ccole's Red Sea Reefer 350

ccole

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Hi everyone,

I've been lurking for a few months but finally decided to start a build thread for my mixed reef Red Sea Reefer 350.

Before the Red Sea Reefer, I had a 35 gallon cube tank that I upgraded very quickly after falling in love with the hobby. I set up the cube in January but only a couple months later decided I wanted a bigger tank and settled on a Red Sea Reefer 350.

Current lighting is a 4 foot T-5 hybrid fixture and two Radions (Gen 3 I believe). I have two Nero 5s for Powerheads, an Aquamaxx ConeS Co-1 for a skimmer, and a Coralife Turbo Twist 12x UV sterilizer. I dose 21 mL of All-For-Reef daily using a bubble magus dosing pump. In addition, I have added a 25 gallon display refugium/bubble tip anemone cube and dose live phytoplankton for nutrient control.

Photo from April 26th, right after curing my gulf live rock. I apologize in advance for the dirty glass and cloudy water:
April 26th Tank.jpeg

Photo from May 1st, after moving my corals and fish from my cube:
May 1st Tank.jpeg

Photo from today (unfiltered and filtered) I added some rock from another reefer tearing down their tank:
September 21st Tank unfiltered.jpeg
Sept 21st Tank.jpeg

Wow! I can't believe how much things have changed! I am currently on the tail end of a bubble algae outbreak and before that, I had an issue with bryopsis. In addition, some of the corals have made it through a couple of heat waves in the summer and an ice storm that knocked out our power for 4 days last winter. Despite all that, the corals have done really well and many have grown. My SPS aren't as colorful as they could be due to not enough light and a battle with AEF, but are growing. I am slowly increasing the light intensity on the right side of the tank in an attempt to get better colors and faster growth. I am hopeful that the AEF worms are gone after dipping all acros five times with Melafix. A few were looking bald but have since regrown completely and I haven't seen anything else getting chewed on.

In the next post, I'll add more coral pictures. I love torches and hammers!
 
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ccole

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Here are some coral pictures!

My hammer garden! Newest addition is the orange and green Aussie hammer next to the gold hammer. The gold hammer has grown from 1 head to new heads and two baby heads in only a few months! I think it is my fastest growing one.

Hammer garden.jpeg
Hammer coral garden2.jpeg

Zoa garden! I'm not sure on all names. I know I have rainbow infusions, pink zippers, gobstoppers, utter chaos, Rastas, and purpler monsters:
Zoa garden .jpeg

Torch close up, bought as joker torch, dragon soul, Todd's torch, and Aussie gold (plus a photo bomb from my CBB:

Torch Corals.jpeg
Torch corals 2.jpeg

Finally, my Duncan colony. I'm not sure how many heads it has at this point:

Duncan colony .jpeg
 
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ccole

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Did my normal water tests (Alk, calcium, nitrate, magnesium, and phosphate) and everything came out as normal. Even so, my setosa is struggling with what looks like burned tips. My alkalinity is at 8.1 and is fairly stable, so I’m not sure what is causing it. I think maybe a hammer may have been stinging it so I moved it away.

My phosphates used to hover around .02-.03, but after adding some rock from someone leaving the hobby, it hovers around .07. If it jumps over .1, I’ll add GFO to drop it back down.

My green candy can has been struggling after falling into a hammer coral. I’ve glued it down and the tissue has stopped peeling, so I’m hoping it’s on the road to recovery.

Green trumpet coral:
A53F71EE-B280-4E20-B912-E78E294A724F.jpeg
One head took the brunt of the damage and the rest look pretty good.

Setosa with “burned tips.” Strangely enough, the white tips still have polyp extension but look like they have no skin. No other sps is showing any sort of damage. If the damage continues to spread, I’ll move it to my fuge in case I have a rogue fish or urchin.
FB222BD6-8CBD-4EB6-821B-2A88D6279E24.jpeg

The boss of the tank, my yellow tang:

85D3DAC1-A32C-42FD-89FC-FE956E70B2C0.jpeg

Second in command, my CBB. I have to hand feed him LRS since he’s so slow. Other than the speed at which he eats, he's a fairly aggressive eater. So far he hasn’t touched LPS or SPS. I did originally want to add clams, but I’m afraid after seeing how much he loves the clam in LRS. I’ll probably go without.
83B8DA4C-0C25-4AED-B256-FEA892C95896.jpeg
F387C344-FFEC-4CF6-A39C-936CD4B136B2.jpeg
My two wrasses. A Carpenters and my leopard. They were two of my first additions. I got into the hobby because of my love of leopard wrasses.

