Julie's Reefer 350 Build Thread
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The Corner Reef in south county
mmw64
Valuable Member
Really like your rock scape. Have the same tank but in black. No pictures because I'm old and technically challenged. Following this build.The hubby and I picked up a new-to-us Red Sea Reefer 350. We have wanted one pretty much since about a month after we set up our first tank, a BioCube 32, this time last year. We are so excited to get started!
Equipment list (all used except for return pump and rock):
Red Sea Reefer 350
Sicce Syncra 4.0 return pump
EcoTech MP40 QWD powerhead
Reef Octopus 152 Skimmer
Eheim 250w heater
2 x Kessil A360WE
Apex Classic with ALD and WXM modules
70lbs Marco rock
20lbs CarribSea Life Rock
We wanted to use rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater, but they are on a hiatus for a few months it seems, and we are so sad. We were really looking forward to all the critters!
After getting it all plumbed and doing a leak test it turns out the main drain pipe has a faulty O-ring, and leaks. We have a new one on the way though! According to Red Sea the O-rings become compressed after a long time and don’t expand back to normal when you disassemble the pipe. That causes it to not fit exactly right and leak when you reassemble it.
We decided to go ahead and fill up just the display tank with water to get the cycle started while we wait. We added a couple shells with coralline from the BioCube, dumped in a bottle of FritzZyme 9, and added some of Dr. Tims ammonia. We are already starting to see some brown on the rocks a couple days later. I’m guessing because of the shells we added.
We also set up our first quarantine tank. It’s just a 10 gallon tank, with a HOB filter, small powerhead, and heater. We added a bottle of BioSpira, but it may have been bad because it was shipped during the super cold weather, so we also added some SeaChem stability. We then added Dr. Tim’s ammonia, but apparently overdosed and killed all the bacteria. We did a 50% water change and added more SeaChem stability yesterday. The ammonia is slowly going down now. We are going to try catching our ruby red head wrasse from the BioCube and put him in quarantine until the new tank is ready. He has outgrown the BioCube and is becoming a bully (we think). Our poor anthias has been hiding in the rock for weeks now and we’re worried she will starve if we don’t get the wrasse out. She will eventually be moved the big tank also.
Thats about it so far, can't wait to post updates, and we can't forget a couple pictures!!!
OP
OP
Thanks!
OP
OP
February 2019 update:
Our three resplendent anthias made it through QT and are settled into the DT. They are beautiful!
We also now have a yellow coris wrasse, an ornate leopard wrasse, and a melanarus wrasse in QT. They are camera shy unfortunately.
We were able to pick up a couple used water storage containers from our LFS so we built a new mixing station. I’m loving it so far. It’s really nice being able to mix up to 25 gallons of salt water at a time instead of just 5.
And to end this update a full tank shot
Current fish list:
Ruby red wrasse
Coral Beauty
White Clown Fish
Black Clown Fish
Gold Midas Blenny
3 Resplendent Anthias
Yellow coris wrasse (in QT)
Ornate leopard wrasse (in QT)
Melanarus wrasse (in QT)
Our three resplendent anthias made it through QT and are settled into the DT. They are beautiful!
We also now have a yellow coris wrasse, an ornate leopard wrasse, and a melanarus wrasse in QT. They are camera shy unfortunately.
We were able to pick up a couple used water storage containers from our LFS so we built a new mixing station. I’m loving it so far. It’s really nice being able to mix up to 25 gallons of salt water at a time instead of just 5.
And to end this update a full tank shot
Current fish list:
Ruby red wrasse
Coral Beauty
White Clown Fish
Black Clown Fish
Gold Midas Blenny
3 Resplendent Anthias
Yellow coris wrasse (in QT)
Ornate leopard wrasse (in QT)
Melanarus wrasse (in QT)
OP
OP
Thanks! I actually ordered some plastic spigots earlier tonight. I happened to see another thread earlier about them corroding. I’m surprised I didn’t think of it in the first place.
OP
OP
Our new melanarus wrasse, leopard wrasse, and yellow coris wrasse have made it to the DT! All are settled down and doing great. Here are a few pics of the some of the tank inhabitants including a new pink urchin that the hubby got me for Valentine's day!
OP
OP
We have been battling a case of cyano/dinos/not sure what in the Biocube so we took advantage of it and took all the rocks out to rinse and rescape. The slimy stuff has come back of course but we’re being diligent with sucking out as much as we can everyday. This has worked for us in the past. The new scape is much better and opened up space to add more coral!
OP
OP
Thanks!Nice tanks! Also loving the water station.
OP
OP
Well, here I am again. Months and months have gone by with no updates. I’m pretty terrible at this. And the tank has become almost an entirely new tank.
After a variety of problems and more problems, we have made a lot of changes.
Changing out the sand was the biggest change by far. For a year and half we’ve been suffering from unexplained coral and invert losses. We tried everything to improve - lights, better flow, stabilizing water parameters, etc, and nothing we did finally seemed to make a difference. Finally we sent in for a Triton test, and the only thing “wrong” with the the water was high levels of nickel and valadium. Both of which are found in the black sand.
