After almost 4 years, I am starting up another reef tank (my 7th saltwater aquarium in 15 years)! My last tank was a Red Sea Reefer 170 that I had to take down because we were adding an extra bedroom to our house and had a child around the same time. I kept that tank and was planning to set it up when things settled down but I found a great deal for a Red Sea Reefer 350 and decided to jump on it. I was only going to take the tank because of my budget but he ended up gifting all his equipment for free including an Apex (I've never had one before), Doser (dosed manually in the past), Skimmer, Reactor, UV sterilizer, IM ATO Reservoir, and a bunch of other things for $600! The only things needed were lights and powerheads (I had the ones from my 170 but needed two of each) and I was ready to go. I set it up a month ago so I'll share some updates/issues that have happened in the last month and will continue as I keep building it out.
My wife actually suggested we put it in our main hallway which allows you to see it immediately when you walk in the front door. It was the perfect spot because we had two outlets on that wall: one that I converted to GFCI that goes directly behind the tank and one on the side that I can use when I want to do water changes.
First Issue
The tank had come with a 15 gallon IM ATO Reservoir. Even though it looked nice, my wife didn't like the look of it outside the tank.
I tried putting it in the chiller side of the stand but it didn't fit by a few millimeters and the door couldn't close all the way. I ended up ordering an Aquamaxx Rectangular Low-Iron Rimless Aquarium - 9.6 Gallon from BRS which fit and left some room on the side. I was able to cut some leftover shelving I had and it fit perfectly above it. Happy wife AND room for my doser and food - WIN!
Wiring
I had wires EVERYWHERE in my stand and wanted to try and organize them. I carefully organized each cable (lots of moving under wires or pipes to make sure they don’t get tangled) and used cable ties to keep them together. I then made a huge mistake: I put all the wires behind the tank, tied them together, and then used small sticker hooks to hang them on the back of the tank.
I thought this was a good idea because it kept the wires organized but when I wanted to change out the skimmer, I wasn’t able to get the cord out. I had to wait until I needed to do a water change and removed about 50 gallons before I could move the tank.
Here is a pic inside my stand the first week:
The tank originally came with a Bubble Magus Curve 7 and although it is rated better for this size aquarium, it was very loud. Someone was moving and was selling their RSK300 with an extra Sicce PSK600 pump for $50 so I decided to switch out the skimmer (but as you can see the pump for the bubble magus was stuck). It also came with a GHL Doser but I wasn't able to use it because I have a Mac so I bought a used Neptune DOS to connect with my Apex. Lastly, I found an under desk organizer on Amazon (http://tinyurl.com/fhbd4vce) which fit both of my MP40 controllers and adapters and stuck it to the top of the stand. I now have easy access to it and all the cords are now out of the way. Here is what it looks like now:
Rocks and Sand
I had always used live rock from other tanks when starting new but I wanted to try and use completely new dry rock to avoid pests. There was some kind of price error on Caribsea Live Rock at Petsmart so I was able to purchase about 100 lbs for $70. Because I had so much rock (and all sort of shapes), my first aquascape used too much rock IMO.
Some of the rock was sticking out over the water and it didn't leave a lot of room for corals to grow up. I decided to remove 4 pieces of live rock and ended up with this:
Pretty happy with it so far. Has lots of tunnels and caves for the fish, good amount of swimming room, and multiple shelves that have plenty of room for SPS to grow up. There are 3 structures:
- The one on the left is primarily made from different arches. I used a 14" reef rod to keep them together and because they already had holes in them, it was easy to build the reef tree. I was able to add the connecting table using a 7" reef rod that goes through an arch on the main structure. It's hard to see with the black background but there are tons of caves and tunnels created by the arches.
- The middle is a tall tunnel that is just a cave from the shapes box with an O-shaped rock on one side (you can't see the O in the pic) and a regular rock on the other side.
- The one on the right are 3 shelves that I drilled holes into and held together by a 14" reef rod. I put a small shelf in the sand to create the peninsula effect. I tried to arrange the shelves in a way that minimized shading.
Issue 2 (more like 4 or 5)
My sump has a chamber that is made to be a refugium. I wanted to start growing chaeto now to help with the future algae blooms and since I used to always give it away to fellow reefers, I asked if anyone had some to give. My mistake was not thoroughly checking it for pests. A few days after putting it in my fuge, I started to find small aiptasia growing in my DT and sump. Because they were growing on the glass, I was able to smother them with a microfiber towel and remove them all. Although I haven't seen any in 3 weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if they are still growing somewhere. I did end up purchasing pest free chaeto which is doing great and was full of pods.
Cycling:
I used Dr. Tim's One and Only + Ammonium Chloride to kickstart the cycling. Ammonia consuming nitrifying bacteria grew pretty quickly and I had 0 ammonia, 5 ppm nitrites, 0 nitrates after about a week. Nitrite consuming bacteria is still growing but was getting close to 0ppm nitrites after about 3 weeks with 20 ppm nitrates. After 5 weeks, I can dose Ammonium Chloride to 2ppm and it will be 0 in about 24 hrs. Nitrites have been stuck around 1 (probably because I add Ammonium Chloride weekly) and Nitrates fluctuate between 5-40 ppm.