16BC109A-E526-463F-B49E-72C8B5B2D555.jpeg

My goni. I tried two wild caught green ones before I determined I will only be buying aquacultured. I do want a red, pink, and green one eventually to round out my garden.
5C61EB88-61E5-4532-ACE5-C7D640DEA098.jpeg
 
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ccole

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More photographs!

I loved the timing on this photo.
237A25E4-B100-45AB-923B-EB37BC7CAC3E.jpeg

Millepora appear to be doing well. Some green highlights are coming out on the reddish-brown one. So far my lights have been a bit low for acros but I am raising them very slowly. I’m hoping they will begin to color up soon
1CC5D443-20FA-4D41-8605-42397F0FD7C1.jpeg

This acropora does fine under lower light and is a fast grower. It is even greener in person:
63E913BC-A668-4EFC-933D-9FB6045525E6.jpeg

The setosa ends appear to be doing better:
C5C59B04-0B06-4B1F-BFF5-2C70ECD7112B.jpeg

The nuclear candy cane is doing much better. I have hope the damaged head is going to grow back.
963CC2D0-AC0B-4539-8FE2-A3600B572EAB.jpeg
Crazy sweeper tentacles on my torch coral. I love the torches but they need so much room:

67A62CAD-F932-4A68-90FD-2ACF2EBC6D95.jpeg

Last but not least, a couple top down shots:
EA42BC74-F7B2-4A3D-9D0B-E68583D7B809.jpeg

2D79D5F4-2208-4780-8749-C0DDBD99E06D.jpeg
 
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ccole

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I have attached a 25 gallon macro algae refugium to this tank. At least, it was supposed to be a macro algae tank. It’s turned into a bit of a coral overflow tank. Since it’s a macro algae refugium, I don’t really care about what algae is growing as long as it’s not micro algae. So far, it’s growing few different red varieties that came in on the live rock, chaeto, and has started growing bryopsis in places. I actually think bryopsis is sort of pretty so I don’t really mind (as long as it doesn’t take over my main display). I also have patches of bubble algae which is not my favorite but that’s okay.

5D552573-A563-411A-B9AE-6D9CC5E4B7F7.jpeg



I received a bunch of corals from someone tearing down their tank. Some were in not great shape so I put almost all in this tank to recover (low light and fewer ways to get stung). I will leave the softies and GSP and may add the trumpet and hammer to the main tank depending on if they make it. I’m sort of running out of room on my low light side so I may need to get creative with placement


C49C3625-6FA2-483E-A445-2AEB11F706C0.jpeg


My BTA split a couple days ago. The two halves seem to be recovering nicely.

6BAE88C9-AD1E-4F26-BA8F-D18CC1A637DE.jpeg
FFB09F5A-41C7-4446-91A0-FEE4B02AFC02.jpeg

I also received a tiny bleached bubble tip. I have no idea if it will pull through but it responds to light and has attached in a small rock cave. Only time will tell.


3FBC7AB0-B629-4C1F-9D09-EB7CC851ACC8.jpeg

I have a cool green encrusting coral with really aggressive sweeper tentacles. You can see what it has done to its mushroom neighbor. I’m fairly certain it’s Pavona cactus.
43D57998-3DE7-4B42-B795-C36E5B72FE37.jpeg

This little joker torch head started to decay in one spot. After dipping in iodine and three days in cipro, it appears to have made a full recovery. I don’t know how long it will live and if it will be able to grow, but I’ll probably add it back to my main display tank soon. The other two heads on the colony survived with just a dip.
4E4FA104-41BF-4E45-AC60-0B633E146185.jpeg

Full shot of the 75 gallon:
0435A796-2D55-45EB-8F6B-B45F1FDF4618.jpeg

The Aussie gold is throwing a fit because I touched it while I scraped the glass. 51E52ADC-3AB8-40D9-8D83-2D7F58876D75.jpeg
 
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ccole

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I got a couple new coral today! Two goniopora, a red with blue centers and a green one. The red with blue centers is a bit bleached so I’ll keep an eye on it and maybe push it more into a cave if it starts to look badly

32B1D708-F28C-4BFD-B239-04C9C146C01E.jpeg

The green nuclear candycane gets my award for the most resilient coral in the tank. It is continuing to improve after its battle with the orange hammer.



