Red Sea Reefer 170 Build - New to Hobby

[easily_fishstracted]

also fish can deal with very high nitrates so don't worry about that - i had fish in with nitrates above 40-50ppm after cycling with that kit. it took ages to get it down but now my tank seems to be quite stable with nitrates between 1-5. i credit mostly the skimmer (switched from bubble magus to quantum), which is really working well, and the marinepure balls i added at some point.

 

[Nando]

Thanks. It's a custom ATO I had made from https://advancedacrylics.com/. I was really trying to avoid having a separate cabinet next to the tank so I had this made along with the slide out cabinet behind the tank for all of the controls/electric. The ATO that comes with it is really small and I'd be filling it every other day so I turned it into a mini refugium like others have done in the past. Will post pictures later tonight.

Here's an updated pic with the stock ATO turned into a small refugium. Adding some Chaeto this weekend. I still haven't fully finished the plumbing to it but its functional as of now.

 

[eb_reef]

what is that on the far left? an ATO tank?

 

[Nando]

what is that on the far left? an ATO tank?

Yeah, it's a 5.5 gallon ATO tank I had custom made from advancedacrylics.com

 

[Nando]

I would! I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger on an APEX but was struggling with the idea of space - this would help immensely!

Send me your email address and I'll send you the excel file for the supplies you need. It won't let me attach an excel file and I tried copying and pasting but the formatting is all off.

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

Send me your email address and I'll send you the excel file for the supplies you need. It won't let me attach an excel file and I tried copying and pasting but the formatting is all off.

Can I get it too?

 

[Rhoads238]

Wow that slide out is incredible! What a great idea. I wish I thought of something like that for my tank when I set it up. Do you think it will be easy to remove and replace the power cords when you take equipment out?

Lots of luck with the new tank! I'll be following along

 

[Nando]

Wow that slide out is incredible! What a great idea. I wish I thought of something like that for my tank when I set it up. Do you think it will be easy to remove and replace the power cords when you take equipment out?

Lots of luck with the new tank! I'll be following along

Thanks, so far Ive added and changed out some equipment and its been pretty easy dealing with all the wiring since its in the wire channel and everything is mounted. Havent run into any issues yet.

 

[Nando]

Updated pic of sump with refugium complete. I'm pumping the water from the return area and then it's flowing back into the skimmer area. Wasn't sure if this was the best way to set it up. Open to suggestions if anyone thinks I should set it up differently. For wiring and ease of use this was the easiest setup.

 

[easily_fishstracted]

that looks really cool - will be following to see how it's working out. I've also wanted to do something productive with this useless ATO, but not yet convinced of the cost/benefit case for the tiny refugium (and in the nano would have more impact)

 

[Nando]

And we finally have a pair of clowns to join the CUC.

Stocking List:
2 x Blizzard (Frostbite) Clownfish
1 x Emerald Crab
1 x Blue Tuxedo Urchin
4 x Trochus Snails
3 x Cerith Snails
3 x Nassarius Snails

I think I'm going to stick with this for at least the next month or so and make sure everyone is doing well before adding anything else. I'm not yet ready to venture into corals as I want a better understanding of what to start with and how to introduce it. Would love some suggestions.

I also would like to add a yellow clown goby, watchman goby, and pistol shrimp at some point down the line but not sure if that would be too much bioload for a 170.

 

[grassy_noel]

Looking great!

Judging by how clean your rocks and substrate are, you might consider deliberately feeding your cleanup crew. That seems like a good size crew for the future, but for right now I can see them getting hungry. I'm not sure the best approach...you could just intentionally overfeed a bit so there is some detritus for them to eat, or you could specifically feed something like algae wafers. Maybe others have more specific advice.

 

[Nando]

Looking great!

Judging by how clean your rocks and substrate are, you might consider deliberately feeding your cleanup crew. That seems like a good size crew for the future, but for right now I can see them getting hungry. I'm not sure the best approach...you could just intentionally overfeed a bit so there is some detritus for them to eat, or you could specifically feed something like algae wafers. Maybe others have more specific advice.

