Tmcgoo13

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This is the story of our journey of the second large saltwater tank we built. During the series I’ll add bits about the things we learned from the first build, that have helped us so far.

We started a 90 gal mixed reef tank 2 years ago, learned a lot from the journey, a lot that we wish we knew before we started, we actually set that tank up 3 times before we were ready to start the cycle. I’ll throw in along the way some details about that story as well. But for the RSR P650, he we go.

The story starts in January of this year when our fish in the 90gal got ich. That was the most important lesson, always quarantine! Its worth it. We shortcut a QT before Christmas and didn’t leave them in QT for a full 30 days because we were leaving town. I just had to have that tang! Unfortunately he didn’t make and we lost 3 additional fish. I will never do that again. We moved the remaining fish to QT and the 90 gal sits with no fish in it still, waiting out the ICH. In the meantime, we decided this was a perfect time to get the tank of our dreams. So we dove in headfirst and got a Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 650 Deluxe.

We had an issue with the tank when it arrived, but Red Sea was easy to deal with and made it right.

1343B664-CA13-4E3A-B52A-4F96E9C22D77.jpeg


C3F5392A-14B5-4FC8-8AC0-C639BB98596F.jpeg


Once it arrived, we realized we have a problem. This thing is heavy and we have 8 steps into our house that we need to carry it up. Got lucky and found someone nearby who not only has a moving company, he’s also in the saltwater fish business. Score, we now have our tank in the living room on it’s stand where it belongs.
9DE5AC4A-F9C8-44FF-86D5-6DA462CD8C4E.jpeg
AD765067-2C9E-4A18-BF1B-446873200780.jpeg


Now the fun begins. Here’s our equipment list that we planned out.

Varios 6 Return Pump
Varios 2 for reactor
Reef Octopus Regal 200-INT protein skimmer
Neptune Apex 2016 system (from 90 gal tank)
Neptune Apex WAV pumps qty 2, have 3
Neptune Apex DOS
Neptune Apex EB832 (2 of them)
Neptune Apex ATK (Ato pump and sensors)
Neptune Apex FMM module for flow sensors (on return pump, on reactor)
Bulk Reef Dual reactor for Carbon and GFO
UV sterilizer (not purchased yet, can’t find one that we like that fits in cabinet)
Mix of dry and live sand
Carib Sea Life rock
Marine Pure blocks in sump
Kessil H380 for refugium
AI Hydra 26 (4) for tank
 
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Rob.B.

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This is the story of our journey of the second large saltwater tank we built. During the series I’ll add bits about the things we learned from the first build, that have helped us so far.

We started a 90 gal mixed reef tank 2 years ago, learned a lot from the journey, a lot that we wish we knew before we started, we actually set that tank up 3 times before we were ready to start the cycle. I’ll throw in along the way some details about that story as well. But for the RSR P650, he we go.

The story starts in January of this year when our fish in the 90gal got ich. That was the most important lesson, always quarantine! Its worth it. We shortcut a QT before Christmas and didn’t leave them in QT for a full 30 days because we were leaving town. I just had to have that tang! Unfortunately he didn’t make and we lost 3 additional fish. I will never do that again. We moved the remaining fish to QT and the 90 gal sits with no fish in it still, waiting out the ICH. In the meantime, we decided this was a perfect time to get the tank of our dreams. So we dove in headfirst and got a Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 650 Deluxe.

We had an issue with the tank when it arrived, but Red Sea was easy to deal with and made it right.

1343B664-CA13-4E3A-B52A-4F96E9C22D77.jpeg


C3F5392A-14B5-4FC8-8AC0-C639BB98596F.jpeg


Once it arrived, we realized we have a problem. This thing is heavy and we have 8 steps into our house that we need to carry it up. Got lucky and found someone nearby who not only has a moving company, he’s also in the saltwater fish business. Score, we now have our tank in the living room on it’s stand where it belongs.
9DE5AC4A-F9C8-44FF-86D5-6DA462CD8C4E.jpeg
AD765067-2C9E-4A18-BF1B-446873200780.jpeg


Now the fun begins. Here’s our equipment list that we planned out.

