James’ Red Sea Reefer 350 V3

[James Tucker]

James,

Thanks for posting and updating. Watching this closely as I’m about to jump back in and am trying to decide between the 250 and 350.

I was having the same debate, but it came down to what I was told 15 years ago: get the biggest you can fit/budget. The options increase and the water parameter swings are easier to control.

Honestly I should have got the 425 for the bigger sump but keep the 4ft width. I do not regret my purchase. It’s an awesome tank.

If you have any questions feel free to PM. I’m pretty busy but I’m always approachable.

 

[Westside Guy]

Added a Tesla battery backup! This will help tremendously. I’ve been waiting until this went in before I did anything with my build. I’ll start doing more after these burn in for a month. I did not want a hurricane Irma repeat.

James, the Tesla battery backup is something I have never seen before on R2R. Please give us some additional information like the dimensions, how many hours of backup it is capable of supplying, is it 110 or 220/240, etc?

 

[James Tucker]

This page has the most info on it: https://www.tesla.com/powerwall

I have a 11.5kwh solar array and now 2x Powerwall 2s. Depending on what I run, the weather, etc. I can run indefinitely without grid.

The big hitters are HVAC (Florida), stove, washer, and dryer. Excluding those and if I run on my backup portable AC unit, I can run my whole house for a week without grid or sun.

 

[SKMoss]

James,

Thanks for posting and updating. Watching this closely as I’m about to jump back in and am trying to decide between the 250 and 350.

Thanks James. Just got back from the LFS and I'm not sure either is going to work at this point. Wife said, "That tank's bigger that I thought". Usually that's a precursor to me going and finding something else to do.

Currently looking at other spots in the house to use.

 

[ludnix]

Awesome James! I would love to hear how you like the Tesla backup after you've had some time with it!

 

[Westside Guy]

Thanks James. Just got back from the LFS and I'm not sure either is going to work at this point. Wife said, "That tank's bigger that I thought". Usually that's a precursor to me going and finding something else to do.

Currently looking at other spots in the house to use.

I experienced a similar situation with my wife and it took me many months of campaigning to convince her. First she was adamant and refused to put a fish tank in our living room. Then she agreed to a Nano and wanted to place it in a corner of the dining alcove where it was hidden. Then I worked my way up to a Reefer 170 and finally the day I made the purchase the manager of my LFS helped to convinced her to go with the Reefer 250 which was the proper size for the space I had open in the living room. Now she stares at the tank all of the time, has named the fish and wants me to buy more fish as long as she has a say in what they are.

 

[James Tucker]

Hurricane Dorian is coming. Irma took out my 90g.... I’m prepared this time hurricane! Just don’t take my roof off... >.<

Solar + Powerwall battery
3400watt inverter gas generator + 2 days of gas
DC power heads
LED lighting
Chiller
4 weeks of RO top off / water changes

 

[Westside Guy]

Hurricane Dorian is coming. Irma took out my 90g.... I’m prepared this time hurricane! Just don’t take my roof off... >.<

Solar + Powerwall battery
3400watt inverter gas generator + 2 days of gas
DC power heads
LED lighting
Chiller
4 weeks of RO top off / water changes

Stay safe!

 

[James Tucker]

I've moved to Phase 4, though I screwed up with my frags and a bunch lost their color. Still growing though especially the Monti. We will see what happens. This is my first venture into SPS territory, so I'm bound to make some mistakes on the first pass. Going to keep it stable and let it roll. I got them all on great deals, so it is not a lot of money lost. The QT process is a bit of a pain though.

Feedback welcome. I'll take some pics this weekend.

Phase 4 (repeat in 2 week cycles):

• Add a fish or two from quarantine:
  • Added my Regal tang back into Display Tank after 6 months of QT.
  • I've had it for 7+ years. It was in rough shape from my tank crash due to Irma, but she's a lot better and improving incrementally each month.
• Wait, monitor and watch (2 weeks)
  • Switched to bi-weekly 30 gallon water changes from 5 gallon weekly
    • Big fish added
    • I want to see if I can accelerate coral growth and fish recovery by feeding more but keeping nitrates low but readable
  • Added some hardware to make water changes a lot faster to reduce stress on other house occupants
    • Tubing
    • Pump with a lot of head height

Changes:
1. Removed RedSea ATO tank, I wanted more space and visibility into the sump especially the pump compartment
2. "AutoAqua AWC" changed to "Coral Box A100 ATO"
3. Added 100ft Food Grade 1"ID tubing (cut to 60ft) + cheap 1000GPH pump for water changes

Additional Notes:
Most ATOs have mixed reviews, so I'm trying a few. This is my second. This one has worked very well over the past few months and it has the float backup so that I don't overflow. The only issue is that if the water level in my sump increases due to things like turning off the skimmer, the alarm can trigger. This is only because I removed the RedSea ATO reservoir. I was topping off the RedSea reservoir. It is a work in progress, and it is not where i want it yet. I'm not sure what I want, so I'm going to try things until I feel less uneasy.

