Jarhead's Red Sea Reefer 170

[FortLivingRoom]

Making progress! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to use as many unions as I intended due to the bulkiness. Just not enough room inside the cabinet. Went with mostly gate valves and did one ball valve for some variety in case I need an easy on/off valve.

 

[JoeSchmo45]

That plumbing looks awesome! I went fully stock on mine because I don't have the courage to try my own plumbing! I can't wait to see the whole setup when you're up and running.

 

[FortLivingRoom]

That plumbing looks awesome! I went fully stock on mine because I don't have the courage to try my own plumbing! I can't wait to see the whole setup when you're up and running.

Thanks Joe! It was tedious for sure. I’ll probably post a video of it soon. How is your tank doing? Did you fill that qt tank?

 

[JoeSchmo45]

Thanks Joe! It was tedious for sure. I’ll probably post a video of it soon. How is your tank doing? Did you fill that qt tank?

I'm looking forward to seeing it! My tank is doing well. It's been cycled for just over two months now. I'll put an update on my build page soon. Going to be getting my first corals here very soon. I did use the QT tank once so far for a goby. I'm not going to keep it up permanently, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[FortLivingRoom]

Day 68 lol

Making progress!
Finally got the hole in the wall to fit this bad boy: https://www.walleyesolutions.com/products/3-id-wall-eye-white-5-1-1-2-wall-thickness

Came out pretty clean.

I was able to tap into the refrigerator line easily and getting 70psi thankfully! Mixing station making RODI so I can do a final leak test on my plumbing then hopefully finish up this weekend.

 

[FortLivingRoom]

I hate to sound negative but it’s just one dang thing after another. Is this what reefing is like? I feel like maybe I’m making it more complicated than it needs to be. TDS going into DI is 20 still waiting to test tap TDS, but after DI I’m at 0. At this point it’s the least of my worries. I was seriously on the brink of throwing in the towel this afternoon and returning the thousands of unopened hardware I still have. Once water hit the overflow the pipes immediately started leaking, ALL OF THEM! They were leaking from where the downpipes come out of the bulkhead. Mind you, all these pipes were working fine with no leaks with the old tank, and now they’re not with the new tank! All the o-rings had been replaced and I put silicone lobe on each ring. So I took it apart and threw the manifold in the garbage. I cleaned all the lube off and tried again. Now 2/3 leaked. I replaced the new o-ring with a newer o-ring...still leaking. Finally right before I gave up I decided to use the white o-rings on the downpipes instead of the red o-rings (which are on every image of the down pipes.) Woohoo! No more leak at the bulkheads!!! So I let it run for a bit only to find I have small leaks on every fitting where I converted from Red Sea to standard. Ahhhh!!! So I took all those apart and did a few extra wraps of Teflon tape. I also said screw it and added a bead of the cyanoacrylate from the aquascape to each outside and inside of the fitting. IM SPENT! I’ll let it cure and reassemble in the morning. If this doesn’t work I’ll probably sell it all and maybe get an AIO. On a positive note, I do like how my scape turned out.

 

[Reverend Turtle]

I hate to sound negative but it’s just one dang thing after another. Is this what reefing is like? I feel like maybe I’m making it more complicated than it needs to be. TDS going into DI is 20 still waiting to test tap TDS, but after DI I’m at 0. At this point it’s the least of my worries. I was seriously on the brink of throwing in the towel this afternoon and returning the thousands of unopened hardware I still have. Once water hit the overflow the pipes immediately started leaking, ALL OF THEM! They were leaking from where the downpipes come out of the bulkhead. Mind you, all these pipes were working fine with no leaks with the old tank, and now they’re not with the new tank! All the o-rings had been replaced and I put silicone lobe on each ring. So I took it apart and threw the manifold in the garbage. I cleaned all the lube off and tried again. Now 2/3 leaked. I replaced the new o-ring with a newer o-ring...still leaking. Finally right before I gave up I decided to use the white o-rings on the downpipes instead of the red o-rings (which are on every image of the down pipes.) Woohoo! No more leak at the bulkheads!!! So I let it run for a bit only to find I have small leaks on every fitting where I converted from Red Sea to standard. Ahhhh!!! So I took all those apart and did a few extra wraps of Teflon tape. I also said screw it and added a bead of the cyanoacrylate from the aquascape to each outside and inside of the fitting. IM SPENT! I’ll let it cure and reassemble in the morning. If this doesn’t work I’ll probably sell it all and maybe get an AIO. On a positive note, I do like how my scape turned out.

It can be stressful at times, don't give up.

