After being away from the hobby for a few years I've decided I've been away long enough and found a spot in the house for a small mixed reef tank. The footprint I'm looking for is something in the 24"x20"x20". I want a setup with a sump and some flexibility in terms of what can be added below it, all without looking to expand much outside of the stand. For perspective, here is a picture of the desired location. The door on the right is a double door to my office and the left side door is rarely opened. We've had furniture there before so not intrusive at all with that footprint.
I also told myself that I would not buy a new tank without a proper RO & water change setup. My RO unit was in need of some new filters and a good cleaning, having made about 10 gallons a week for the last 5 years to sustain a 15 gallon FOWLR tank which houses just a couple of clowns. Here it is, new filters and ready to go, 2 tds coming out of the RO, 0 tds coming out of the DI stage.
And finally, even with the success of my 65g going back nearly 10 years ago now, I never really graduated from 5 gallon buckets. It was this brute force method which resulted in multiple floods and the ruining of a laminate floor. This time it would have to be different. So I decided to build a proper water station, with the top container holding my RO water with a float valve and the bottom setup with a mixing pump and soon to have a hose connected. This hose will allow me to fill the tank in the house from the garage, with no 5 gallon buckets required.
So now that my pre-reqs are just about complete (have to clean up the mix container and work a bit on the plumbing), I have started looking at tanks. I was just about sold on the Red Sea Reefer 170, as it has the perfect footprint and is a very nice setup. However, I've also seen the Waterbox Marine X 60.2, which has a similar footprint with a bigger sump. Does anyone here have any feedback on one vs. the other? Any other contenders out there with a similar footprint?
Whichever way I go I will post the equipment list here as I decide on one piece of gear vs. another. I sold most of my 65g setup so I'll be treating this as a start from scratch scenario.
Oh, and have patience as this will be a slow build.
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Up-to-date Equipment List
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I also told myself that I would not buy a new tank without a proper RO & water change setup. My RO unit was in need of some new filters and a good cleaning, having made about 10 gallons a week for the last 5 years to sustain a 15 gallon FOWLR tank which houses just a couple of clowns. Here it is, new filters and ready to go, 2 tds coming out of the RO, 0 tds coming out of the DI stage.
And finally, even with the success of my 65g going back nearly 10 years ago now, I never really graduated from 5 gallon buckets. It was this brute force method which resulted in multiple floods and the ruining of a laminate floor. This time it would have to be different. So I decided to build a proper water station, with the top container holding my RO water with a float valve and the bottom setup with a mixing pump and soon to have a hose connected. This hose will allow me to fill the tank in the house from the garage, with no 5 gallon buckets required.
So now that my pre-reqs are just about complete (have to clean up the mix container and work a bit on the plumbing), I have started looking at tanks. I was just about sold on the Red Sea Reefer 170, as it has the perfect footprint and is a very nice setup. However, I've also seen the Waterbox Marine X 60.2, which has a similar footprint with a bigger sump. Does anyone here have any feedback on one vs. the other? Any other contenders out there with a similar footprint?
Whichever way I go I will post the equipment list here as I decide on one piece of gear vs. another. I sold most of my 65g setup so I'll be treating this as a start from scratch scenario.
Oh, and have patience as this will be a slow build.
***********************
Up-to-date Equipment List
***********************
Tank | Red Sea Reefer 170 |
Return Pump | Reef Octopus VarioS-2 DC Pump |
Skimmer | Bubble Magus Curve 5 Elite |
Heater | Eheim JAGER 150W Heater |
Heater Controller | Inkbird ITC-308 |
Lid | Custom Screen Lid - An nstiesi production |
Powerhead | Red Sea ReefWave 25 |
Lighting | Radion XR15 G5 Blue LED |
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