Prime Reefer 250 - from the beginning!

[DT Prime]

Hey everyone,

What a week! I began filling my first tank ever last Tuesday and then spent the next 4 days glued to it waiting for it to leak all over my living room (almost did once but it was explicitly user error :)). Now that it seems relatively stable I figured I'd throw up a few pictures of the set up process and current status. Again this is my first tank EVER so criticize away, I appreciate any feedback on anything! Here's my current equipment list:

Tank: Red Sea Reefer 250
Lights: 2x Kessil 360WE w/Controller
Powerhead: 2x MP40wQD
Skimmer: Vertex Omega 180i
Return Pump: Reef Octopus Water Blaster HY-3000 (750GPH)
Chiller: Arctica 1/10hp w/ 320gph LifeGard pump
Heater: Aquatop Titanium 200w
Doser: Bubble Magus T11 Pump w/ 3x 1.5L chambers
Reactor: TLF Phosban 150
Rock: Real Reef Rock 60lbs
Substrate: CaribSea Aragonite Special Grade 40lbs (and another 40lbs bag not in tank)

For rock I bought a 60lbs box of medium sized Real Reef Rock. At first I wasn't thrilled with the sizes since a lot of the scapes I like tend to be fewer larger pieces, but once I got them in the tank I was very happy with them.

Rock assortment:

General scape attempt, I was set on a bi-modal structure from the get go:

First attempt at in tank scape:

Beginning to fill:

Let me take a break here and note that I did not wash my sand nearly enough. I saw enough people online say they didn't wash theirs and it turned out fine that I only gave mine a couple freshwater rinses and then dumped it in and started filling. If/when I do this again, I will DEFINITELY wash my sand thoroughly. It's been almost a week and the water is more or less cleared up but there remains plenty of dust in the sand bed I'm slowly stirring out, and the fine layer of sand grit that gets on/in everything during the initial clearing will clearly be a manual process. Not worth it at all, and one of what I'm sure will be many reminders to take is slow and do it right!

Alright, back to pictures!

Here is said cloudy tank, blech

And here is this morning:

The thing hanging in the back left is a fish bag holder I drilled and filled with rock rubble to hopefully use as an eventual in-tank refugium/de-nitrification assister.

And sump as of today (still lots to do in here):

Ammonia spiked Friday:

And just starting to see some Nitrites today:

So that's where I'm at! Sounds like my cycle is going to be on the longer side but there's plenty to do in the meantime. Next steps that I know I want to do are:
-installing a second switched-outlet surge protector below current one for all pumps, which I'll do when I'm done posting this.
-selecting/settling on a seperate 5-7gal ATO reservoir that fits in cabinent, and then setting up aqua-lifter with timer to refill existing ATO reservoir (like most it seems I would eventually like the existing ATO to be drilled and used as a pod farm, but in the meantime I'll take the extra two days worth of ATO).
-construct a cover for the cabinet cutout to cover outlets, I'm thinking something that maybe latches to the top of the cabinet and slides down 6" or so when released for power strip access.
-storage or shelving, preferably free standing vs mounted, to hold the doser.

That's it for now, later I'll post some initial impressions on the tank itself and the rest of the equipment as someone who jumped into this from square one. Hope you enjoy following along with me as I stumble my way through this learning process, if you have any questions fire away and always feel free to tell me what I'm missing or doing wrong!

Cheers,
DT Prime

 

[reefcollie]

Looks like it's going to be a beautiful tank

 

[ksfulk]

Awesome looking tank! You're well on your way to having something you can enjoy for quite a while!

Do you have a stocking plan in mind?

Im not sure what media you are running/planning to run in the TLF reactor, but this early in the tanks life, you probably dont need anything - which could save you on some media costs for now.

