PDR's RSR 350 - Retired

[PDR]

Updated FTS 1/10/19

Updated Equipment and Stocking 1/20/19
Equipment:
- 4x powerheads (2 Jebao 0w-25, 2 Jebao ow-10)
- Sicce Syncra 4.0 return pump
- 2x neotherm 100w heaters
- 3x Kessil A160we - old lights were - 2x nanobox duos
- Kessil controller
- Red Sea DIY screen top
- Somatic 60S Skimmer - added to help with PH issues
- Somatic reactor used as diy algae reactor
- Standard filter socks

Fish:
- Maroon Clown
- Banggai Cardinalfish
- Kole Tang
- Flame Angel
- Spotted Mandarin
- Blue/Green Chromis
- Azure Damselfish (oldest fish inhabitant)
- Ruby Head Fairy Wrasse
- ORA Yellow Watchman Goby - I think, been MIA for 3-4 days
- ORA Orchid Dottyback
- Copperband Butterflyfish
- Yellow Wrasse (Halichoeres chrysus)
- Melanurus Wrasse
- Biota CB Yellow Tang

Inverts:
- Cleaner Shrimp
- Astraea Snails (I have had 3-4 of them for over 5 years)
- 1 large Emerald crab
- Red Banded Pistol Shrimp
- 100's of Florida and dwarf ceriths
- 3-4 Nassarius snails
- 8 conchs

Corals/Nems:
- ORA Sinularia Coral
- Neon Green Toadstool
- Long Polyp Neon Green Toadstool
- GSP
- Green Hairy Mushroom
- Corky Sea Finger
- Purple Sea Rod
- ORA Grube's Gorgonian
- 3x Mini Maxi Nems
- 10-12 kinds of Zoas
- 4x Rock Flower Nems
- 5x Green BTA - all splits
- 3x small Rainbow BTA - all splits
- ORA Fuzzy Lobo
- Yellow Toadstool
- 3x Various Rhodactis
- Blue Discosoma
- Red Discosoma
- War Coral
- Blue/Green Blasto
- Koji Wada Pink Nepthea
- Rainbow Ricordea
- Green Ricordea
- Green Torch
- Cabbage Leather
- Orange/Green Acan Echinata


*I just realized I accidentally deleted some of this post when editing the stocking list. When this was first posted, I had just rescaped the tank due to having to remove some rock with invasive palys.

 

[Reefer Deez]

Awesome tank! It looks really beautiful sorry to hear about the rocks but it could be worse right!

 

[Hulley]

How about a sump shot? No skimmer, right?

 

[Aaron-A2]

Wrasses tank! I love it! My QT is currently occupied, but once it's available I'm going to be putting some wrasses in

Did you QT your fish? If so, did you proactively treat with medication (copper/prazipro/etc)? If both, what was your experience with wrasses, haha.

 

[PDR]

Awesome tank! It looks really beautiful sorry to hear about the rocks but it could be worse right!

Thanks! Yeah it easily could have been. They were really close to attaching to two other rocks so I decided I couldn't put it off any longer.

Wrasses tank! I love it! My QT is currently occupied, but once it's available I'm going to be putting some wrasses in

Did you QT your fish? If so, did you proactively treat with medication (copper/prazipro/etc)? If both, what was your experience with wrasses, haha.

I have never QT'd any of my fish, but I’ve just been lucky. I will either buy captive bred, or from humblefish in the future.

 

[PDR]

How about a sump shot? No skimmer, right?

My sump is a mess, but here it is.





Pretty boring...

 

[PDR]

I forgot to mention that I run carbon 24/7 and change it out every 2 weeks. I also forgot my cabbage leather in my list. Here are some closer pics I took today after finally getting rid of the extra BTA's and holding container.

 

[Hulley]

My sump is a mess, but here it is.





Pretty boring...

I have a 350 coming and I'm planning on going skimmerless. A big fuge, carbon reactor and probably a UV light and I think that'll do. I'll add a skimmer if I feel necessary. I'm glad this set-up is working for you!