Current:
This all brings us to now. I am planning on leaving my tank without livestock until March as I have a trip to the Maldives planned and I always seem to have issues when I'm on vacation. I have been going back and forth on whether I want to keep lights on starting now or wait until March hoping that the tank will be more mature to better handle the algae. I have looked all over R2R but I haven't found a thread of anyone keeping lights on with an empty tank so I'll be testing it out. I wonder if not having fish would create a shorter ugly phase. Also curious if there will be an algae bloom when I add fish and coral. I would be adding in CUC now so they can help tackle algae which would mean I won't have to dose Ammonium Chloride anymore either.
Even though I have been in this hobby for 15 years, I still made a ton of rookie mistakes and will continue to make more. I have been using Reef2Reef to get answers to my questions and it has been a great resource (which is why I finally created a build thread). I'm hoping I get a ton of inspiration from the Maldives and hopefully the hardest thing I have to deal with now is restraining myself to not add anything until March! Happy Reefing!
Here is a full list of the equipment I currently have in my tank:
Tank:
Red Sea Reefer 350 - 47" x 20" x 21"
Custom PVC Plumbing done by previous owner
Sump:
Fiji-20 Advanced Reef Sump - 2nd Gen
- Red Sea RSK 300 (May need the 600 in the future due to bioload)
- Reef Octopus VarioS-2 Controllable DC Return Pump
- Nyos Torq 2.0 Reactor and Body
- Aqua UV 8 Watt Advantage 2000 Clarifier/Sterilizer
- Refugium Chamber with Chaeto and Marinepure blocks with cheap Chaeto light from Amazon
- Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155 ATO
Lighting:
2x Ecotech XR30 Gen 4 with RMS Mounts
Flow:
2x Ecotech MP40 one each side
Neptune Systems:
Apex controller with pH and temperature probes
EB832
Neptune DOS – Dosing And Fluid Metering System
- Red Sea Reef Foundation A (Ca/Sr)
- Red Sea Reef Foundation B (Alk)
Rock:
70 lbs CaribSea Life Rock: Shapes, Arches, and Original. Held together with epoxy/glue and CaribSea Reef Rods.
Sand:
80 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink Aquarium Sand
RODI:
- BRS 4 Stage Value Plus 75GPD RO/DI System
- 20 gallon Rubbermaid Brute Trash Can
- Aquamaxx Rectangular Low-Iron Rimless Aquarium - 9.6 Gallon (Reservoir)
Testing:
Hanna Checker Alkalinity
Hanna Checker Phosphate ULR
Hanna Checker Nitrate HR
Red Sea Foundation Pro Multi Test Kit
Milwaukee MA887 Digital Salinity Refractometer
Quarantine Tank:
Top Fin® Essentials Aquarium Starter Kit - 20 Gallon
My wife actually suggested we put it in our main hallway which allows you to see it immediately when you walk in the front door. It was the perfect spot because we had two outlets on that wall: one that I converted to GFCI that goes directly behind the tank and one on the side that I can use when I want to do water changes.
First Issue
The tank had come with a 15 gallon IM ATO Reservoir. Even though it looked nice, my wife didn't like the look of it outside the tank.
I tried putting it in the chiller side of the stand but it didn't fit by a few millimeters and the door couldn't close all the way. I ended up ordering an Aquamaxx Rectangular Low-Iron Rimless Aquarium - 9.6 Gallon from BRS which fit and left some room on the side. I was able to cut some leftover shelving I had and it fit perfectly above it. Happy wife AND room for my doser and food - WIN!
Wiring
I had wires EVERYWHERE in my stand and wanted to try and organize them. I carefully organized each cable (lots of moving under wires or pipes to make sure they don’t get tangled) and used cable ties to keep them together. I then made a huge mistake: I put all the wires behind the tank, tied them together, and then used small sticker hooks to hang them on the back of the tank.
I thought this was a good idea because it kept the wires organized but when I wanted to change out the skimmer, I wasn’t able to get the cord out. I had to wait until I needed to do a water change and removed about 50 gallons before I could move the tank.
Here is a pic inside my stand the first week:
The tank originally came with a Bubble Magus Curve 7 and although it is rated better for this size aquarium, it was very loud. Someone was moving and was selling their RSK300 with an extra Sicce PSK600 pump for $50 so I decided to switch out the skimmer (but as you can see the pump for the bubble magus was stuck). It also came with a GHL Doser but I wasn't able to use it because I have a Mac so I bought a used Neptune DOS to connect with my Apex. Lastly, I found an under desk organizer on Amazon (http://tinyurl.com/fhbd4vce) which fit both of my MP40 controllers and adapters and stuck it to the top of the stand. I now have easy access to it and all the cords are now out of the way. Here is what it looks like now:
Rocks and Sand
I had always used live rock from other tanks when starting new but I wanted to try and use completely new dry rock to avoid pests. There was some kind of price error on Caribsea Live Rock at Petsmart so I was able to purchase about 100 lbs for $70. Because I had so much rock (and all sort of shapes), my first aquascape used too much rock IMO.
