Swiss Red Sea Reefer 200XL Reef

[chipchipbro]

Hello from Switzerland everyone!

I recently took down my Red Sea Max Nano which was running for some time. It was kinda SPS heavy.
Well, I saw a pretty nice opportunity to buy a used Red Sea Reefer 200XL which was in a very good shape.

My plan is to create a mixed reef which is mostly SPS heavy. The Reefer came with some corals I just will keep on the bottom as there were some gems in it.

The tank will be bare bottom as I just dont like sand....

TANK:
Red Sea Reefer 200XL

SKIMMER:
Nyos Quantum 120

FLOW:
1 x Aqua Medic SmartDrift 7.1
1 x Jebao ALW 20
(I do have some more pumps I could still add)

RETURN PUMP:
AquaBee Up 5000

ATO:
H2Ocean DD Smart ATO

DOSING PUMP:
Jebao 4.4

FILTRATION:
Red Sea Filter Sock
(I might upgrade to a ReefMat one day)

ROCK:
It will be a minimalist reef scape with 10 pounds of dry Real Reef Rock and another 12 pounds of Indo Live Rock used in my former Red Sea Max Nano.

LIGHTNING:
I started with an XR15 G5 blue but thats just not enough.
Ordered 2 x AI Hydra 32 HD which I will mount this week.

FISH STOCKING:
A pair for clowns
3 x chromis viridis
1 x Coral Beauty
1 x Blue tang (accidently bought by my wife in quarter size; the blue tang will be re-homed to a friends new tank 800gallons in October 2022)
I also plan to add some kind of wrasse (dont know which yet)



---------

OK, the tank is already cycling and running since August 7. I didnt have a huge ugly phase yet which is maybe because I used established live rock.
The tank had an issue at first as my Alk was 10.9 after filling with water... My RODI was fail and I tested RO water at 3.5 dKH..... Now everything is fixed.
I had to be quick as I needed to introduce everything quick.. The corals which came with the tank needed to be placed in a tank.....

I will update with some pics and story soon. I have to do alot of coral scaping in the next days as most stuff just lays around now...

 

[chipchipbro]

Some more Infos:

Salt:
Red Sea Blue Bucket

Dosing:
Original Tropic Marin Balling
(Traces will be replenished by weekly 10-20% water changes)
If that doesnt work anymore I will add DSR EZ Trace

Actual Parameters:
KH 8.5
Calc 480
Mag 1400
Temp 25.5 degrees
PH 8.0-8.2

Goal:
KH 7.5
Calc 420
Mag 1300

 

[Koh23]

Looking great and clean

Why so low kh?

 

[chipchipbro]

thank you my friend

Well, I always kept KH around 8ish to 7.5ish
For me thats pretty the sweet spot as my salt also mixes at 7.7-8

That keeps it very easy to not have any swings after a WC.

For me a low KH is around 6ish

 

[Koh23]

I was always tought that one should be aiming at higher kg, really didnt ever try to go below 10.…...

Any benefits beside that it matches salt mix?

 

[chipchipbro]

imo high alk can lead to burnt tips on SPS (acros)
especially paired with low nutrients...
it can also lead to calcium carbonate precipitation..

I try to keep my reef closer to the sea-levels

 

[Koh23]

Dont have sps, so, no worries there

Tnx!

 

[X-37B]

Some more Infos:

Salt:
Red Sea Blue Bucket

Dosing:
Original Tropic Marin Balling
(Traces will be replenished by weekly 10-20% water changes)
If that doesnt work anymore I will add DSR EZ Trace

Actual Parameters:
KH 8.5
Calc 480
Mag 1400
Temp 25.5 degrees
PH 8.0-8.2

Goal:
KH 7.5
Calc 420
Mag 1300

Very nice start! Really like the cabinet design.
Keep the pics comming.

 

[chipchipbro]

here some more pics from the tank and stand

 

[chipchipbro]

And here some pics under blues before lights go out..

should I keep the LPS?

 

[chipchipbro]

todays tests

 

[X-37B]

todays tests

Those are good numbers!

 

[chipchipbro]

Ok… new lights are installed and running..
pics before lights out from yesterday..

2 x AI Hydra 32 HD


Params:
kh 7.7
calc 450
mag 1350
sal. 35
temp 25.5 celsius

 

[chipchipbro]

Well.. after a 10 day vacation and my neighboor taking care of the tank there was a little accident..
my skimmer went nuts during my absence and sprayed a little around in the sump.. My neighboor told me hes going to empty the cup and sent me a pic after "i cleaned all the mess in the sump and on the sump door". Well, I came home, everything was looking off and I tested parameters.. Alk had dropped to barely 5 and I found out, that he turned off my dosing pump when he was cleaning the mess from the skimmer.. He must have pressed the on/off button..

So over 1 week I slowly worked my Alk back up to 7.5

Hopefully everything will bounce back..
colors did suffer and 1-2 corals died..

Now, patience is the key again I guess..
Added 3 new pulcherrimus anthias to the tank last weekend.. fully QT'ed

PS: Coral beauty and Hippo tang will be moved to my friend new 800g tank in approx. 3 weeks.


Tank after accident:

 

[chipchipbro]

I did get some frags from a friends tank and I think my reef is slowly climbing back..

slow but I see some progression..
only my gonis are struggling somehow…

Well, some night time blue phase pics

 

[chipchipbro]

another addition..
its a maricultured milli.. I guess some call it Sunset Milli

Under only sunlight:

Under LED:

 

[X-37B]

another addition..
its a maricultured milli.. I guess some call it Sunset Milli

Under only sunlight:

Under LED:

Nice looking frag under leds.

 

[chipchipbro]

ok my friends…
Ive got my frags delivered and im very happy!

EC Crazzy SSC
EC Purple Night Fury
EC Rainbow Twizzler
EC Blueberry Fields
EC Rainbow‘s Fury
EC Rainbow Abeotanoides
EC Zazzy Frill Rainbow Mille

 

[chipchipbro]

Well, my no3 skyrocketed to 45ppm
I did start carbon dosing a week ago and did 30% WC.

As of today my no3 lowered to 32ppm and I think my carbon dosing starts to kick in.

The acros darkened alot and I hope they will get lighter and glow again when my goal of 10-15ppm no3 is reached.

Once this is reached I will try dosing NP Bacto Balance to keep my levels of nutrients.

 

[chipchipbro]