Red Sea Reefer 170 Build Thread

[dieSalzwasserqual]

A lot has happened with my reef since the I last updated my old build thread, and I figured it was time to get back in the habit of recording my progress now that it's been almost a full year since I upgraded to my current tank from the IM Nuvo 10 I first started last April. My current tank setup is:

Full Tank Shot:

Side Shot:

Display: Red Sea Reefer170
Lighting: 2x Echotech Radion XR15 G6 Pros
Mechanical Filtration: Filter Sock
Heater: Eheim Jager 150w
Return Pump: Syncra Silent 2.0 Pump
Powerheads: 2x MP10s
Skimmer: Bubble Magus 5
Dosing Pump: Red Sea ReefDose 2
ATO: some cheap Amazon ATO
Live Rock: Tampa Bay Saltwater
Dosing: Red Sea ReefDose 2
Dosing Liquid: All For Reef
Salt: Reef Crystals

Fish:
Royal Gramma
Ocellaris clownfish x2
Bicolor blenny
Yellow Watchman Goby

SPS:
Red monti cap
Green monti cap
Stylo
Pink and green pocillopora
Forest fire digi
Montipora hirsuta (maybe?)
Green slimer acro
Unknown acro
Unknown birdsnest (I think it may be something similar to JF Glowing Fingers)

LPS:
Fungia Plate
Two types of hammer coral
Platygyra brain coral

Softies:
Red mushroom
Green Star polyps

I've had terrific growth in the last year in my stylo, red monti cap, and green slimer, and I've been absolutely amazed at the success I've had since moving over to the Reefer 170. For context, below is what my IM Nuvo 10 looked like in June of 2023:

Green Slimer May 2023-August 2024

This has lost a lot of color in the last few months - in part to a slow decline in alkalinity that I missed and low nutrients. It's gained a lot of color since I added a second XR15, and polyp extension has been a lot better the past few weeks. Hopefully it'll pull through.

Stylo May 2023-August 2024

I love my stylo - it never gives me any trouble and grows like a weed. Perfect coral for a new SPS tank that is looking for a quick show piece.

Red Monti cap June 2023-August 2024:

This red monti cap is really the showstopper of my tank - it's big, bold, and what you see in the side of the tank as you enter the room. I also rely on this coral as the barometer of nutrients in the tank. This coral gets pale quite quickly when nutrients drop too low, and colors up quickly when nutrients are back where they should be. I make sure to dose Reef Energy AB+ whenever this piece begins to get pale.

Mystery birdsnest - I picked up this tiny frag from an LFS a while ago, and it was entirely pink - it sat and didn't do much at all for months, until it abruptly changed color entirely and picked up the pace encrusting and growing. I have no idea what kind of birdsnest it could be, but it seems somewhat similar to the Jason Fox Glowing Fingers seriatopora that I stumbled upon while browsing his website. If anyone has experience with JF Glowing Fingers, I'd love to hear about your experience! It seems to be slower growing for me than the other birdsnest strain I have, which has much thicker branches. The fact that this frag was pink at first, and then developed the bright green tip color after it settled in, along with the uniquely thin branches, all seem to point at this frag being similar to JF Glowing Fingers.

Jason Fox Website photo:

My little frag:

Reflections:
Last year in my initial build thread, I set out to be militant about weekly water changes - and I've largely succeeded with that! That, along with my dosing pump and regular alkalinity tests, are what have allowed me to be so successful over the past year. I've lost a few frags (I cannot seem to keep cyphastrea alive no matter what I try), but by and large my corals have been happy, growing, and colorful! The biggest challenge I've had has honestly been with my forest fire digi, which seems to struggle no matter where I put it in my tank. I've been told that digis should be some of the easiest SPS to keep, and that has not been my experience. I just got a different frag from an LFS, so hopefully this different strain of forest fire digi will be more successful in my tank.

I don't want to add many more frags and instead let the corals that I already have grow out, but I'd like to try at least a few more acros, probably a millepora, a shortcake, and maybe a low end tenius. As for fish, I'd like a small flame angel or a pygmy cherub angel - but I've been waiting for the right fish to show up in a LFS.

I also cannot emphasize enough how amazing All For Reef is as a product - I now dose 30 ml of AFR every day, and my ReefDose distributes this over 24 hourly intervals. I could not have been as successful as I have been without these products.

Link to my old build thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/im-nuvo-fusion-pro-2-return-to-reefing.980215/#post-11353700

 

[Gumbies R Us]

You have some great looking coral in there!

 

[dieSalzwasserqual]

A real highs and lows update today - I was away traveling last week and I am fairly certain that my nitrates and phosphates dropped too low, so my monti cap is struggling, and has some tissue recession in very shaded areas. My birdsnest also seems to not be doing well, but I've been dosing more Reef Energy AB+ this week, feeding more heavily than normal this week, and have turned my lights down lower for some new frags that came in today so hopefully the birdsnest and monti cap will recover. In good news, my green slimer seems to be the healthiest it's been in months and has really colored up with good polyp extension in it's new place high on the rocks.

Birdsnest:

Monti Cap:

The exciting update is that WWC had a great deal for acropora frags, and I picked up two of the packs they had on sale. The frags just came in today, and they look great!

In this shipment I got:
1x WWC Yellow Tips Acropora
1x WWC Snow Dragon Acropora
1x WWC Yoda Acropora
1x BC Bubble Bath Unicorn Acropora
1x Paletta Pink Tip Acropora
1x WWC Yellow Austera Acropora

If anyone has any wisdom about these corals, please share!

 

[dieSalzwasserqual]

Finally got in new reagent for my Hanna phosphate test kit as well as a new Hanna nitrate kit and the news on the nutrient front is bleak.

Alk - 7.8
Nitrates - .1 ppm
Phosphates - 3 ppb

Just ordered some Brightwell NeoNitro and NeoPhos and will hopefully get both of these numbers up through dosing and feeding more. In better news, my alkalinity is really dialed in - I've been testing between 7.8 and 8.1 for the past three weeks, so nutrients seem to be the final piece of the puzzle here.

 

[dieSalzwasserqual]

This tank has been through it over the past two months - namely a bacterial bloom that killed a few acros and bubble algae taking off.

The bacterial bloom is still on its way out, and the water is cloudier than I would like but for the most part it seems like things are settling down. My red monti cap seems very happy, and a mystery acro I have has colored up really nicely.

FTS:

Unfortunately, I've lost two of my older corals in the tank - my large green slimer and a montipora hirsuta that had encrusted on the rock. The green slimer RTN'd during the bacterial bloom, and the montipora hirsuta seems to have RTN'd after being stressed by an encrusting monti growing over it. A small patch of the green slimer survived so I cut off all the dead skeleton and am praying that the small living patch survives.

From the WWC order, 4 of the frags are still alive. A pic of my acro frag rack -

And a closup of the prettiest acro I have:

Closeup of the coral warfare that may have killed my montipora hirsuta -

I'm still absolutely struggling to keep montipora digitata. I can't see any MEN or eggs on dead skeleton, but my digi frags just are not happy in this tank even as some acros grow relatively quickly!