I’m going to post some progress photos and updates to keep track of my upgrade from a Biocube 29 to a RedSea Reefer 350. 6 months ago I jumped into the hobby with a used Biocube 29. I thought the biocube would suffice for a lot longer then it did. After cycling the tank with a few damsels my wife and I wanted more fish. We added a couple scissor tails and fire fish. The damsels turned into little monsters and we were forced to give them to our LFS. At that time we added a couple of clowns. Over the course of a few months we realized the biocube was not able to handle our desires for livestock. From the moment we saw a RedSea tank we wanted one. Due to the sticker shock of pricing a new 350 I began to look for a used one. I knew it was somewhat of a gamble but I was willing so that I could invest more money in lighting and have our upgrade much sooner. I finally found a used Reefer 350 for sale locally and set up a time to go look at it. My phone rang as I was walking out the door, the owner proceeded to inform me that they were removing the tank from the sale page because they broke the sump cleaning it before my arrival. I asked if they would still sell it to me for a better price and I will order a new sump myself. The seller agreed. I bought the tank, stand, broken sump, Jebao DCP6500 pump and misc parts. I ordered a new sump from RedSea and then waited. While waiting I cleaned everything, installed shelves and led lights in the cabinet. I ordered Hydra 26 HD based upon a recommendation by my LFS.
RedSea Reefer 350 upgrade from Biocube
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I found a local who was getting out of the hobby. His tank was really good looking so I bought his rock, a few corals and some livestock. My wife and I brought everything in buckets, placed the coral and livestock in my biocube and the rock in the old sump with a couple fans to keep the water moving. In my opinion it was a little risky but paid off
I wanted to buy a lot more coral from him but my Reefer wasn’t running or cycled yet so I was very limited with room. I overloaded the biocube the way it was already. Here are the livestock and corals in the biocube
After waiting what seemed like months but was only a couple weeks the sump finally arrived! My LFS came over with 100 gallons of water, we installed the sump and rock I had been watering in the old sump. He filled the tank with water. Low and behold it leaked!!! We removed the plumbing from the return sump, cleaned it really well, reassembled and tested it out. No more leaks! Good to go! I let the tank filter with just that rock for a week. Found some clean up crew and a sea cucumber emerge during this time.
My brother came over a week later. We transferred the remaining rock, coral and livestock. Now to watch closely for any spike. I was a little concerned we transferred too quickly not allowing enough time but others said it would work since all my rock had already been cycling for six months to a year. I’ve been testing the water daily. I did experience a little spike a couple days ago, the nitrates suddenly shot to 40 ppm. I changed 15 gallons of water, cleaned the filters, added carbon and nitrate scrubbing filters in the sump. Yesterday and today the water is testing 2ppm. A little too clean it seems.
Nice tank. Keep the updates coming.
Kmore1219
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Nice adventure you took yourself on there, like so many others I too quickly realized my first tank would not suffice for the fish I wanted. If only I went with a Red Sea also, I always regret not doing it. I’m loving how the tank is currently looking!
I like the setup! What return pump are you using?
Looks good
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