Red Sea Reefer 170

AlecV

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Hello! After a long time out of the hobby, I decided to look for an aquarium for awhile to get back into the hobby. I browsed Facebook marketplace for weeks before finding a good deal on a red sea reefer 170, sump, and light for $600.

This will be an initial post since the tank has been cycling for about 5 weeks now and will update as I add/modify this tank.

I picked up a RedSea Reefer 170 off of Facebook for $600. It came with an AI light, 2 different powerheads, an Icecap skimmer and a Sicce silent pump. The tank sat in my room empty for weeks due to taking 3 10-week engineering classes during the summer. I was itching to set this tank up so bad, so after studying and homework I would work on the tank little by little.

First day, I was putting Carib-sea south seas base rock in different formations to find something that was visually appealing to me and would be functional for fish and corals. I got the scape done, epoxied it together using instant ocean hold-fast and set it in the tank on some egg-crate.
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I ended up changing this scape just a little bit because I just wasn't satisfied yet. I put another rock on the top right and one on the lower left. At this point I added 30lbs or Carib-sea Aragalive sand and started filling with saltwater. I installed an RODI unit in the garage that fills a 32gal BRUTE can. I then transfer this to a 20 gal BRUTE can for saltwater mixing. At this point, I realized that I needed a pump to mix saltwater with so I started replacing equipment in the tank, I ordered a Jebao DC return pump and 2 Hygger DC powerheads. I used the return pump that came with the tank to mix my saltwater and added powerheads to circulate (probably overkill i know). I also threw in a heater for good practice. After 3 hours of mixing and after calibrating my refractometer I measured 1.025.
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I was happy with the look at this point and started playing with the sump. I realized that the skimmer that came with the tank had no motor with it. Okay, I'll order a new one... until I saw that it costed almost as much as the skimmer itself. Back to marketplace I go and I find a Simplicity DC120 for $90. I picked that up and set it up in the sump. I know that I will have to tune it once I get it going. I don't like to run it while I'm cycling. I also added a light in the top of the cabinet for doing maintenance or general work in the sump area.
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Excuse the mess in there Its still a work in progress. I know that I will have to move my media bag and blocks once I turn the skimmer on. I added my QT tank media in there as well to get seeded. I realized that I had a rats nest of wires going everywhere and I hate the look of that.

I decided to build a cabinet for all of my pump controllers and power. I got a smoked glass front cabinet from IKEA and put that together. Low and behold the door does not open on the side, rather it opens top to bottom. Instead of returning the cabinet I modified it to open from the side using hinges from the hardware store. I cut a 2.5inch hole in the side and put a furniture hole cover in. I began to run all of the wires into the cabinet through this hole and mounting the controllers on the back panel. I did as much wire management as I could to make it look decent. It could still use some work but it's decent for now. I also didn't like how low it sat next to the aquarium so I set it on top of a wooden crate. That brought it up almost flush with the aquarium and I am happy with that. It also gave me room to put all of my test kits right there for easy access.
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I am excited to update this build as it goes along, but that is it for now. I am going on vacation in 2 weeks and will get some fish in the QT tank when i get back. My tank has cycled and is ready for a light bio-load so I added some hermits, a couple Nassarius snails and a turbo snail. They have quite a bit of diatoms and algae to eat! Before adding them I dosed my tank to 2ppm Ammonia and tested 24 hours later. I got Ammonia-0 NO2-0.5 and NO3-10 using Salifert tests.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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