Sdoutreefer's Cube Build - Red Sea Reefer 200 G2+

[Gumbies R Us]

Yes, you can either mount the motor on the right or left side. The issue with getting it to fit where the filter sock originally goes, is the overhang of the back piece. It is too wide to fit in that slot.

Anyway, I figured out how to get everything installed. It's tight, but it will work.

An update on the tank: I finally got my rockwork finished and got water in the tank this weekend! I kind of screwed up and did not wash my sand well enough. It is incredibly cloudy. With the sediment settling back onto the sand and rock and into the sump, am I better off to try and vacuum the sand and pull out the sediment? Or just let it do it's thing? My LFS (who happens to be a buddy of mine) says to just let it go, and it will clear on it's own. I'm having a hard time believing that, as I don't know where all the sediment will go, and I don't see it ever diluting. Any advice is welcome!

On a separate note, I added the Ammonium Chloride and Dr. Tim's One and Only. I will be utilizing a fishless cycle and be posting some updates as the tank cycles. I lost power about 30 minutes after the bacteria were added, and it did not come back on for 11 hours after the bacteria was added. So, no flow, at all. Does anyone know if I'm going to have to re-dose one and only and ammonium chloride? Assuming my Nitrites and ammonia test 0 tonight...

Here's some recent shots of what I've got going on:

Love the aquascape!

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Love the aquascape!

Thank you! If I'm being honest, I don't love it. It just feels too full.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Thank you! If I'm being honest, I don't love it. It just feels too full.

Well, it will give your fish a lot of places to hide, and you will have plenty of room to place coral as well. If you aren't 100% happy with the rock, you could always chisel off some of its pieces to make it smaller.

 

[Rappa]

Did you use Live Sand?

 

[2Plus2]

yea this question?

Did you use Live Sand?

 

[2Plus2]

I did live sand and was told to not clean the sand dump everything in the tank, and i didn’t have anything to clean after. seems like you used dry i assume.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Did you use Live Sand?

Negative. Used the CaribSea special grain, which is a dry sand. It's like freaking cat litter. I thought I did a thorough job rinsing, but apparently not. I really screwed the pooch...

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Well, it will give your fish a lot of places to hide, and you will have plenty of room to place coral as well. If you aren't 100% happy with the rock, you could always chisel off some of its pieces to make it smaller.

I agree. Might be tough without taking the whole rock work out of the tank. Every joint is super glued and grouted... Hopefully I can break it up by hand, or reorganize the rock to something that I like a bit better. It's also pretty long, front to back. The right "arm" is about 3/4" off the face of the glass.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Had to run to the LFS and grab my new Energy Board for my Apex... the other one unfortunately shorted out/never worked... Maybe that's why I got a deal on it

Had the LFS test my water, to see where my Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates were at. Here is where I'm sitting:

The nitrifying bacteria seems to be working, which is great. But, it seems my Ammonia is pretty high. That will come down with time, correct? It's been a while since I've cycled a tank, and I have never done a fishless cycle before. Also, my Alk being at 141?? Yikes, that seems through the roof. Could that be because of the sand sediment running through my water column?

 

[2Plus2]

Had to run to the LFS and grab my new Energy Board for my Apex... the other one unfortunately shorted out/never worked... Maybe that's why I got a deal on it

Had the LFS test my water, to see where my Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates were at. Here is where I'm sitting:

The nitrifying bacteria seems to be working, which is great. But, it seems my Ammonia is pretty high. That will come down with time, correct? It's been a while since I've cycled a tank, and I have never done a fishless cycle before. Also, my Alk being at 141?? Yikes, that seems through the roof. Could that be because of the sand sediment running through my water column?

Yea ammonia should be going down slowly as bacteria develops.
What salt mix are you using? Only one I know that sits close to that range your getting is red sea, but that sits at 12.
My ammonia is at roughly 3.5ppm

EDIT: 141!!!! what the heck lol nvm

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Yea ammonia should be going down slowly as bacteria develops.
What salt mix are you using? Only one I know that sits close to that range your getting is red sea, but that sits at 12.
My ammonia is at roughly 3.5ppm

EDIT: 141!!!! what the heck lol nvm

The 141 has to be converted.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Hit post waaayyy too fast. The 141 ppm converts to 7.88 dkH. Salt Mix I used was from my LFS. I believe he uses Fritz RPM. Once I cycle, I'll be pulling out majority of the water, and using Tropic Marin - Pro Reef.

Here's some photos from last night, while I was cleaning sand sediment off the rocks and glass. Man, it's going to be a PITA to clean out all the sediment in my sump... ugh.

 

[2Plus2]

Goodluck, lol.
Sorry for laughing but i did something i’m not supposed to.
I dumped my salt n the tank when it was just RO, that didn’t work out well. My sump had all kinda white stuff everywhere.

Had to remove sump and clean everything…..

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Goodluck, lol.
Sorry for laughing but i did something i’m not supposed to.
I dumped my salt n the tank when it was just RO, that didn’t work out well. My sump had all kinda white stuff everywhere.

Had to remove sump and clean everything…..

I made that mistake before... Although, I turned off the inlet/return and mixed majority of the water in the display only, then added the rest of pre-mixed salt water.

Good thing my sump comes apart relatively easy. I just hope I did a good enough job on my wire management to get everything back in place.

 

[2Plus2]

Is your water kinda yellow?

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Is your water kinda yellow?

Yellow?? Negative. It's clear, for the most part. Could be shimmer from the lights against the sediment you're seeing. Either that or my fantastic editing skills on the photos.

 

[2Plus2]

Yellow?? Negative. It's clear, for the most part. Could be shimmer from the lights against the sediment you're seeing. Either that or my fantastic editing skills on the photos.

Yeap it's the mess from the rock work that I put in.
Im currently sitting at 3ppm amonia, .2ppm nitrite, 0 nitrate

What's yours looking like?

 

[Sdoutreefer]

Yeap it's the mess from the rock work that I put in.
Im currently sitting at 3ppm amonia, .2ppm nitrite, 0 nitrate

What's yours looking like?

I only tested my Nitrates yesterday evening, as my ammonia test strips are junk, and Nitrite is already starting to come down. But my Nitrates yesterday were around 5ppm, at least that's what it looked like. So stuff is shaking and moving for sure. Probably won't even think about stocking until after next week most likely.

 

[Sdoutreefer]

The ongoing battle of cable management proves tiring.... I moved my vortech controllers and cords, as well as my Radion cords into an adjacent cupboard, last night. That is also where my Apex/Trident will be living. I was able to get my Apex installed/plugged-in/linked to the Fusion app. The only issue I have is calibrating the two probes. I've never had probes in the past, so no need to calibrate.

Anyone on here have some experience with the apex and calibrating probes? I'm sure it's pretty straight forward... also probably something I could find on youtube.

 

[2Plus2]

The ongoing battle of cable management proves tiring.... I moved my vortech controllers and cords, as well as my Radion cords into an adjacent cupboard, last night. That is also where my Apex/Trident will be living. I was able to get my Apex installed/plugged-in/linked to the Fusion app. The only issue I have is calibrating the two probes. I've never had probes in the past, so no need to calibrate.

Anyone on here have some experience with the apex and calibrating probes? I'm sure it's pretty straight forward... also probably something I could find on youtube.

Use rails for wires