Fall 2021 Update:
After switching to an all SPS tank after moving back to DC, I decided the growth was too slow, the process was too frustrating paired with how much I like to travel, so I decided to convert the tank to a true mixed reef with some SPS, some select LPS and dominated by large leather coral. I sold about 80% of my acropora but kept the hardy, large colonies. I also bought some more torches, brain coral, and various colorful leathers. My goal is to have only interesting/colorful leathers. I also added some new fish and will continue to add a few more now that I will soon have giant leather colonies to feed.
Current equipment as of 12/9/2021:
Tank: Red Sea Reefer 450 with stock sump and stand
Lighting: 2 ATI Straton LED fixtures over the DT and a Noopsyche K7 over my frag tank section of my sump
Flow: Two Vortech MP40qds
Return pump: Current eFlux DC return pump
Skimmer: Deltec 1000i
Filter: BRS media reactor with 0.8 ROX carbon
ATO: Tunze Osmolator
Controller: APEX EL
Backup: Vortech Battery
Dosing: Neptune Apex DoS - ATI 2 part
Testing: Neptune Apex Trident
Misc: CO2 scrubber since it’s impossible for me to run a line outdoors in my building.
12/2021: Current FTS after converting the tank to a true mixed reef ( I need to get a better one):
current video of the tank
Last FTS before the move:
I have been pretty lazy in creating a new build thread since breaking down my 40g breeder and transferring everything over to my Red Sea Reefer 450 in April 2018. I did take pics throughout tho!
Back in April, my wife and I were out to dinner and she said, hey you keep talking about getting a new tank, why don't you just do it already. The next day, my Red Sea Reefer was on order I decided I didn't want to keep up with the SPS in my 40g when upgrading because I wanted a tank that I could ignore for weeks at a time if needed since I travel frequently for work. I found after a week of travel, the last thing I wanted to do was come home, test my water, adjusted my dosers and do water changes. So I sold all of my SPS and traded in for a mixed reef. I kept my Ricordea florida, but added leathers, LPS, other softies, gorgonians and anemones.
Delivery day was a bit nerve racking, as other have stated. Red Sea does a great job at packing the tank, but the freight company doesn't have the best reputation. Knowing this, when the guy showed up with my tank, I made sure to be nice, talk about baseball so we started off on the right foot. He was nice enough to bring it into my garage, and I said hey, the pallet looks a little beat up and there is a crack in the outer wooden box, do you mind waiting for me to open it up and take a look before signing? He said sure thing as we continued to talk Cleveland sports. No damage to the glass, so I was happy.
Next was to build the stand and set it up. Thankfully, my local club has glass suction movers, which made lifting this beast a lot easier. My brother and I ended up muscling it up a flight of stairs, with a turn in the middle, to my living room. after getting it setup, I hung my ATI Hydrid and did a leak check, and adjusted my light program to get my desired PAR
Once confirming there were no leaks, I started filling it and moved the rock over, gave it a few days to make sure it didn't cycle then everything else
And everything else. Going from a 40g to this beast sure made everything look empty.
Fast forward a few months, adding a few fish and some corals and anemones, and now its looking a lot fuller.
Sump, which is a mess. Not sure when I will do some cord management, but im sure at some point. Decided to ditch the filter socks and didn't want to pay $36 for filter cups when red solo cups work just as well. Current bioload doesn't really require much in the way of filtration, but I have plenty of space to add stuff as needed.
Inside my equipment side, nothing fancy:
Some spots where my old acros and montis incrusted on my rocks ended up surviving the move and are coming back. So I have a Polleti's yellow tip, blue millie and a forest fire digi coming back to life.
I have a growing red turf algae problem. I nuked all of my rocks with peroxide when I made the move, and it all appeared to die, but it made a come back. I've decided to not stress about it, but just got some back up last week to see if it could help. If not, oh well! corals should be thick enough in no time to block most of it of light. 2 tuxedo urchins and 4 massive mexican turbos should make a dent, I hope.
Some other random pics:
As for my equipment (updated post move):
Tank: Red Sea Reefer 450 with stock sump and stand
Lighting: 60" 4x80w ATI Hybrid and a Noopsyche K7 over my frag tank section of my sump
Flow: Two Vortech MP40qds
Return pump: Current eFlux DC return pump
Skimmer: Deltec 1000i
ATO: Tunze Osmolator
Controller: APEX EL
Backup: Vortech Battery
Dosing: Neptune Apex DoS - ATI 2 part
Testing: Neptune Apex Trident
Misc: CO2 scrubber since it’s impossible for me to run a line outdoors in my building.
My goal is to keep things simple and reduce the possible points of failure. So I will likely add some equipment as needed, but I tend not to try the trendier fads. Keep it simple and keep it natural.
