Arin's first reef tank: Reefer 350 Build

[phatduckk]

What happened to the ammonia alert? Sorry I've been away. Sometimes the difference between the green (alert) and yellow (normal) can be very subtle and it looks green in some light.

that’s exactly what happened. If I turn off the ambient, room lighting and only leave the tank light on its shiny, yellow... otherwise you see a green-ish hue. Found a few threads about it and felt 1/2 dumb

 

[phatduckk]

Finally getting somewhere with my cycle.

First dose of Dr Tims wasn’t able to reduce the ammonia at all (added the one they sell). Ammonia was pegged beyond the reading level of my Red Sea kit. After a couple weeks I caved and added Bio-Spira and that worked like a charm - sending ammonia to 0 in about 2 days.

Now the nitrites started reading off the charts. Didn’t dose anything and just waited this time. Took about 10 days and they’re finally around 0.2 or so.

Tested twice just to make sure. So looks like we’re getting somewhere. I’ll wait a day, retest then dose 2ppm ammonium chloride to see how the tank responds.

first 2 fish still have about 3 weeks left in QT so it looks like the timing is going to work out!

 

[SCHAULJ]

I haven't turned the skimmer on yet but will soon - I always figured I'd just raise the skimmer to get to the proper height. Is there a way to adjust the water level in the skimmer chamber? I thought only the return section was controllable and the rest just did what it does.

Totally new to this so any tips are much appreciated

I have the V3 sump as well, egg crate is not needed. You can adjust the gate between the skimmer and return chambers to get to the proper height. We have a very similar set up. You will enjoy that skimmer as well, it does a great job. I hope you enjoy the reefer 350 as much as i do.

 

[AdamB]

Welcome and looks like you are off to a great start.. Looks like your all in!

 

[phatduckk]

I have the V3 sump as well, egg crate is not needed. You can adjust the gate between the skimmer and return chambers to get to the proper height. We have a very similar set up. You will enjoy that skimmer as well, it does a great job. I hope you enjoy the reefer 350 as much as i do.

Woah... how do you adjust that gate? Totally missed that as an option!

I ended up buying a 9x9x1 piece of acrylic to raise the skimmer but adjusting the gate seems like a better way to go

 

[phatduckk]

Welcome and looks like you are off to a great start.. Looks like your all in!

thanks. Ya I’m really enjoying it though, I’ll admit, fish in QT is pretty stressful!

 

[SCHAULJ]

Woah... how do you adjust that gate? Totally missed that as an option!

I ended up buying a 9x9x1 piece of acrylic to raise the skimmer but adjusting the gate seems like a better way to go

Still relatively new here... just saw this. There are 2 large plastic screw knobs between the skimmer and return chamber - next to the large piece of foam (bubble trap). Untighten them and lower the gate so the water level hits the middle of the water level sticker on the skimmer stem. The bubble trap foam will sit a little higher than the gate now but thats fine. I had a separate conversation w/ a @Red Sea rep as well and they agreed - no issue. Hope this helps. This is certainly better than placing egg crate in the bottom imo.

 

[Westside Guy]

Still relatively new here... just saw this. There are 2 large plastic screw knobs between the skimmer and return chamber - next to the large piece of foam (bubble trap). Untighten them and lower the gate so the water level hits the middle of the water level sticker on the skimmer stem. The bubble trap foam will sit a little higher than the gate now but thats fine. I had a separate conversation w/ a @Red Sea rep as well and they agreed - no issue. Hope this helps. This is certainly better than placing egg crate in the bottom imo.

Here are closeups of the red sticker on the pole of the control knob. Adjust your water level to be in the middle of the red sticker.

 

[phatduckk]

Here are closeups of the red sticker on the pole of the control knob. Adjust your water level to be in the middle of the red sticker.

awesome. I just dug in after the post a couple weeks ago and found it. Now I’m smack in the middle of the red tap. Thanks!

 

[KC V.]

Catching up here again. Any updates?

