Hokiereef - Red Sea Reefer 3xl 900 Tank Upgrade/Build

[hokiereef]

First fish thru quarantine... exciting.

 

[hokiereef]

Next Monday will be 76 days fallow... the big day to move old tank contents into the new tank.
Super excited. 76 days is a long time

And quarantine has been tough.

 

[hokiereef]

All the old contents moved into the new tank. Aquascape complete.
Lots of room to grow and add - looks so empty compared to the Reefer 170.

 

[metzer]

Thats going to be a cool zoa tunga rock garden when it fills in.

 

[hokiereef]

Hopefully it fills in as planned! - fingers crossed.

Wanted to bring some shapes to the zoo garden... my wife had the idea.

 

[bdouglas119]

So I had put together the equipment list and tried to convince the wife it was a family expense (she bought it!):
- Reefer 3xl 900
- Red Sea RSK-900 Skimmer
- APEX EL controller (first one I have ever had)
- 2 APEX COR-20 return pumps (overkill, I know, but wanted 2 in case one failed)
- 3 Radion XR-30 G5 Blues (I wasn't sure on these, so I got the XR15 G5 Blue on the frag tank and loved the way the corals popped - I was always so jealous of other pics of corals I had in my tank looking better than mine)
- Tunze Osmolator
- Advanced Acrylics ATO reservoir (I wanted on the side to maximize cabinet room and was leery of plumbing the RODI direct - maybe someday) 7"x27"x23" ~20Gallons
- Clearview lid (i had this on both my 350 and my 170 - love them)

While I had taken delivery and set up all of my other tanks, it wasn't possible with this tank so I had the team at Fish Room in Raleigh order, deliver and set it up.
They were great! Highly recommend them for tank delivery/install.
Pic of the install and my ATO reservoir from Advanced Acrylics (delivered in 2 weeks!)

Wow I’m just outside Raleigh and go to Fish Room all the time. I love the ATO. I’m about to order a 900 as well. Can you tell me what they charged you for the ATO?

 

[hokiereef]

Wow I’m just outside Raleigh and go to Fish Room all the time. I love the ATO. I’m about to order a 900 as well. Can you tell me what they charged you for the ATO?

Great to meet Raleigh Reefers!

It was a custom from Advanced Acrylics. I asked them to adjust this:

Ref: ATO118 - White ATO Reservoir Narrow Fit Version

3"x12"x12" - 1.75 Gal 3"x16"x16" - 3.25 Gal 3"x20"x20" - 5 Gal 4"x12"x12" - 2.5 Gal 4"x14"x14" - 3.3 Gal 4"x16"x16" - 4.25 Gal 4'x20"x20" - 6.75 Gal 4"x24"x24" - 10 Gal (Pictured) 5"x12"x12" - 3 Gal 5"x16"x16" - 5.5 Gal 5"x20"x20" - 8.5 Gal 5"x24"x24" -12.25 Gal View-able front window for water...

advancedacrylics.com

I asked for a 7" wide by 24" deep by 28" high version. It's roughly 20 gallons.
They charged $395 for it.

It really is perfect for what I want to do - fill my ATO reservoir once a week or so. With the heat on more it lasts about 8 days for me.

Good luck with the 900! It's a great tank.

 

[hokiereef]

I've upped my feeding program now that the tank has been running a while.
I'm dosing Reef Energy AB+ daily, along with the Reef Frenzy i feed.

I also installed the new Plank Feeder this weekend.
It's working great, I made my own food - freeze dried Mysis, freeze dried zooplankton, pellets, reef roids and benereef.
I ran a test for time of feed and set it to feed every 1 1/2 hours for 30 seconds.

I had to buy a porthole from BRS for my Clearview lid, but it worked perfectly and now sits on top of the lid

 

[bdouglas119]

Great to meet Raleigh Reefers!

It was a custom from Advanced Acrylics. I asked them to adjust this:

Ref: ATO118 - White ATO Reservoir Narrow Fit Version

3"x12"x12" - 1.75 Gal 3"x16"x16" - 3.25 Gal 3"x20"x20" - 5 Gal 4"x12"x12" - 2.5 Gal 4"x14"x14" - 3.3 Gal 4"x16"x16" - 4.25 Gal 4'x20"x20" - 6.75 Gal 4"x24"x24" - 10 Gal (Pictured) 5"x12"x12" - 3 Gal 5"x16"x16" - 5.5 Gal 5"x20"x20" - 8.5 Gal 5"x24"x24" -12.25 Gal View-able front window for water...

advancedacrylics.com

I asked for a 7" wide by 24" deep by 28" high version. It's roughly 10 gallons.
They charged $395 for it.

It really is perfect for what I want to do - fill my ATO reservoir once a week or so. With the heat on more it lasts about 8 days for me.

Good luck with the 900! It's a great tank.

Thanks man! i can't wait to get mine!

 

[Manny’s Reef]

So in late summer I started the plan for the upgrade.
I had picked the Reefer 3xl, so knowing the weight/dimensions, I wanted to be sure my house could hold it.

I live in a newer house with a crawlspace and I-joists. Not sure if that's good or bad (have heard both) but opted not to chance anything, so I hired a structural engineer.

He said that "it might be ok as is, but I'd rather build it for 3x projected load"
So, he had me reinforce the existing footings and add a beam to decrease the joist span.

So did they add the row with the cinder blocks or the row right in front of it?

 

[hokiereef]

So did they add the row with the cinder blocks or the row right in front of it?

They added the closest row. Cinder blocks were the existing footings for the house.
Engineer added 2 posts between them and the other beam and pressure treated posts.
Here’s a diagram:

 

[Manny’s Reef]

They added the closest row. Cinder blocks were the existing footings for the house.
Engineer added 2 posts between them and the other beam and pressure treated posts.
Here’s a diagram:

Thanks I'm going through the same process right now. I appreciate the diagram.

 

[hokiereef]

Thanks I'm going through the same process right now. I appreciate the diagram.

No problem.
Good luck!

 

[hokiereef]

The tank inhabitants are starting to get very comfortable.
My clowns are hosting the Aussie Torch.
And I have a resident white porcelain crab in the montis .

 

[ImaFlippinDolphin]

Nice!!

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Looking great.

 

[hokiereef]

Tank is cruising. Feels like the past few weeks it has taken a turn to become more mature.
A few pics taken with an orange lens (although the result is a better representation of naked eye)

 

[hokiereef]

Vertical Zoa garden progressing

 

[hokiereef]

Biota Mandarin pair came in last week. In my old tank fattening up before I put them in the DT.
They came in at 1 1/2” approx. which is larger than what I ready others received.
hatching bbs daily and pellets to go along w mature tank pods

 

[hokiereef]

And I put a blinding orange JF lepto next to a raspberry ice lepto to make sure Hokie colors are somewhere in my tank