Varios 6 Return Pump
Varios 2 for reactor
Reef Octopus Regal 200-INT protein skimmer
Neptune Apex 2016 system (from 90 gal tank)
Neptune Apex WAV pumps qty 2, have 3
Neptune Apex DOS
Neptune Apex EB832 (2 of them)
Neptune Apex ATK (Ato pump and sensors)
Neptune Apex FMM module for flow sensors (on return pump, on reactor)
Bulk Reef Dual reactor for Carbon and GFO
UV sterilizer (not purchased yet, can’t find one that we like that fits in cabinet)
Mix of dry and live sand
Carib Sea Life rock
Marine Pure blocks in sump
Kessil H380 for refugium
AI Hydra 26 (4) for tank

Congratulations on your new start up, I’m in the same boat.

Although I have only managed to get the sump and stand in the house..

0182cdce76ac3e04f0cd2d2c2f87c1dc.jpg


The tank is still at the store with the bigger pieces of the stand, should be snagging then tomorrow sometime..
9148ffea77e0fc0e676161f8aaea3ce4.jpg
 

Artillerydrill

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This is the story of our journey of the second large saltwater tank we built. During the series I’ll add bits about the things we learned from the first build, that have helped us so far.

We started a 90 gal mixed reef tank 2 years ago, learned a lot from the journey, a lot that we wish we knew before we started, we actually set that tank up 3 times before we were ready to start the cycle. I’ll throw in along the way some details about that story as well. But for the RSR P650, he we go.

The story starts in January of this year when our fish in the 90gal got ich. That was the most important lesson, always quarantine! Its worth it. We shortcut a QT before Christmas and didn’t leave them in QT for a full 30 days because we were leaving town. I just had to have that tang! Unfortunately he didn’t make and we lost 3 additional fish. I will never do that again. We moved the remaining fish to QT and the 90 gal sits with no fish in it still, waiting out the ICH. In the meantime, we decided this was a perfect time to get the tank of our dreams. So we dove in headfirst and got a Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 650 Deluxe.

We had an issue with the tank when it arrived, but Red Sea was easy to deal with and made it right.

1343B664-CA13-4E3A-B52A-4F96E9C22D77.jpeg


C3F5392A-14B5-4FC8-8AC0-C639BB98596F.jpeg


Once it arrived, we realized we have a problem. This thing is heavy and we have 8 steps into our house that we need to carry it up. Got lucky and found someone nearby who not only has a moving company, he’s also in the saltwater fish business. Score, we now have our tank in the living room on it’s stand where it belongs.
9DE5AC4A-F9C8-44FF-86D5-6DA462CD8C4E.jpeg
AD765067-2C9E-4A18-BF1B-446873200780.jpeg


Now the fun begins. Here’s our equipment list that we planned out.

Varios 6 Return Pump
Varios 2 for reactor
Reef Octopus Regal 200-INT protein skimmer
Neptune Apex 2016 system (from 90 gal tank)
Neptune Apex WAV pumps qty 2, have 3
Neptune Apex DOS
Neptune Apex EB832 (2 of them)
Neptune Apex ATK (Ato pump and sensors)
Neptune Apex FMM module for flow sensors (on return pump, on reactor)
Bulk Reef Dual reactor for Carbon and GFO
UV sterilizer (not purchased yet, can’t find one that we like that fits in cabinet)
Mix of dry and live sand
Carib Sea Life rock
Marine Pure blocks in sump
Kessil H380 for refugium
AI Hydra 26 (4) for tank

I have the same tank this is what i did for uv...2 inch pvc holders from Lowe’s (97 cents a piece)
ec7ecf7a668e7397d9e45e52164bf806.jpg
 

SuncrestReef

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UV sterilizer (not purchased yet, can’t find one that we like that fits in cabinet)

I'll put in another vote for the Aqua UV product line, similar to the previous post by @Artillerydrill. I have a Reefer 425 XL and I installed an Aqua UV 15 Classic with 2" fittings. My return line is all 1", so I didn't want to reduce it to 3/4" which is Aqua UV's other option. I also plumbed it with T-fittings and ball valves so I can turn off the flow through the UV unit and bypass the return flow to the display tank during maintenance on the UV such as replacing the bulb or cleaning the quartz tube. I purchased mounting brackets specific to the Aqua UV unit so it is rigidly attached to the cabinet allowing me to unscrew the bulb fitting without the UV chassis moving at all. Since your tank is larger in volume, you would probably go with the Aqua UV 25 Classic, but might need to mount it laterally instead of front to back like I did based on cabinet space.