5202DD0B-0F6E-4088-AAD2-58791A3A70B4.jpeg

the orange hammer has gotten huge. The one head is almost the size of the 7 or so head indo gold.



8482FDB8-A925-40B7-94DB-0D68BBCA63FD.jpeg

One of the BTAs is on the move and is currently sitting in the middle of my macro algae . I really need a nem guard for my powerhead, I keep turning it on and off as the BTA creeps closer. Both ate some mysis last night.

AC69A6B5-C2A4-4DE5-93C0-9448272C09D1.jpeg

The bleached BTA is looking about the same:
B59CB11D-FE1C-4700-8DBF-A1B7420AF01D.jpeg

A couple new additions to the zoa garden. The red with green skits and the full red ones are the newest:


9B2BBCEE-D02A-4745-9439-C924D32C7038.jpeg

Some day I will mount all my SPS:

EF57FC58-CCC2-4635-B102-8751454FC644.jpeg 77E56FBC-5370-42CA-94AB-D2A34E198F99.jpeg E55EF0FB-9494-43C7-9895-B236EDB5BFE1.jpeg
 
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ccole

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The new flower pots are more extended today.

DBE2821B-EDCD-4ADA-ACFE-B5A07852B3D2.jpeg

torch pictures because why not?

BF8C83DA-38C3-4472-BA64-1E08706B8170.jpeg
2CF1836F-8963-49CD-9296-C063C94B9118.jpeg
CB2DCD17-A8D3-4BBB-8854-2DFD930E26F1.jpeg

I really need to scrape the glass.
 

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Here are some coral pictures!

My hammer garden! Newest addition is the orange and green Aussie hammer next to the gold hammer. The gold hammer has grown from 1 head to new heads and two baby heads in only a few months! I think it is my fastest growing one.

Hammer garden.jpeg
Hammer coral garden2.jpeg

Zoa garden! I'm not sure on all names. I know I have rainbow infusions, pink zippers, gobstoppers, utter chaos, Rastas, and purpler monsters:
Zoa garden .jpeg

Torch close up, bought as joker torch, dragon soul, Todd's torch, and Aussie gold (plus a photo bomb from my CBB:

Torch Corals.jpeg
Torch corals 2.jpeg

Finally, my Duncan colony. I'm not sure how many heads it has at this point:

Duncan colony .jpeg
Nice
 
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ccole

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I’ve had a few set backs recently.

I’ve had my radions on acclimation mode to increase par for SPS. Unfortunately, even on the six week acclimation mode, it still bleached out my joker torch and caused my other torches to change shape. I decided to forgo most acropora for now and focus only on lower light LPS and SPS.

Many of my Acro frags went to my dad, who had a thriving SPS tank. I kept the colonies that do fine under lower light.

My large green slimer is dying from the base up. I’ll need to cut it and hope the largest branches survive.

Everything else seems to be doing decently. The joker has already started gaining some color back and the other torches are extending more. The Aussie gold and dragon soul are in the process of splitting. The indo will soon be up to 5 heads. The Todd’s torch hasn’t done much since I bought it, but it is at least a very vibrant shade of green

D4F086A3-D99F-4EEA-9540-A148A6B94770.jpeg
4BAF8E13-EBF8-400A-B9C4-9F9D860DD118.jpeg 34D13319-97D0-46C0-9624-6FC56C04CF33.jpeg

The gonis are encrusting and the bleached one is getting some color back. Interestingly, I discovered one goni stinging the others and had to move it 812CD8CA-CF5D-4E47-95FA-8F57EF3BD4CF.jpeg

Hammer corals are still looking good. As are the fish.