After lots of reading and thought we decided to swap out the sand. And since we would have to remove the rock to get all the sand out anyway, we decided to do a full breakdown and rebuild on the other side of the room. Mainly we wanted the tank on the other side for aesthetic reasons, on the one side it was jammed into a corner at a strange angle. In its new location it is able to sit parallel with the wall.
Doing the tank breakdown and rebuild was not fun. Took about 7 hours total. We planned it all out a few days before. I spent a couple hours rinsing the new sand until it ran clear, and made about 45 gallon os fresh saltwater. We setup two temporary holding tanks for the fish, a 10 gallon and a 30 gallon. We began draining water into rubbermaid tubs and removing rock and placing into the tubs. Once most of the rock and water was gone it was pretty easy to catch the fish … until we got the sand buriers. Man those guys were hard to catch. A leopard, yellow coris, and melanarus. With only a few inches of water left they buried and we had to stir up the sand bed to find them, except then it was impossible to see them once all the detritus was released into the water. It was pretty disgusting how much grossness was in the water. We did somehow manage to catch them eventually though.
After all the sand was scooped/vacuumed out, we put furniture sliders under the tank and pushed really hard to slide it across the room and into its new spot. Then we found out just how un-level the floor actually is, and we spent about an hour just trying to get the tank level. After that, it was a sprint to the finish. Refilled the tank with mostly fresh water, replaced all the rocks, and plopped the fish back in. We decided to go with a rock wall type scape with some interesting pieces in front instead of two piles. Gotta give credit to the Hubby here, he built an interesting and beautiful rockscape in the spur of the moment.
Everything went pretty smoothly overall, and we are loving the white sand. Everything is sooo much brighter. Our entire back wall had been covered in coralline but It died unfortunately. I assume from being out of the water for too long. The few corals and anemones we have in there had improved dramatically in just the few weeks after the change. It was amazing how much of a difference it made. Everything was growing and the colors were so much much richer.
… that is, until we decided to treat with chemiclean. We had a cyano outbreak before swapping the sand, and we were hoping that it wouldn’t persist, but it did. We unfortunately decided to treat with chemiclean, it killed a few coral and stressed out others. Some have faded quite a bit, but others are fine. But at least the cyano is gone I guess. We still have a lot of hair algae that I’m unsure what do do about. We have a couple urchins and turbo snails but they don’t seem to be interested in it.
The plan is to let the tank just sit and be for a while. Let things stabilize after all of the changes.
It sucks to think about the basically year and a half wasted and all the lost coral life, but we are optimistic that things will only get better from here on out. We aren’t going to let the frustrations drive us out of the hobby, we will keep learning and moving forward until we one day achieve that dream tank!!!
After a variety of problems and more problems, we have made a lot of changes.
- Swapped out the Kessil lights with the new Red Sea ReefLEDs (we love them!)
- Added a IceCap 1K powerhead opposite the MP40 (went with the IceCap instead of another Vortech because of the cheaper price)
- Added more rock because we decided we didn’t have enough
- Lost one anthias, not really sure why
- Added a kole tang (Rocket) and a bella goby (Sienna)
- Removed the hawiian black sand and replaced with CarribSea Special Grade white sand
- Completely reworked the entire rockscape
- Moved the tank across the room
Changing out the sand was the biggest change by far. For a year and half we’ve been suffering from unexplained coral and invert losses. We tried everything to improve - lights, better flow, stabilizing water parameters, etc, and nothing we did finally seemed to make a difference. Finally we sent in for a Triton test, and the only thing “wrong” with the the water was high levels of nickel and valadium. Both of which are found in the black sand.
After lots of reading and thought we decided to swap out the sand. And since we would have to remove the rock to get all the sand out anyway, we decided to do a full breakdown and rebuild on the other side of the room. Mainly we wanted the tank on the other side for aesthetic reasons, on the one side it was jammed into a corner at a strange angle. In its new location it is able to sit parallel with the wall.
Doing the tank breakdown and rebuild was not fun. Took about 7 hours total. We planned it all out a few days before. I spent a couple hours rinsing the new sand until it ran clear, and made about 45 gallon os fresh saltwater. We setup two temporary holding tanks for the fish, a 10 gallon and a 30 gallon. We began draining water into rubbermaid tubs and removing rock and placing into the tubs. Once most of the rock and water was gone it was pretty easy to catch the fish … until we got the sand buriers. Man those guys were hard to catch. A leopard, yellow coris, and melanarus. With only a few inches of water left they buried and we had to stir up the sand bed to find them, except then it was impossible to see them once all the detritus was released into the water. It was pretty disgusting how much grossness was in the water. We did somehow manage to catch them eventually though.