Here's a photo of mine, and you can see my complete plumbing design with all the valves in post number 29 in my build thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...eefer-xl-425-build.358990/page-2#post-4497937

IMG_2769.jpg

Good luck with your build!
 
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Congratulations on your new start up, I’m in the same boat.

Although I have only managed to get the sump and stand in the house..

0182cdce76ac3e04f0cd2d2c2f87c1dc.jpg


The tank is still at the store with the bigger pieces of the stand, should be snagging then tomorrow sometime..
9148ffea77e0fc0e676161f8aaea3ce4.jpg
Congratulations on your new start up, I’m in the same boat.

Although I have only managed to get the sump and stand in the house..

0182cdce76ac3e04f0cd2d2c2f87c1dc.jpg


The tank is still at the store with the bigger pieces of the stand, should be snagging then tomorrow sometime..
9148ffea77e0fc0e676161f8aaea3ce4.jpg


Even the sump is pretty heavy!
 
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Well - we’re actually here in Orlando this weekend so yes we went to Reef-a-Palooza yesterday. While there we learned a few things. One thing we’d been wondering was how would an Algae Scrubber change our setup? If you noticed in the images above we are putting our tank near a lot of windows. We hear corals will really appreciate the sun, but of course so will the Algae. That was why the reactor right up front and the desire to get a UV sterilizer. Well we did it, we bought the Clearwater Scrubber algae scrubber for our tank, got a good deal and the booth staff were driving through our home town on their way to Kansas, so bonus, no need to take it on a plane or ship it.

We’d like to also keep a refugium, so we may not run the algae scrubber 100% of the time, we’re going to play with timing, etc and see how it works. Certainly interested in thoughts from others.

See below the scene at the reef2reef booth raffle at RAP in Orlando yesterday, where we won a 15lb bag of salt that we now need to take home on a plane!

My next post will include how we designed our rock, what sand we used and getting the tank filled with water.

95B2F38A-276E-44ED-A05D-8E31D992A6C5.jpeg
 

Rob.B.

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Well - we’re actually here in Orlando this weekend so yes we went to Reef-a-Palooza yesterday. While there we learned a few things. One thing we’d been wondering was how would an Algae Scrubber change our setup? If you noticed in the images above we are putting our tank near a lot of windows. We hear corals will really appreciate the sun, but of course so will the Algae. That was why the reactor right up front and the desire to get a UV sterilizer. Well we did it, we bought the Clearwater Scrubber algae scrubber for our tank, got a good deal and the booth staff were driving through our home town on their way to Kansas, so bonus, no need to take it on a plane or ship it.

We’d like to also keep a refugium, so we may not run the algae scrubber 100% of the time, we’re going to play with timing, etc and see how it works. Certainly interested in thoughts from others.

See below the scene at the reef2reef booth raffle at RAP in Orlando yesterday, where we won a 15lb bag of salt that we now need to take home on a plane!

My next post will include how we designed our rock, what sand we used and getting the tank filled with water.

95B2F38A-276E-44ED-A05D-8E31D992A6C5.jpeg

Look forward to seeing your build.... I'm going with a cheeto Reactor on mine ....

Have you decided on a substrate yet?
 
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Tmcgoo13

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Let's talk rock, sand and the cycle.

We decided we wanted a clean tank, well at least we wanted to avoid as many pests as possible. So that means no live rock. We decided to proceed with CaribSea life rock. Not only did we go with CaribSea life rock, we chose to keep the amount of rock in the tank limited. We wanted great places for fish to swim in and out of, but not so much rock that we couldn't clean around it. In our previous tank we had put the suggested amount of live rock per gallon in the DT which meant we had many places where we could not vacuum the sand as there was no space between the rock and the glass. We also didn't put the rock on the glass bottom and then pour in the sand, this meant the rock could shift and tank inhabitants could dig under the rock.

We looked at many aquascapes and watched the BRS160 videos about setting up the rock. Even taped out the tank like BRS suggests to determine the right locations for the eye. The above pictures are the initial setups, I think we did this 3 separate times before we finally had the version we wanted.

