Under the Dome - 29g long

[Dan Palmer]

Current progress:
If you read further down, you'll see that my 425 build got put on a major hold and I'm using what would be my QT as a DT, and a small 10g as a QT instead. Right now the 29g rolls with a Seaclone 110 HOB skimmer and 2x Nicrew Hypereef 100's. For flow I'm using a UnicLife W-10 wavemaker. Both the lights and the flow are 2nd hand from a friend that was getting out of reefing but have been doing well so far.

Original Post:
Hello everyone! I've been a long-time lurker, just biding my time and researching until I was able to actually start my build. I recently started working from home and my wife and I purchased a new house where I'll have a dedicated home office space that's needing a nice large tank to fill it with. I've been a fresh water aquarist for the last few years and have always dreamed of owning my own little portion of a reef.

After a lot of research and planning, I decided on the Red Sea Reefer 425 XL. I looked at Cade and Waterbox but decided on Red Sea partially from their cost and the reliability I've read about in reviews and seen on youtube. I also like the way their cabinets look & function. I'm planning on attempting the triton method, but will not be modifying the sump to support it. Instead I was going to get a macroalgae reactor with a sufficient enough size to support the percentage that triton needs.

Without further ado, here's what I'm planning on getting and have already purchased. I'll keep this list updated as the build progresses over the next year.

Equipment	Model	Purchase Status
Salt	Instant Ocean	Purchased
RO/DI	BRS 75 GPD Pro	Purchased
Controller	Neptune Apex (Trident "Dream" Bundle plus accessories)
Tank	Red Sea Reefer 425 XL
Rock	MarcoRock Reef Saver	Purchased (90 pounds + 4x medium foundations)
Sand	CaribSea Fiji Pink
Light	Kessil AP9X
Mechanical Filtration	ReefMat 500 fleece roller
Skimmer	Regal 150INT 6"
Return Pump	VarioS-6
Macroalgae Reactor	Pax Bellum ARID N24
Macroalgae	Chaeto from AlgaeBarn
UV Sterilizer	Aqua Ultraviolet 25 Watt (high flow for surface algae)
Biomedia	MarinePure Plates	Purchased
Flow	Randy's 4ft SPS Flow bundle
Flow (additional)	Gyre XF350 (2x)
Heater	JAGER TruTemp 150w (2x)
Testing	ICP + "Thomas' Favorite Test Kits Bundle"	Purchased
Refractometer	Milwaukee digital	Purchased

Stocking:

Fish/coral type	Date Quarantined	Date Added	Picture Post Link

To start with, I've already purchased my rocks, a 45 gallon Husky tote (rock curing), and a 44 gallon Brute trashcan (initially mixing my salt). I've set aside some space in the garage for a saltwater mixing station (my local TSC has a couple vertical 65 gallon Norwesco water tanks) that I'll be picking up the parts for later this summer. My garage is on the complete opposite side of the house, but I'll be able to route the water tubes through the ceiling to my home office once I purchase an automatic water changer with the Apex purchase later this year.

I don't plan to put anything too outlandish in this tank. Probably the standard soft and lps corals with the staple fish. I am hoping though to get a couple of designer clowns, assuming I'm able to find any on the market that catch my eye when the time comes to start stocking the tank. My home office will also contain a dedicated quarantine tank, where everything will go (including corals) before being added to the display. My QT is just an old 29 long that I was using for my freshwater fish before they got moved to the 36 bowfront that they'll be living in.

My initial order from BRS should be arriving today and I'll be unboxing them when I get a free moment this weekend for a couple glamour shots for the thread. I'll be breaking and gluing the rocks together throughout this next week so I can start my bacteria cycling and rock curing in the husky tote. The tote seems to be a perfect size to mimic my display in the RSR 425, and will be very handy for cleaning everything tank related after the tank's all setup. My home office needs some renovations that'll be taking place in October/November, so it gives me ample lead-time for the rocks to cure while I wait for the area to be ready.

Thanks for reading!

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Welcome Dan. Good luck on the journey.

 

[Dan Palmer]

Welcome Dan. Good luck on the journey.

Thanks! I'm super excited to finally be on it. Our last house was too small for a tank of this size and I knew we were going to be moving soon so didn't want it to crash during said move.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

What’s the reef type goal?

 

[Dan Palmer]

I'm not intending to get any SPS, just some easy to keep softies and LPS with a smattering of "typical" fish. My intentions are to keep this tank light with a handful of key focal points like a zoa garden and maybe a bubble tip anemone if I can figure out a good aquascape to keep it from overrunning the entire tank. This might change after a few years when I'm more comfortable with the maintenance and upkeep on the tank and it's gotten matured.

 

[Dan Palmer]

My wife and I were busy unpacking today, but I managed to get my RODI setup so I can start drawing out water for my freshwater tank finally. For now I'm just using a 44g brute trashcan for RODI.


Once we get a plumber in to run a water & drainage line out to the garage I'll setup those norwesco tanks I was mentioning.

I did unpack the rest of what I had ordered from BRS though, with the exception of the 90 pounds of rocks that are sitting in my garage.