If you are planning on using the ATO resevoir as something else, then I would invest in a quality ATO with redundancy built in, since you dont have a HUGE amount of excess room in the sump area and using those 5 gallon water totes (which are awesome as ATO containers!) you dont want to dump 5 gallons of RO/DI water into your tank. (1. because you might overflow the tank, and 2 because that amount of fresh water into your saltwater tank will mess up your salinity quite a lot). I would suggest either the Tunze ATO (I use the nano for my 40g breeder with no problem - its nice and quiet) as the 3155 has both physical and optical sensors to determine water level or the Avast Marine ATO kit - which uses a pressure sensor that just cant be obstructed - Ive used this on my 300 gallon system for years without issue - and the peristalic pump prevents backsiphoning as well.

 

[DT Prime]

Awesome looking tank! You're well on your way to having something you can enjoy for quite a while!

Do you have a stocking plan in mind?

Im not sure what media you are running/planning to run in the TLF reactor, but this early in the tanks life, you probably dont need anything - which could save you on some media costs for now.

If you are planning on using the ATO resevoir as something else, then I would invest in a quality ATO with redundancy built in, since you dont have a HUGE amount of excess room in the sump area and using those 5 gallon water totes (which are awesome as ATO containers!) you dont want to dump 5 gallons of RO/DI water into your tank. (1. because you might overflow the tank, and 2 because that amount of fresh water into your saltwater tank will mess up your salinity quite a lot). I would suggest either the Tunze ATO (I use the nano for my 40g breeder with no problem - its nice and quiet) as the 3155 has both physical and optical sensors to determine water level or the Avast Marine ATO kit - which uses a pressure sensor that just cant be obstructed - Ive used this on my 300 gallon system for years without issue - and the peristalic pump prevents backsiphoning as well.

Thanks for the input! Right now I'm just running some granulated carbon in the reactor to help clean the water a bit, my understanding was it wouldn't affect the cycle negatively but if that's wrong I'll shut it down for a few weeks.
You're also about the millionth person I've heard recommend the tunze ato so if I do go for a professional one I'm sure that will be it. My plan for now is to set up the aqua-lifter on a timer this afternoon and have it top off the existing ATO reservoir 2x a day from the 5gal, if/when the existing ATO reservoir gets modified I will definitely upgrade if I haven't already though.

In terms of stocking plan I want a peaceful SPS heavy tank but beyond that I'm pretty open, some things considered so far would be a goby/tiger shrimp combo if my sand bed is deep enough (only about 1.5" currently but lots of rock tunnels), a rock hopping blenny of some kind, and maybe eventually a trio of wrasses or something of similar size/aesthetic (already looking into a lid). Not looking to stuff it with fish though, I want the corals to be the focus so strictly looking at things that are reef safe and will add enough movement and color to bring it all together.

Thanks again for the reply!

 

[ksfulk]

Thanks for the input! Right now I'm just running some granulated carbon in the reactor to help clean the water a bit, my understanding was it wouldn't affect the cycle negatively but if that's wrong I'll shut it down for a few weeks.
You're also about the millionth person I've heard recommend the tunze ato so if I do go for a professional one I'm sure that will be it. My plan for now is to set up the aqua-lifter on a timer this afternoon and have it top off the existing ATO reservoir 2x a day from the 5gal, if/when the existing ATO reservoir gets modified I will definitely upgrade if I haven't already though.

In terms of stocking plan I want a peaceful SPS heavy tank but beyond that I'm pretty open, some things considered so far would be a goby/tiger shrimp combo if my sand bed is deep enough (only about 1.5" currently but lots of rock tunnels), a rock hopping blenny of some kind, and maybe eventually a trio of wrasses or something of similar size/aesthetic (already looking into a lid). Not looking to stuff it with fish though, I want the corals to be the focus so strictly looking at things that are reef safe and will add enough movement and color to bring it all together.

Thanks again for the reply!

Carbon is fine - I just started carbon in mine two days ago - Ive just seen several people using GFO on day three of a tank build to make me gunshy when I see a working reactor before there is livestock in the tank.

Keep an eye on the market forums here - you can pick up a used Tunze for $50-80 if you are diligent :) I used an aqualifter and a DIY ATO kit for two or three years on my old 75 gallon tank. They are workhorses, but you had to watch those float switches.