7C26A077-391A-4E15-84DA-2E74CE38A1A2.jpeg


Zoas are continuing to grow:

362585E3-D61C-4524-909E-3893C5AA377F.jpeg

Full tank shot:
086848C7-F332-4FED-9B53-3AD1BAA90273.jpeg BBB8EE19-C735-4838-B666-52DE8E97837C.jpeg
 
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ccole

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Lots of updates. I moved all LPS from my tank upstairs to the tank downstairs. I was worried about maintaining proper alk levels for skeleton building corals. I am turning the upstairs tank into an anemone tank after I manage to get rid of all the bubble algae…

As a consequence, my tank got a few more corals:

85E567A7-839B-49D0-8F60-15C5C5AA9B3D.jpeg

I’ve had to increase All-For-Reef dosing by about 10 mL per day, so I’m hoping that means stuff is growing.

New additions to the hammer (and frogspawn) garden:

71579B96-D338-48D8-A7B6-190E26A6F1F3.jpeg

My only NPS coral, a fathead dendro. I feed it ever other day or so.
63B60397-94CC-4F01-BAE8-EEEC23AE20E2.jpeg

Two new torches. An Aussie “Hulk” and a bluish indo one.

5C3756F9-3148-4725-A35E-ADE60B88B1FA.jpeg
(The hulk as some nice yellow undertones)

6B7C3683-82AC-42FA-B828-0AFCC5C92C52.jpeg
The bleached joker torch and red goni are coloring back up :
D14C3627-FC91-4E7C-95D6-12C99D7987C0.jpeg

E50031CE-DC1D-40EF-A05C-CBBF29D3980A.jpeg

The whole flower pot garden:
7AA9B79E-6720-472C-B460-19DCCFD30066.jpeg

Trumpets are doing well:

7F6E5269-B3F1-4105-84DC-FBFCF88448DB.jpeg
6E69D1BC-B7B1-4F20-A43D-3123B48FF625.jpeg

Anyone else’s torch put out ridiculously long sweepers?? I’m fairly certain it stung my butterfly. When the tentacle touch her, she flipped out and booked it to the other side of the tank.


4B656C61-364A-4281-972D-C590B12C00C5.jpeg


Thanks for looking!
 
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ccole

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Tank is continuing to do well. I did have to cut up my slimer after a STN event. I haven’t seen it come back yet. I am looking for suggestions on low light SPS of any variety if anyone has any suggestions. I think I finally have the Alk dosing under control.

Tank shot (things are looking full!): F36824A6-66FD-4901-961C-FC98B1166B46.jpeg

Been having a bit of trouble with my Aussie gold since ramping the lights up and then back down. It seems to be on the mend, though it did bleach a little bit. Extension is still good. It’s still in the process of splitting.



32CDD11A-20A5-4867-893B-9CE2FA0D5FA9.jpeg

The Aussie hulk torch is doing well.
FF6DBE7E-3D16-4C76-90A8-0B942A7C5307.jpeg

The joker torch and bleached flower pot are regaining color:
DC19C366-6272-4784-BCED-4429D8585B8D.jpeg
35E8E62B-2197-4F45-A843-410143D48502.jpeg

Gonis and Alvies are doing well. I got a new alvie at a live sale yesterday. Lots of new growth on the gonis. The blue/green alvie looks a lot bigger but I don’t know how much of that is increased growth or just more polyp extension

3E946379-2193-4A39-9E32-5EC40DD9552A.jpeg

Phyto has really helped my gonis put out new heads. Some new growth in the green/purple flower pot:

9FA8511C-6650-471F-823E-25C84BE58DAA.jpeg

Indo torches, hammers, and candy canes are also looking good. The purple tipped hammer is up to 5 heads, the gold has around 8

7A87FBD4-89C3-4613-A2FF-841698CEF328.jpeg
D4EB1794-6256-43C7-B820-9E007EE858F0.jpeg
25EB9FBB-2267-4523-953C-08249D7C773A.jpeg

I’m leaving for a week, which always makes me nervous.
 

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Very nice. I am leaning towards getting myself the RSR 350 when we do our next home remodel (whenever that may be). Can we see your sump setup? How's the tank been doing the past year? I'm currently running an Aquenon standard 55 gallon tank with HOB AquaMaxx AIO plus a cannister for extra filtration. I can't wait for the day I can get a new tank and a real sump.
 
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ccole

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Very nice. I am leaning towards getting myself the RSR 350 when we do our next home remodel (whenever that may be). Can we see your sump setup? How's the tank been doing the past year? I'm currently running an Aquenon standard 55 gallon tank with HOB AquaMaxx AIO plus a cannister for extra filtration. I can't wait for the day I can get a new tank and a real sump.