 

[JoeSchmo45]

I hate to sound negative but it’s just one dang thing after another. Is this what reefing is like? I feel like maybe I’m making it more complicated than it needs to be. TDS going into DI is 20 still waiting to test tap TDS, but after DI I’m at 0. At this point it’s the least of my worries. I was seriously on the brink of throwing in the towel this afternoon and returning the thousands of unopened hardware I still have. Once water hit the overflow the pipes immediately started leaking, ALL OF THEM! They were leaking from where the downpipes come out of the bulkhead. Mind you, all these pipes were working fine with no leaks with the old tank, and now they’re not with the new tank! All the o-rings had been replaced and I put silicone lobe on each ring. So I took it apart and threw the manifold in the garbage. I cleaned all the lube off and tried again. Now 2/3 leaked. I replaced the new o-ring with a newer o-ring...still leaking. Finally right before I gave up I decided to use the white o-rings on the downpipes instead of the red o-rings (which are on every image of the down pipes.) Woohoo! No more leak at the bulkheads!!! So I let it run for a bit only to find I have small leaks on every fitting where I converted from Red Sea to standard. Ahhhh!!! So I took all those apart and did a few extra wraps of Teflon tape. I also said screw it and added a bead of the cyanoacrylate from the aquascape to each outside and inside of the fitting. IM SPENT! I’ll let it cure and reassemble in the morning. If this doesn’t work I’ll probably sell it all and maybe get an AIO. On a positive note, I do like how my scape turned out.

I'm really sorry to hear about your issues! Leaks are such a pain in the rear. Don't give up because your system and setup looks amazing! I love your rockscape as well. Once you get past the leak issues, you'll be glad you did. Hang in there!

 

[FortLivingRoom]

It can be stressful at times, don't give up.

I'm really sorry to hear about your issues! Leaks are such a pain in the rear. Don't give up because your system and setup looks amazing! I love your rockscape as well. Once you get past the leak issues, you'll be glad you did. Hang in there!

Thank y’all for the encouragement! Leaks are under control. Beginning cycling. As I sat down to eat dinner the other night the tank was right in front of me and I felt a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Glad I didn’t throw in the towel.

 

[FortLivingRoom]

Old girl is ready! Cycling began 12-4-20 with ammonia at 2ppm using brightwell quikcycl. Added a large dose of start xlm and then dosed microbacter7 daily. Ammonia dropped to zero on 12-18-20. Just did 75% water change this weekend. Nitrate at 2ppm, livestock ships tomorrow from @Dr. Reef woohoo!!!

 

[FortLivingRoom]

I have fish! 2 clownfish, 2 rainford gobies, an emerald crab, and a fire shrimp as well as various snails arrived yesterday. All packaged well by Dr. Reef.

 

[SFREEF3R]

I have fish! 2 clownfish, 2 rainford gobies, an emerald crab, and a fire shrimp as well as various snails arrived yesterday. All packaged well by @Dr. Reef

How are your new inhabitants liking their new home?

 

[Phil D.]

My daughter has the E-170, which is like your tank and one thing for sure, that's not the Red Sea sump upgrade, but an aftermarket. Think you may have had easier time with the OEM sump.

 

[JoeSchmo45]

I have fish! 2 clownfish, 2 rainford gobies, an emerald crab, and a fire shrimp as well as various snails arrived yesterday. All packaged well by @Dr. Reef

Sweet! The tank looks great. When are you starting the coral adventure?

 

[FortLivingRoom]

Well, it’s been a crazy couple months. It was crazy we did 4,000 COVID shots the last couple months and we usually do 500 flu shots in a few months.

I’m not gonna lie I was pretty discouraged after that first shipment. The only thing that survived after the first night was a rainford goby. He hung on for about a week but I couldn’t get him to eat anything, and I didn’t really have any natural algae growth yet. Still have the shrimp and crab!
So I had a credit and gave dr reef another try. Ordered 2 more clowns, a purple dottyback, and a royal gramma. The clowns weren’t sent and the only notification I received was a refund for them, no email. The royal gramma was breathing heavy and didn’t last the night. Purple dottyback back is going strong though! I’ve had him for 3 months now. Dr. Reef seems like an ok guy but his communication is terrible and that last shipment just stunk (literally).

I gave TSM a try as they quarantined as well and let me say I was blown away. The $250 order minimum stinks, but I understand why after getting my shipment. You can’t put together a shipment like that for $50 or $100 of livestock. It didn’t stink at all, temps good. Fish, coral, and inverts acclimated great. There was a vermetid on a plug but that was easy enough to remove. All corals dipped with Coral Rx Pro. I got 2 clowns, a fire fish, a torch, stylophora, and a couple zoas from them. They’ve been in the tank 2 weeks and doing well. Really pleased with them.

