Kavo11's Red Sea Reefer 250 - My FIRST tank ever!

[revhtree]

Looking great!

 

[Kavo11]

Looking good man! Nice first tank.

Thanks @heifinator and @revhtree! I figured if I'm going to do a tank, I'm going to put my best effort forth. Plus, this one lady at a LFS smirked and said "good luck" when I told her I was going a reef tank as my first tank ever. That partially motivates me every day to run full sets of tests lol. In all seriousness though, I just really love this hobby. I wish I started sooner!

 

[Kavo11]

Here's the new coral additions I talked about in the update I posted yesterday. They seem quite happy with the tank!

 

[Kavo11]

Figured I'd post a few quick snaps I took a minute ago (I take all my pics using the Aquarium Cam app with an iPhone X, wish I had a nice digital camera) The tank's looking too nice after a water change yesterday and fresh carbon in the reactor! Can't wait for it to be filled to the brim with coral : )

 

[Kavo11]

Oh and Jason Fox, owner of Jason Fox Signature Corals got back to me much quicker than I anticipated! As expected, I unfortunately won't be able to tour his home to check out his systems which I fully understand. He is, however, open to local pick up and that's A-OK with me. I foresee some colorful zoas in my near future. I'll wait til he's back from R.A.P. I can only imagine how busy he is right now.

 

[Keiffer the reefer]

Looking great. I have that same tank and I love it! Mines been running about 2.5 years. I also have the kessil 700 and recently upgraded to the aquatic life t5 hybrid to go with it.

He one big lesson I’ve learned over the past couple years, that doesn’t seem to get a lot of public discussion, is the importance of rock solid alk parameter. I measure once or twice a day and try to avoid anything more than .2 dkh deviation throughout the day.

Also, if you are still considering the Apex, I think it is the best upgrade I’ve made for my system, by a mile. It offers great learning opportunity.

Good luck! I’ll enjoy following your progress.

 

[Kavo11]

Looking great. I have that same tank and I love it! Mines been running about 2.5 years. I also have the kessil 700 and recently upgraded to the aquatic life t5 hybrid to go with it.

He one big lesson I’ve learned over the past couple years, that doesn’t seem to get a lot of public discussion, is the importance of rock solid alk parameter. I measure once or twice a day and try to avoid anything more than .2 dkh deviation throughout the day.

Also, if you are still considering the Apex, I think it is the best upgrade I’ve made for my system, by a mile. It offers great learning opportunity.

Good luck! I’ll enjoy following your progress.

@Keiffer the reefer thanks! It’s great to have a few people with the same tank with more more experience to lean on. I hope you don’t mind if I ever need to reach out for knowledge.

I’ve been seeing tons of experienced folks comboing the T5s with LEDs. I’m guessing it gives provides the ultimate spectrum which is especially beneficial for SPS? Something for me to consider as I plan to start introducing SPS in the near future.

I can’t agree more with you there about stabile dKH. I’ve been leaning on BRS TV for tons of knowledge. Ryan keeps emphasizing that of all parameters, he still measures dKH on a daily basis even for mature tanks. I’m keeping a daily eye of dKH and measuring pretty much all other main parameters every other day. It seems like an exciting time for me to have begun the hobby with the Apex Trident coming soon along with the introduction of @JonasRoman Alkatronic/Dosetronic this year. I’m going to follow both this year and make a decision by Christmas as far as which to go with.

Thanks for joining me on my ride, I’m hoping you have a build thread too! If so, I’ll be checking it out shortly. Happy reefing!

 

[Kavo11]

Gotta love mail days! One of my BRS orders showed up today, I expect the other to arrive tomorrow. Really excited for this fuge to come together, I couldn't think of any better light then to go with Kessil again as I love my AP700. Given the small fuge size, I didn't see the need to go with the 380. This H80 will be more than sufficient. Had to get my first refill of dKH solution for my Hanna checker. These daily alkalinity tests suck that juice down, but it's totally worth it. I've been keeping alk fairly stable around 10.2.

 

[Kavo11]

More progress has been made and I'm really happy with how it turned out! I'm hoping the fuge will be up and running by next weekend. I'm just waiting on one more piece of plumbing for the fuge (barb adaptor) and then of course ordering some clean chaeto, pods and phytoplankton to get it started. It'll be fed by the tubing and I'll also use that for the output. I figured it'll be much easier to remove for maintenance etc vs. using pvc. My lid from Top Lids should be arriving this week as well! From the pic Fabio sent, it looks like it turned out great! I'll post a pic of it once I receive it.

