Red Sea Reefer 350 Build - Flash's Place

[marxman]

Picked up a lot of equipment yesterday, so I began installing it all today.

Nyos Torq 2.0 Reactor

I want to run Carbon and GFO in the new tank but I didn't want to place it in a filter cup. So I looked into media reactors; I finally decided on a Nyos Torq 2.0. It's large enough to run both carbon and GFO in the same reactor and will fit in the sump next to my skimmer.

 

[marxman]

Cleaning up the cables

Things in the cabinet were getting a little crazy with all the cables and equipment. I decided to try and do some cable management. I picked up some pretty cheap cable raceways and mounted them inside the cabinet to hide all the spaghetti. I'm pretty happy with the result so far as they do a pretty good job of hiding things.

 

[marxman]

Powerheads

Since I first saw the Ecotech Votechs I've had an unhealthy obsession with them. The idea of a wet and a dry side to a pump, the idea of having no cables in the tank, and the Mobius programming tool meant I was never going to put anything else in this tank

Vortech controllers mounted under the Vectra controller.

Below is the screenshot of my powerhead programming.
At 9am my pumps ramp up to a Reef Crest (high powered reef) program.
Between 1:30pm and 2:30pm while my lights are at their brightest the powerheads do their nutrient transport cycle.
The pumps then go back to Reef Crest until 6:30pm when they slow down for the night to Lagoon mode.
I absolutely love the functionality of these powerheads, I am sure I will tweak settings once the tank if filler.
I also have a broadcast and coral feed modes, which slow the powerheads down to different levels.

 

[marxman]

Dosing Pumps.... learned a lot

Initially my thinking was that I would do Return Pump, PowerHeads, and Dosing Pumps all from Ecotech. It was a kind of OCD thing So I did a fair amount of research and actually learned quite a few fun facts.

Currently I dose, Alk, Calcium, Magnesium, and NoPoX. I ran the RedSea Recipe for my tank and it recommended daily levels of 12ml, 37ml, 4ml, and 4ml.

Ecotech Versa Dosing Pumps seemed perfect, there were 4 of them in the base unit. I would need to find Dosing Containers to go with them that would fit in the cabinet.

Then I looked at the Apex DOS system and noticed that while it integrated into the Apex system I have it seemed large and definitely too large to have a 4 element setup in the cabinet. However, I loved the fact that the DDR containers had optical sensors in them to notify me when the level was low.

In the end I decided on the Neptune DOS and DDR system , the reasons for the final decision:

Integration into the Apex system
Low Level Optical sensors in the reservoirs
Decided to dose only Alk and Ca automatically due to the volumes
Read in various articles the NoPox is methanol based and therefore can crack acrylic containers

In the end, setup and calibration was so simple. The pumps are set to dose Alkalinity and Calcium at opposite times of the day and the pumps even calculate how much is left in each reservoir.

 

[Fishingandreefing]

Nice set up! I got a 350 as well and I recommend some sort of ventilation as it creates a lot of moisture when the doors are closed. The worse it almost formed driplets. My brother helped diy a ventilation fan with old computer fans.

 

[marxman]

Nice set up! I got a 350 as well and I recommend some sort of ventilation as it creates a lot of moisture when the doors are closed. The worse it almost formed driplets. My brother helped diy a ventilation fan with old computer fans.

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep an eye out for any drips.

 

[emjayreloaded]

Nice and clean setup so far!

 

[marxman]

Operation Relocation

Well I've done it, all the inhabitants have been moved to their new home.
I made sure the temps and salinity were as similar as I could get them and went for it.

First I moved all the rocks from the old tank, which ticked off the pistol shrimp no end.
Arranged the rocks in a more spread out manner so as to form two little islands. Realized i need a rock or two more, but personally I don't want to over crowd things.
I moved the pistol shrimp and watchman goby first so that they could get to burrowing. Then the rest of the fish went in; everyone seemed a little freaked out at first but calmed right down and started exploring.

I guess now it's time to start ordering some more corals.

 

[marxman]

More Equipment to come

Before this build is complete I still have a few more items that need to be installed.