Next Steps, in 4 weeks:

• Add next 1-2 fish, choices:
  • Royal Gramma
  • Black/white clown
  • Fair Wrasse
• Monitor nutrients
  • Time for refugium yet?
• Identify a sexy way to block light from refugium light from the rest of the sump
• Master a better sump cleaning method
• Need any other invertebrates
  • Urchin?
  • Shrimp?
    • Cleaner shrimp?
  • More crabs?
    • Blue leg hermits
    • Extra shells
    • Another emerald crab?

 

[James Tucker]

Update:

Added a cleaner shrimp and tuxedo urchin. Added 6 blue legs, one in sump, 5 in display. Added a second emerald crab to display.

Added an emerald crab and pencil urchin to invert tank.

30gallon Water changes now take 15 minutes and I put the ATO Tank back since the return pump chamber was too far below large ATO reservoir. I didn’t want to add a siphon break and turning the return off for different reasons set off the emergency float and alarm. Lack of foresight on my part.

Corrected my refractometer. I was 0.02 off. Slow corrected my salinity from 1.23 to 1.25.

One of my foods is ramping my phosphates too fast, working to find which it is. I have an idea.

The octo pulse powerheads are now on a VDM and being controlled by my apex.

The 4 ramps up and down during the day opposite of the 2 for now.

My goal is 3500gph turn over, without blasting corals. I’m working up to it: not quite there yet.

 

[James Tucker]

2024 Update:​

Summary:​

I've been letting the tank kind of chill for a few years now. Mostly ups, with a few downs. Still learning!
Dosing All-For-Reef to maintain 9 DKH and adding Reef Energy Plus (AB+) weekly has been a game changer in terms of coral growth.

Pests:
1. NO (zero) Aiptasia! I am very happy about this.
2. Vermetid snails - put in bumblebee snails last month, they are slowly destroying them. I'll probably put one in the sump as well.
3. Bubble algae - it pops up here and there in the sump on the powerhead or near the overflow, I just remove it as I find it. About once every few months I find some. I have emerald crabs to make sure it doesn't appear in display.
4. Bristle worms - my reefer friend saw some small ones, but I haven't seen any yet.
5. Hair Algae - only had 1 outbreak last month due to slacking off. I got really sick for about 10 weeks, and couldn't keep up maintenance. It's mostly under control, still working on it. The lights are super blue right now due to trimming the white light out for a bit until I'm 100% we're good.

Livestock:
1. Had some fish die due to age and some jumpers that found the smallest gap where my light arms attach.
2. Lost my tuxedo urchin after about a year, we think he starved.
3. Lost my cleaner shrimp, died after a couple years. Probably due to lack of iodine or other stuff he needed.

Corals:
1. Coral growth is good, most are growing really fast.
2. My mushroom corals are growing, but not as fast as I'd like. I need to figure something out.
3. In 2021 tissue loss on my birds nest corals and one of my plating Montipora died. Everything else was fine. Had another pro reefer come by every 2 weeks for a few months and he was stumped too. We landed on probably a disease or critter we couldn't see that took them out. It's not proven though, just a theory.

Tank emergencies:
1. I got lazy a month ago and ran into a nasty green hairy algae bloom as punishment. The end result was that I bleached 2 of my Montiporas. I've got the algae situation under control and I'm waiting for my Montiporas to regain color. I hope they do!
2. I might have a large urchin up for dibs soon that I used to combat the algae,

Surprise comebacks:
My Alveopora are humming right along after I thought they were toast. I'm going to add some extra rock under them, hoping they grow out onto the rock.

Dosing:
This has been a bit of a pain, sort of. One of my hoses split open, and 30ml of all for reef was dosed to the inside of my tank stand, and the ReefDose2 sometimes just decides to stop talking. Overall though it's been a huge game changer for coral growth.

