

I was hoping Kessil would be discounted for Black Friday, so I don’t have any lights yet. I expect that when I finally get around to buying and installing the AP700s up top and the H160 in the fuge I’ll have an explosion of life.

Anyway, if anyone is still following, thanks for stopping by. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

 

[ViceCityReef]

dang I should have you come over and help me with my sump area.

 

[HotRocks]

Really cool and creative build! I love it! Keep up the good work.

 

[Kryssie]

My GHL doser, Neotherm 300watt heater, XPAqua Duetto ATO, and CaribSea Special Grade sand all arrived last week, so I’ve been installing everything. The doser isn’t online yet, but will be once I order my Erlenmeyer flasks and Triton formula. My shelves are complete as well.

I’ve ordered my first fish (2 Clarkii Clownfish) who will arrive and start quarantine on Dec 6th. I’m building my livestock list. I had a flame tail tomini tang and a lavender tang in my live aquaria cart last night and as of this morning they are both sold out. I’m pretty disappointed, but that’s what I get for waiting. I currently have 2 engineer gobies in my cart as well, but I might wait until after the holidays for them.