My skimmer comes in this week. Luckily my bioload is low enough that I don't need it yet.
My reactor is installed and I have the Carbon & GFO. However, not wanting to just shove it in the reactor loose, I have media bags on order.
My Refugium Light comes in this week too.
Also, I have a second Energy Bar from Apex

One last thought for today, I stayed up all night to witness the Apex DOS actually turn on and dose ALK....

 

[Jason23]

Algae Barn sent me the first installment for my Refugium.
I ordered the Medium Clean Chaeto Starter Pack.

if you specify it's for a new tank they send it to you in two shipments a week apart.
First shipment is Marine Pure Bio Cubes and a bottle of Fritz Aquatics Turbo Start.

How much bio cubes is this??

 

[marxman]

How much bio cubes is this??

These are all the BioCubes that come with the Medium starter pack.
20 Cubes in all, and fit perfectly in the fuge section of the red sea v3 sump.
21 cubes would have fit even better....

 

[marxman]

Skimmer and Reactor.... OCD Much?

My Nyos Quantum 160 skimmer came in today, so I rushed to get it installed. Quality is very good, feels nice and solid, and assembly was simple. I'm always fascinated by skimmers, it's interesting to see just how much gunk is removed from the water.

My media reactor bags came in as well. I ordered two different types of bags, a medium and a fine mesh. I am using Carbon and GFO from Aquaforest, the Carbon is fairly large pieces, but the GFO is pretty fine. I filled the bags and placed them in the reactor.

It's a tight fit, good job they're close friends.

 

[Jason23]

These are all the BioCubes that come with the Medium starter pack.
20 Cubes in all, and fit perfectly in the fuge section of the red sea v3 sump.
21 cubes would have fit even better....

Is this the 1/2 cubic foot sizing from brs???or was it purchased from algae barn ? And thank you for replying!!

 

[marxman]

Is this the 1/2 cubic foot sizing from brs???or was it purchased from algae barn ? And thank you for replying!!

Algae Barn.
it's 20 blocks, each block is 2" x 2" x 2", so this would be more like the BRS 1 cu ft.
Both BRS and Algae Barn sell "Marine Pure 2" Blocks"

 

[marxman]

Refugium is ready

The Aqua Illumination Prime Fuge light came in today, so it is now installed.
My LFS also supplied me with a clump of chaeto (which I still can't decide how to pronounce).

For now I have set the lighting schedule to ON all the time.
In a few days I will switch it to being on when the tank lights are off.
The Apex EL makes it so interesting to watch the pH levels drop at night when the tank lights are off and photosynthesis has stopped. I can't wait to see if this light stabilizes the pH levels. It's not a huge drop, but the science of the fact is interesting.

I'll give it a few weeks before I seed with Copepods.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

What did you do for your control board? Size and type of wood?

 

[marxman]

What did you do for your control board? Size and type of wood?

It was literally a white shelf that I trimmed down to size.
The board is flush to the bottom and either side, with a 2 inch gap towards the top that allows me to pass things over the top if necessary.

 

[Semper.Reefing]

It was literally a white shelf that I trimmed down to size.
The board is flush to the bottom and either side, with a 2 inch gap towards the top that allows me to pass things over the top if necessary.

Ahh very nice. Looks clean! I’m trying to figure out what to do for a control board

 

[marxman]

So the tank has been up and running for 6 or so months... I decided to treat myself and finally bought a Neptune Trident water tester. Now I know many reefers can do without one of these but I got to say as someone that has a affliction for gadgets, this takes the biscuit.

First problem... where would it fit? I decided to try to find a shelf or rack to place the DOS containers above the Trident. After much searching I finally came across a "locker book shelf" who knew that they made foldable shelves for school lockers?? Certainly not when I was in school.

and a picture with the Trident :

Happy that the setup has fit and is functioning.

Also since setting up the Trident I have really been able to monitor my Alk, Ca, and Mg levels. I am now making adjustments so I can try and keep my Alk a little higher than before, and I knew my Ca was too high so I'm adjusting that too.

Like I said, this is certainly not necessary, but it sure is a nice piece.

 

[RoweReef]

Very nice. Can you send a link for the shelf. I just purchased the trident and dos setup. I think I will copy your setup.