Red Sea Reefer 750 XXL Questions

GP0801

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Hey guys, so I've wanted an aquarium for about 10 years now but just never got into the hobby because I was always so busy with work/life. I've got much more stability in my schedule now though so I'm thinking December I'm finally going to give it a shot. Just to give you an idea of where I stand, clownfish and yellow tangs are hands down my favorite fish. I've spent the last month researching and studying the needs of tangs which is how I came to the decision of getting the Reefer 750 XXL. I felt like it would provide me enough space for the fish I want as well as the corals.

I've decided to slowly accumulate equipment until it's time to buy the tank. Any suggestions or recommendations on what I should buy or read more about? I also have yet to learn about the purpose of a refugium or why we should have one so I'll be reading about that later today as well.

As far as my goals with the tank in terms of livestock

-Pair of Clownfish
-Pair of Cleaner Shrimp
-1 Yellow Tang
-1 Yellow Watchman Goby
-1 Hippo Tang
-1 Powder Blue Tang (This one is a big maybe due to tank size)
-Maybe a Royal Gramma
-Various Soft and LPS Corals

Does that seem like an okay list for a tank of that size? It's roughly 160 gallon DT, 40 gallon Sump, 6 feet long and 2 feet wide. I know its going to take quite a few months before I can add fish and I'm okay with that. I'd like to get comfortable with maintaining a running tank for a few months first.

Also I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions on alternative tanks, equipment, livestock or anything in between. Thanks.

Edit: I forgot to mention I also read about the Blue Tang and PBT being major Ich magnets so I'll need some advice on QT procedures as well. I'd like to avoid any possibility of having Ich in the DT.
 
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blaxsun

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I picked up my first Red Sea tank - also a Reefer 750XXL about 6 months ago - and you'll be very happy with it. The only alternatives that I would recommend would be a Red Sea S-Series 850 with the aluminum stand and split-sump or a comparable Cade system, both of which would probably be a bit more than the 750XXL. The 850 doesn't come with a gravity fed ATO, but you can buy one from Red Sea to augment your system if you would prefer something in the stand. Assuming you stick with the 750XXL you won't be disappointed, though.

In terms of the fish list that is definitely doable - although you may need to rehome the blue tang 4-6 years out. In fact, you could probably handle quite a few more fish without any difficulties. I currently have 22 fish in my tank, which includes a Marine Betta, small Sailfin tang and Quoy parrotfish as the largest current reef inhabitants.

For equipment, I run a Sicce SDC 9 return pump, Nyos Quantum 160 skimmer, pair of Nyos Torq reactors, AquaUV 57-watt sterilizer with a Sicce SDC 6 just for the UV. I have a pair of ReefWave45 gyres as well as a second pair of Maxspect XF330 gyres on battery backup. Lights are EcoTech G5 XR30/XR15 Radions and everything is controlled and monitored with a Neptune Apex system (2x EB32 power bars, AFS, DOS, DDR, Trident and PMK). For filtration I run 4x 100-micron felt sock filters, a number of MarinePure biomedia blocks and spheres and Nyos Zeo, Phosi-EX and Red Sea reef-spec carbon. Here's a snapshot of my setup from a few days ago. If you have any questions at all - don't hesitate to drop me a line!

IMG_0814.jpg
 
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GP0801

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I picked up my first Red Sea tank - also a Reefer 750XXL about 6 months ago - and you'll be very happy with it. The only alternatives that I would recommend would be a Red Sea S-Series 850 with the aluminum stand and split-sump or a comparable Cade system, both of which would probably be a bit more than the 750XXL. The 850 doesn't come with a gravity fed ATO, but you can buy one from Red Sea to augment your system if you would prefer something in the stand. Assuming you stick with the 750XXL you won't be disappointed, though.

In terms of the fish list that is definitely doable - although you may need to rehome the blue tang 4-6 years out. In fact, you could probably handle quite a few more fish without any difficulties. I currently have 22 fish in my tank, which includes a Marine Betta, small Sailfin tang and Quoy parrotfish as the largest current reef inhabitants.

