Red Sea E170 w/sump and custom ATS

OREGONIC · Jul 9, 2017

Hello everyone, im new here on R2R and just wanted to share my tank that has been set up since 7/23/16, wow almost a year. First livestock was added 6 weeks after the intial set up. It is my first reef tank and im pretty proud of what it is turning into. I have had some challenges with some ups and downs but it is really starting to stabilize the last 3 or so months. About 4 months ago i purchased the red sea lower sump for it and it has made a huge difference in stability as apposed to running it as an AIO. The sump came with a auto top off revisor that i have converted to an Algae Turff Scrubber. It took some trial and error to get the ATS to start growing hair algae instead of brown slime algae but the last week the screen is really starting to turn green. I decided to go with a ATS to help keep nutrients balanced and low. I had tried running bio pellets and gfo and i just couldnt keep them balanced which in return caused all types off issues with my coral. Right now nutrients are a little on the high side, no3 15-20ppm and po4 .05, but i belive the ATS will take care of that with time. Im excited to be a part of this community here on R2R.

Pongo · Jul 11, 2017

Very nice looking tank.

Can you give more details about the ATS?
Equipment, light containment, flow?

OREGONIC · Jul 11, 2017

The containment is the standard auto top off res that came with the Red Sea sump addition wrapped in black duct tape. I know duct tape sounds ghetto but it serves 2 purposes, containing the light and keeping the lighting secure. I already had an auto top off so i had to decide if i wanted to convert the revisor to a refugium or an ATS. ATS from my reading seem to be better at exporting nutrients from the research i did. I drilled the bottom so i could fit a 1 inch bulkhead for the drain. The water supply is T'd off the return plumbed with 1/2inch. My return pump is a current eflux 6009 which is rated for about 1050 gph (with no head pressure). I have it cranked to about 80% power and i would imagine im pumping about 400 gph into the tank and 250-350 gph through the ATS. For lighting i started out with a LED flood light in the daylight spectrum, but was only able to grow brown slim algae. I eneded up ordering LED strip ligts from amazon designed for growing plants. It took about 6 weeks for the green hair algae to start growing. I made several changes before the hair algae started growing (changed lights, increased flow, and started cleaning the screen under tap water while lightly rubbing off the brown slime) but looks like it is taking off fast now.