Two years in with my Red Sea Reefer 170

[reefkeeping]

Two years ago to the day I took delivery of a (used) Red Sea Reefer 170L and (re)started my reefkeeping journey after many years out of the hobby. Not entirely sure why it took me so long to finally join R2R but here I am. Definitely interested in y'all's feedback.

The system is a ULNS with the following parameters:

Nitrites - Undetectable
Nitrates - Undetectable
Phosphates - Undetectable
Temperature - 80.5 - 81F
Salinity - 35.6 - 36.2
pH - 8.2 - 8.5
Alkalinity - 8.5-9.0
Calcium - 440
Magnesium - 1550

Equipment List

Red Sea Reefer 170 Deluxe Tank
Red Sea ReefLED 90W
Red Sea ReefWave 25 Gyre
Innovative Marine Helio PTC Smart Heater 2 x 100W
Simplicity 240DC Skimmer
Coralife Turbo-Twist 6X UV Sterilizer
Cyberpower OL1500RTXL2-UN Network Monitored UPS
Neptune Apex
Neptune Trident
Neptune COR Return Pump
Neptune Smart ATO w/ 5 gal Advanced Acrylics ATO Reservoir
Neptune FMM w/ 2x Leak Detectors
Neptune DOS Units 2x
Neptune DDR Units 2x (Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity, Trace Elements)
Neptune Autofeeder
Red Sea 100 Micron Fine Filter Socks
PhosBan 150 Media Reactor (GFO)

Ghost Shrimp Tank

Fluval Spec 2.6G Tank
Fluval Plant Nano Full-Spectrum LED

Livestock List

1x Longnose Hawkfish
1x Foxface Rabbitfish
1x Valentini Pufferfish
1x Dwarf Lionfish
4x Chromis
1x Royal Gramma
1x Flame Angelfish
1x Fire Shrimp
1x Pincushion Urchin

More Photos:

 

[Peace River]

Nice setup! Thanks for sharing your journey!

 

[LilElroyJetson]

Thi

Two years ago to the day I took delivery of a (used) Red Sea Reefer 170L and (re)started my reefkeeping journey after many years out of the hobby. Not entirely sure why it took me so long to finally join R2R but here I am. Definitely interested in y'all's feedback.

The system is a ULNS with the following parameters:

Nitrites - Undetectable
Nitrates - Undetectable
Phosphates - Undetectable
Temperature - 80.5 - 81F
Salinity - 35.6 - 36.2
pH - 8.2 - 8.5
Alkalinity - 8.5-9.0
Calcium - 440
Magnesium - 1550

Equipment List

Red Sea Reefer 170 Deluxe Tank
Red Sea ReefLED 90W
Red Sea ReefWave 25 Gyre
Innovative Marine Helio PTC Smart Heater 2 x 100W
Simplicity 240DC Skimmer
Coralife Turbo-Twist 6X UV Sterilizer
Cyberpower OL1500RTXL2-UN Network Monitored UPS
Neptune Apex
Neptune Trident
Neptune COR Return Pump
Neptune Smart ATO w/ 5 gal Advanced Acrylics ATO Reservoir
Neptune FMM w/ 2x Leak Detectors
Neptune DOS Units 2x
Neptune DDR Units 2x (Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity, Trace Elements)
Neptune Autofeeder
Red Sea 100 Micron Fine Filter Socks
PhosBan 150 Media Reactor (GFO)

Ghost Shrimp Tank

Fluval Spec 2.6G Tank
Fluval Plant Nano Full-Spectrum LED

Livestock List

1x Longnose Hawkfish
1x Foxface Rabbitfish
1x Valentini Pufferfish
1x Dwarf Lionfish
4x Chromis
1x Royal Gramma
1x Flame Angelfish
1x Fire Shrimp
1x Pincushion Urchin

More Photos:

This is a really cool set up and beautiful tank! Nice work!!

 

[reefkeeping]

Thank you very much! After 10 years out of the hobby its been really nice to be dipping a toe back in.

 

[PR_nano]

Tank looks great! What you do for water change?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Two years ago to the day I took delivery of a (used) Red Sea Reefer 170L and (re)started my reefkeeping journey after many years out of the hobby. Not entirely sure why it took me so long to finally join R2R but here I am. Definitely interested in y'all's feedback.