 

[Dan Palmer]

It's been several months since my last update. Real life intervened a lot this summer so I wasn't able to do much of anything that I wanted to do towards tank setup and prep. However, this last week I was able to finish getting the plumbing in place for my RODI and saltwater storage & mixing, as well as prepare the aquascape that I'll be using.

My next plans are to get a Neptune Apex to control everything. Hoping to eye a sale on it, but otherwise that'll wait until it gets closer to purchase time for the tank.

Mixing station setup in my garage:


When we have the chance to get a plumber out to our house, I'll be getting a stainless steel utility sink installed underneath the RODI unit. The mixing station was largely stolen/inspired by this post here, with the exception that I went with a Varios 6 for my pump since it's my intentions to use that same pump as a return in my tank when it's fully setup, the mixing station one acting as a backup.

My aquascape:


I'm going through the "trashcan/tub cure" right now to fill in the time between now and when I purchase the 425 XL, hoping to avoid the ugly phase as much as I can. The tub was freshly filled up tonight, so I'm rather excited about that.

Also for those that have cast iron pipes in their homes... definitely get an RODI machine. This is my filter after approx 230 gallons ran through it just to fill up the storage containers (110 each + some water that was used for leak testing).

 

[jakefitz]

It's been several months since my last update. Real life intervened a lot this summer so I wasn't able to do much of anything that I wanted to do towards tank setup and prep. However, this last week I was able to finish getting the plumbing in place for my RODI and saltwater storage & mixing, as well as prepare the aquascape that I'll be using.

My next plans are to get a Neptune Apex to control everything. Hoping to eye a sale on it, but otherwise that'll wait until it gets closer to purchase time for the tank.

Mixing station setup in my garage:


When we have the chance to get a plumber out to our house, I'll be getting a stainless steel utility sink installed underneath the RODI unit. The mixing station was largely stolen/inspired by this post here, with the exception that I went with a Varios 6 for my pump since it's my intentions to use that same pump as a return in my tank when it's fully setup, the mixing station one acting as a backup.

My aquascape:


I'm going through the "trashcan/tub cure" right now to fill in the time between now and when I purchase the 425 XL, hoping to avoid the ugly phase as much as I can. The tub was freshly filled up tonight, so I'm rather excited about that.

Also for those that have cast iron pipes in their homes... definitely get an RODI machine. This is my filter after approx 230 gallons ran through it just to fill up the storage containers (110 each + some water that was used for leak testing).

Why are you curing what appears to be artificial clean dry rock?

 

[Dan Palmer]

Why are you curing what appears to be artificial clean dry rock?

I guess I misspoke a little, it's not a cure since you're right that it's fresh clean Marco rock. A better description is that I'm starting the bacteria cycle for the tank in this husky tub to limit the amount of cycling that needs to happen in the display tank once I get it. I'm hoping to avoid as much of that "ugly phase" visibly as I can by cycling the rocks now. Once I've reached stable bacteria numbers, I'll be introducing a basic cleanup crew with some limited light exposure.

 

[Dan Palmer]

Figured I'd post a little update on this build. It's been put on a major pause until we can get some renovations done to our house, hopefully in the late winter or early spring. In the meantime, I've setup what would be my quarantine tank as my main display. It's a 29g long that used to be my main display for freshwater (that's been long-since moved to a 36g bowfront). The cycle has been complete for a couple of months. Housed in it are a handful of hermit crabs and cerith snails. I also have a yasha goby and fancy clownfish (the black one). The clownfish used to be part of a pair, but my female succumbed to an internal parasite a few days ago after not responding to any treatment for about a week. There's also a rainbow bubble tip anemone that seems to be thriving. I got the anemone from my LFS at the size of a quarter and it's already 4-5x that size. The orange fancy clownfish is in a 10g tank that's currently acting as quarantine.

Most of the equipment is secondhand from a former coworker that didn't want to keep fish anymore, including the 10g tank that he was intending to make a DIY sump with but never got around to doing.

• Seaclone hob skimmer. I know some of the views on it, especially with air bubbles that it introduces in the tank (which can be seen in the pic). However, it's been working really well and after a few days the bubbles clear up. These current bubbles are from medicating the tank with metro and prazi trying to keep the clowns and goby alive from that parasite. They should be gone after a few days once the carbon finishes it's job.
• Unilife Wave Maker & controller. Seems to do a decent job. Gotten from my former coworker.
• Nicrew Lights + controller. Anemone seems to like it, as does the algae that the cleanup crew is feasting on. Also gotten from my former coworker.
• Simplicity 4-head doser. Running Aquaforest Component 1+, 2+, 3+. When I ordered the AF Components and doser from BRS, they also sent a bottle of AcroPower that I've got going in at 5mL per week.

You can see the yasha swimming around and my male clowny peaking out, along with where the anemone decided to anchor up at.


