New tank build

[Naturalreef]

Evening,

Been in the saltwater game since 2002 mainly nano reefs 25 gallons and under. Spent enough money to buy a small island (lawnman quote with nothing to really show for it. My most successful tank was a Red Sea Max Nano that crashed due to streets being tarred (Skimmer line outside). Nano tank parameters have been a roller coaster to keep stable because of my love for Sps and traveling for work.

Sold the max nano and purchased a IM Lagoon 25 to recreate what I lost. Sps were doing great for a while, then polyps would disappear and slowly they would wither away. Parameters were spot on, but icp kept reporting high tin. No metals deteriorating in tank, RO station all new filters. Tried using purit, and metasorb to no avail. Only thing I could throw a finger at is maybe all my dosing tubing which I just use petsmart Airline tubing. In short, found a,product called “continuum aquatics power cleanse”. Heavy metal remover. Things immediately turned around! Sps polyp extension was incredible! Still don’t know for sure, but using this product until I can find the culprit.

Things being stable now, I wanted to move to a larger tank. Found a great deal on a Reefer 200xl G2 from a reefer on here.(Thanks Lawnman!)

So this is the start of my journey to a Mature tank with colonies, not frags!

Location of tank is settled….first problem is all my Focustronic equipment. I can’t keep it where it’s at since lines can’t be lengthened. I also can’t put any cabinets near the tank (wife’s order). The room is already cramped and I agree, I want a clean setup to math the tanks lines. Not enough room behind the tank either. I’m pretty much left at selling my whole Focustronic ecosystem including brand new Focustronic light that I haven’t even opened yet. I love the Focustronic system, but am close to buying the Reef factory ecosystem that is 1/10th the size. Reef factory smart tester only allows one test configuration at a time which is very limiting. Reviews aren’t happy with GHL…..I need a reliable KH tester and a Nitrate and Phosphate tester that are small. Manual testing would be fine if I didn’t travel, hence my investment into automatic testers.

Some sacrifices will have to be made. I also will have to downsize my Kalkwasser system. I guess TLF kalk 300 would work in the sump area. Why all this equipment for a nano? Simply for future upgrades. Figured equipment will come with me. Really didn’t think through the storage of all this equipment.

Plan on doing another floating reef such as this

Equipment

Red Sea Reefer 200xl G2

ATI Straton or Solartronic (figuring out equipment storage)

Focustronic Ecosystem Mastertronic,Alkatronic,Dosetronic,Solartronic. Possibly downsizing to smaller controller I.e. Reef Factory

Hydor E-SK 600 Skimmer

Jebao DCT-4000 DC return pump

IM Helios 200 watt heater

Hydros Controller

2 Mp10QD or 2 Icecap 2k Gyre pumps mounted vertically on back wall

Reefeco floating rock wall mount

Marco dry rock in coralline red



Excited about the bigger tank and planning everything out. Right now it’s getting a citric acid cleaning followed by a freshwater rinse. Once the Reefeco order comes in, I’ll mount the brackets and wait the 10 days for it to cure. Then I’ll build the rock structure and start the cycle. I want to take the transfer slow as I have a lot of expensive acro. Once parameters are stable, I’ll start with a frag of green star polyps(canary in a coal mine) and a montipora frag to see how they react. I’ll probably buy the new automatic tester this week after more research and hook it up to the new system to get everything dialed in and Then list all my Focustronic for sale.


The journey continues folks…….

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Best of luck with the new tank!

 

[Naturalreef]

Thank you Gumbies!

 

[Naturalreef]

Things are starting to move a little faster. I finished my Aquaforest aqua scape. It was really nice to work with and a 40lb mixed box had plenty of sizes and shapes to work with. Only used about half the box. Since tank is in the corner of the room, I’m very limited on space behind the tank for my Reef Factory testing equipment and hydros gear. I think I found a solution.

For the testing equipment, I’ll need decent access to maintain the equipment. What I came up with is I purchased two locking drawer slides. I will attach a board to each wall and attach the equipment to it. I will pull the drawer slide up behind the tank,lock in position and maintain the equipment. Once I’m done, slide it back down out of the way behind the tank. Hydros gear will use a folding vertical shelf bracket attached to another board near bottom of tank with tank slid out far enough that I can reach behind it if I need to.

pictures of shelving in the next few days…..can’t wait to fill it up and start the cycle .

 

[Naturalreef]

Now comes the decision of sand or bare bottom.

 

[MW319]

Very nice rock work. Any updates?

 

[Naturalreef]

Thank you MW!

Yes, making good progress. Most equipment is installed and just waiting on my Reef factory testing equipment to be delivered to be complete. Cycle is done as I purchased Top Shelf bio media to speed up the cycle and add bio diversity to the dry rock.

I was able to put a 5 gallon top off behind the tank with all my hydros gear, so I’m happy about that. I plan on adding a small shoal of green chromis before adding my aggressive clownfish. Purchased the Plank auto feeder to keep the Chromis well fed with multiple feedings per day. Between the feedings and aggressive clowns, hopefully will keep them busy and prevent them picking each other off. Once I seen a small shoal of green chromis, I fell in love with them.

Once chromis are in, I’ll let the tank find a balance and then adjust nutrients before putting a canary acro in to see where I’m at before transferring the lagoon over to the reefer. I really like the new tank. I really missed having a sump.

So much easier to work with and the filtration is going to make things so much easier on me. I also went with more Red Sea gear as I really love the shimmer the 90 provides and I’m liking the Red Sea app with my Reefwave, Reefled,and Reefmat . I ordered the Reefato as well as it got good reviews. Lastly, ordered a Red Sea screen cover that should be here tomorrow for the Chromis.

 

[MW319]

You can’t go wrong with Top Shelf. They are one of my go to places here in Orlando and their farm is amazing. I haven’t seen or heard much about reef factory testing equipment so i will be following to see what kind of success you get from it.

I keep my system pretty simple and I’m terrible about keeping up with my testing. I do a 20% water change every 3 to 4 weeks and clean my socks every 3 to 4 days. SPS growth is slow, LPS growth is good and Zoa growth sometimes gets out of control. Oh, I have a Waterbox 170 4.5 But no build thread.

 

[Naturalreef]

Def throw some pictures up. Be interested in seeing your tank. Once I learned how to properly use and maintain my Focustronic equipment, I wouldnt run another tank without it. Reef factory has gotten good reviews, but not as automated as Focustronic.

Really wish I could keep my Focustronic now that I have it dialed in, but I love how the new tank looks and the ease of maintenance along with the extra space for coral growth.

 

[MW319]

 

[Naturalreef]

Wow, Super nice! Everything is so bright and healthy! Nice job. What are future plans for it? Upgrades etc..

 

[MW319]

Thanks man

Thinking about upgrading my lights to G6 XR15 Pros or just adding 2 AI Blades to my Hydra’s. Change up the aqua scape to add more SPS (Your rock tower would look amazing in my tank). I’ve also been debating on upgrading the tank to a WB Infiniti 230.6 but the cost is another story.

I know I should be focusing on automation, testing and a controller but we will see. LOL

 

[Naturalreef]

Hydras are great lights and the blades would also do a great job as a fill light. Thanks for the compliment on the rock. I really wasn’t sure if I liked it or was going to keep it. Once I put it in the tank, I fell in love with it. Each tier angles back from the other so there will be minimal shading for my Sps. Also wanted flow to be able to move around the whole structure.