The system is a ULNS with the following parameters:

Nitrites - Undetectable
Nitrates - Undetectable
Phosphates - Undetectable
Temperature - 80.5 - 81F
Salinity - 35.6 - 36.2
pH - 8.2 - 8.5
Alkalinity - 8.5-9.0
Calcium - 440
Magnesium - 1550

Equipment List

Red Sea Reefer 170 Deluxe Tank
Red Sea ReefLED 90W
Red Sea ReefWave 25 Gyre
Innovative Marine Helio PTC Smart Heater 2 x 100W
Simplicity 240DC Skimmer
Coralife Turbo-Twist 6X UV Sterilizer
Cyberpower OL1500RTXL2-UN Network Monitored UPS
Neptune Apex
Neptune Trident
Neptune COR Return Pump
Neptune Smart ATO w/ 5 gal Advanced Acrylics ATO Reservoir
Neptune FMM w/ 2x Leak Detectors
Neptune DOS Units 2x
Neptune DDR Units 2x (Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity, Trace Elements)
Neptune Autofeeder
Red Sea 100 Micron Fine Filter Socks
PhosBan 150 Media Reactor (GFO)

Ghost Shrimp Tank

Fluval Spec 2.6G Tank
Fluval Plant Nano Full-Spectrum LED

Livestock List

1x Longnose Hawkfish
1x Foxface Rabbitfish
1x Valentini Pufferfish
1x Dwarf Lionfish
4x Chromis
1x Royal Gramma
1x Flame Angelfish
1x Fire Shrimp
1x Pincushion Urchin

More Photos:

That's an amazing setup you have!

 

[reefkeeping]

Tank looks great! What you do for water change?

For the first year or so I did daily automatic water changes (2.5% of tank volume) using one of the DOS units. I had a 5 gal jug of pre-mixed salt (Tropic Marin Pro Reef) connected to one side of the DOS, and a drain line to the other pulling out of the sump.

For the last year though I've not been doing water changes.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Beautiful reef!!

 

[parclife]

Stunning setup

 

[reefkeeping]

Thank you! Kinda wishing I'd done a larger tank, but isn't that usually the case?

 

[TheSharksDen]

Questions. Why not run the dose lines and trident into the sump for a cleaner look? Just curious.

 

[dschuffert]

That is a great-looking tank; thanks for sharing!

 

[reefkeeping]

Questions. Why not run the dose lines and trident into the sump for a cleaner look? Just curious.

Originally I liked the way the dose lines and probe rack looked up top (made it look more like a lab/science experiment) but I eventually ended up moving all the dosing lines and probes into the sump when I rebuilt the sump a few months back, see below.

I still maintain the Trident sample line in the display just because its thin and black and basically invisible.

The display also contains the temp probe for my IM Helio heaters, as well as one of the two 100w heating elements. I do this because, should the return pump fail, I don't care what the temperature of my sump is. Also during a power outage the Apex is set to disable power to everything except the heaters and the gyre (for air exchange), including the return.

 

[CasperOe]

That looks fantastic! Such a clean setup, really really like it! Thanks for sharing this; not the worst post to finish the night with!

 

[TheSharksDen]

Originally I liked the way the dose lines and probe rack looked up top (made it look more like a lab/science experiment) but I eventually ended up moving all the dosing lines and probes into the sump when I rebuilt the sump a few months back, see below.

I still maintain the Trident sample line in the display just because its thin and black and basically invisible.

The display also contains the temp probe for my IM Helio heaters, as well as one of the two 100w heating elements. I do this because, should the return pump fail, I don't care what the temperature of my sump is. Also during a power outage the Apex is set to disable power to everything except the heaters and the gyre (for air exchange), including the return.

Gotcha. I was just curious, wasn’t saying it was wrong. Just trying to see why and how others do things.

 

[Seansea]

Looks great.hows that valenti puffer? Been eyeballing one at lfs but cant pull the trigger. Prefer a blue spot but have seen videos of them getting right after coral

 

[Aquachristik]

Great tank! The 170 is definitely a nice size but upgrading to a bigger tank is probably inevitable LOL!

How are you liking that aftermarket sump?

 

[Mullin22]

Great looking setup. I have the same tank I am getting ready to do a build on for the office. How does the lionfish do? Any issues with other fish?

 

[Not_Erick]

Beautiful tank! What sump is that? Is it custom?

 

[reefkeeping]

Beautiful tank! What sump is that? Is it custom?

Thank you!

And no, it's a Fiji Cube 20 Advanced Reef Sump, Gen 2.

My factory Red Sea sump developed a leak (not the fault of Red Sea, for whatever its worth), and this seemed like an interesting upgrade. For the most part I like it, and definitely appreciate the built in dosing line holders and so forth.