My anemone. It's harder to see in this picture, but the tentacles (?) are green, along with green stripes on the mouth. It's partially closed since the lights are getting ready to go out for the night.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Figured I'd post a little update on this build. It's been put on a major pause until we can get some renovations done to our house, hopefully in the late winter or early spring. In the meantime, I've setup what would be my quarantine tank as my main display. It's a 29g long that used to be my main display for freshwater (that's been long-since moved to a 36g bowfront). The cycle has been complete for a couple of months. Housed in it are a handful of hermit crabs and cerith snails. I also have a yasha goby and fancy clownfish (the black one). The clownfish used to be part of a pair, but my female succumbed to an internal parasite a few days ago after not responding to any treatment for about a week. There's also a rainbow bubble tip anemone that seems to be thriving. I got the anemone from my LFS at the size of a quarter and it's already 4-5x that size. The orange fancy clownfish is in a 10g tank that's currently acting as quarantine.

Most of the equipment is secondhand from a former coworker that didn't want to keep fish anymore, including the 10g tank that he was intending to make a DIY sump with but never got around to doing.

• Seaclone hob skimmer. I know some of the views on it, especially with air bubbles that it introduces in the tank (which can be seen in the pic). However, it's been working really well and after a few days the bubbles clear up. These current bubbles are from medicating the tank with metro and prazi trying to keep the clowns and goby alive from that parasite. They should be gone after a few days once the carbon finishes it's job.
• Unilife Wave Maker & controller. Seems to do a decent job. Gotten from my former coworker.
• Nicrew Lights + controller. Anemone seems to like it, as does the algae that the cleanup crew is feasting on. Also gotten from my former coworker.
• Simplicity 4-head doser. Running Aquaforest Component 1+, 2+, 3+. When I ordered the AF Components and doser from BRS, they also sent a bottle of AcroPower that I've got going in at 5mL per week.

You can see the yasha swimming around and my male clowny peaking out, along with where the anemone decided to anchor up at.


My anemone. It's harder to see in this picture, but the tentacles (?) are green, along with green stripes on the mouth. It's partially closed since the lights are getting ready to go out for the night.

Glad to see the tank is still going strong!

 

[Dan Palmer]

A bit of an update. I'm not certain how long it's going to take me to work towards that 425, so for now I've renamed the thread to reflect that it's in my 29g long (which will eventually serve as my QT). When I eventually do get the larger tank, everything will be moved over to it anyway as a direct upgrade. I've also read other long-running threads with this same sort of saga mindset.

I'm thick in the ugly phase of everything, diatoms are everywhere and hair algae is starting to form. There is a slight bit of cloudiness in the water that I can't seem to remove, but all nutrients are in line with what they're supposed to be. I do have cerith snails, which I've been reading the cloudiness could be caused by them. I also have a little bit of foam forming on the water's surface in one corner, which I also understand is a symptom of just being a newer tank. Recently I moved the HOB skimmer to my 10g QT to help keep that water stabilized, it was stripping the nitrates from my DT and causing the anemone to fold in.

I'm a huge fan of Stephen King (not shown is my collectors edition of Fairy Tale that my wife got me for my birthday since I'm in the process of reading it). Because of that, everything in my tank is being themed around that.




My clowns are doing great. They're still in the process of pairing, but both have fallen into a good hierarchy with eachother. My black fancy is the boss and the definite bigger of the 2, so has been dubbed Pennywise. My orange fancy I'm calling Kurt (the vampire in Salem's Lot). My yasha goby decided to jump to the great beyond, finding the one gap in my lid one night. In QT I have a tiger pistol shrimp that was meant to be a pair with the yasha goby... so once it's QT time is up, I'll be getting a different shrimp goby. I also had an emerald crab in the QT with the pistol shrimp, but one evening she showed up dead (which is extremely odd because she was eating fine 20 minutes beforehand). I know it wasn't a molt, it's been over a week and still no sign of her. I'm calling the pistol shrimp Roland, after the main character in the Dark Tower series.




My rainbow BTA is bouncing back after a sustained period where the nitrates were being stripped to 0. Here's a pic before that happened.

 

[Dan Palmer]

Bit of a small update...
My pistol shrimp is out of QT. It molted so, according to the ultimate invert QT thread here on the forums, it's safe to throw into the DT. He's setup shop near the base of one of my pedestal rocks (flat bottom on the glass so no chance of crushing it due to shifting). He's done a great job with shifting the sand around over the last 3-4 days. It's interesting hearing his snaps throughout the day/night while it's digging.

I'm currently dealing with a bit of a cloudy outbreak in the tank. The main nutrients (ammonia, nitrate, calk, alk, mag, phos) area all at the target and stable levels so not 100% sure what's causing that. However, I did move my hob skimmer back to my DT from my QT 2 days ago and it's been going nuts pulling out whatever's causing the cloudiness. The tank's definitely clearing up since readding the skimmer so I'm not overly concerned right now.

I also downloaded the photone app to check my par levels at the water's surface, only to find out that it's half of what I want it to be for the RBTA. I've adjusted their intensity schedule a little last night, and intend to raise it slowly over the next few weeks until it hits the PAR I'm looking for.

Quick pic of my clownies before the pistol shrimp got added to the DT.