Sunny's RSR250

[Sunny Goold]

Ok - starting here I am going to post about my newly aquired 2nd hand Red Sea Reefer 250. Hopefully this works as a diary and helps me document my progress.
As always friendly comments and constructive feedback are always welcome.

 

[Sunny Goold]

 

[Sunny Goold]

Here's the tank - I wanted white - I actually was really close to going with an Elos 120 XL but I don't know if I will move back to Australia soon and with C19 I just wanted something that would give me a good starting point for success without costing much.
So I saw this tank come up for less than USD300 and I dismissed it - not being white and also I wanted deeper front to back and with my Radion I thought like a 60x60 tank would be better.
Then I realised my SBReefLight was just sitting there and would be perfect.
Now that it's home I ordered a pump and sold my 120 which had all my liverock in it. The paintings have to go and it's a hassle not being able to open the door to the sump all the way - but besides that it is really the perfect spot*.
*Assuming the floor holds.
Next I will go through the 4 key areas I want to build my success around and the equipment / products I want to use to help me do that: Biology, Lighting, Water Chemistry and Flow.

 

[Sunny Goold]

 

[Sunny Goold]

Biology: From what I have learned from really good reefers what I will call Biology is super important and I feel like it is often overlooked in discussions (vs lighting, flow and chemistry). So I will start here. I post a picture of my 'almost finished' scape above. There is a lot of rock and I wish I would have more space but still I am super happy with it. There is some rock in the back and a rock front and center I will remove and I will add some branches and likely use magnets on the back.
The rock is mostly probably pukani plus I have picked up some small live rock pieces from Australia and Indo. That rock has been in the water for over a year. I feel like liverock is critical to success with SPS and I will probably get a couple more pieces.
I also will get some TLF Refugite in a tub in the sump and a bag of Red Sea Pink live sand mainly in the back right corner - as I want some wrasse and a goby shrimp pair that will need sand.
For bacteria I have Reefbright Liverock Enhance, some mainly nitrogen bacteria in a bottle and Vibrant if necessary. I also add Tropic Marin Bacto Balance.
My fish stocking plan will eventually include quite a few fish like 6/7 small - medium wrasses, my pygmy flameback angel, 2 pipefish, a goby and a yellow tang. I will feed automatically 3x / day NLS Probiotics and 2x week frozen soaked in Brightwells fish aminos and vitamins. I will also feed Benereef in the autofeeder and I have Fauna Marin Coral Aminos and Probiotics and I want to alternate that with RedSea's new AB+ a couple of times a week. I will also likely get a Hippopus clam so that will filter a lot and I feel like I won't need to use my skimmer much.
Now I have 4 small black mollies in the tank.
Of course with liverock comes pests. There are pests I will have to manage (like Aptasia and Vermitids) and those I want to attempt to avoid (like AEFW and Ich, Velvet...).
My current 55L / 15G tank I will use as an observational QT. First I will move over my current corals and inverts (except my new Emerald Crab who is the main suspect for eating 2 clove polyps - he will have to go into the sump). I will then run PraziPro, add some new black mollies, and maybe go Hypo or use Hydrogen Peroxide. My sixline (a model citizen) will go and I will transfer the angel to the DT and keep the coris in the QT tank for when I get corals or QT new fish.
Now I know it ain't Copper or TTM so it's not so robust but that is what I think I can do after listening to Humblefish. I also know (although I haven't noticed anything) that there likely is already ich in the tank and it will be on the corals. Anyhow I have ozone I can run if necessary but I hope correctly acclimating new fish and feeding them well in the QT will mean they go in less stressed. If I do get an outbreak I will probably have Hydrogen Peroxide and the knowledge ready to go.
Well I think that just about does it for biology. If I can implement all of this I will be really proud of myself.

