Matt’s 300XL

[Whisnantrider]

I’ve been slacking on this but I wanted to make a build and progression thread for my Red Sea 300XL.

I have been through several tanks in my time in the hobby and this one is after a fairly short stint with a Waterbox 20 cube. Loved that little setup but the corals started to quickly outgrow it and with the direction of the financial and selection side of the hobby I decided I should upgrade to something bigger before I can no longer afford the equipment or get the corals and fish I really want.
The 20 Cube:

Any whohere it goes.

Obviously we started with the tank which I picked up used from a local reefer who upgraded to a very nice VERY expensive CADE system.

As for equipment:

Lighting: Reefbreeders Photon 32V2+ with BOT mounts
Return: Sicce Syncra SDC 3.0
Power heads: 2 Sicce Xstream SDC
Dosing Pump: Kamoer X1 Pro2
Heater: Finnex HMAS 300W with Auto Aqua Smart temp
Skimmer: Coralbox D300+
Misc: Tunze Care float, Red Sea screen top, Red Sea media cups, Anker 12 outlet power strip, neat aquatics feeding port, DIY 3 gallon kalk solution container

Rock is about 36# CaribSea LifeRock. 2 Arches, 3 Flat bottom base pieces for the main structure and the. A few extra random pieces here and there as well as in the sump area.

Sand is 30# CaribSea Special Reef Grade

For water changes: Sicce Ultra ZERO, Python hose, Red Sea blue bucket salt, Marine Depot RODI unit, good ole Brute water containers.

For dosing: Kalkwasser solution using BRS Kalkwasser every hour and Brightwell replenish occasionally as needed for any trace elements. Amino acids will be a mix of Red Sea AB+, AcroPower, and Brightwell Aquatics Coral Amino.

Fish stock list:
Tomini Tang
Tail spot Blenny
Yellow & Purple Wrasse (Yellw Coris Wrasse) (Halichoeres leucoxanthus)
Midas Blenny
Yellow line Goby
Banggai Cardinal
Ruby Longfin Fairy Wrasse
Tiger Conch
Nassarius Snails
Banded Trochus Snails

Future stock:
Skunk Cleaner shrimp
Scarlet Scooter Blenny
Sapphire Damsel
Cherub Angelfish (MAYBE! I love them but I am afraid of them lol)
Sixline Wrasse (MAYBE! I love them but I am afraid of them lol)

As far as corals there are to many to name but it will be a mixed reef of sps, lps, polyps, and softies.

The tank has been running in its current state for only a few weeks. Some corals took the move better than others but it may have been the cramped quarters and some coral warfare that caused the damage in the 20, or even my experimentation with different lighting before settling in on what I know and trust in the reefere it is currently:

Cord management still needs some work, I admittedly am not very good at it.

This will be a fairly simple setup the only other thing I plan to add eventually is a refugium in that portion of the sump but historically I have had a hard time keeping nutrients high enough to support cheato so that is yet to be determined and will probably wait until a year or so out unless I notice a need for it sooner.

 

[Whisnantrider]

Some live stock pics:

 

[Lavey29]

Looks like you are off to a good start. I have the XL300 also for 11months now and really like it. Such good quality wish I had room for a bigger model.

 

[Whisnantrider]

Looks like you are off to a good start. I have the XL300 also for 11months now and really like it. Such good quality wish I had room for a bigger model.

Nice! I like this model much more than the Reefer 250 I had a while back. I think the IM SR60 has been my favorite setup thus far but if this works out that well then it will easily be my favorite.

 

[Lavey29]

Nice! I like this model much more than the Reefer 250 I had a while back. I think the IM SR60 has been my favorite setup thus far but if this works out that well then it will easily be my favorite.

I like IM designs too and their customers service is excellent.

 

[Whisnantrider]

Just an update for anyone interested in the Coral box skimmers. This thing has been great. I have had to empty the cup 4 times now with this grossness. Even with weekly 15% water changes and changing the filter floss every Wednesday and Saturday.

I used AIO tanks so long I forgot how a good skimmer can really get that smell going in the cabinet.

I had to reduce the kalk dosing down to 240ml a day. My all was slowly climbing into the mid 9’s. I want to try to keep it in the 8 range and it seems to be holding steady around 8.7 now.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Welcome fellow xl300. Great tank.

 

[Whisnantrider]

Added the sapphire damsel and skunk cleaner shrimp today. Sorry for the crappy pics.

 

[Lavey29]

Always liked the blue damsel but to nervous to drop one into the neighborhood reef.

 

[Whisnantrider]

Always liked the blue damsel but to nervous to drop one into the neighborhood reef.

I have had a sapphire damsel in most if not all of my tanks since 2012 and never had an issue with them. I know the Fiji blue devil is supposed to be a terror though. They are also supposed to help eat flat worms not that I have an issue with that but I never have either so maybe they work maybe it’s been luck.

My LFS has a Reefer XL 425 with probably 25-30 damsels. Mostly sapphire and some sort of yellow damsels. I think the only other type of fish is a kole tang and a bunch of tiny little tiger gobies, that you barely even see, anyway that tank is awesome with so many fish. I would love to have a damsel only tank one day.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Cool! Following!

 

[Devaji]

Just an update for anyone interested in the Coral box skimmers. This thing has been great. I have had to empty the cup 4 times now with this grossness. Even with weekly 15% water changes and changing the filter floss every Wednesday and Saturday.

I used AIO tanks so long I forgot how a good skimmer can really get that smell going in the cabinet.

I had to reduce the kalk dosing down to 240ml a day. My all was slowly climbing into the mid 9’s. I want to try to keep it in the 8 range and it seems to be holding steady around 8.7 now.

Hi I just ordered the G2 Xl 300 and I am really thinking about this skimmer.
are you still liking it? I will have a high bioload in my tank so looking for thinking that really skims the heck out of the water.

is the drain hose long enough? the RS skimmers it looks a lot longer.
how long did it take to break in?

 

[Whisnantrider]

It has been the best skimmer I’ve ever used thus far. The hose is plenty long BUT the version of the Red Sea sump that I have is taller than the nipple the drain hose connects to so I have to pick the skimmer up a bit to drain it. It’s not a big deal and I could replace it with a 90 degree fitting to resolve the issue but it just isn’t enough of an issue to waste my time on. That is the only thing I can think of that I wish was different but for the price it’s still well above most of the others.