Red Sea Reefer 350 G2 in Texas!

[TX_REEF]

Just to document the process! After a 10+ year break from the hobby, I finally have the financial means to build a system I am proud of! Back in 2012 I had a 20 gallon long with a 50g stock tank for a sump. What an upgrade here! Fishless cycle started ~3 weeks ago, ammonia at .05 ppm. I am excited to share this build with everyone. Any and all comments and criticisms are more than welcome

Equipment List:
-Red Sea Reefer 350 G2 with matching sump and stand
-Kessil AP9X LED with single arm mount
-2x Vortech MP40mQD
-Reef Octopus Varios 4 return pump
-Reef Octopus 150 Classic skimmer
-Red Sea Reefmat 500
-IceCap Pro small algae turf scrubber
-Helio 350 watt heater
-BRS 5-stage RO/DI

Stock List:
-40 lbs live sand
-70 lbs dry rock

 

[blaxsun]

Hound approves! Best of luck with the tank!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Just to document the process! After a 10+ year break from the hobby, I finally have the financial means to build a system I am proud of! Back in 2012 I had a 20 gallon long with a 50g stock tank for a sump. What an upgrade here! Fishless cycle started ~3 weeks ago, ammonia at .05 ppm. I am excited to share this build with everyone. Any and all comments and criticisms are more than welcome

Equipment List:
-Red Sea Reefer 350 G2 with matching sump and stand
-Kessil AP9X LED with single arm mount
-2x Vortech MP40mQD
-Reef Octopus Varios 4 return pump
-Reef Octopus 150 Classic skimmer
-Red Sea Reefmat 500
-IceCap Pro small algae turf scrubber
-Helio 350 watt heater
-BRS 5-stage RO/DI

Stock List:
-40 lbs live sand
-70 lbs dry rock


View attachment 3062636View attachment 3062637

Love the aquascape design!!!

 

[TX_REEF]

My janky DO/DI setup

And the boxed goods, in case there are other weirdos out there like me who see boxes of equipment and feel unspeakable joy

 

[TX_REEF]

Great news, the skimmer is finally broken in!

Before
After

 

[TX_REEF]

IceCap Pro algae turf scrubber has been installed to deal with those spiking cycle nitrates! It’s a TIGHT fit

 

[TX_REEF]

Got both MP40s up and running, synced to the mobius app. 6am-8pm, reef crest at 30% power. 8pm-6am, 1 second short pulse mode at 15%.

 

[TX_REEF]

Lighting schedule set via Kessil app: fade on starting at 6:33am, crest of intensity is at 3pm, then slow ramp down to lights off at 9:35pm.

 

[TX_REEF]

Cycle is complete and water chemistry is officially on point- I think it’s time to add a pair of clowns!

 

[Tomik]

Cycle is complete and water chemistry is officially on point- I think it’s time to add a pair of clowns!

May I ask you which method used for cycling and how long ? Thank you

 

[TX_REEF]

May I ask you which method used for cycling and how long ? Thank you

Hello - I used Fritz TurboStart saltwater, with Dr. Tim's liquid ammonium chloride. I stupidly dumped the whole bottle of Ammonia in at once, so my cycle is taking quite long (it's been a little over 6 weeks now and nitrites are just now starting to taper off). Others who have used this method and dosed the Ammonia properly have completed their cycles in around 2 weeks or less in many cases.

EDIT: Full cycle took 7 weeks.

 

[TX_REEF]

Nitrites are officially zero, and our first happy residents have moved in! Two captive-bred ocellaris clowns. I used the Accudrip Acclimator from Innovative Marine, which I highly recommend. It’s like an IV drip for your fish, fully adjustable.

 

[Lavey29]

Beautiful set up, hopefully you did QT on the clown prior to adding as they are highly prone to clownfish disease also known as brook.

 

[LeannaBanana]

Love this! Following along.

 

[hbubley]

Nice to meet a fellow texan!! Looking great so far, definitely following along

 

[TX_REEF]

We added some spineless folks from reef cleaners! Cerith snails, nassarius snails, astrea snails (one with a neat tiny feather duster as a shell hitchhiker!), hermit crabs and emerald/ruby mithrax crabs.

 

[TX_REEF]

We added some new residents today! Carmen (a la Carmen Habanera), the flame angelfish, and Dyson, the six line wrasse.