Then to add the sand, we chose white sand, our previous tank has black sand, but learned a couple of key things. Black sand pros - it hides diatoms, algae, etc. Black sand cons - it hides diatoms, algae, etc so you don’t know how bad a problem you have. We added 5 bags of sand - 2 were Caribsea Arag-alive (live sand) and 3 were dry sand. We washed the dry sand out before adding. The 3 dry were:
2 bags of Aragonite Pink Flamingo and 1 bag of Florida Crushed Coral for added texture.

5879EA74-4BAB-444F-95B0-7F70C017B66A.jpeg
BAF979ED-CD8B-488A-8244-2374F453D9FE.jpeg
BE72711B-3857-4C98-8C42-3C954BF5D4AA.jpeg


Now to add water. This was a slow process because we could only make so much RO/DI based saltwater at a time.

Time to get the cycle going. So we have CaribSea Life Rock and live sand, but that’s not a lot to get the cycle going with. So after chatting with several of the local folks and reading online about different bacteria options like Turbo Start, Bio Spira, Dr Tim’s One and Only and a few others, I settled on Bio Spira. Based on the instructions, I put in enough Bio Spira for 150 gals and let let it go. I had previously used Dr. Tim’s for a 32gal Bio Cube, took a good month to cycle, Turbo Start was pretty expensive and while I wasn’t going to put fish in immediately with any bacteria, Bio Spira sounded like a great balance of speed, and cost. I added ammonia per Dr. Tim’s instructions with the Bio Spira and let the cycle begin.

I’ll talk about the sump set up next!

910F6A7F-D03D-47E5-8001-804917CEA353.jpeg


91EAA83F-8A3F-49CB-BB02-B8C7B8A62085.jpeg
 
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Tmcgoo13

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Look forward to seeing your build.... I'm going with a cheeto Reactor on mine ....

Have you decided on a substrate yet?

Definitely interested in how the Chaeto Reactor works for you! I detailed the substrate below. Also have a bunch of “rock” in the sump.
 

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Definitely interested in how the Chaeto Reactor works for you! I detailed the substrate below. Also have a bunch of “rock” in the sump.

Geez you move quick, I still have to pick mine up [emoji12]

Love the rock work, your going to have plenty of room for those tangs.

I'm also going with the liferock still working on a layout, and will also be going with the Fiji Pink Agra-Alive.

As far as he fuge going I'll be putting some marine pure bio blocks down there. Like you I will be going lite on the rock, trying to go with a different look.
 
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It seems like we're moving fast, but our tank was delivered 2nd week of February and I'm just catching up on putting this altogether. We are moving very slow this time to get it right and try to be low maintenance at least as much as possible. We have quite a bit of Marine Pure and also a Brightwell block in the sump. More to come on the sump, gotta go to my day job.
 

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It seems like we're moving fast, but our tank was delivered 2nd week of February and I'm just catching up on putting this altogether. We are moving very slow this time to get it right and try to be low maintenance at least as much as possible. We have quite a bit of Marine Pure and also a Brightwell block in the sump. More to come on the sump, gotta go to my day job.

How do you like the Brightwell blocks? Did you go with the Block or the Brick?

I've read the reviews on the Brightwell that there basically disintegrating in the sumps...

My friend is going to throw the blocks in his fuge for a few weeks to give me a jump start...
 
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Tmcgoo13

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F15B7E5C-A717-4448-8052-DDC5BD6DC1AA.jpeg
So far both types of blocks are
How do you like the Brightwell blocks? Did you go with the Block or the Brick?

I've read the reviews on the Brightwell that there basically disintegrating in the sumps...

My friend is going to throw the blocks in his fuge for a few weeks to give me a jump start...


So far both types of blocks are fine. The brightwell seem a bit more sturdy, as you can see the marine pure already looks like it’s disintegrating some. I think time will tell.

Cool to have tank to start the blocks in, also.
 
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Rob.B.

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When do you get to start your tank?

I'm figuring I'm still a month out. Is have everything besides substrate, lighting and a lid.

Mama Bear keeps throwing curve balls into the build. now she wants a new floor beneath the aquarium so that's going to slow it down a bit...
 
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