 

[Kavo11]

So guess what showed up lightning fast today!? Yes, the final piece of plumbing to get the fuge fully up and running! I've said it before, but I'm really happy with how this design turned out. One thing I'm looking at tweaking is putting some kind of safety measure in place to stop the fuge from potentially overflowing. I used a strainer piece on outflow plumbing for the fuge, but loose chaeto worries me. I'm not sure how effective the strainers are and I'd rather not take a chance with this much water. I'm wondering if I can move the Tunze infrared sensor to the fuge somehow. If I do, I'll have to mount it somehow different that the magnet most likely to ensure it gets up high enough (the water level in the fuge is fairly high towards the brim). I'm waiting on AlgaeBarn to restock clean chaeto and we're in business. I'll likely order some pods and phytoplankton from them as well. The coral are looking pretty today so I figured I'd add some shots of those too. Can't wait for my @Top Lids to show up as well! They had a bit of a shipping mishap (they accidentally put someone else's address on my label), but we caught it so early that UPS should be able to get it fixed. I'd be surprised if they couldn't. Either way, I'm hoping to receive it by the weekend and then I can go pick up my Royal Gramma.

Enough talk, pics!

 

[powers2001]

Nice first tank!!

 

[Kavo11]

Nice first tank!!

Thanks @powers2001 ! So far, so good (knocks on wood!). I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself, but I feel ready to try some SPS. I'd love to put in a frag or two of acro's. Since beginning kalkwasser in my ATO, my params have been darn near unwavering.

 

[Kavo11]

Update time: I ended up ordering clean chaeto off of Ebay since AlgaeBarn was taking forever to restock theirs. I'm glad I did! It arrived quick, clean and it was much cheaper than AB as well. Win win all around. I've picked up my royal gramma since the last update. The first day or so, the twinspot anthias was bullying it pretty bad. By the end of day 2, they started to settle down and have since been doing great together. I know anthias tend to be aggressive when housed singly, but its ultimately seeming to work out now, knock on wood. As far as my next fish addition, I have a male melanarus wrasse on hold for me at my amazing LFS and its currently going through QT. I'm hoping to be able to pick him up on May 2nd.

What about the lid? Needless to say, the process has been very drawn out with some hiccups along the way. As mentioned in my last update, Top Lids accidentally sent my lid to another customer in Alabama who has the same tank size. Well, the mislabeled the boxes (put my label on her lid's box and vice versa). The lid arrived 2 days ago and just wasn't right. There was no fusion vent frame that I paid extra for. As frustrating as this has been, I have to say Fabio and Jared have gone to great lengths to make me a very happy customer. They're allowing me to keep the lid I already received to do with as I please. Jared's going the extra mile and added an auto feeder cutout which I wasn't smart enough to add when I first placed my order. They also have a larger bit now which allows the lid's lip to sit almost flush with the edge of the glass. Fabio is taking a huge expense as well in overnighting the new lid to me, so I'm really hoping it shows up tomorrow. If not, it won't be the end of the world as the odds of the gramma jumping out aren't crazy huge.

Coral? You've guessed it, I've definitely added more since last update including my first SPS which I got last night! As mentioned before, I found out Jason Fox is relatively local to me. I met up with Jason earlier this week to get my first zoanthids. I got 4 total. A frag of pink constellation, atomic sunrise, mohican sun and cry babies. All have been loving life with the exception of the atomic sunrise. I've messed around with their positioning some and I'm starting to think they aren't fond of too much light. Anyways, I saw Jason update his WYSIWYG section 2 nights ago. Low and behold, a frag of tyree jedi mind trick was posted! I can't tell you enough how much I drool when I see this coral at my LFS. I didn't plan to add SPS quite yet, but this was my sign to do so. My brother was kind enough to drive up and meet Jason for me last night. I got the tyree jedi mind trick frag, a devil's brew favia and Jason's famous jack o lantern, all are amazing!

What's to come...I still haven't decided if I'll be impatient and buy pods from AlgaeBarn or Ebay to expedite building my pod population to sustain a mandarin dragonet. Stay tuned for that. That aside, I think I'm going to do my best not to buy anymore coral until Reef A Palooza New York. My plan is to ensure I keep all parameters very stable to where I'll feel comfortable adding some choice acros from RAP. Aside from that, all equipment is pretty finalized with the exception of possibly adding another MP40 at some point. As of now, the tank has more than enough flow so I'm not sure it's even necessary aside from allowing me to vary flow patterns more. Anyways, enough jibber jabber, let's get to pics!