 

[phatduckk]

Catching up here again. Any updates?

small ones! I'll get some pics up in a bit but here's the boring, bullet point version for now

• my fish in QT didn't make it. They had brook and the symptoms showed up on Saturday night around 11pm. I didn't have formalin on hand (only thing I didn't have) and by morning they were lost
• I may have cross contaminated the DT by using the same scraper from my QT... as such, I'm decided to go fallow for 6 weeks (ends Dec 1). I've begun working with DrReef on HumbleFish's forum & he's got 4 fish in his QT for me which I expect to get in a few weeks
• I got a Kessil H160 refugium light and am growing chaeto pretty well
• The light bleed caused some algae in my skimmer so I built an acrylic light shield which has worked super well
• I finally received my lid from ClearView Lids
• And, just a few days ago, I got my Trident hooked up. I saw them for sale a couple months ago, hopped on one & stashed it in the closet till last week. The original was actually busted but Neptune Support was super easy to deal with and they sent me a replacement in about 2 days.
• I purchased a Dos too - still not hooked up
• Finally, I upgraded from a 5 gallon jug to an eShopps 10g ATO. Mostly because I needed something to put the Trident on LOL

I'll get some pics by the end of the night. So, no fish yet,

 

[phatduckk]

Catching up here again. Any updates?

awesome dog BTW!!!

 

[KC V.]

awesome dog BTW!!!

Thank you! Same to you! And thanks for the update. Looking forward to hearing/seeing how the post-fallow period is going! It sounds like your tank has kept you busy throughout this period with other experiments and projects, though!

 

[phatduckk]

Thank you! Same to you! And thanks for the update. Looking forward to hearing/seeing how the post-fallow period is going! It sounds like your tank has kept you busy throughout this period with other experiments and projects, though!

Fallow period is done and I found a place that will fully QT fish. Fish should be here in a week or two. Gonna do a massive water change before they get here but otherwise I’m done with experimenting for now lol

 

[phatduckk]

OK - life's been crazy but there's a bunch of updates.

Here's the Trident all setup and cranking. I finally calibrated it today after letting it run for about 3 or 4 weeks. The factory calibration seems fine as the readings match pre/post calibration.

Trident's now sitting on top of a new ATO Reservoir too. I was using a 5 gallon water jug but sine I needed somewhere to put the Trident I bought an Eshopps 10g. I actually hate that it has a spigot on it but, its fine... it holds water.

I also spent a portion of the day getting my Dos put into place. The process was slightly annoying as I tried to avoid pulling the whole control board thing out and decided to drill it in place. Here's the mini progression of the process:

I don't have the Dos hooked up yet - its just in place. I made a couple of the DIY Voss water container things today too; tomorrow I'll mix up some 2 part and get the Dos running with the whole Trident Assisted Dosing.

Final update is that my fish guy emailed today and I should have my first 4 fish ion Jan 7 or 8. I met him through @Humblefish and he did the whole QT process. I'll be getting a bonded pair of clowns, a gramma and a tailspot blenny.

Finally - here's a full tank shot.

 

[phatduckk]

Alrighty - productive morning so far. Today I mixes up gallon jugs of BRS 2 part... not too exciting but necessary; but, on the more interesting side of things, I got the Dos hooked up, primed and calibrated:

I actually ran out of the tubing they included in the box (which makes no sense since my lines aren't long) so I used blue airline for the Alk. Worked out as it'll help me identify which is which easier.

I also did a bastardized version of the Voss bottle mod. Instead of using a bulkhead etc I just drilled a hole and inserted a 1/4" rubber grommet to hold the tube in place; fits super snug actually.

I read too many mixed things about whether RODI tubing was "safe" to use so I thought I'd just keep it simple and skip the bulkhead, RODI & acrylic stuff. Maybe I'll revisit it at some point - but for now it's fine.

Gonna wait till the noon Trident run, then manually dose to the params I want to keep. After that I'll go ahead and setup the Trident Assisted Dosing (probably tomorrow).

I also ordered some frag racks from @cromag27 that i'm excited to get soon. Should have fish and coral in there in about 2 weeks (finally!!!)

 

[phatduckk]

It’s been months and, finally, I get my fish tomorrow. A pair of quarantined and treated clowns along with a royal gramma.

After cross contaminating my DT with Brook, going fallow I’ll finally have something in my tank tomorrow by lunch!

I’m very excited

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Looking forward to seeing the new inhabitants!

 

[phatduckk]

They're here!!!!

only got one good pic as I wanted to get them floating in the sump ASAP

 

[SCHAULJ]

Hows the livestock? Added anything new?

Do yourself a favor and monitor nitrates and phosphates closely. The RSK300 skimmer works great almost to great and stripped my tank of all nutrients. Both nitrates and phosphates hit zero. I had an ugly case of dinos (i think i just beat) I battled for 4 months...