For equipment, I run a Sicce SDC 9 return pump, Nyos Quantum 160 skimmer, pair of Nyos Torq reactors, AquaUV 57-watt sterilizer with a Sicce SDC 6 just for the UV. I have a pair of ReefWave45 gyres as well as a second pair of Maxspect XF330 gyres on battery backup. Lights are EcoTech G5 XR30/XR15 Radions and everything is controlled and monitored with a Neptune Apex system (2x EB32 power bars, AFS, DOS, DDR, Trident and PMK). For filtration I run 4x 100-micron felt sock filters, a number of MarinePure biomedia blocks and spheres and Nyos Zeo, Phosi-EX and Red Sea reef-spec carbon. Here's a snapshot of my setup from a few days ago. If you have any questions at all - don't hesitate to drop me a line!

IMG_0814.jpg
Thanks for the reply, that's a beautiful setup by the way. The only thing I dislike about the 850 is that it's more costly but not any longer of a tank. I think I'll most likely stick with the 750, just seems like the best bang for the buck for what I want.

I'll have to do some reading on the UV Sterilizers, I did read a little about them being helpful against preventing ich outbreaks.

As for fish, my list is just the main fish that I want for now. Going forward I may add a few but I don't want it to be crowded much as I know the tangs get big and like their room to swim. What kind of corals do you have in your tank there?
 

blaxsun

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What kind of corals do you have in your tank there?
Thanks. It's mostly a mixture of soft and LPS. I've got probably two dozen zoa frags/colonies, an elegance, two hammers, a torch, several flowerpots, two small duncans, three ricordeas, a half dozen mushrooms, half dozen GSP, a pectina, challice, space invader and some cyphastrea. Three bubble tip anemones, two feather dusters, two long tentacle anemones and eight carribean rock flowers.
 
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Thanks. It's mostly a mixture of soft and LPS. I've got probably two dozen zoa frags/colonies, an elegance, two hammers, a torch, several flowerpots, two small duncans, three ricordeas, a half dozen mushrooms, half dozen GSP, a pectina, challice, space invader and some cyphastrea. Three bubble tip anemones, two feather dusters, two long tentacle anemones and eight carribean rock flowers.

Very nice, pretty much what I'm planning on sticking to for the foreseeable future. Just soft and LPS for now.
 

blaxsun

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Very nice, pretty much what I'm planning on sticking to for the foreseeable future. Just soft and LPS for now.
There's a few SPS in that list, which is honestly surprising that they're doing as well as they are considering I'm not necessarily running quite enough PAR. But they seem happy.
 
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There's a few SPS in that list, which is honestly surprising that they're doing as well as they are considering I'm not necessarily running quite enough PAR. But they seem happy.

Oh sorry, still learning my corals:) I've got some Reefled 90s so I don't think they're too great for SPS but I may try one at some point down the line.
 

blaxsun

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Oh sorry, still learning my corals:) I've got some Reefled 90s so I don't think they're too great for SPS but I may try one at some point down the line.
No worries! I think you'll be fine with the ReefLED 90s. I purchased my Radions a while back for two smaller tanks with the intention of using them on a larger system that I eventually upgraded to.
 
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So I picked up a Nyos Quantum 160 as well yesterday and after some more research I definitely don't think I want a Power Blue Tang any more. It seems like almost everything I've read said that eventually they just start trying to kill other fish. I'm not okay with that at all. What other livestock can I consider with my current list that are reef friendly? So far I'm thinking of adding a firefish goby to the list.
 

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I can recommend some gobies and blennies, The lawnmower blenny is a no brainer for the algae control and is interesting in behaviour. The midas blenny is a great addition and has been very peaceful. My royal gramma has been a model citizen as well and super colorful. I recommend any of the smaller halichoeres wrasses, they are growing slowly in my tank and don't think they will be able to take down a cleaner shrimp, at least not for a while. The Radiant Wrasse and yellow coris have not seemed interested in aggressing on anything in my tank. They add a lot of movement and since you have a sand bed they will have somewhere to sleep. I also couldn't be happier with my lyretail anthias, if you can get a healthy group of 4 and feed at least twice a day.
 
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