Well R2R fam, this is it! The dream tank! My wife and I got into the hobby a few years ago and have loved it ever since. We started off with a 26 gallon, and within a year upgraded to a 150. Shortly after that we knew we were going to want a bigger tank when we moved into our new home and did some research. We had originally talked about going to a 300 gallon, but the tank, stand, equipment cost and maintenance just seemed to be in another tier financially for us so we had put our dream build on hold and started reevaluating a different size tank. Well fast forward to end of August, my wife, daughter and I went on a family trip to Orlando and of course had to make our first trip to WWC and TSA in person.
When we stopped in TSA we saw in their tank show room the new Red Sea S-1000 being set up and my wife and I just fell in love with it. My wife immediately started asking them how much the cost was etc and at the time I had just accepted an offer at another company and it was a perfect price for what came included. Super well built, and you could tell Red Sea really addressed a lot of the concerns regarding their past larger tanks. Armored seams, euro bracing, 3/4" glass. It was a go. We ended up purchasing from our LFS early September and the wait began! The owner had said he had no notion as to the shipping time and how long it would be. He guessed probably January at the latest. SWEET!
I started planning a lot of what I wanted to do differently this time than the 150. I was using Viparspectra lights, which I honestly liked, but I wanted to do a T5/LED hybrid because I just love the way T5 looks so I decided upon using two white Aquatic Life 36" paired with XR15s. I only bought 4 XR15s initially and figured I could add 2 or more down the road so I could at least get started.
And then the tank arrived. WAY ahead of schedule. It came early October and good lord, I could not wrap my head around what my wife and I had done.
This thing was WAAAAAAAAAY bigger than I remembered in the store at TSA. My wife got home, looked in the garage, and I could tell by the expression of her face she had felt the same way I did. Like what did we do.
Insert obligatory kid in tank picture for size. My daughter was very excited!
After the initial shock wore off we had to start figuring out things a little sooner than expected, because there was only so long my wife and I were going to be able to go into the garage and just look at it in the packaging. One of the major complaints I had if not the greatest one with my 150 was the aquascape. I hated it. No matter what I did, or how I rearranged it I was unhappy with it. So this time my wife and I decided to really go all out and "one and done it". We ordered 200# of dry rock, researched and looked at other NSA scape pictures for hours and got a general idea of what we wanted and I went to work.
I have to say once I figured out the whole super glue, and mortar process building it became a blast. This was an early picture of beginning.
We wanted a large looming overhang, lots of places for fish to swim through (although it never seems to work that way but hey, at least we tried). I started to wrap up the aqua scape and now came the most stressful part. Our 150 was in the place we wanted our new tank to go. It would be the second time in a year we had to move it. And I was dreading it. This move was different because I had much more fish, and a lot more corals than the first time. Luckily my buddy and I put together a solid plan and got it done one Saturday. Super grateful as he helped me move it the first time lol. By the time I am done writing this I definitely owe him a couple tank moves if he ever has to. Hooked him up with a couple big zoa frags/rocks as just a tiny thank you.
I ended up losing my longnose hawkfish during this somehow, which I am super bummed about, but it was better than the first move when I lost 5 fish... :-(
Here is the 150 in its final resting space. After I transfer everything I will likely just sell it. Tried to convince my wife that we should do a FOWLR tank in it, but no dice hahaha.
While my buddy was over we decided to see if we could try to get the S-1000 display tank off the pallet because they pack the stand underneath it (which is very aggravating, but I understand why they do it) so I could start building it. My wife, friend and myself were able to lift it off and onto some furniture dollys on our own. I should also say this beast weighs 590 lbs. I'm pretty happy about that because it meant all the time my wife and I spend at the gym meant something lol.
Yet again, another glimpse at just what my wife and I had decided to do. Every time I look at the tank I can't believe how much bigger it is than my 150.
Next part was to build out the stand, which was also aggravating because some of the instructions was poorly labeled. I have to say this is my biggest gripe for Red Sea. When you shell out this much on a hobby, you would expect the manufacturer would take the time to ensure the instructions are crystal clear. I'm very handy, have put together countless pieces from IKEA, do a majority of large home repairs myself as long as I have the time to actually do it, and to have had as much trouble as I did was a little disappointing. Anyways, I'll jump off the soap box now. Here is the stand complete to where the next step is put the tank on. During this time I also crawled up in the attic (always a fun, back pain inducing experience) to reinforce areas the T5/LED fixture would be hanging from an viola!
Sadly I was off slightly hanging them, but I think the only person that can tell is me and my OCD I have when it comes to my own work.