 

[Sunny Goold]

Lighting: Lighting is a rabbit hole - I have learned a lot from reading posts from people like Dana, Lasse and just picking up nuggets from legends like Adam from Battlecorals. One of the first pieces of equipment I bought was a a 32" from SBReefLights and I got it because it was cheap and they seemed to be focused on hitting the right spectrum. After going down the rabbit hole I have decided that I did indeed probably get the right light based on healthrice. Maybe I could have come close to that ratio with 2nd hand Radions or a T5 fixture. For Spectrum for acros I think only the Orphek has a sizeable advantage on spectrum but I would get Reefi with some Custom Orphek Bars if I had the money.
Right now the light will be fine but it doesn't ramp so I will also buy an Aliexpress $50 / 55cm / 470nm bar that Telegraham mentioned - I was going to get a custom Orphek but in it I would probably get a heavy mix of 470nm anyhow (SB only have a few 470nm as they say it isn't so important for health but I would want 380nm and 740nm in the mix but I have better ways to spend the money). I'm hoping its a cheap way to get some pop in the night and a little extra coverage.
Visually I prefer a super blue tank. But for SPS, after reading everything, I feel a broad spectrum is important. So I will run the whites at least at the same intensity as the blues. Basically I will have 4 channels to play with - 420nm Moon (only 4 LEDs), White, Blue and 470nm. I think I will run the following schedule:
9am - 10am: 420nm + 470nm
10am - 11am: 420nm + 470nm + Whites
11am-noon: 420nm + Blues + Whites
noon-1pm: 420nm + 470nm + Whites
1pm - 4pm: Blues + 470nm
4pm - 8pm: Blues + Whites
8pm - 9pm: Blues + 470nm
9pm - 9:30pm: 420nm + Blues
9:30 - 10:30pm: 420nm + 470nm
So basically 2 hours are pretty low (start and end) / 7 hours are heavy and 4.5 hours are medium intensity.
I will hand the lights 12" above the tank and try and borrow a PAR meter but aim to slowly bring the light up to 50% intensity for both the white and blue - assuming that, based on Fish-of-Hex the top of the rocks may be getting around 500par with 200 at the bottom of the tank for the most intense period of 11-noon.
Listening to Mike Paletta on CoralVue discuss what top SPS Reefers are doing with lighting and also what BattleCorals does I think it will be fine. I need to watch Abe from Coral Euphoria on YouTube again to see what he does with PAR and I want to try and match that. I have always been too cautious with intensity and this time I want to get there slowly but really aim to hit those higher par numbers despite what BRS says.
Not I am going to have some LPS on the bottom and that's why I have made lots of little crevices / canyons to keep many of them out of direct light.

 

[Sunny Goold]

Water Chemistry: Let's start with equipment I will use. Right now I have a SantaMonic 0.5 ATS I will move from my QT - this is small but should be enough with the Great White 10 Skimmer (which is way overkill). I will likely only run the Skimmer overnight with a few hours of ozone at a low level.
Then if I need more export I may get a cheap light and grow some macro in the fuge area. I want to keep PO4 in the 0.04-0.1 range and Nitrates I don't think I will worry about too much. I will likely use the RedSea gravity ATO everyone complains about until I get sick of that. I also have a Coral Box doser.
As far as additives I will use Brightwell's Kalk+2 and Replenish early on. When I need more I will replace the Replenish with KoralColor and add Tropic Marin All For Reef on the doser.
Tropic Marin bacto balance unless my PO4 starts consistently running too high. Too low and I will feed more or use cheap PO4 laden food.
Salt I use is TM Pro Reef and I will likely do small water changes once a week of less than 5%. Salinity 35ppt (Hanna tester) and don't check pH. I test Alk >2 x week and will aim for 8.5-9. I usually test one of PO4, Ca, Mg or NO3 when I test Ca.
For temp I run the Inkbird wifi and will run 25-26.5. I'd like to run 24.5 but had dinos so I will see if I can drop it in the winter and what happens.

 

[powers2001]

@Sunny Goold nice system!! I like your plan. Subscribed. My mom's parents were born in the Czech Republic. She grew up in a household here in the US where Cesky was the main language spoken.

 

[Sunny Goold]

@Sunny Goold nice system!! I like your plan. Subscribed. My mom's parents were born in the Czech Republic. She grew up in a household here in the US where Cesky was the main language spoken.

