Fyveonit's Red Sea Reefer 170 Build Log

[Fyveonit]

Hello R2R, I am new here but not to reefing. I was a bit of a noob when I last left off, and was on a college kid budget so my reef was pretty terrible. Aquariums have been a part of me since as far back as I could remember, I got bold and started a Reef in college after owning a FOWLR in high school. It went well, but tried to move the tank back to Texas after graduation, and it was a tragedy.





I was devastated, I gave most of my equipment to friends in need of upgrades. Swore to never start another reef until I could do it right. And I kept that promise....I think. That was almost 15 years ago, and now I am old and ready to stay home and hang with my fish!

Today Bulk Reef Supply received an order to bring a little reef to the West Texas desert...

Why the Reefer 170?

Out of all the tanks on BRS, it was a toss up between a Red Sea or an I.M. Fusion. Sumps scare me, but I also didn't feel safe cramming the back of a fusion tank with all of my equipment...15 years ago I was the H.O.B. king with my 46 Oceanic Bow...I want to avoid that. So I am manning up with a sump I guess...I may need some help regarding that when I get to the setup phase.

55 - 75 gallon would have been a lot cooler, but I went a little lower to afford better equipment overall.



I am a web developer / graphic designer by trade, and hope to have this sitting to the left of my desk. But also have some pretty nerdy plans to engineer a livestream with my tank stats on display, along with a webcam of the tank once I get it all established.



I like to stare endlessly into my tank while I think about code etc, so i'm sure getting work done will be easy when I can see all my busy creatures all the time.../s ANYWHO...Let's get to the equipment list!




HARDWARE:

1x BRS 6 STAGE UNIVERSAL WATER SAVER PLUS RO/DI SYSTEM
1x Red Sea Reefer 170 34g
1x AI Hydra 26" LED Light
1x Trigger Systems EMERALD CUBE SUMP 24.3g (The Stock Reefer Sump looked like a pain)
1x 500W FINNEX Heater
1x JBJ NANO GLO - LED REFUGIUM LIGHT
1x SYNCRA PRO (550 GPH) Return Pump
1x AUTOMATIC FEEDING SYSTEM - NEPTUNE SYSTEMS
1x BRS MINI REACTOR - 5" for Carbon and GFO
1x COBALT MJ1200 to power the reactor
1x REEF OCTOPUS CLASSIC 6" INTERNAL SPACE SAVING SKIMMER
1x NEPTUNE SYSTEMS Apex Controller
1x NEPTUNE SYSTEMS Dual Wav Pump
1x NEPTUNE SYSTEMS DOS Dosing Pump
1x NEPTUNE SYSTEMS Lunar Simulator Moonlight Kit

Aquascape:
10lbs BRS PUKANI DRY LIVE ROCK
5lbs BRS TONGA SIMPLE MULTI-BRANCH DRY LIVE ROCK
15lbs BRS FIJI DRY LIVE ROCK
5lbs BRS TONGA SHELF (FLAT PLATES) DRY LIVE ROCK
1.4kg KORALAGOON SUBSTRAT REFUGIUM SUBSTRATE
8oz RED CORALLINE - AQUASTIK EPOXY PUTTY
10lbs BAHAMAS OOLITE ARAG-ALIVE! REEF SAND
10lbs FIJI PINK ARAG-ALIVE! REEF SAND

Going to start my cycle with:
MICROBACTER7 - COMPLETE BIOCULTURE FOR MARINE 250ML - BRIGHTWELL AQUATICS

I plan to order my cleaning crew from either GARF or Tampa Bay Saltwater...With a few pounds of their live rock to use a Baserock seed once cycled.

OTHER:

I don't have a reliable LFS anywhere near me. There MIGHT be one 150 miles away, there are a few within a 5hr drive of me I'm sure...So I want to be prepared for small emergencies. I got a boxed set of supplements, test kits and a variety of dry foods for both coral and fish.

I got some TONGS! I got stung by my lionfish due to a crab knocking over my new Acro coral one morning after coming home from a usual college night out...Dove in bare handed saving the coral on my mind, 100% forgot about Tony the lionfish being dangerous...

My old Texas LFS told me I would need to be medivaced to Dallas if that ever happened...SO when I called 911 in FL and got kinda laughed at....It was a relief except the swelling and burning lasted awhile as I ran my hand under hot water....Tongs are a must now...but I also plan on keeping a pretty peaceful reef this time around too!

