Erik's Red Sea Reefer 170 Build - a Return to Reefing

[FortLivingRoom]

Wow! Very nice, and what a diverse tank you’ve got. That live rock really looks great!

 

[SFREEF3R]

Wow! Very nice, and what a diverse tank you’ve got. That live rock really looks great!

Thanks man! It’s coming along.

 

[SFREEF3R]

Unfortunately one of the two banggai cardinals rapidly succumbed to an infection it acquired in (or before) shipping. I had anti-parasitic and dewormer on hand but no antibiotics and couldn't get any in time to save it. At least I'll be prepared for next time now :-/

The remaining fish appears to be healthy and is eating well.

I really do want a pair of these fish, so now I'm trying to figure out the sex of fish I have remaining to find a suitable mate.

Have a separate thread where I've asked for some help on this front:

Help Sexing Banggai Cardinal

Hey all - could use some help here. Received a mated pair of these lovely fish from Liveaquaria's Divers Den, however one of them succumbed rapidly to an infection it acquired in transit (or before). I'm trying to figure out the sex of the remaining one so that I can get it an appropriate mate...

www.reef2reef.com

Some new inhabitants from LA in QT/observation:
-pair of banggai cardinals
-emerald crab
-tunicate
-pink feather dusters

I’m typically very weary about adding filter feeders for fear they starve, but so far all of the filter feeders in my tank seem to be thriving so I have some confidence

I have tons of feather dusters that seem to be reproducing, multiple sponge and tunicate species going strong and growing a year after receiving the rock, and at least a dozen bivalves.

Unfortunately a day after drip acclimation, the feather dusters haven’t opened yet. Will keep observing but not sure they made it through shipping. I had a pistol shrimp in the order that was also DOA.

 

[alliesan648]

It was a very tight fit into the stand. The chamfer on the top/front corner of the box is there to enable fitting/rotating the box into place. And I couldn't avoid overlapping with the hinge slightly so I needed to route a small recess in the left panel for the enclosure. The push-push for the door had to be removed (I had planned to relocate lower but hasn't really been needed)

I mounted these lights under the access panel for extra light. There is a motion activation feature but it isn't great for working in the Sump. I have switch that I plan to add in the near future.

I had a piece of glass cut at a local glass shop for a shelf, mounted on these brackets.

A Bashsea 5 gal ATO reservoir lives between the tank and the wall.

I was pleased with the finished result:
View attachment 2481167

Inside the electronics compartment:
View attachment 2481368

Wow that looks impressively clean.
following your thread for some motivation as I’ve got a 170 as well.
one question, is it hard to access the plumbing behind the electronics compartment? I’ve had to replace the o-rings on mine twice now over the years and it looks a bit tight behind there. Could be just the photos though.
I’m trying to figure out where to put my profilux (older version with a longer pab) and this helps immensely.
Also, not sure if you mentioned this and I just missed it, where did you get the brackets that are holding the tunze and vortech controllers?

 

[SFREEF3R]

Wow that looks impressively clean.
following your thread for some motivation as I’ve got a 170 as well.
one question, is it hard to access the plumbing behind the electronics compartment? I’ve had to replace the o-rings on my twice now and it looks a bit tight behind there. Could be just the photos though.
im trying to figure out where to put my profilux (older version with a longer pab) and this helps immensely.
Also, not sure if you mentioned this and I just missed it, where did you get the brackets that are holding the tunze and vortech controllers?

Thanks! It is definitely not super easy to access behind the electronics compartment, though possible. It's completely blind unless I lay down on a bench and have my head inside the sump area. I can however reach my hand behind the compartment and grab the fittings without too much difficulty. How long have you had between replacing o-rings? Not looking forward to that job haha.

I don't think I said where I got the brackets. Here you go:
Tunze ATO mount from Eel River Coral (3D printed)
Ecotech Vortech mount from BRS (stamped metal)

 

[alliesan648]

I bought the tank used in 2016 and replaced them shortly after that due to one being a leaker, and again a few weeks ago. So I guess 6 or so years isn’t too bad?

Thanks for the links! One of my controllers went swimming a few years ago and I haven’t had them in there since. Velcro can not be trusted