 

[revhtree]

Looking great!

 

[fishboys]

Very nice. I like how you've done things. I have a S-650 sitting in my garage and your build has me excited to get mine rolling.

 

[DT Prime]

Carbon is fine - I just started carbon in mine two days ago - Ive just seen several people using GFO on day three of a tank build to make me gunshy when I see a working reactor before there is livestock in the tank.

Keep an eye on the market forums here - you can pick up a used Tunze for $50-80 if you are diligent :) I used an aqualifter and a DIY ATO kit for two or three years on my old 75 gallon tank. They are workhorses, but you had to watch those float switches.

Good to know, and thanks for confirming the carbon! I've also heard those float switches are iffy so I'm hoping the timer will work for a month or two til I can replenish the ol' tank fund :) Just went through your 525XL thread, what an awesome setup you put together! I will definitely be following along.

Looking great!

Thank you!

Very nice. I like how you've done things. I have a S-650 sitting in my garage and your build has me excited to get mine rolling.

That's awesome, can't wait to see what you do with it! And thanks, I consider this tank practice for when I'm eventually in an actual house again and can have something that size :)

 

[pelphrey]

Great tank, I am in the process of setting up the reefer 250 myself!

 

[Mjl714]

Looking good.

 

[DT Prime]

Great tank, I am in the process of setting up the reefer 250 myself!

I know, I've been following along! Your stand construction photos made mine superfluous haha. Looking forward to seeing what you do with yours, jealous of your ATO/refugium!

Looking good.

Thanks! Trying to clean up the cabinet space/sump a bit after seeing how freaking clean some of the other setups on here, still just happy it all seems to working at this point haha

 

[DT Prime]

Hey guys,

Spent the morning stirring up sand and clearin' more dust, did a 5 gal water change as well (which I've been doing every other day so far). Excited to see it looks like I have some faint nitrates showing up:

Put a second individually switched power strip up yesterday for equipment in the sump so I'm not plugging and unplugging with wet hands when working in it. I ended up using mirror mounting tape since I don't want to drill anything into the stand itself, so we'll see how that works. Cord situation is still less than lovely but hopefully I can figure something out in the next few weeks:

Not as bad from an elevated view at least:

One of the many things I've learned already is I did not do enough research into arranging/setting up equipment before hooking things up. I have been figuring out each piece as I go (adapting metric return pump when I still thought I didn't want hard pvc plumbing was a fun one), which is fine because I'm learning a lot, but the "flow" is definitely stacked in nature. Not gonna lie, seeing some of the amazingly clean pre-planned equipment set-ups others have done makes me wish I could start over again already with just the limited learning I already have!

Speaking of equipment- the skimmer is starting to get close to broken in I think, I'm getting some actual foam without overflowing the cup (which I did at least a dozen times the first couple days :)). It is definitely big for the space but I'm hoping it is going to be effective, a local professional tank building/cleaning service said it would be good and there was nothing in it for them so fingers remain crossed. I've had a few people online tell me it's too big, but I also heard that about the mp40's and so far they seem to be totally fine until I get over 80% power on both, and even then it's just caution that has me turn them down, not actual spillage/sand storms. Man can they move water though, definitely glad I went with the special grade sand!

I'm going to try using a 6.5gal Vestil Screw top bucket from Amazon for an ATO reservoir ($30). It's a weeks worth of water, plain white, and has a recessed lid I can place the aqua-lifter on top of, which, should it leak, will have it just drain back in the bucket- all of which are pluses to me. It will go up to right under where the inner power strip is and should leave enough room for the dosing chamber in front. Should be here Friday!

Also I asked this on the Broadfield Reefer thread but has anyone tried replacing the anti-bubbling filter with an aqua top or similar 1" filter media? Thinking of trying it out to see if it helps clear some of this abominable dust but don't want to restrict flow to much, let me know if anyone has thoughts!