After all the sand was scooped/vacuumed out, we put furniture sliders under the tank and pushed really hard to slide it across the room and into its new spot. Then we found out just how un-level the floor actually is, and we spent about an hour just trying to get the tank level. After that, it was a sprint to the finish. Refilled the tank with mostly fresh water, replaced all the rocks, and plopped the fish back in. We decided to go with a rock wall type scape with some interesting pieces in front instead of two piles. Gotta give credit to the Hubby here, he built an interesting and beautiful rockscape in the spur of the moment.
Everything went pretty smoothly overall, and we are loving the white sand. Everything is sooo much brighter. Our entire back wall had been covered in coralline but It died unfortunately. I assume from being out of the water for too long. The few corals and anemones we have in there had improved dramatically in just the few weeks after the change. It was amazing how much of a difference it made. Everything was growing and the colors were so much much richer.
… that is, until we decided to treat with chemiclean. We had a cyano outbreak before swapping the sand, and we were hoping that it wouldn’t persist, but it did. We unfortunately decided to treat with chemiclean, it killed a few coral and stressed out others. Some have faded quite a bit, but others are fine. But at least the cyano is gone I guess. We still have a lot of hair algae that I’m unsure what do do about. We have a couple urchins and turbo snails but they don’t seem to be interested in it.
The plan is to let the tank just sit and be for a while. Let things stabilize after all of the changes.
It sucks to think about the basically year and a half wasted and all the lost coral life, but we are optimistic that things will only get better from here on out. We aren’t going to let the frustrations drive us out of the hobby, we will keep learning and moving forward until we one day achieve that dream tank!!!
OP
OP
Lost 2 fish today :-( Our new kole tang and our Midas blenny. Only thing I can think of is a large dead turbo snail caused an ammonia spike. Pulled out the snail and did a large water change. Hopefully every one else is okay. They seem fine at moment. Can’t catch a break with this tank.
Jon Fishman
Cleveland Ohio, buy/sell local!
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Following along. I feel the same way way with my tank...... watching, something starts to look “off” or a random death, and just trying to figure out why, and how to move forward.
Stick with it...... I completely relate to the furniture sliders and across room move, except I did mine when it was a 75g still half-full of water!!!!
Stick with it...... I completely relate to the furniture sliders and across room move, except I did mine when it was a 75g still half-full of water!!!!
OP
OP
Dang! It was heavy enough being empty! Can’t imagine moving it half full!
OP
OP
November 2019 Update
We added a ClearWater algae scrubber today. Hoping it helps with nutrient export. We’re going to start dosing coral aminos daily. And we recently had a horrible GHA outbreak that we were able to combat with vibrant and 2 large turbo snails. Don’t want to go through that again. Also had a rogue strawberry crab go around and snip all the tips off a bunch of new SPS we brought. Luckily most of it seems to be surviving. The crab has been sent to QT for now and will be going to the LFS to find a new home. We also have added a yellow tang and a starry blenny. Both seem happy, healthy, and plump.
Posting a full tank shot today. Will post one one month from now to see how much difference the scrubber and coral aminos makes.
We added a ClearWater algae scrubber today. Hoping it helps with nutrient export. We’re going to start dosing coral aminos daily. And we recently had a horrible GHA outbreak that we were able to combat with vibrant and 2 large turbo snails. Don’t want to go through that again. Also had a rogue strawberry crab go around and snip all the tips off a bunch of new SPS we brought. Luckily most of it seems to be surviving. The crab has been sent to QT for now and will be going to the LFS to find a new home. We also have added a yellow tang and a starry blenny. Both seem happy, healthy, and plump.
Posting a full tank shot today. Will post one one month from now to see how much difference the scrubber and coral aminos makes.
OP
OP
First update of the new year! Still chugging along. The algae scrubber is growing lots of algae, but not doing much for my nutrient levels. Both phosphates and nitrates have spiked real high, so I started dosing nopox to see if I can get them down. I suspect I didn’t clean the algae scrubber screen as soon as I should have, and the algae got too thick. It looked like some of the underneath layers had started to die and decompose. I’m thinking that maybe it released a bunch of nutrients when they did. Still P04 is about .4 right now, N03 is about 25-50 and not any algae to be seen in the DT, its all in the scrubber. P04 was hovering slightly above .1 before the spike. Could also have been related to dosing coral aminos so I have stopped that temporarily until I can get the nutrients back to an acceptable level. The corals all did seem happier with the aminos though.
Latest full tank shot, and the latest fish addition is making an appearance! A very small sailfin named Lucifer! Don’t worry, I know this tank will be too small for him when he grows up. We are planning on upgrading to a 310 peninsula tank!
Latest full tank shot, and the latest fish addition is making an appearance! A very small sailfin named Lucifer! Don’t worry, I know this tank will be too small for him when he grows up. We are planning on upgrading to a 310 peninsula tank!
OP
OP
Got a beautiful new clam yesterday, photobombed by Korg, the starry blenny
From a 32 to a 350?! It looks amazing. I just started 6 weeks ago with a Biocube 16 and I'm already trying to talk my wife into letting me get a 100g, haha. It's so much fun. But expensive! I gotta pace myself.
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