Thanks for the feedback. I was trying to figure out if this is normal or not. My tank was looking like the below picture and a few weeks after adding the clean up crew it was pretty much gone. I didn't think I put in too big of a clean up crew from what I was reading but maybe I did?

There's a few light patches of algae here and there on the rocks but the rest is pretty much gone. I still have a decent amount in the sand bed that the Cerith and Nassarius snails seem to be consuming. I think I'll put in some algae wafers to be safe and see if I have any underlying issue that may be causing this.

Does anyone else have any advice on this? Should I intentionally try to grow more algae by doing something differently or possibly return some of the clean up crew to the LFS?

 

[endy0430]

Send me your email address and I'll send you the excel file for the supplies you need. It won't let me attach an excel file and I tried copying and pasting but the formatting is all off.

Hi can you send me the part list as well for the pull out cabinet I’m getting the same tank and I like that idea. Thanks

 

[Nando]

Hi can you send me the part list as well for the pull out cabinet I’m getting the same tank and I like that idea. Thanks

Sure thing. Send me your email address.

 

[Hughesy]

H

Updated pic of sump with refugium complete. I'm pumping the water from the return area and then it's flowing back into the skimmer area. Wasn't sure if this was the best way to set it up. Open to suggestions if anyone thinks I should set it up differently. For wiring and ease of use this was the easiest setup.

Hi Nando, things look to be progressing really well! Do you have a separate pump feeding the refugium or have you made a manifold off the main return pump? I've seen other builds gravity feed a bit of 1/4" from the overflow box in the DT to the ATO for this purpose but I'd prefer to have an option that will avoid having to worry about maintaining a siphon. Keep up the great work!

 

[Nando]

H

Hi Nando, things look to be progressing really well! Do you have a separate pump feeding the refugium or have you made a manifold off the main return pump? I've seen other builds gravity feed a bit of 1/4" from the overflow box in the DT to the ATO for this purpose but I'd prefer to have an option that will avoid having to worry about maintaining a siphon. Keep up the great work!

I ended up hooking up a small Sicce Nano to it. I originally upgraded my return pump from a Sicce 2.0 to 3.0 and set up a manifold off of it but the 3.0 was a bit too loud in my opinion. I put back the Sicce 2.0 for my return pump and added the Sicce Nano and it's been working out great.

Only downside was having another plug but I have the room for it. I heard about coming off the overflow piping but am concerned I may mess up something up with the piping and will create a lot of extra work for myself. My understanding is the Red Sea threads and piping are not the typical standard size. Want to try and keep things simple on the piping end until I get more comfortable with it.

 

[Yellow Eyes]

I am planning on setting up a RSR 170 in the near future and will be tight on space. Your wiring cabinet in the back is an awesome idea.

As for the Refugium, what size plumbing did you use? And do you notice any trickling noises from the overflow of the refugium? I may do this too, and I think I would just run it off the return plumbing. The other option is to run it off the emergency overflow so you still get some "dirty" water entering the refugium. However I don't run the emergency overflow more than a trickle so it wouldn't work great.

 

[Nando]

I am planning on setting up a RSR 170 in the near future and will be tight on space. Your wiring cabinet in the back is an awesome idea.

As for the Refugium, what size plumbing did you use? And do you notice any trickling noises from the overflow of the refugium? I may do this too, and I think I would just run it off the return plumbing. The other option is to run it off the emergency overflow so you still get some "dirty" water entering the refugium. However I don't run the emergency overflow more than a trickle so it wouldn't work great.

For the bulkheads I originally used 3/4" but have since swapped out to 1/2" as the 3/4" was bulky and overkill. All of the piping is 1/2" as well. I don't hear the overflow at all as it trickles back into the sump via the 1/2" pvc.

 

[Hughesy]

How's it going?!