 

[PDR]

I have a 350 coming and I'm planning on going skimmerless. A big fuge, carbon reactor and probably a UV light and I think that'll do. I'll add a skimmer if I feel necessary. I'm glad this set-up is working for you!

I had a skimmer when the tank was first up and running and I just didn't like it. Couldn't ever get it tuned right and it was a nice well reviewed skimmer. My nitrates and phosphates are undetectable in this tank. I feed heavily both fish and coral and do a 30% water change every 6-8 weeks. I also don't run any filter socks. I meant to mention that picture of the fuge was taken 2-3 days after I had removed a basketball size amount of chaeto from the fuge.

I personally find it better if a smaller amount of carbon is changed out every 1-2 weeks. When I had a reactor is was a pain to do, now I just drop a new bag of Rox carbon in the bubble trap every 2 weeks.

I may be mistaken, but if by uv light you mean uv sterilizer that may be counter productive when running a fuge. Also get the best light you can afford for the fuge, it will make a significant difference. I also recommend waiting 1-2 months after adding livestock before getting any chaeto.

 

[PDR]

I know these are not great pictures, I originally took them just to keep track.

12/18/15


1/9/16


1/25/16


3/3/16


3/19/16


2/17/18 - This is how it looked before I had to remove the rocks with the trash palys

 

[Hulley]

I had a skimmer when the tank was first up and running and I just didn't like it. Couldn't ever get it tuned right and it was a nice well reviewed skimmer. My nitrates and phosphates are undetectable in this tank. I feed heavily both fish and coral and do a 30% water change every 6-8 weeks. I also don't run any filter socks. I meant to mention that picture of the fuge was taken 2-3 days after I had removed a basketball size amount of chaeto from the fuge.

I personally find it better if a smaller amount of carbon is changed out every 1-2 weeks. When I had a reactor is was a pain to do, now I just drop a new bag of Rox carbon in the bubble trap every 2 weeks.

I may be mistaken, but if by uv light you mean uv sterilizer that may be counter productive when running a fuge. Also get the best light you can afford for the fuge, it will make a significant difference. I also recommend waiting 1-2 months after adding livestock before getting any chaeto.

Yeah, I did mean UV sterilizer and honestly I probably wouldn't add that until later if needed. I plan on no filter socks but media cups instead with maybe some kind of bio-balls or something and/or filter floss.

 

[PDR]

Yeah, I did mean UV sterilizer and honestly I probably wouldn't add that until later if needed. I plan on no filter socks but media cups instead with maybe some kind of bio-balls or something and/or filter floss.

I really like the marinepure media, I have the block and the balls and like them both.

Edit: I have removed all of the marine pure media. I no longer see a reason to have it and there are some downsides I wanted to avoid.

 

[PDR]

Just some random iPhone pics from today.

 

[Hulley]

I really like the marinepure media, I have the block and the balls and like them both.

Yep, I'm planning on having both the block and balls.

Good lookin tank, what Goby is that?

 

[PDR]

Yep, I'm planning on having both the block and balls.

Good lookin tank, what Goby is that?

They are both Blennies. The one in the first pic is a bicolor, the other one is an orange spotted. They are both pretty funny little guys

 

[00Barracuda00]

I had a skimmer when the tank was first up and running and I just didn't like it. Couldn't ever get it tuned right and it was a nice well reviewed skimmer. My nitrates and phosphates are undetectable in this tank. I feed heavily both fish and coral and do a 30% water change every 6-8 weeks. I also don't run any filter socks. I meant to mention that picture of the fuge was taken 2-3 days after I had removed a basketball size amount of chaeto from the fuge.

I personally find it better if a smaller amount of carbon is changed out every 1-2 weeks. When I had a reactor is was a pain to do, now I just drop a new bag of Rox carbon in the bubble trap every 2 weeks.

I may be mistaken, but if by uv light you mean uv sterilizer that may be counter productive when running a fuge. Also get the best light you can afford for the fuge, it will make a significant difference. I also recommend waiting 1-2 months after adding livestock before getting any chaeto.

So does that mean you cycled the tank with a skimmer, and then switched to chaeto/fuge only after? Did you have any issues adding sand to your fuge after the sump was established?