Some of the rock was sticking out over the water and it didn't leave a lot of room for corals to grow up. I decided to remove 4 pieces of live rock and ended up with this:
Pretty happy with it so far. Has lots of tunnels and caves for the fish, good amount of swimming room, and multiple shelves that have plenty of room for SPS to grow up. There are 3 structures:
- The one on the left is primarily made from different arches. I used a 14" reef rod to keep them together and because they already had holes in them, it was easy to build the reef tree. I was able to add the connecting table using a 7" reef rod that goes through an arch on the main structure. It's hard to see with the black background but there are tons of caves and tunnels created by the arches.
- The middle is a tall tunnel that is just a cave from the shapes box with an O-shaped rock on one side (you can't see the O in the pic) and a regular rock on the other side.
- The one on the right are 3 shelves that I drilled holes into and held together by a 14" reef rod. I put a small shelf in the sand to create the peninsula effect. I tried to arrange the shelves in a way that minimized shading.
Issue 2 (more like 4 or 5)
My sump has a chamber that is made to be a refugium. I wanted to start growing chaeto now to help with the future algae blooms and since I used to always give it away to fellow reefers, I asked if anyone had some to give. My mistake was not thoroughly checking it for pests. A few days after putting it in my fuge, I started to find small aiptasia growing in my DT and sump. Because they were growing on the glass, I was able to smother them with a microfiber towel and remove them all. Although I haven't seen any in 3 weeks, I wouldn't be surprised if they are still growing somewhere. I did end up purchasing pest free chaeto which is doing great and was full of pods.
Cycling:
I used Dr. Tim's One and Only + Ammonium Chloride to kickstart the cycling. Ammonia consuming nitrifying bacteria grew pretty quickly and I had 0 ammonia, 5 ppm nitrites, 0 nitrates after about a week. Nitrite consuming bacteria is still growing but was getting close to 0ppm nitrites after about 3 weeks with 20 ppm nitrates. After 5 weeks, I can dose Ammonium Chloride to 2ppm and it will be 0 in about 24 hrs. Nitrites have been stuck around 1 (probably because I add Ammonium Chloride weekly) and Nitrates fluctuate between 5-40 ppm.
Current:
This all brings us to now. I am planning on leaving my tank without livestock until March as I have a trip to the Maldives planned and I always seem to have issues when I'm on vacation. I have been going back and forth on whether I want to keep lights on starting now or wait until March hoping that the tank will be more mature to better handle the algae. I have looked all over R2R but I haven't found a thread of anyone keeping lights on with an empty tank so I'll be testing it out. I wonder if not having fish would create a shorter ugly phase. Also curious if there will be an algae bloom when I add fish and coral. I would be adding in CUC now so they can help tackle algae which would mean I won't have to dose Ammonium Chloride anymore either.
Even though I have been in this hobby for 15 years, I still made a ton of rookie mistakes and will continue to make more. I have been using Reef2Reef to get answers to my questions and it has been a great resource (which is why I finally created a build thread). I'm hoping I get a ton of inspiration from the Maldives and hopefully the hardest thing I have to deal with now is restraining myself to not add anything until March! Happy Reefing!
Here is a full list of the equipment I currently have in my tank:
Tank:
Red Sea Reefer 350 - 47" x 20" x 21"
Custom PVC Plumbing done by previous owner
Sump:
Fiji-20 Advanced Reef Sump - 2nd Gen
- Red Sea RSK 300 (May need the 600 in the future due to bioload)
- Reef Octopus VarioS-2 Controllable DC Return Pump
- Nyos Torq 2.0 Reactor and Body
- Aqua UV 8 Watt Advantage 2000 Clarifier/Sterilizer
- Refugium Chamber with Chaeto and Marinepure blocks with cheap Chaeto light from Amazon
- Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155 ATO
Lighting:
2x Ecotech XR30 Gen 4 with RMS Mounts
Flow:
2x Ecotech MP40 one each side
Neptune Systems:
Apex controller with pH and temperature probes
EB832
Neptune DOS – Dosing And Fluid Metering System
- Red Sea Reef Foundation A (Ca/Sr)
- Red Sea Reef Foundation B (Alk)
Rock:
70 lbs CaribSea Life Rock: Shapes, Arches, and Original. Held together with epoxy/glue and CaribSea Reef Rods.
Sand:
80 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink Aquarium Sand
RODI:
- BRS 4 Stage Value Plus 75GPD RO/DI System
- 20 gallon Rubbermaid Brute Trash Can
- Aquamaxx Rectangular Low-Iron Rimless Aquarium - 9.6 Gallon (Reservoir)
Testing:
Hanna Checker Alkalinity
Hanna Checker Phosphate ULR
Hanna Checker Nitrate HR
Red Sea Foundation Pro Multi Test Kit
Milwaukee MA887 Digital Salinity Refractometer
Quarantine Tank:
Top Fin® Essentials Aquarium Starter Kit - 20 Gallon
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Great info, thank you for sharing!
