El Kae's RS Reefer 170

DHill6 · Jul 16, 2018

Very nice, colors are fantastic!

DHill6 · Jul 16, 2018

Export is bio balls and skimmer, handles all the feeding?

CoralDanimal · Jul 18, 2018

Absolutely beautiful tank. What sump are you using?

shawnriv · Jul 20, 2018

Amazing tank! I currently own the Red Sea 350 and am looking for something a bit more manageable. I haven't had much success with the 350 due to algae problems and corals dying off. I honestly want to start over with new rock and sand and was thinking the 170 since like I said, seems more manageable - if there are any issues (nutrient or parameters) it's less water to change out and possibly may fix whatever problem the tank is having. Have you had any issues keeping water parameters consistent and what about exporting nutrients?

IslandLifeReef · Jul 27, 2018

shawnriv said:
Amazing tank! I currently own the Red Sea 350 and am looking for something a bit more manageable. I haven't had much success with the 350 due to algae problems and corals dying off. I honestly want to start over with new rock and sand and was thinking the 170 since like I said, seems more manageable - if there are any issues (nutrient or parameters) it's less water to change out and possibly may fix whatever problem the tank is having. Have you had any issues keeping water parameters consistent and what about exporting nutrients?

@shawnriv, before you decide to go the smaller tank route, you might want to consider that smaller tanks are harder to keep stable. If you already have a 350, I would work on solving the problems in it rather than going to a smaller tank. If all else fails, a restart on the 350 would be the way I would go.

shawnriv · Jul 31, 2018

IslandLifeReef said:
@shawnriv, before you decide to go the smaller tank route, you might want to consider that smaller tanks are harder to keep stable. If you already have a 350, I would work on solving the problems in it rather than going to a smaller tank. If all else fails, a restart on the 350 would be the way I would go.

Yes, I agree with you. After some thought, I'm going to begin over. I was speaking with another local reefer and he believed it could be the rock I am using. It was my first time using Bulk Reef Supply's Pukani (which is now discontinued) and had this problem. I've set up four tanks before this using their Reef Saver rock and always had success. So I'm going to house my tank inhabitants in a couple quarantine tanks for the meantime while I break down, remove all rock and sand, vinegar wash, and begin the tank over with new rock, sand, and begin a cycle.

Darren Caballero · Aug 24, 2018

Geez this is gorgeous man. I have a 170 myself and this is an inspiration!

El.Kae · Sep 9, 2018

Update:

It's been several months since I've done a real update. After switching to calcium reactor, the tank started going downhill. I point it to me doing the switch cold turkey; pulled the doser and installed calcrx in an afternoon. I should have done a gradual change over. Corals were starting to grow into each other or shading those below them. That coupled with bouts of rtn from the reactor swap, I knew I wanted a reboot. Shortly after documenting my tank one last time, I pulled all the rock, plugged all the coral and threw them on a rack. That's how the tank currently sits. So here is the first teaser of my new system thus far.

Quick specs: 50lagoon, drilled with Eclipse overflow. 8020 Stand, Custom sump. I will be starting a new thread in the coming weeks to document that new system.