The day finally came where I was able to get my buddy back over and another good friend to help get this bad boy into the house and on the tank. Man, I was not prepared for how taxing this experience would be. First mistake is my wife and I went to the gym 3 days during that week, and the morning of, like a bunch of morons lol. I had almost dropped the tank bringing it in through the front door because I was tired, it had just started raining, and I was wearing sandals. Thankfully my friend is much stronger than I am and was able to keep it from dropping. Once we got it inside, we rolled it up to the stand, my 2 friends, my wife and myself tried to get it to the stand and no dice. The first try was just absurdly heavy. We all went back and forth as to whether or not we needed to get a 5th person or not, but decided to switch who was lifting what corner around, and try once more and on the second time we got it!
Super happy with everything up till this point excluding building the stand. The fit and finish of the tank and stand, for its availability and price, in my opinion can't be beat. I was impressed at how well the metal stand was built, and the quality of materials used. Everything was thought of down to minor details, like ensuring screws were protected from the salt by insulating them with rubber seals. Super impressed.
Got the rest of the rock work in, added the sand! This is more or less how the final aquascape is. I will probably build a couple smaller structures in some areas that are a little lacking.
And filling the tank!
Now up until this point, I had leveled the tank to the best of my ability with a 73" level, got the salt and cycle going, and then I realized the tank was not level. So I had to drain the tank, remove the sump to get to the leveling feet, leveled it properly and refilled it.
And that brings me to my most recent picture and status as of today. I used a huge bio brick from my 150 and put it in the 210 along with some live rock to get the cycle going and I have to say I was shocked with how quickly the tank was eliminating the ammonia chloride I was adding. I will likely wait a bit longer just to make sure and leave no doubt everything is kosher. Plus I will use this opportunity to add some tangs I had been wanting which my blue tang in my 150 would have likely destroyed had I put them in my 150, as well as some anthias and other community fish. Also my 3 dogs who complete our zoo as I call it lol.
Here is my current equipment list as well as planned addition/transfer from my 150.
Return Pump: (2) Jebao DCP-10000
Wave Makers: (2) Red Sea Reefwave 45 and will add my (2) Jebao power heads until they die. Not sure what I will upgrade the Jebaos to.
Protein Skimmer: Regal 250INT
Heating: InkBird Controller with 200W titanium heater
Lighting: (2) Aquatic Life 36" T5/LED Hybrid (3 Blue Plus 1 Actinic bulbs per fixture) and (4) Radion XR15s
ATO: XP Aqua
Dosing Control: GHL KH Director/Doser kit
I will also be buying into the Neptune system as I just haven't been that happy with my GHL and will likely replace the KH Director with the Trident, or keep them both to cross check each other. Not sure yet. But so far it has been an awesome journey, and excited to update with my new additions and changes!
When we stopped in TSA we saw in their tank show room the new Red Sea S-1000 being set up and my wife and I just fell in love with it. My wife immediately started asking them how much the cost was etc and at the time I had just accepted an offer at another company and it was a perfect price for what came included. Super well built, and you could tell Red Sea really addressed a lot of the concerns regarding their past larger tanks. Armored seams, euro bracing, 3/4" glass. It was a go. We ended up purchasing from our LFS early September and the wait began! The owner had said he had no notion as to the shipping time and how long it would be. He guessed probably January at the latest. SWEET!
I started planning a lot of what I wanted to do differently this time than the 150. I was using Viparspectra lights, which I honestly liked, but I wanted to do a T5/LED hybrid because I just love the way T5 looks so I decided upon using two white Aquatic Life 36" paired with XR15s. I only bought 4 XR15s initially and figured I could add 2 or more down the road so I could at least get started.
And then the tank arrived. WAY ahead of schedule. It came early October and good lord, I could not wrap my head around what my wife and I had done.
This thing was WAAAAAAAAAY bigger than I remembered in the store at TSA. My wife got home, looked in the garage, and I could tell by the expression of her face she had felt the same way I did. Like what did we do.
Insert obligatory kid in tank picture for size. My daughter was very excited!
After the initial shock wore off we had to start figuring out things a little sooner than expected, because there was only so long my wife and I were going to be able to go into the garage and just look at it in the packaging. One of the major complaints I had if not the greatest one with my 150 was the aquascape. I hated it. No matter what I did, or how I rearranged it I was unhappy with it. So this time my wife and I decided to really go all out and "one and done it". We ordered 200# of dry rock, researched and looked at other NSA scape pictures for hours and got a general idea of what we wanted and I went to work.
I have to say once I figured out the whole super glue, and mortar process building it became a blast. This was an early picture of beginning.