I went by my LFS after that and picked up some miscellaneous cheaper frags of favia, candy cane, 2 goniopora and montipora, a shroom and a hammer. They’ve all been doing well but the goniopora comes and goes it will be open swaying everywhere for days then recently retreated.

Then I did the unthinkable last week. I swore I wouldn’t get a tang. I knew better. My LFS told me I could trade anything in for store credit, so subconsciously I think that kind of gave my mind the green light, and when biota released a bunch of yellow tangs I snagged one on an impulse. He didn’t eat the first day but now he’s picking out on rods food and picking my rocks all day. He definitely adds a different dimension of viewing pleasure compared to the fire fish and dottyback. I can see why people love tangs so much, but I can’t imagine him lasting more than a year before I need to upgrade or trade him in. The dottyback is very aggressive and the firefish hides most of the time except to eat. The firefish is beautiful though. The dottyback is my OG fish now lol. The clowns just do their thing and stay near the top for now. All the fish know when the power heads turn off to come to the feed ring.

I also picked up some cheap frags from the galactic coral live sale last week. I waited until the end when they started the 20% off deals. One of those frags had a vermetid as well. They were packaged a bit better than TSM. Nice corals.

I’m going to do one last purchase tomorrow during the @Tidal Gardens live show. I’ve been in love with their site and videos from the start and hope to get a nice centerpiece from them and some leptoseris. Idk, but I have to spend $250 for free shipping so who knows?

The PAR rental just arrived Wednesday. All my frags are near the bottom but my lights are only set to 40% acclimation anyways. Sorry about the mess in the tank, but after I get the PAR mapped tomorrow I’ll start placing all the frags. Don’t mind my homemade frag rack. I had leftover plastic 2x4 from the controller cabinet and drilled holes in it. Worked well but it floats lol, so I had to use some spare liferock to hold it down. Also included a pic of my RODI station. I still have to get the DOS setup for AWC. Looking forward to posting a final pic Sunday of everything in place!

 

[FortLivingRoom]

How are your new inhabitants liking their new home?

None of the originals made it, but all is well now!

My daughter has the E-170, which is like your tank and one thing for sure, that's not the Red Sea sump upgrade, but an aftermarket. Think you may have had easier time with the OEM sump.

Yes, most likely. Aftermarket is not always better as I have found.

Sweet! The tank looks great. When are you starting the coral adventure?

It has begun!!!

 

[FortLivingRoom]

Mapped the PAR! I’m running a Radion XR15 Pro G4 with diffuser. I’ve been running a modified ab+ template with the cool white at 48% and overall intensity at 70%. After using the par meter the levels were very low. I tested it with all channels at 100% with 100% intensity which was pretty strong but you could probably run the tank like that but it didn’t look very good.

I tried my modified schedule but it turns out the standard ab+ template looked the best with the intensity at 100%. So I just reprogrammed my radion to start acclimating at 50% and ramp up to 100% over 4 weeks. Here are the results. The first pics are 6” and 12” down as well as 6” to the left and right. The next pics are on my specific tank in relation to some ledges. The B, M, F stand for back, middle, and front.

 

[FortLivingRoom]

Corals placed! My BRS glue was old I really wish I would have bought more. Used the gorill glue gel instead and it cures WHITE!!! The BRS gel cured clear. And since it was my first time glueing frags you can just imagine all the glue I used!

 

[FortLivingRoom]

Got the final shipment in from @Tidal Gardens and you can really tell how much they care for their corals! They had a nice brochure on acclimation as well which no other online vendor I’ve used has done. So far I’ve had frags from my LFS, TMS Aquatics, and Galactic Corals and they’ve all had vermetid snails that I scraped off. After dipping, these tidal gardens frags had the least stuff left in the bucket. Very impressed and will use them for all future purchases.

Full Tank Shot

My Favia/Favites Farm

Ultra Leptoseris

Cloudberries Chalice

The SPS Stairway (except the Favia)

Elegance Coral

Dragon Soul Favia

Flame Boi Favia

 

[Daniel92481]

Got the final shipment in from @Tidal Gardens and you can really tell how much they care for their corals! They had a nice brochure on acclimation as well which no other online vendor I’ve used has done. So far I’ve had frags from my LFS, TMS Aquatics, and Galactic Corals and they’ve all had vermetid snails that I scraped off. After dipping these tidal gardens frags had the least stuff left in the bucket. Very impressed and will use them for all future purchases.

Full Tank Shot

My Favia/Favites Farm

Ultra Leptoseris

Cloudberries Chalice

The SPS Stairway (except the Favia)

Elegance Coral

Dragon Soul Favia

Flame Boi Favia

Looking good man! I love TG!