I got some Joes Juice, Coral Dip, Flatworm exit...I hope I never need it, but I want to have it on hand!



And now I wait for the UPS man....Whom already hates me when I order bulky BMX parts, or heavy computer stuff...I can't wait to see him silently judge me for this order...I might try and capture it for the build logs sake!


Will Update...when gear arrives!

 

[revhtree]

Awesome and can't wait to see the build!

 

[Fyveonit]

I forgot to add my plans!

Livestock:

Really like Zoas, Pulsing Xenia, Ricordia, Some basic SPS (plate and branch) would be awesome up higher in the tank. Would love an Acan / Favia coral with some crazy colors if possible.


Not real sure how much I can keep fish wise...

I want a pistol shrimp and cool looking watchman goby, those dudes kept it real in my last tank.
Would like a basic clown or two...man there are some crazy ones now.
Would also like a small anemone to hopefully host the clowns...would like some input on doing that.
Is a lettuce Nudibranch asking for trouble?

Is a Blue / Purple Gorgonian too much to handle in my tank? I have a spot feeding tool for corals.

After the tank has been established long enough and seeded with pods a Mandarin is a must..by far my favorite.


How tough is it to manage micro algae in a display?

Not gonna lie seeing this thread on Reddit is what made me finally say dangit I WANT ANOTHER REEF I really like the macro algae in this one, but don't want to go all Macro Algae either...

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/brads-natural-reef-mangroves-macros-and-more.181378/

 

[Fyveonit]

Marine Depot and Bulk Reef Supply both had to reconfirm my order (I had to order my Apex from Marine Depot as BRS was sold out online)...I hate my bank lol. I hope I don't hit any other delays!

 

[revhtree]

Keep trucking along!

 

[csund]

Good luck with the 170! I love mine.

Just an FYI the Emerald 20C won't fit in the stand. I had a custom sump built and it was 20.75" x 17.25" if I remember right. The hinges take up space on the left hand side.

 

[Fyveonit]

"Just an FYI the Emerald 20C won't fit in the stand. I had a custom sump built and it was 20.75" x 17.25" if I remember right. The hinges take up space on the left hand side."

Just kidding....We go into panic mode a day before it all arrives. How tight was it? You said 20.75"? The Emerald Cube is only 20"....welp so much for sleep tonight...



Also I looked at your build the weekend before I decided on the 170! Care to give me an in depth setup on your plumbing customization? I was really interested in it!

 

[adestafi]

Welcome to the RedSea Reefer community!!!

 

[adestafi]

And yes, we all "modify" the heck out of them lol removing hinges is ONLY the beginning

 

[Fyveonit]

Thank you! I honestly assumed there would be about an inch or two of space since the tank is 24" and the stand materials seemed about .5" thick even with hinges I was not worried really. But If all I have to do is change to some other hinges...that's no problem.

 

[Fyveonit]

Everything but the Apex and the Tank came in today! I spent my evening planning an aquascape. My father passed away a couple of years ago, and he was a science teacher with a nice fossil / gem / mineral / sea life collection. While I was in the early planning stages I asked around in some other places about the possibility to use a piece of Blue Ridge Coral from his old collection as part of my "Base Rock"


I know the piece my lose its show quality (Which was the only concern raised when I asked if it was safe to use), but I would rather see it host some new life really. It features some nice hiding spots, and also a nice surface to place frags....Looks dope too! While it would fit as it would supposed to, I wanted it to look as if something knocked it off its formation, and it came crashing down to finish the circle of life as it died and new corals grew onto it. I grabbed a few other small pieces just to help add some variation.

For the sake of a name, lets call it the DERELICTE theme ...ITS SOOOO HOT RIGHT NOW!

I used some shelf rock , and one large tonga branch to make an overhang / "cave" with a lot of entry points around the area.

I found a neat blog on this site regarding adding a bottle to your reef, and I thought it was an awesome idea! I grabbed a 6 pack of some Lucky Buddha beer, and broke the bottom off of one. I used some leftover live rock epoxy to cover the sharp edges, cant wait till it's encrusted and something hopefully hangs out in it! I went with this bottle b/c it looks very Indo Pacific....




Anywho here are some pics finally!

 

[Fyveonit]

Carved up a "sharper" yet still safe edge on the bottle. Still not done with it...But I decided to change the scape up JUST a hair! I am 99.99% happy with it and wont change it I think! I want a small rock for a ZOA island on its own up front...then I will be 100%

Hooking the BRS RO/DI up in the washroom today. Will do the Mixing station on a later day. After i prime and flush, I am going to just fill a BRUTE on a roller up to start mixing salt while I wait.

