Reefer 250 Build. 15 years away from the hobby but I am back

[Dal-Reef]

Dal, I set my reefer 250 up last night and it sits 4 inches away from my wall, the new aquatic life floating hybrid mount says it sets the light up to 3.75inches away from the wall. I’m curious to pull the trigger on that floating mount set-up like we talked about on Facebook and see if it works with my tank. My other option I’m thinking is putting a shelf above my tank and do this:

That is interesting thinking of putting a shelf above the tank. You could then have the tank more then 4 inches away from the wall. There are some really nice shelf's out there that could be used. If you do get the AquaticLife hanging kit let us know how it turns out.

 

[Dal-Reef]

After the tank was filled I let it run for 4 days before starting the cycle. My thoughts was the rock has been dry and stored for 15 years. I was wanting the rock to rehydrate as much as possible. I for sure wanted to go with a fish-less cycle so decided to go with Dr. Tim's ONE & Only and Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride..

 

[Dal-Reef]

After adding Dr. Tim's I tested and the ammonia was for sure up. I continued to test almost daily. The ammonia was barley moving off of 2.0 and nitrite was not showing up. It had been 14 days and would have thought that I would see better numbers by now. I also had a pretty big bacteria bloom which may have slowed down the cycle. I just decide to wait it out and not get in a hurry. I was not running any lights or skimmer during the cycle.

 

[Dal-Reef]

After waiting another week and no movement in both ammonia and nitrite I felt like the cycle was stuck.

After doing a lot of reading on here and product sites I decided to jump start everything with Fritz Turbo Start 900. Before I say anything else this stuff is amazing. I will only use this going forward with setting up a new tank. I most likely will add it from time to time to boost the bacteria in the thank. Within 24 hours all of my testing started changing. With 5 days the tank was completely cycled.

If you do go with Fritz you need to try to get it locally as your LFS or maybe a place like AlageBarn. Fritz has to stay refrigerated and within its shelf life. When I added it the tank it was very cloudy with live bacteria.

I wish I has taken a pic but my tank completely cleared up after adding Fritz

 

[MuffinMonster]

After doing a lot of reading on here and product sites I decided to jump start everything with Fritz Turbo Start 900.

Awesome, let us know how it works out, i plan on using microbacter7 from brightwell, i'm going for the straight BRS/WWC method though per their video series, trying to follow it to the "T". I use fritz salt and it hasn't been too bad for me when measuring elements etc... its been roughly consistent. The only thing i don't like about the fritz salt is it does not mix very well, always some left over brown junk on the bottom, i believe ill be going to tropic marine salt with the new tank build.

 

[Dal-Reef]

Awesome, let us know how it works out, i plan on using microbacter7 from brightwell, i'm going for the straight BRS/WWC method though per their video series, trying to follow it to the "T". I use fritz salt and it hasn't been too bad for me when measuring elements etc... its been roughly consistent. The only thing i don't like about the fritz salt is it does not mix very well, always some left over brown junk on the bottom, i believe ill be going to tropic marine salt with the new tank build.

Fritz Turbo start is super good. Not sure how much of my build thread you have looked over but tank is around 3 /12 months old and doing good so far. I also use Fritz salt and never had the brown stuff after mixing. Make sure you get the water up to tank temp then slow add the salt. That way it will mix clean. Here a video from 11/01

 

[MuffinMonster]

Fritz Turbo start is super good. Not sure how much of my build thread you have looked over but tank is around 3 /12 months old and doing good so far. I also use Fritz salt and never had the brown stuff after mixing. Make sure you get the water up to tank temp then slow add the salt. That way it will mix clean. Here a video from 11/01

I've been keeping up with this forum thread, haven't had a chance to see your youtube videos, ill have to check those out in the next few days. Ill start my build thread soon too- just finished my aquascape last night, doing a final setup in the tank dry tonight before i put them in a brute container to cycle for a month before getting them in my tank permanently to get it wet. Even with heating it up and adding it slow i have to clean out my buckets every couple months, maybe i got a bad batch of it. Its consistent, just hasn't mixed well for me unfortunately. What fish do you have in there currently? Coral beauty and a tang?

