Shred5's reefer 250

[shred5]

Well this is where I am at right now:

This tank is going to be restarted. Basically last year I had to move and had a 6' reef. I set this up in a day at my new place and grabbed one huge rock out of my 6' tank and dropped it in.

It was a test run for several different type of corals under led.
LPS, softies and small sps frags do very well under this lighting. Once sps start branching self shading usually takes over on branching sps and is a real pain. No doubt sps would grow well if I added a few more led fixtures and mounted them at angles to shade the sides. At this point the fixture cost would make it not worth while and there goes the savings on any energy. So I am looking for A 3' T-5 Geisemann Matrix fixture in white. I have found the Matrixx to grow sps like crazy on my 90 and the best coloration.

I will be completely restarting and draining the tank and doing it right.

What is decided so far:

One of the side cabinets will hold the top off.

The equipment panel will most likely go in the other and dosing in the main cabinet.

The tank will be a sps mainly tank.

T-5 from above.


Looking for some high quality live rock so looking for suggestions there..
I prefer to use very little dead rock, hate cycling it and hate how long they can leach phosphates.
I like real reef rock and used it on my 6' tank but wanted to go back to real live rock. I enjoy seeing what grows out of the rock or comes with it. Problem is high quality rock is hard to come by now a days.

I thought about Tampa bay but I do not want the man made stuff and aquaculture rock can be blocky and heavy.

 

[Brew12]

I always love to see a restart. Gives you a chance to do everything you figured out you should have done the first time!

I thought about Tampa bay but I do not want the man made stuff and aquaculture rock can be block and heavy.

I'm confused by this. I am pretty sure Tampa Bay Saltwater uses coral rock from the Bahama's that they dumped off shore locally. It shouldn't be man made but I guess you can call it aquacultured.

 

[shred5]

I always love to see a restart. Gives you a chance to do everything you figured out you should have done the first time!



I'm confused by this. I am pretty sure Tampa Bay Saltwater uses coral rock from the Bahama's that they dumped off shore locally. It shouldn't be man made but I guess you can call it aquacultured.

They now use what is called 2.0 Which is Walt Smith man made rock dumped in the Ocean..

 

[Brew12]

They now use what is called 2.0 Which is Walt Smith man made rock dumped in the Ocean..

This makes me sad.

 

[shred5]

This makes me sad.

I do believe they offer the other stuff too if requested.

 

[shred5]

I will be sticking with my Ultra Reef Akula 160 Protein Skimmer.

 

[shred5]

 

[shred5]

This has been the best skimmer I have owned to date. It skims almost as good as my ATB skimmer but is way better built and much easier to take apart clean and adjust.
It is just so super stable. Every little piece comes apart for cleaning.
It is very quiet for a ac skimmer. Sicce pump makes it very reliable.

This takes up very little space and fits the reefer 250 sump really well...

 

[shred5]

Been a while about a update that is because I am still waiting to hear on the Geisemann Matrixx fixture. Busy time of the year. Most of the rebuild is based around this fixture.
I am still looking into rock. Recently contacted KPaquatics about theirs.

I also purchased some Marco shelf rock which will be bleached and vinegar bath. I will then start to cure the rock...

 

[revhtree]

Nice tank man!

 

[shred5]

Well light fixture is supposed to be shipping this week from Germany.
Still looking for rock KP aquatics has not been in contact with me which is odd they have been really reliable in the past.
Since I want lots of life on my rock I might go with Tampa bay Saltwater Pukani aqua-cultured live rock. I wanted actual live rock but this looks like the best I can do plus shipped submerged so it will help with die off and probably temperature since it will be winter here.

 

[shred5]

Well no word on the fixture shipping so much for getting it by Christmas and now I have doubts on 1st of the year.
Decided to order rock from PA and go real reef rock again.. It was so fun to work with the last time and no waiting since they already have been cycling it and shipped wet. I also have a bunch of dry rock cycling.
I was going to go with Tampa bay saltwater but I have a much bigger build and I am going to use them on that build instead. I will start another thread on this build.
The Redsea is still going ahead just delayed a little..
The other build will take a while because I may build a frag tank, main tank and sump tied together. I will also build the stand.

 

[shred5]

Well finally got the light from Germany. Rock should ship today. This past weekend I set up temporary tank and got all livestock into temporary tank.
Now the fun begins.

 

[pelphrey]

Tagging along!

 

[shred5]

I will take some pictures this weekend but the Rock is here. I am a little disappointed because I had asked for medium to small and got allot of large pieces. It was packaged unbelievable good and I defiantly got more than I paid for. I think through all the delays because of the weather and Christmas they forgot.. I think the rock is pretty easy to break up. I have allot of clean up to do in the tank and allot of the equipment. I want to mount the light and the right cabinet will be for equipment.

So work list:
Clean tank and sump out completely.
Mount new Giesemann Matrixx.
Once this is done I can start adding water back to the tank.
Clean equipment which I already started, been soaking in vinegar. Except main pump which needs to be pulled.
Work on equipment cabinet. Not sure what I am going to do here yet but it is going in the right cabinet in the picture above.
Do rock aquascaping.
Add Waste collector and dosing system going with GHL.


I really wanted a new sump but I think I will stick with what I got.
I got the ok on another system in the basement which I will start new thread on.
This system will be several frag tanks stacked and a large reef. Looking at possibly making the frag tanks and main tank myself. But if I find some cheap enough I will go that route instead.
At this point I was thinking of a 48x36x20 3/4" acrylic tank but thinking just a 120 reef tank to save money. I was thinking 18x36 1/2" acrylic frag tanks.

 

[revhtree]

Oooh nice light!

 

[shred5]

Tanks cleaned and new light installed:

 

[revhtree]

That is a beaut!

 

[shred5]

This is a terrible picture
The rock on the right is actual two sets of rocks one in the front and one in the back.
The big structure fell and broke and it was so cool. it did not go back the same and does not look as good as it did.
I am going to try for a better pic.
I added water now and it is a little cloudy right now.

 

[shred5]

Sticky with my Ultra reef skimmer. This has been one of the nicest skimmer I have ever owned. Easy to adjust and so stable. It comes completely apart, even the neck comes out of the cup to make it easy to clean. Super efficient.