After switching to an all SPS tank after moving back to DC, I decided the growth was too slow, the process was too frustrating paired with how much I like to travel, so I decided to convert the tank to a true mixed reef with some SPS, some select LPS and dominated by large leather coral. I sold about 80% of my acropora but kept the hardy, large colonies. I also bought some more torches, brain coral, and various colorful leathers. My goal is to have only interesting/colorful leathers. I also added some new fish and will continue to add a few more now that I will soon have giant leather colonies to feed.
Current equipment as of 12/9/2021:
Tank: Red Sea Reefer 450 with stock sump and stand
Lighting: 2 ATI Straton LED fixtures over the DT and a Noopsyche K7 over my frag tank section of my sump
Flow: Two Vortech MP40qds
Return pump: Current eFlux DC return pump
Skimmer: Deltec 1000i
Filter: BRS media reactor with 0.8 ROX carbon
ATO: Tunze Osmolator
Controller: APEX EL
Backup: Vortech Battery
Dosing: Neptune Apex DoS - ATI 2 part
Testing: Neptune Apex Trident
Misc: CO2 scrubber since it’s impossible for me to run a line outdoors in my building.
12/2021: Current FTS after converting the tank to a true mixed reef ( I need to get a better one):
current video of the tank
Last FTS before the move:
I have been pretty lazy in creating a new build thread since breaking down my 40g breeder and transferring everything over to my Red Sea Reefer 450 in April 2018. I did take pics throughout tho!
Back in April, my wife and I were out to dinner and she said, hey you keep talking about getting a new tank, why don't you just do it already. The next day, my Red Sea Reefer was on order I decided I didn't want to keep up with the SPS in my 40g when upgrading because I wanted a tank that I could ignore for weeks at a time if needed since I travel frequently for work. I found after a week of travel, the last thing I wanted to do was come home, test my water, adjusted my dosers and do water changes. So I sold all of my SPS and traded in for a mixed reef. I kept my Ricordea florida, but added leathers, LPS, other softies, gorgonians and anemones.
Delivery day was a bit nerve racking, as other have stated. Red Sea does a great job at packing the tank, but the freight company doesn't have the best reputation. Knowing this, when the guy showed up with my tank, I made sure to be nice, talk about baseball so we started off on the right foot. He was nice enough to bring it into my garage, and I said hey, the pallet looks a little beat up and there is a crack in the outer wooden box, do you mind waiting for me to open it up and take a look before signing? He said sure thing as we continued to talk Cleveland sports. No damage to the glass, so I was happy.
Next was to build the stand and set it up. Thankfully, my local club has glass suction movers, which made lifting this beast a lot easier. My brother and I ended up muscling it up a flight of stairs, with a turn in the middle, to my living room. after getting it setup, I hung my ATI Hydrid and did a leak check, and adjusted my light program to get my desired PAR
Once confirming there were no leaks, I started filling it and moved the rock over, gave it a few days to make sure it didn't cycle then everything else
And everything else. Going from a 40g to this beast sure made everything look empty.
Fast forward a few months, adding a few fish and some corals and anemones, and now its looking a lot fuller.
Sump, which is a mess. Not sure when I will do some cord management, but im sure at some point. Decided to ditch the filter socks and didn't want to pay $36 for filter cups when red solo cups work just as well. Current bioload doesn't really require much in the way of filtration, but I have plenty of space to add stuff as needed.
Inside my equipment side, nothing fancy:
Some spots where my old acros and montis incrusted on my rocks ended up surviving the move and are coming back. So I have a Polleti's yellow tip, blue millie and a forest fire digi coming back to life.
I have a growing red turf algae problem. I nuked all of my rocks with peroxide when I made the move, and it all appeared to die, but it made a come back. I've decided to not stress about it, but just got some back up last week to see if it could help. If not, oh well! corals should be thick enough in no time to block most of it of light. 2 tuxedo urchins and 4 massive mexican turbos should make a dent, I hope.
Some other random pics:
As for my equipment (updated post move):
Tank: Red Sea Reefer 450 with stock sump and stand
Lighting: 60" 4x80w ATI Hybrid and a Noopsyche K7 over my frag tank section of my sump
Flow: Two Vortech MP40qds
Return pump: Current eFlux DC return pump
Skimmer: Deltec 1000i
ATO: Tunze Osmolator
Controller: APEX EL
Backup: Vortech Battery
Dosing: Neptune Apex DoS - ATI 2 part
Testing: Neptune Apex Trident
Misc: CO2 scrubber since it’s impossible for me to run a line outdoors in my building.
My goal is to keep things simple and reduce the possible points of failure. So I will likely add some equipment as needed, but I tend not to try the trendier fads. Keep it simple and keep it natural.
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