Going to take a bit of a break from the tank today to spend with the lady, who I think is already tired of me spending all day in front of it (not unlike a kid playing video games all day). Fortunately our quality time will involve 6 hours of day-drinking on the balcony while I make my first attempt at smoking ribs on my Weber :)

Thanks as always for any comments or criticisms!

Cheers,
DT Prime

 

[pelphrey]

Also I asked this on the Broadfield Reefer thread but has anyone tried replacing the anti-bubbling filter with an aqua top or similar 1" filter media? Thinking of trying it out to see if it helps clear some of this abominable dust but don't want to restrict flow to much, let me know if anyone has thoughts!

Some have removed the sponge in the sump and cut this to fit. It will provide more surface area for bacteria to grow - http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-plate.html

 

[DT Prime]

Some have removed the sponge in the sump and cut this to fit. It will provide more surface area for bacteria to grow - http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-plate.html

Interesting I like that idea a lot, could just chop one of the large blocks in half and then shave 2" off one of the halves and there's your 14"x2". Thanks for the tip!

 

[DT Prime]

Went ahead and ordered the ceramic media filter, should arrive tomorrow along with the ato barrel and a new timer since the first one I ordered was DOA. Using two pieces of 1" thick aqua top filter currently to see if it better pulls some of this stupid sand dust out, only been half a day but definitely appears to be collecting a lot:

Cycling continues. 6 days in, still waiting for ammonia to zero out:

Unfortunately managed to put a tiny scratch on the inside of the front glass panel by being an idiot with the magnetic cleaner this morning, nobody but me will probably ever notice (too small to even show up in a picture from my phone) but it already haunts me nonetheless. I hate it's minute existence more than I can possibly say on a family friendly site!

Also got the level out again and turns out my tank is tilted slightly forward and to the left, ordered some shims and will try and straighten it out tomorrow. It was level immediately after filling but must have settled further, it is on a very thick wool carpet so guess I shouldn't be surprised.

That's it for now, will post tomorrow when the new filter and ATO are set up and shims are in!

 

[fishboys]

I ordered a granite slab to put mine on. I haven't started it yet. Does it not have levelers on the legs-feet?

 

[DT Prime]

I ordered a granite slab to put mine on. I haven't started it yet. Does it not have levelers on the legs-feet?

No adjustable ones on the 250 at least, couldn't say for the larger ones. It has little plastic spacers but it's basically on shag carpet so not the most level base. It's amazing how many things I already would do different when I set up a second tank, and a solid waterproof base that extended about a foot beyond the edges would definitely be high on there. I cut an office chair mat to fit around it and give myself some leeway on drips and such, which has been pretty good and isn't too horrible aesthetically, but I'm still scared of what this poor rug will look like in a couple years.

Shims just arrived though so will give them a shot and report back later!

 

[DT Prime]

I ordered a granite slab to put mine on. I haven't started it yet. Does it not have levelers on the legs-feet?

Here's a picture of the base when I was putting it together, again I imagine it will be fine on a level surface but not adjustable.

 

[ksfulk]

Here's a picture of the base when I was putting it together, again I imagine it will be fine on a level surface but not adjustable.

Its the same feet on the big ones too. I actually cut out the carpet and put down tile so I could get a flat surface for these guys. We have similar carpet in our basement (where my last tank was) and while the carpet was ok after a good vaccuming, the pad was completely obliterated due to the saltwater. The concrete floor underneath wasnt damp, but in the pieces of padding that came up, you could wring drops of water out of their core.

 

[DT Prime]

Its the same feet on the big ones too. I actually cut out the carpet and put down tile so I could get a flat surface for these guys. We have similar carpet in our basement (where my last tank was) and while the carpet was ok after a good vaccuming, the pad was completely obliterated due to the saltwater. The concrete floor underneath wasnt damp, but in the pieces of padding that came up, you could wring drops of water out of their core.

Unfortunately it's a rug, and there's hardwood under it... :(
Do you think it was just a build up of small spills that made it so damp, or were there times you know a lot got out?