Reefer 170 build

[fushi]

Reefer 170 Build

I purchased the tank and light used at a local LFS.
This is my way of stepping back into the hobby after taking a 8 year hiatus.

Im going for a mixed reef.

I used caribsea branch and emarco400 cement

I Cut the sock holder and added some acrylic to get the Klir filter to fit

 

[Bleigh]

Looks like fun!!! Welcome back!!!

 

[fushi]

Looks like fun!!! Welcome back!!!

Thank you

 

[PeterC99]

Really like your filter roller modification!!!

And welcome again to R2R!

 

[fushi]

Really like your filter roller modification!!!

And welcome again to R2R!

Thanks, it works pretty well but if I had to do it again i would cut out all the baffles and started from scratch as the redsea sump has a lot of wasted space which makes it hard to fit the extra things like a refugium and skimmer.

 

[PeterC99]

This was my 170 sump setup. The trade offs we make!

 

[Bleigh]

This was my 170 sump setup. The trade offs we make!

wow! you got that thing packed! Great job!

 

[fushi]

This was my 170 sump setup. The trade offs we make!

I like how you set up the algae reactor, is it still working well? I thought about adding one.

 

[PeterC99]

I've upgraded to a RSR425XL and sold the Tunze algae reactor.

Highly recommend running chaeto in a algae reactor. My well stocked 170 aquarium thrived after installing chaeto refugium and NO3 & PO4 stayed very low! Have a homemade egg crate Chaeto refugium on the 425. Will not run an aquarium without chaeto.

 

[Bleigh]

I like how you set up the algae reactor, is it still working well? I thought about adding one.

 

[fushi]

Pictures of the first aquascape.

 

[PeterC99]

Pictures of the first aquascape.

Very nice!

 

[fushi]

Pictures of the first tester corals

I picked up the bubblegum digi on the left first from my LFS, it was doing well for a couple weeks so I brought some frags from a @TopShelfAquatics live sale. Then added some euphyllia (in the back left a week later).

 

[fushi]

This is what it looks like currently, as you can see I have a bit of algae on the sand but nothing too bad. The tank is now 36 days old*, there are aproximatly 43 frags (some are the same). I have only lost 1 piece of JF flame (too much light) and a ora frog skin that hasn’t looked ok since I got it.
I have had a hard time keeping the nutrients up with the current bio load and have been dosing NO3 and PO4 for a few weeks now.

There are currently 5 fish: 2 tiger gobies, hi fin goby, chromis, and a fire fish.
I have a possum wrasse and pj cardinal on the way.

*I understand that some people believe you must cycle a tank for long periods of time but I’m just not one of them, I believe in using lots of bottled bacteria and getting the tank going as soon as it can process ammonia. I’m not posting any of this to start an argument, this thread is just to document my reefer 170.

I will also repost some better pictures one my lens clip arrives.

 

[fushi]

I had some time this morning so I took a sample of the little bloom growing on my sanded to my friends lab and found some interesting organisms. I could recognize the rotifers and diatoms but am not sure what the red worm or the box shaped organism is. I posted it in the dino help FB group so well see if someone recognizes it.

 

[fushi]

Here are some videos of the now identified diatoms and the unidentified red worm.

 

[fushi]

Update: Diatoms are fading away and I changed my AI light setting from Pirates of the caribbean to an extended version of the waterbox's mixed reef blueprint.

 

[fushi]

Update: I had a little dosing pump issue that killed off a few corals, make sure they’re not any extra zeros when typing in the jebao dosing amount!

Things have now stabilized and the corals are looking better. I also got my ICP test back and will be starting Reef Moonshine!
Thanks @PSXerholic for the quick shipping.

 

[fushi]

After the dosing issue things have stabilized but I'm still seeing some STN and today the STN has started on my hardiest acro so I'm going to start the witch hazel STN/RTN treatment tonight.

https://www.reefmoonshiners.com/witchhazel-reeftank-treatment

 

[fushi]

So the witch hazel treatment has been working great, I lost a couple more corals but I think they were a little too far gone by the time I started the treatment.

However the corals that only had a little damage (burnt tips) have started healing over like my blue and green slimmers. I was really surprised to see the coral be able to regrow over the algae that started growing on the burnt tips.

I know this isn’t the best time to do any big changes to the tank but I got impatient and decided to change the rock work in the tank. I really didn’t like how thick the Caribsea life rock was, so I made a smaller structure with marcorock and superglue. I plan on taking out the big reef ball but wanted to leave as much existing rock as I could until the new main structure grows microfauna.