 

[Dal-Reef]

I've been keeping up with this forum thread, haven't had a chance to see your youtube videos, ill have to check those out in the next few days. Ill start my build thread soon too- just finished my aquascape last night, doing a final setup in the tank dry tonight before i put them in a brute container to cycle for a month before getting them in my tank permanently to get it wet. Even with heating it up and adding it slow i have to clean out my buckets every couple months, maybe i got a bad batch of it. Its consistent, just hasn't mixed well for me unfortunately. What fish do you have in there currently? Coral beauty and a tang?

That is weird the salt.. I will keep an eye on my to see changes far as leaving behind the brown junk. Currently only have Kole Eye Tang and Coral Beauty..

 

[MuffinMonster]

Currently only have Kole Eye Tang and Coral Beauty..

Awesome! I currently have 2 snowflake clownfish, 1 royal gramma and a coral beauty in my other tank. I only plan on adding a tomini tang to the 250 when i get it runnning. Im also thinking about getting rid of the coral beauty and getting a juvenile flame angel instead. The coral beauty seems to nip at some of my corals, might not want it in my new tank. But thats about all the fish livestock ill run. Do you plan on adding anything else?

 

[Dal-Reef]

Awesome! I currently have 2 snowflake clownfish, 1 royal gramma and a coral beauty in my other tank. I only plan on adding a tomini tang to the 250 when i get it runnning. Im also thinking about getting rid of the coral beauty and getting a juvenile flame angel instead. The coral beauty seems to nip at some of my corals, might not want it in my new tank. But thats about all the fish livestock ill run. Do you plan on adding anything else?

I am maybe melanurus wrasse but may while take slow..

 

[Dal-Reef]

3 month 18 days status update

 

[powers2001]

I see you started a new build thread on the same build. I was following your old build thread. Following again. Great start!!

 

[Dal-Reef]

I see you started a new build thread on the same build. I was following your old build thread. Following again. Great start!!

Sorry about that brother.. I am glad you are following. Having fun getting the tank going... Ask any questions about my setup..

 

[powers2001]

@Dal-Reef can you post a photo of the cabinet with all the equipment?

 

[Dal-Reef]

@Dal-Reef can you post a photo of the cabinet with all the equipment?

Check out this video. At the 2:58 mark I show the sump. Its mess. I got cabinet coming that I will move all of the gear to. Also I have not installed the ClairSea yet.

 

[Dal-Reef]

So it took my tank around 4 weeks to completely cycle. It was really slow going but once I added Fritz Turbo start it really started to take off. I tested the water every other day. I did not add more ammonia but just let it process what it had. Again my plan was to take the the process slow and let the tank mature. Over the course of a week ammonia dropped and Nitrite climbed. It took longer for the Nitrite to drop and Nitrate to climb. Not sure why so low to get Nitrate. I did panic and just let the tank run. During the cycle I did not run any lights and no skimmer. Just lost of flow from return pump and VortTech. There is was lot of water movement during the cycle

 

[Donny41]

Following along! Tank looks good! Setting up a reefer 250 myself in the next few weeks. How are you liking the reefer 300 skimmer?

 

[omar jawad]

Nice work. Way to bounce back into the hobby!

 

[Dal-Reef]

Following along! Tank looks good! Setting up a reefer 250 myself in the next few weeks. How are you liking the reefer 300 skimmer?

Thanks for following along. So far I love the skimmer.. It pulls out a lot of junk and is super quite. Check out this vid and can hear out quite it is

 

[Dal-Reef]

Nice work. Way to bounce back into the hobby!

Forgot how much I loved it.. Glad I am back.. Now the wallet not so much