ATO:
This thing has been an evolving set of issues. Currently I'm ATO'ing into the ATO that comes with the RedSea sump. The Trigger made its way outside of the tank, to make it easier to fill, and to make room for more electronics in the stand. I'm probably going to try the TUNZE Osmolator 3 next to see how well it works.

Overall thoughts:
I'm fairly happy with the journey thus far. I've had some ups and downs, but overall I feel positive. My ATO situation is annoying, I'm looking to fix that. Water changes are a pain, but I'm working on an easier solution that I'll post here if it works. I hire a professional to come help me, due to my physical limitations.

I'd like some new fish, but I don't want to do the QT process really, and it is winter, so I might wait for spring. I like the fish to do something, so I'm not sure what I want to add.

Current Setup Specs:
I replaced or upgraded some items over the past few years. Here is the current setup. I can do better, but it's a slow learning process.

Fish (4):
Springer Damsel - redrum for flat worms
Percula Clownfish - because it's cute
Chromis - just the one, to add movement
Blue Tang - for algae control, this one replaced a bigger one I gave away

Invertebrates:
15-20x Blue Leg Hermits
2x Emerald Crabs
10x Trochus Snails
2x Bumble Bee Snails
2x Pincushion Urchins
Pods!

Tank:
Redsea Reefer 350 Aquarium system

Controller (Monitoring and Alerts):
Apex Controller (monitor PH, Temp, kill switches, timers)

Powerheads:
2x VorTech MP40
2x Limpet Wide Flow Pump Guard - Vortech MP40 Upgrade
Octo Pulse 2 (sump water movement)

Display Lighting:
AI Hydra 26 HD x1 - 70%, red, green, and white cut to almost nothing right now
AI Hydra 64 HD x2 - 55%, red, green, and white cut to almost nothing right now

Refugium Light:
Kessil H80 for Cheato

Return Pump:
Current USA eFlux DC 1900 return pump

Heaters:
Cobalt Aquatics 200watt heater x1
BRS Titanium Heater Element x1
Ink Bird Aquarium Heater Controller x1 (using it as a sacrificial in between)

ATO (Auto Top Off):
RedSea above-sump reservoir
Trigger Systems ATO Reservoir 10g
CoralBox A100 AUTO TOP OFF (ATO) SYSTEM

Biological Filter:
Live rock for display and refugium

Mechanical Filter:
2x Red Sea Filter Media Cup
Blue Ribbon ABLPLY14 Polyester Floss Filter Media (changed bi-weekly)

Chemical Filter:
1x Chemi-Pure Elite 11.74 oz, Boyd Enterprises (replaced every 2 months)

Dosing:
Reef Dose 2
Tropic Marin All-For-Reef (keep DKH at around 9)
RedSea Reef Energy Plus (AB+) (20ml weekly)

Nutrient Sponge:
Cheato

Substrate:
Bare bottom, but I keep a couple piles of debris (shells and coralline falling off the back) to create extra nitrates otherwise they go to zero.

Copepods:
Add extra when the population looks depleted. Once every 6 months. If I added phytoplankton instead, I probably would have more pods.

Salt:
Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt Mix (35% water change monthly)
1.024

Chiller (emergency):
JBJ Mini Arctica Chiller 1/15 HP

Water Station:
5 Stage Premium Plus 150 GPD Water Saver RO/DI System
BRS Titanium Heater Element x1
Ink Bird Aquarium Heater Controller x1 (using it as a sacrificial in between)
Random powerhead from amazon (gone through a few)
32 gallon Brute

Power:
Telsa solar + Powerwall
APC Battery backup (in tank stand for power blips)
WEN 56310i-RV Super Quiet 3100watt Portable Inverter Generator

Future plans:​

1. Move to TUNZE Osmolator 3 for ATO
2. Move frags from the back-right into the main display, to fill out the left side a bit more
3. Deal with the GSP - it keeps growing up the glass, I trim it bi-monthly
4. Get the Zoanthids under control, It has created a rug on the bottom, I trim it bi-monthly
5. Find a way to get the Ricordea to grow better

Maybe Plans:​

Try an Algae scrubber. Add a couple other fish, but not sure which.

Pictures:​

The lights have only been on for 45min, so the Alveopora are not fully out yet. I'm back to a hyper-blue look until I am sure the hair algae is under complete control. I think about another 2 weeks. I might start to add some spectrum back to see if it helps the Monti's recover.