 

[PDR]

So does that mean you cycled the tank with a skimmer, and then switched to chaeto/fuge only after? Did you have any issues adding sand to your fuge after the sump was established?

I don't think I had the skimmer during the cycle but I started the fuge when the tank was just at a year old. I had nitrate issues the entire first year (40+ppm), I also had elevated phosphate and a lot of algae issues. I gave up on the skimmer and decided to try a fuge. I maybe would have kept the skimmer for aeration alone, but didn't have room.

The next 9 months were difficult personally so the tank ended up taking a back seat. My water changes went from every 2 weeks to about every 2-3 months. The fuge really took off after a couple of months. I didn't test my nitrate or phosphate during those 9 months, but I realized the tank just kept looking better. I finally tested them for the first time the beginning of this year and was surprised to find I had no detectable levels of either nitrate or phosphate. I guess the fuge is doing its job

I didn't have any issues adding the sand. I just turned off my return pump for a couple of hours to let it settle a bit, then ran 2 sets of filter socks for the next 24 hours and everything was clear. If I had to do it over, I would probably not use sand or the marine pure block. I would use the marine pure balls covering the bottom of the fuge.

I want to note that I ran filter socks until 5/9/18. I tried to change them every 3 days but honestly it was more like every 7-10 days. If I start to have any issues with nutrients or algae, the first thing I will do is add them back.

I also forgot to mention my feeding schedule.
- LRS soaked in selcon daily.
- Mix of reef roids and reef chili every 3 days
- Red Sea energy A & B every day - (pretty small dose for now, just started about a month ago)

Edit: I no longer recommend marine pure media. I would just use LR in the fuge.

 

[00Barracuda00]

I don't think I had the skimmer during the cycle but I started the fuge when the tank was just at a year old. I had nitrate issues the entire first year (40+ppm), I also had elevated phosphate and a lot of algae issues. I gave up on the skimmer and decided to try a fuge. I maybe would have kept the skimmer for aeration alone, but didn't have room.

The next 9 months were difficult personally so the tank ended up taking a back seat. My water changes went from every 2 weeks to about every 2-3 months. The fuge really took off after a couple of months. I didn't test my nitrate or phosphate during those 9 months, but I realized the tank just kept looking better. I finally tested them for the first time the beginning of this year and was surprised to find I had no detectable levels of either nitrate or phosphate. I guess the fuge is doing its job

I didn't have any issues adding the sand. I just turned off my return pump for a couple of hours to let it settle a bit, then ran 2 sets of filter socks for the next 24 hours and everything was clear. If I had to do it over, I would probably not use sand or the marine pure block, but would fill the bottom of the fuge with the marine pure balls.

I want to note that I ran filter socks until 5/9/18. I tried to change them every 3 days but honestly it was more like every 7-10 days. If I start to have any issues with nutrients or algae, the first thing I will do is add them back.

I also forgot to mention my feeding schedule.
- LRS soaked in selcon daily.
- Mix of reef roids and reef chili every 3 days
- Red Sea energy A & B every day - (pretty small dose for now, just started about a month ago)

Wow that's really impressive that the fuge alone was able to bring that in. Why would you have gone with the marine pure balls over the block?

 

[PDR]

Wow that's really impressive that the fuge alone was able to bring that in. Why would you have gone with the marine pure balls over the block?

Yeah I am pretty happy with it so far. The block just limits how much chaeto I can grow before having to remove it. If I had a bigger fuge I would probably keep the block. Then again the marine pure balls do trap detritus pretty bad, not as bad as the sand but still. I think the biggest factor is having a decent light. The only reason I am using the orbit light is because it was leftover from my first reef tank. Speaking of which...





Man I really miss this tank. I turned in all these fish when I tore it down to start a new one and I really miss them. That purple firefish was my first fish and I had that cleaner shrimp for over 3 years until he died. I still have some of the Astraea snails from this tank.

 

[PDR]

So I ended up changing the flow after the new scape. Everything seems much better now and I am really happy with the overall flow in the tank.

Updated FTS I just took.


Here are some of the frags I picked up a couple of days ago.