Hello! I do really like the Red Sea reefer. The sump is split into 4 sections. I have some filter socks and a media basket in the first section, some live rock in the second section, my skimmer, heater, and the pump to my UV sterilizer in the third section, and my return pumps in the final sections. Here’s a picture: 3FBFE113-4A70-4486-B985-C9C3DF9272C7.jpeg
The sump is nice to have!
 
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ccole

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How does your coral beauty and copper band behave with nipping?
The coral beauty is in a different tank than my corals after I saw him snacking on acans. I haven’t seen my copperband nipping but I am having some issues with my corals currently.
 
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ccole

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The last few months have been a bit tough with this tank. I’ve lost a number of coral and I still can’t figure out why. Among the casualties are my Aussie gold, the orange tip hammer, and the teal torch. I’ve been struggling with bleaching in my remaining Australian torches.

My parameters have not changed in the last 6 months. I have not adjusted the lighting. The only things that appear to be affected are my Australian torches and my one Australian hammer. SPS, gonis, zoas and indo torches/hammers appear to still be doing well and are growing. No nutrient level is at zero. I dose all-for-reef to maintain the big 3.

I have narrowed it down to the following: some sort of micronutrient deficiency, something picking at the coral, and some sort of slow acting bacterial infection. I am currently considering an ICP test and possibly a cipro treatment. I am also going to try and catch my peppermint shrimp in case he is snacking at night.


Here’s a recent picture. Things have been discouraging lately, but I’m hoping things will start to improve. I am staying away from Australian hammers/torches since I seem to have the most trouble with those.

As for good news, my goniopora and indo torches are all growing quickly.



25743B66-9B0C-4A56-AB93-DBD15E0C5B6E.jpeg
 
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ccole

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It has been a while since I last updated this thread!

Unfortunately, I ended up losing almost all of my torches. That was very discouraging. Fortunately, my large dragon soul colony and another smaller colony all survived.

I believe my issue may have been my Lamark’s angelfish and/or my copperband butterfly. I caught both picking at corals, especially my green trumpet coral. Both have been rehomed since. In addition, I also had to remove an urchin that began to snack on one one of my SPS. I haven’t had as many euphyllia issues since then and the setosa is growing back over it’s damaged spots

This is what I have left. Of the things that survived (almost all hammers, all gonis, all frogspawn), things are growing quickly. I am considering fragging a few colonies, but I really like the full look.

As for fish, I have been focusing more on wrasses.


Full tank:
BD004516-8240-43AC-ABFB-17C1D3099A04.jpeg


Of all my gonis, my purple and green one has by far grown the most. It has grown from a small frag to almost entirely encrusting the frag plug. Unfortunately, it is also quite aggressive and will sting some of my other gonis.
EDB9F4C7-3945-4FAA-8B47-8E615AE3716C.jpeg


Most of my Euphyllia: In my experience, my torches have not stung any of the hammers or frogspawn. The dragon soul torch does semi-regularly manage to get a Goni with a sweeper but they recover relatively quickly.
8D6E35D1-CE8D-4110-B50C-00F832AA3FA1.jpeg


Alvie garden: In my experience, these also grow quite quickly. They get stung pretty badly by most gonis and need to be separated. I also have a short tentacle green and pink Goni on that rock which seems to react negatively to any Goni that touches it. I currently have my bernadopora there as well, but I need to find a better spot for it as it can put out long sweepers.
DED769A0-EB8D-4D89-922B-E3ADF8FCFC3F.jpeg



More gonis: I know I have a couple aptasia on that rock. I have a peppermint shrimp that eats them so I’m not worried. It actually was covered in aptasia when I got it as an experiment
96D24A6A-3447-476A-B65F-6B2B04E3D535.jpeg


As you can see, I’m a big fan of goniopora. I seem to have good luck with them.

I dose live phyto every day and they seem to like that. I also keep relatively high phosphate levels and I wonder if that contributes to their quick growth. It seems like my tank does the best with phos between .09-.15. Any higher than that and I bring it back down with phosguard.

I’m curious on other peoples experience with elevated phosphate? Luckily I don’t get much nuisance algae in my main display tank, maybe due to a number of different herbivores? My display refugium has had green cyano recently but it stays confined only to the fuge.
 

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