 

[Kavo11]

Forgot to add this pic.

 

[Kavo11]

Oh and as you can see from the pics, I'm getting coralline growth all over the pukani. I love the purple color!

 

[Kavo11]

Figured I'd turn the blues up for a moment and take some pics. Love how these ones pop!

 

[Kavo11]

So ever since adding my baby fuge, I've noticed my tank has become too clean....My nitrates and phosphates are barely above 0. What's the better option, increase feeding amount, turn off skimmer? I know many new reefers and fish keepers in general struggle with feeding too heavily. Perhaps I'm heeding that advice too much and not feeding enough? I gave the tank a heavy feeding tonight along with a generous reef roid feeding to the coral in hopes that it elevates my nitrates and phosphates a bit. Any input is appreciated. Happy weekend!

 

[elisa h]

Feeding more is definitely a good natural way to increase nutrients that your fish will enjoy. I wouldn’t recommend feeding more in one sitting but rather adding another feeding to the day. Also adding more fish (slowly) to increase waste load. You could also run your skimmer dryer and reduce the amount of hours you run your fuge light. Don’t turn the skimmer off completely just run it with the cup off if you decide to go without skimming as it adds a lot of oxygen to the water. I would pick one or two of these options and measure results. If nutrients don’t go up, try another method. Changing too many things at once can destabilize the system.

 

[Kavo11]

17 corals later, I can safely say I've weathered the @uniquecorals 6th anniversary sale lol They almost defeated me, but I stood strong and stayed with them until the end. Thanks so much guys and happy anniversary! I can't wait to share pics once everything is settled in this coming week. Lid should FINALLY arrive by Tuesday as well. Chaeto seems to be growing well too. Wanted to share a quick update, sorry for no pics this time around.

 

[Kavo11]

Update time! Last week was a busy one for the reefer 250 to say the least. I'll break it down day by day.

Tuesday - All 17 (yes, SEVENTEEN lol) new coral arrived from Unique Corals. Needless to say, it was a fun, busy and a bit stressful of a day ensuring I got everything acclimated and in the tank properly. I was worried I wouldn't be able to float all the bags in the sump/display, but everything fit and went as planned with no hiccups. Yes, I went through a ton of coral rx dip! Guess what else....my "Top Lids" lid FINALLY arrived! It came out beautifully. If I had to complain, the only thing I can nitpick is Jared made the fit so perfect that I have to slightly bow the middle of the lid for it to smoothly fit inside. Otherwise I have to apply pressure to one of the corners to push it down flush. They did a great job and the wait was definitely worth it.

Wednesday - I went to Reef Escape to pick up my first wrasse! I had planned to get a Melanarus, but unfortunately it didn't make it out of QT successfully. They did have a Vrolik's wrasse though that made it successfully, so I decided to bring it home instead. It looks and is almost the same as a Melanarus except the body pattern is more checkered than striped. IMO it worked out for the better as I now have whats likely a less common fish that has the same beauty and personality as the Melanarus. Talk about perfect timing for the lid to have arrived the day before!

Thursday - My flow is complete! I decided to order my 2nd Vortech MP40wQD powerhead earlier in the week from @Bulk Reef Supply and it showed up Thursday. I immediately got it paired up in a Master/Slave relationship and have been digging these new flow patterns. Shoutout to BRS as always for being the best at what they do!

So where are we at now....Unfortunately, some of my acros from the live sale didn't seem to fare well in transit. That was no fault of Unique Corals. They packaged everything perfect and overnighted the box as expected. I had them all inside within 5 minutes of delivery (it was a perfect 78 degree day too) and acclimated ASAP. Sometimes things just don't work out as planned though. I have to give them a shoutout as well for living up to their AAA+ customer service. They honored their 7 day guarantee and sent me a gift card for the dead coral' value. I promised myself I'd stop buying coral for a bit, but when I get a gift card and find the perfect coral, how can I say no!? I placed an order with them tonight for 2 super sweet pieces! I got a aussie bright red button coral (cynarina) as well as a 2" Unique Coral Teal Stag acro. Both should arrive Friday morning and I can't wait!

I also have an order of "5280" pods and phytoplankton arriving tomorrow from Algaebarn. I want to boost my pod population ASAP so I can get a mandarin ASAP. I may even get a pair, who knows. I need to have a ton of pods first though so I'm trying to not get ahead of myself. Anyways, let's get to the pics! First two are the WYSIWYG corals I just ordered. I'll try to get some pics up of the 17 coral I got last week in the near future. It was a great mix of LPS and SPS.