We wanted a large looming overhang, lots of places for fish to swim through (although it never seems to work that way but hey, at least we tried). I started to wrap up the aqua scape and now came the most stressful part. Our 150 was in the place we wanted our new tank to go. It would be the second time in a year we had to move it. And I was dreading it. This move was different because I had much more fish, and a lot more corals than the first time. Luckily my buddy and I put together a solid plan and got it done one Saturday. Super grateful as he helped me move it the first time lol. By the time I am done writing this I definitely owe him a couple tank moves if he ever has to. Hooked him up with a couple big zoa frags/rocks as just a tiny thank you.
I ended up losing my longnose hawkfish during this somehow, which I am super bummed about, but it was better than the first move when I lost 5 fish... :-(
Here is the 150 in its final resting space. After I transfer everything I will likely just sell it. Tried to convince my wife that we should do a FOWLR tank in it, but no dice hahaha.
While my buddy was over we decided to see if we could try to get the S-1000 display tank off the pallet because they pack the stand underneath it (which is very aggravating, but I understand why they do it) so I could start building it. My wife, friend and myself were able to lift it off and onto some furniture dollys on our own. I should also say this beast weighs 590 lbs. I'm pretty happy about that because it meant all the time my wife and I spend at the gym meant something lol.
Yet again, another glimpse at just what my wife and I had decided to do. Every time I look at the tank I can't believe how much bigger it is than my 150.
Next part was to build out the stand, which was also aggravating because some of the instructions was poorly labeled. I have to say this is my biggest gripe for Red Sea. When you shell out this much on a hobby, you would expect the manufacturer would take the time to ensure the instructions are crystal clear. I'm very handy, have put together countless pieces from IKEA, do a majority of large home repairs myself as long as I have the time to actually do it, and to have had as much trouble as I did was a little disappointing. Anyways, I'll jump off the soap box now. Here is the stand complete to where the next step is put the tank on. During this time I also crawled up in the attic (always a fun, back pain inducing experience) to reinforce areas the T5/LED fixture would be hanging from an viola!
Sadly I was off slightly hanging them, but I think the only person that can tell is me and my OCD I have when it comes to my own work.
The day finally came where I was able to get my buddy back over and another good friend to help get this bad boy into the house and on the tank. Man, I was not prepared for how taxing this experience would be. First mistake is my wife and I went to the gym 3 days during that week, and the morning of, like a bunch of morons lol. I had almost dropped the tank bringing it in through the front door because I was tired, it had just started raining, and I was wearing sandals. Thankfully my friend is much stronger than I am and was able to keep it from dropping. Once we got it inside, we rolled it up to the stand, my 2 friends, my wife and myself tried to get it to the stand and no dice. The first try was just absurdly heavy. We all went back and forth as to whether or not we needed to get a 5th person or not, but decided to switch who was lifting what corner around, and try once more and on the second time we got it!
Super happy with everything up till this point excluding building the stand. The fit and finish of the tank and stand, for its availability and price, in my opinion can't be beat. I was impressed at how well the metal stand was built, and the quality of materials used. Everything was thought of down to minor details, like ensuring screws were protected from the salt by insulating them with rubber seals. Super impressed.
Got the rest of the rock work in, added the sand! This is more or less how the final aquascape is. I will probably build a couple smaller structures in some areas that are a little lacking.
And filling the tank!
Now up until this point, I had leveled the tank to the best of my ability with a 73" level, got the salt and cycle going, and then I realized the tank was not level. So I had to drain the tank, remove the sump to get to the leveling feet, leveled it properly and refilled it.
And that brings me to my most recent picture and status as of today. I used a huge bio brick from my 150 and put it in the 210 along with some live rock to get the cycle going and I have to say I was shocked with how quickly the tank was eliminating the ammonia chloride I was adding. I will likely wait a bit longer just to make sure and leave no doubt everything is kosher. Plus I will use this opportunity to add some tangs I had been wanting which my blue tang in my 150 would have likely destroyed had I put them in my 150, as well as some anthias and other community fish. Also my 3 dogs who complete our zoo as I call it lol.
Here is my current equipment list as well as planned addition/transfer from my 150.
Return Pump: (2) Jebao DCP-10000
Wave Makers: (2) Red Sea Reefwave 45 and will add my (2) Jebao power heads until they die. Not sure what I will upgrade the Jebaos to.
Protein Skimmer: Regal 250INT
Heating: InkBird Controller with 200W titanium heater
Lighting: (2) Aquatic Life 36" T5/LED Hybrid (3 Blue Plus 1 Actinic bulbs per fixture) and (4) Radion XR15s
ATO: XP Aqua
Dosing Control: GHL KH Director/Doser kit
I will also be buying into the Neptune system as I just haven't been that happy with my GHL and will likely replace the KH Director with the Trident, or keep them both to cross check each other. Not sure yet. But so far it has been an awesome journey, and excited to update with my new additions and changes!
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