Boxofwater Reefer 350 Build

[boxofwater]

Long time lurker, first time poster

Ive been in the hobby for many years, with lots of ups and downs. Ive had times I was 100% into my tank, and others where it was pulling teeth for me to clean the glass. My wife and I moved into our first home about 3 years ago, where I upgraded my old Solana tank to a 24 gallon IM lagoon. Came home a few weeks ago from a long weekend in the mountains to water on the floor.. oh no.

Called a friend to bring over a spare tank so I could save what I could. I was ready to give up, try to sell the livestock that survives, and be done with the hobby. My wife quickly snapped me out of that nonsense, and mentioned that when we moved into house I wanted a different tank, but we couldn't afford it. She told me go for it.

So here we are! Parts are starting to trickle in, and the tank is scheduled to be delivered this Friday.

Equipment List
1 x Reefer 350 - White
1 x Reef Octopus Classic 150sss 6" Protein Skimmer
2 x Nero 5 Powerhead
1 x Reef Octopus VarioS-6 DC Return Pump
2 X Radion XR15 G5 Pro LED
2 X Radion XR15 G5 Tank Mount System
1 X AutoAqua Smart ATO
1 X Tunze Osmolator 3155
2 X InkBird Controller
2 X 300w Finnex TH Deluxe Titanium Heaters
40lbs Caribsea Liferock
55lbs Reef Saver Rock

 

[boxofwater]

Im starting of with 40lbs of Caribsea Liferock (Shapes package) so hopefully that will be enough to give me what im looking for. I will be moving over a few rocks from my current holding tank as well.

I bought some E-Marco 400 (Pink) to work on my scape, and marked out an outline of my tank.

For the life of me I could not find a photo of the Liferock broken in half, so hopefully this photo will help someone in the future.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Im in! Im a sucker for a reefer build.

 

[boxofwater]

My LFS called me yesterday saying the tank came in, and everything arrived ok. They asked if I wanted it delivered a day early. Nice! Last night I got the stand built, and bottom of the sump painted white.

 

[boxofwater]

I just realized because the hole in the back of the stand is not centered. Is it safe to have power strips plugged into short extension cords? My idea it to have two short extension cords run from the wall, six inches over into the stand. Each extension cord would then have a power strip installed. Would that be safe? I could probably pull the stand further away from the wall so I could reach over and unplug if needed, but would prefer to have it closer to the wall.

 

[harley32907]

As long as the extension cords are thick as the power strip cord

 

[brett_schn]

Welcome to r2r. Glad to be following along!

 

[boxofwater]

Welcome to r2r. Glad to be following along!

Thanks Brett!

 

[boxofwater]

Finished installing the custom manifold. First time plumbing so nothing is straight. Overall I feel it still looks ok. Been leak testing for the past hour. All good so far!

 

[boxofwater]

Leak tested my plumbing for a week. All seems to be good. Now to work on hiding the cords!

 

[boxofwater]

Played with the Caribsea Liferock for a while, and couldn't come up with a scape I liked. Decided to try out the NSA Aquascape BRS had made popular. Still one more structure to make, and a few detail pieces to add. Hopefully can add saltwater by the end of the week.

 

[Bcheek]

That looks really good!

 

[boxofwater]

Thoughts / critiques? Besides a few minor additions I think I am done. Live sand and water go in this Friday

 

[Reverend Turtle]

Thoughts / critiques? Besides a few minor additions I think I am done. Live sand and water go in this Friday

I'm really digging it.

 

[boxofwater]

Water and sand were added on Friday. Let the tank heat up, and added Dr Tim’s today and dosed ammonia to 2ppm. Let the cycle begin!

 

[boxofwater]

Ammonia has dropped to about .2, but Nitrites are still over 1ppm. (Not sure how high, my RedSea test kit only goes to 1). It's been quite a while since I have cycled a tank, I did some reading on here. Looks like Nitrites are now considered nothing to worry about? Not sure if I should dose ammonia to 2ppm again, to verify it goes down within 24 hours or not.

 

[dj23bol]

Looking good be good to follow

 

[boxofwater]

@brandon429 You seem to be very knowledgeable in this. What are your thoughts?

20 Nov- Live sand and water from LFS added. New tank, dry BRS ReefSaver rock.

22 Nov- Dr. Tims added with all pumps off for two hours. Later that night dosed ammonia to 2ppm. (Verified with Red Sea test kit)

24 Nov- Ammonia dropped to 1.2ppm, Nitrite .1ppm

25, 26, 27 Nov- Ammonia 1.2ppm, Nitrite .1ppm

28 Nov- Thought I might have received a bad bottle of Dr. Tims, added Bio-Spira.

29 Nov- Ammonia .2ppm, Nitrite 1+ppm

30 Nov- Ammonia 0 - .2ppm, Nitrite 1+ppm

Test kit has been also used on my current tank, with results as expected. From reading some of your posts it seems Nitrite is not an issue anymore? Do you have any suggestions on next steps? dose Ammonia to 2ppm to verify it drops in 24 hours? Wait another week before start to move a few corals over? Water Change?

 

[brandon429]

you are fully done. Its easy to find working proof threads now since each strain of bottle bac is used so frequently. the minor drop in ammonia was the signal point on the dr tims and for the biospira, that's skip cycle able, which is why yours is ready. a full reef on day one with one dose of biospira and no testing.

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

It would be prudent to add your starting clean up crew etc. Nobody says you have to break ikes record for fastest full reef but you can do that too apparently lol

Dosers in 2020 took cycling waits and relegated them to the era of dialup