Thanks so much - good to get some feedback that I may be on the right track
Yes it's nice here but the language is a challenge. I just miss the ocean and probably why I got into reefing Hopefully this build goes well
Thanks

 

[Sunny Goold]

First coral in - GSP - it’s cheap and it usually will stay closed up if not happy...
Opening in the morning so that’s good.
Then I transferred some other frags and my freebie zoas I got in some live rock - well they’ve never looked so good.
Still waiting for my return pump (deliveries are so bad right now) and my Fauna Marin corals arrive Thursday - but as the GSP is looking good I think the smartest thing to do is put them straight into this tank

 

[powers2001]

Thanks so much - good to get some feedback that I may be on the right track
Yes it's nice here but the language is a challenge. I just miss the ocean and probably why I got into reefing Hopefully this build goes well
Thanks

@Sunny Goold you must have relocated, you say the language is a challenge in Czech Republic? Funny thing is I have very early recollections of visiting my grandmother as a toddler for the first time. She scolded me in Cesky for chasing the chickens and it scared me to death. They say very young kids can be frightened when hearing a foreign language for the first time !!!!

 

[Sunny Goold]

I am eagerly awaiting my corals from Fauna Marin - bit nervous my return pump hasn't arrived yet but added a small Goni frag yesterday and it started opening within an hour. - So excited. Almost finished my aquascape too after I got the branch rock I have been after - just can't get it right and I spent 6 hours last night with my hands in the tank trying to do so

 

[powers2001]

I am eagerly awaiting my corals from Fauna Marin - bit nervous my return pump hasn't arrived yet but added a small Goni frag yesterday and it started opening within an hour. - So excited. Almost finished my aquascape too after I got the branch rock I have been after - just can't get it right and I spent 6 hours last night with my hands in the tank trying to do so

@Sunny Goold you could use a pair of these they go up to your shoulder:

 

[Sunny Goold]

@Sunny Goold you could use a pair of these they go up to your shoulder:

Yes, I actually have a similar pair, plus I have some tongs. I think for quick simple dips into the tank mine are fine but when I need to do more 'technical' things like glue down a frag they are a bit difficult. I would like to keep toxins out of the tank and that's why I got them. I also should wash my hands and arms with salt when I am not going to use the gloves so this is a great reminder - thanks.
I need to upload the shots of my new corals - just been a crazy few days

 

[powers2001]

Yes, I actually have a similar pair, plus I have some tongs. I think for quick simple dips into the tank mine are fine but when I need to do more 'technical' things like glue down a frag they are a bit difficult. I would like to keep toxins out of the tank and that's why I got them. I also should wash my hands and arms with salt when I am not going to use the gloves so this is a great reminder - thanks.
I need to upload the shots of my new corals - just been a crazy few days

@Sunny Goold it’s so tempting to stick your hands in the tank from time to time. It’s just got to be the number one source of pollutants. Besides my Coralife long gloves I have vinyl gloves that just go up to my wrists from Harbor Freight Tools.

 

[Sunny Goold]

@Sunny Goold it’s so tempting to stick your hands in the tank from time to time. It’s just got to be the number one source of pollutants. Besides my Coralife long gloves I have vinyl gloves that just go up to my wrists from Harbor Freight Tools.

For sure. I remember several reefers on Reefbuilders said this as the number 1 piece of advice. I always hesitate before sticking my hands in - can I use gloves? If not I think is it essential and what else can I do so I don't have to go back in over the next week or 2.
I am also coming around to the idea of running a really good carbon - probably the one from Brightwell that combines it with a resin to remove more toxins and heavy metals - just because pollutants do get in (and because I will run ozone occasionally

 

[Sunny Goold]

Tank is running - although with a tiny return that is a trickle until my one in the post gets here (it's way way way overdue) - Still I am super happy with the tank - more work to do this weekend

 

[powers2001]

Tank is running - although with a tiny return that is a trickle until my one in the post gets here (it's way way way overdue) - Still I am super happy with the tank - more work to do this weekend

@Sunny Goold are you talking about a return pump? Those are the lifeblood of your filtration system. Until you get it you should pay extra attention to rising excess nutrients. Just saying that.

 

[Sunny Goold]

@Sunny Goold are you talking about a return pump? Those are the lifeblood of your filtration system. Until you get it you should pay extra attention to rising excess nutrients. Just saying that.

Thanks powers Well I have only 2 mollies in there and a blood shrimp and have been feeding super light for that very reason.
But the return pump I ordered finally arrived yesterday evening so it is all installed and doing nicely.
All the corals look great - I think my tenuis wasn't as fluffy as usual so that made me go out and get the small return pump to hold me over. Now I will turn it into a backup option and occasionally use it to siphon detritous out of the sump.
Will test the water tonight and see how it's going

 

[Sunny Goold]