Squirrellyman
Community Member
Finally, after a year of lurking and debating, I finally made the plunge into the reef. We have 4 freshwater tanks of different varieties, but this is our first reef tank. With much help from the members here (and our LFS), we went with the following.
Set up the system on July 25 with the live sand. Fed the empty tank tropical flakes for a few days while waiting for the live rock. Maybe that helps start the cycle?
Live rock arrived on July 31 via air freight, which I picked up at the airport. (You can also get it FedEx'ed to your house, but I don't live too far form the airport and air freight is less expensive.) Live rock didn't stink!
Lots of worms, some crabs, several small starfish. I cleaned it after a high salinity dip, and into the tank to cycle. Some die off for sure, but not at all what I had feared. They did a great job packaging it, and the communication with Phil was top notch. (Thank you, KP Aquatics!)
I also got some chaeto which I added to the refugium.
Put LR in the tank, and it's currently cycling. I added an activated carbon bag the yesterday, which greatly reduced the stank. Ammonia at 1ppm, nitrites at 0.25ppm, no nitrates. I know it's early.
I wasn't planning to immediately replace the Reefer 250's included auto top-off, but we're only a week into this and the pump chamber already ran dry with a full reservoir after seemingly working fine for a few days. It seemed like the float valve was stuck up (as it if was floating, but it was not!) After some research here, I ordered the Smart ATO Micro, since a pump-based ATO is a highly recommended upgrade, anyway.
I'll continue to update this thread as the tank progresses in hopes this voyage may help someone else out!
Obligatory empty tank pictures are attached. Remember - it's not lit with the real light yet, and the electronics in the cabinet aren't yet mounted! This weekend, I'll actually mount everything instead of having a pile of electronics randomly laying in the cabinet. (I added GFCI outlet, but still not a great idea.)
I've had some issues dialing in the skimmer. But again, with help here, I'm learning it's actually too early to even attempt to dial it in. Will just let it run for a while, draining the cup into a bucket for a week or two and then make an attempt.
Similar issue with the adjustment knob. It's fairly quiet now, but it's trickling into the emergency pipe which I know is perfectly fine but not what I want. I've gotten it stable (I thought) a couple of times with the water in the overflow about a half inch or so under the emergency drain. Then it's nearly silent. Skimmer becomes the loudest thing.
One question - in the third picture below, you'll see some white strands coming off the live rock. Any idea what that is? And the real question... is it anything to worry about? I didn't notice it for the first day, but now it seems to be all over several of the rocks.
- Red Sea Reefer 250 (54g display tank + 11g in the sump)
- Red Sea RSK 300 skimmer
- Current USA 6010 pump in the sump (1900 max gph)
- Current USA eFlux 6001 & 6005 wave pump kit & accessory pump (1050 max gph each)
- Canagrow LED grow live for the refugium
- On its way: Odyssea T5 Quad Timer Aquarium Light
- On its way: Smart ATO Micro
- 50 lbs. of live rock from KP Aquatics
- 40 lbs. of live sand (Caribsea)
- In garage: Spectrapure RODI system and 3x new unused 32g Rubbermaid Brute trash cans
Set up the system on July 25 with the live sand. Fed the empty tank tropical flakes for a few days while waiting for the live rock. Maybe that helps start the cycle?
Live rock arrived on July 31 via air freight, which I picked up at the airport. (You can also get it FedEx'ed to your house, but I don't live too far form the airport and air freight is less expensive.) Live rock didn't stink!
Lots of worms, some crabs, several small starfish. I cleaned it after a high salinity dip, and into the tank to cycle. Some die off for sure, but not at all what I had feared. They did a great job packaging it, and the communication with Phil was top notch. (Thank you, KP Aquatics!)I also got some chaeto which I added to the refugium.
Put LR in the tank, and it's currently cycling. I added an activated carbon bag the yesterday, which greatly reduced the stank. Ammonia at 1ppm, nitrites at 0.25ppm, no nitrates. I know it's early.
I wasn't planning to immediately replace the Reefer 250's included auto top-off, but we're only a week into this and the pump chamber already ran dry with a full reservoir after seemingly working fine for a few days. It seemed like the float valve was stuck up (as it if was floating, but it was not!) After some research here, I ordered the Smart ATO Micro, since a pump-based ATO is a highly recommended upgrade, anyway.
I'll continue to update this thread as the tank progresses in hopes this voyage may help someone else out!
Obligatory empty tank pictures are attached. Remember - it's not lit with the real light yet, and the electronics in the cabinet aren't yet mounted! This weekend, I'll actually mount everything instead of having a pile of electronics randomly laying in the cabinet. (I added GFCI outlet, but still not a great idea.)
I've had some issues dialing in the skimmer. But again, with help here, I'm learning it's actually too early to even attempt to dial it in. Will just let it run for a while, draining the cup into a bucket for a week or two and then make an attempt.
Similar issue with the adjustment knob. It's fairly quiet now, but it's trickling into the emergency pipe which I know is perfectly fine but not what I want. I've gotten it stable (I thought) a couple of times with the water in the overflow about a half inch or so under the emergency drain. Then it's nearly silent. Skimmer becomes the loudest thing.
One question - in the third picture below, you'll see some white strands coming off the live rock. Any idea what that is? And the real question... is it anything to worry about? I didn't notice it for the first day, but now it seems to be all over several of the rocks.
Last edited:
