The Money Pit Reefer 170

adrianr514

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So I figured I'd start my own thread to track progress of my Reefer 170.

A little back story is that this Reefer 170 started as a 3 gal pico. Ran the pico for two months to only want more so I turned a 10 gal QT into a reef. Rather quickly I found myself very dissatisfied with the limitations of what I wanted out of a 10 gal. That 10 gal quickly became a Reefer 170 and although still on the small size it's perfect for my current needs and space restrictions.

Live stock:
Fish -
1 Picasso Clownsfish
1 Extreme Platinum Percula
2 Banggai Cardinalfish
1 Diamond Goby
Inverts-
Hermit crabs
Astrea Snails
Nassarius Snails
Cerith Snails

Coral-
Gold Midas Zoa
WWC Goochster Zoa
WWC Devils Armor Zoa
WWC Red Death Paly
WWC Honeycomb Leptastrea
WWC Spitfire Leptastrea
WWC Magma Lobo
WWC Red Acan
WWC Lavender Duncan
WWC Green Slimer
WWC Green Mile
WWC Green Birdsnest
WWC Favites (no clue on the designer name)
WWC Orange Florida Ricordea
WWC Aussie Bonzai

Hardscape:
20lbs Caribsea Aragalive
Mixture of Caribsea Dry Rock and Life Rock

Salt:
Fritz Reef Pro Mix 1.026sg

Lighting:
Ecotech Radion XR15w Pro (WWC AB+ settings)

Flow:
1 Current Eflux 1090gph
1 Current Eflux 660gph
1 Ecotech Vectra S1

Sump: Factory Red Sea
4" media basket for filter floss
1 4"x4"x2" block of Marine pure + Chaeto as Refugium
1 IM Chaetomax light.
1 Bubble Magus C5 Elite

ATO
AutoAqua Smart ATO Micro
7gal water jug reservoir

Plans:
Immediate-
None at this time.

Near Future-
Upgrade the sump to a Crystal Reef Aquatics

Eventually-
Neptune Apex or GHL controller
Apex Dose or GHL Doser
Aquaticlife 24" T5ho Hybrid light fixture
2 EcoTech MP10wQD's

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adrianr514

adrianr514

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Got to love UPS deliveries!
Ecotech Radion Xr15w G4 pro with RMS mount.
Ecotech Vectra S1. Went with the S1 over the S2 as it was $30 off plus I had rewards points that knocked off another $50.

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adrianr514

adrianr514

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Money Pit Update. 5/18/2019

Pros
Have had the Xr15s running nownforba couple of days. Using the Coral Lab AB+ preset. I've never been a huge fan of so much blue lighting however the colors on the fish and Coral look amazing. Vectra S1 has been running smoothly. I love how I can slow down the flow to a trickle while I'm cleaning. Makes it Soo much easier to get more junk out than having it blown everywhere. Dropped $200 on the WWC live sale so I'm excited for the corals to show up.

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Cons
My ultra orange Yuma detached from it's rock and couldn't be found. I have to take out my rockwork to which the epoxy failed as soon as I pulled it out and my rock work was everywhere. Had to re do the whole structure again.

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Found the Yuma and now he's in a dish with rubble and I'm crossing my fingers it attaches itself.

I also found chunks of my Condy which seems to have been chopped up by a power head during the whole ordeal.

Realized that my yellow watchman was also MIA. Check all the Rocks, under the rocks, ran my fingers through the sand and nothing. Also checked the overflow and sump along with the floor and surrounding areas. No watchman to be found. Here's to hoping he's just a very good hide and seeker.
 

Dub_G

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Money Pit Update. 5/18/2019

Pros
Have had the Xr15s running nownforba couple of days. Using the Coral Lab AB+ preset. I've never been a huge fan of so much blue lighting however the colors on the fish and Coral look amazing. Vectra S1 has been running smoothly. I love how I can slow down the flow to a trickle while I'm cleaning. Makes it Soo much easier to get more junk out than having it blown everywhere. Dropped $200 on the WWC live sale so I'm excited for the corals to show up.

869f73715c881f39fad56d84265146fb.jpg


Cons
My ultra orange Yuma detached from it's rock and couldn't be found. I have to take out my rockwork to which the epoxy failed as soon as I pulled it out and my rock work was everywhere. Had to re do the whole structure again.

925a6b41660b497eedeaaa8a72d370df.jpg


Found the Yuma and now he's in a dish with rubble and I'm crossing my fingers it attaches itself.

I also found chunks of my Condy which seems to have been chopped up by a power head during the whole ordeal.

Realized that my yellow watchman was also MIA. Check all the Rocks, under the rocks, ran my fingers through the sand and nothing. Also checked the overflow and sump along with the floor and surrounding areas. No watchman to be found. Here's to hoping he's just a very good hide and seeker.
Hope you find your goby. Awhile back I had a flower anemone go for a walk. Took the rock structure apart that I thought it was in, but never found it. It was my wife's favorite flower nem.
 
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adrianr514

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Hope you find your goby. Awhile back I had a flower anemone go for a walk. Took the rock structure apart that I thought it was in, but never found it. It was my wife's favorite flower nem.

It's always a gut punch whenever something goes missing.
 
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adrianr514

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Today was an eventful day. I got my frag tank running last weekend for the corals I was sure I was going to buy during the @WWC sale. The corals came in, I gave them a quick once over for pests or detritus and put them in.

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I have to say they are better than expected.

While doing my daily tank duties I noticed one of my clowns swimming in a place I'd never seen it. I immediately turned my gaze to check on the other one and nothing.... I checked the usual spots to no luck, I checked the floor and nothing either. So I decided to move my entertainment system and found my little Picasso all dried up.

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I was so disappointed because he was such a gorgeous clown. Later in the day I figured I'd check on my PetCo. I usually stop in once a week incase they have a diamond in the rough. For the past 4 months they have had a beautiful platinum percula clown listed at $69.99. Everytime I've seen him he's always been really active and has never shown signs of illness. I talk to the manager about it wondering why no one has picked it up and well it turns out he was just unlucky and people didn't like him because he didn't look like Nemo. I barely was able to get out "poor guy" when the manager said you know he's been here so long and he needs a good home so if you want I'll half the price. Half priced on a premium platinum?? I couldn't pass up that opportunity but I decided to counter with $25. If they said yes then awesome and if they said no it would only be $10 more. To my surprise I was told yes and well now I have a gorgeous clown to add after a few days of QT.

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Jon Fishman

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Looks great. My kids insisted on clowns and I made sure to get ones that didn’t look like “nemo” and they now love them
 

HawaiianReef

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Money pit is right.
You jumped right in from a 10g to a Reefer 170 and Radion and a Vectra!
That is arguably The best cube set up.
Nice choice.
Sorry about the clown. Get the redsea mesh top for the 170 to keep the jumpers in.
I love the way you tell stories. Almost feels like I'm sitting down having a beer with a friend.
Thanks for sharing

David
 
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adrianr514

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Money pit is right.
You jumped right in from a 10g to a Reefer 170 and Radion and a Vectra!
That is arguably The best cube set up.
Nice choice.
Sorry about the clown. Get the redsea mesh top for the 170 to keep the jumpers in.
I love the way you tell stories. Almost feels like I'm sitting down having a beer with a friend.
Thanks for sharing

David

Oh yes, this along with my planted freshwater tanks and I could have already paid off my car...

I had egg crate over the top but it looked so terrible so I removed it. No issues for weeks and then out of no where they want to fly.

Appreciate the compliment. All the other build threads I read are basic did this, this and this. I wanted to do mine as more of a blog and give you guys more of a look into my thought process when making the selections I am.
 

HawaiianReef

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Well thanks for taking the time to share this with us. I know it takes time away from the build, but I definitely have enjoyed the ride so far.
 
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adrianr514

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My ReefLink finally came in. I ordered it with my LFS since I had $50 with in rewards I could claim so it was a no brainier ordering a new one over a used one. Warranty is everything.
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adrianr514

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So I got tired of refilling my stock ATO container every two days so I'm using this container until I can find one that fits in that space between the stand and TV rack.
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https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/5-gallon-hydrofill-reservoir-auqa-gadget-innovative-marine.html
Pricey to just hold water but I love mine. Its super slim and has the nice pull out drawer. I have mine sitting right next to my 30 cube.

That was my issue. Justifying a $100+ container for water..

So shortly after I used the water jug a light bulb went off in my head so I jumped in the car and headed over to sportsman's outdoors. Once there I headed to the camping section and found a couple of camping water jugs. I ended up going with this 7gal jug for $19.99. it was an ugly blue green so I used some krylon and sprayed it black. The lid has an opening that's for a spigot that fits the hose and pump cable perfectly. This is what she looks like now.

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adrianr514

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Update 5/31/2019

My calium uptake on my tank was more than my weekly water changes could keep up with.

Took a trip down to my LFS to check out my options between a standalone doser for Calc or a Kalk stirrer.

My LFS had been testing out the X1 micro pump and I played with it for a while. It's small, modular with it's rotatable head and can be programed with a phone.

I still haven't decided on an aquarium controller and I'm probably 6+ months out before I buy one so this small single unit for $59 was a no brainer.

Once home 1 drilled a hole into my calcium bottle and added a 1/4 bulkhead. Calibrated the pump and now have it set to dose 20ml across 12 doses throughout the day. So far it's working for it's intended purpose and later when I get a controller and accompanying doser I could repurpose this one for one of my fresh water tanks or have it dose Trace minerals.

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adrianr514

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0 TDS water

So I live in an apartment and setting up an RODI system was difficult. My apartment uses those fancy faucets on all the sinks so adaptors wouldn't work. I eventually decided to just plumb it in under the sink and just replace the parts once I move out. I started with a 5 stage 75gpd RODI unit from Liquagen and quickly found out that my 700+ TDS tap water would deplete the small DI resin cartridge. Since then I upgraded the system with dual 75gdp membranes, aquatec pump and pressure shut off switch with an autoflush system and that then goes into a BRS triple stage DI resin to give me 0TDS water.

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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 71 37.8%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 63 33.5%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 25 13.3%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 28 14.9%
  • Other.

    Votes: 1 0.5%
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