I am still looking for a clean setup on a mixing station here. So I will do it the semi hard way for now!


I want to elevate my RO/DI only BRUTE to just install a bulkhead / spigot to gravity feed down into my saltwater BRUTE on rollers whenever I need to mix. I won't need to mix a ton of SW for changes thankfully.

 

[Fyveonit]

RO/DI hooked up reading 000 on both line 2 and 3 of my TDS! GREAT SUCCESS!!!!! After I primed the unit, I made 25ish gallons of SW reading 32 on my hydrometer. Its currently sealed up and stirring at 75 degrees F until the tank arrives.

While I mixed water and watched Netflix, I removed the neck of the bottle, and gave it the epoxy treatment. I wanted it to still have SOME of a neck profile to still look like a bottle, so I used my remaining epoxy to sculpt a "jagged but safe" edge. This also helps wedge it into the base rock. This SHOULD prevent a snail clog by opening it up! Then added some barnacles because barnacles....

I don't think I can post any more updates until the tank gets here...

 

[Daniel@R2R]

That scape looks awesome! I love the coral and bottle additions! Great work so far!

 

[Fyveonit]

Darn where were you in the last 24 hours? I posted the scape on Reddit and a few other places looking for critiques, and they all said it wasn't natural looking enough. As someone with a heavy Art / Science background...I have no problem with some hard advice! So I busted out my screwdriver, and broke up a rather large piece of my BRS FIJI rock. And a medium sized piece of BRS Pukani.


I went for the same rule of thirds layout, but with a more natural flow I hope! The bottle is now a dead end, but looks like it's slowly becoming another brick in the wall that is the reef now.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Darn where were you in the last 24 hours? I posted the scape on Reddit and a few other places looking for critiques, and they all said it wasn't natural looking enough. As someone with a heavy Art / Science background...I have no problem with some hard advice! So I busted out my screwdriver, and broke up a rather large piece of my BRS FIJI rock. And a medium sized piece of BRS Pukani.


I went for the same rule of thirds layout, but with a more natural flow I hope! The bottle is now a dead end, but looks like it's slowly becoming another brick in the wall that is the reef now.

Ha ha!! Well, I like the new scape too. I'm glad you kept the bottle and Blue Ridge. The new version is nice and provides good shelf space for coral as well.

 

[Fyveonit]

Tank arrived Monday afternoon, its starting to clear up. did my first No3 test yesterday...reading 1.0...will try to self log the spike via Apex Fusion.

really happy with it all, however Csund was correct, the Emerald sump was a no go for now. All other equipment is running well in the stock sump.


should I skim at all during my cycle. whats a good temp range to keep my water via the apex...this is my first controller.

 

[Fyveonit]

Current apex reading...using beginner setup until I feel froggy.

 

[Fyveonit]

No3 is rising

I added some seeder rock from a Petco in a nearby town (20 min drive). I'm actually quite happy with the guy there, he seemed to care about his tanks. although a few had a minor cyano problem. The rock tank was clean..

Edit: I also I forgot to switch my feeder off and it gave the tank some pellets haha...off well..I hope Speedy is hungry...


HITCHHIKERSO SO FAR:

TONS of pods

a bristle worm..trying to spot it for a pic...He had a red mouth, greyish body with some small white tufts of hair around each section. he was hanging out of the rock and face first in the sand. I tried to get a pic, but he pulled back into the rock. Hope he's harmless, He looks neat! It's pretty small, about as round as a probe wire for scale. Not sure on length...

a Gammatus shrimp???...I think...he's like a giant pod..hauls butt in and out of his rock..almost roach like 1/4" long..I like him...I named him Speedy Gonzalez

some micro red feather dusters are encrusted on some of the rock...

 

[Hentz]

Looks good man! Very interesting aquascape.
There is a lot going on in there already, can't wait to see it filled with some corals.

I love the Reefer 170, its such a clean and well-built tank. Though all of the Reefer series from Red Sea are such nice and sexy tanks!!

I also love that you used the beer bottle. I hope you dumped it out and didn't drink it. I love love all kinds of beer, but man.. That was one that grossed me out lol. But on a serious not, I really like how you utilized it. Incredibly clever.

Definitely following along to this build man! Cheers