The Bonsai Reef- Red Sea Reefer 300XL G2 Build

[beardedman11]

Love the aquascape and doing bonsai theme. Following along

 

[Bonsai reef]

Installed the Jebao SLW 30 today and I must say it has strong flow! Love the wide yet powerful flow it generates.

AquaticLife hybrid T5 module coming tomorrow. Can’t wait to install it.

 

[Bonsai reef]

Best of both worlds is in!

The AquaticLife T5 - LED hybrid module came in yesterday. This thing is huge and covers the tank end to end. Construction is solid but instructions are not so good. You need to figure out which screw goes where on your own. The youtube video somewhat helps but more details would have been great.
One ATI Purple + turned out to be faulty. Will check with the vendor how they want to replace that bulb. Not easy to pack and ship such fragile bulbs.
Mounting the AI primes to the existing brackets was impossible without additional mounting brackets (costs $28 each). $1 elbow brackets from Lowes did the trick and the module installation is complete. Though one side won’t work with the faulty bulb.

Loving the soft defused light from the T5 and its great for photos without the need of a filter. But the shimmer of led is completely missing with them on. Will have to get used to the “T5 Look”

 

[Bonsai reef]

A big shoutout to aquacave.com for their exceptional support. I have purchased almost everything from them - tank, lights, pump, skimmer and even sand and rocks. All with great pricing. I didn’t not have any issue with the product apart from one ATI T5 bulb which they are replacing for free. I know its not cheap to pack and ship t5 bulbs. Perhaps shipping would cost them more than the bulb cost. But yet they did that promptly! I would highly recommend them to anyone looking to purchase aquariums or equipments. Their phone support is direct and no automated voice prompts

 

[Bonsai reef]

The Bubble Magus Curve 3 Extreme came today!
Setup was easy and quick. Loved the quality and size is perfect too. Will let it break in for now…

 

[Bonsai reef]

AquaticLife T5 hybrid in action! No shadowing at all and love the soft blanket lighting The tank looks whiter than how it is looking in the picture!

starting to see some diatoms

 

[Bonsai reef]

Installed the RedSea DIY cover today. By far the most difficult task of this build. The quality is below par. The frame is wobbly, nylon net is a complete trash! It splits apart with the lightest touch. The net tucking tool they provided ends up cutting the net, the cord does not fit in. Overall a bad experience with this product and its no better then a $10 ebay kit. Actually ebay kit i used in my nano was much better. RS should stop selling them or improve.

 

[Bonsai reef]

First set of corals introduced! Aussie gold torch and toxic mottled hammer.

Ordered online from Austin aqua-farms. The pricing was reasonable with the gold torch at 139 and the hammer at 62. Top it with 10% first time buyer’s discount and shipping really cheap within TX.

Package arrived in perfect condition and temperature controlled with heat pads

not fully opened yet but looks very healthy.

 

[Bonsai reef]

Diatoms bloom all over now. Good sign that the tank is moving in the right direction.

 

[Bonsai reef]

Fish and corals all doing great. Diatoms all over but I am not bothered.

 

[Bonsai reef]

Week 4 completed-

Tank doing great with some diatoms patHooked up the dosing pump to keep the params in check. Dosing ESV 2 part and magnesium atm. Mg has been a little low slowly bringing it up.

salinity 1.025
Alk- 8
Ca- 410
Mg 1200

Added some acros and a bubblegum digi last weekend and they look happy with good PE-

some pictures from today-

 

[Bonsai reef]

Week 5 update-
Tank has been doing great.

All 3 fishes have settled in nicely. Added some more acros and a red goni. All bought from local fellow reefer at very reasonable price for the chunky frags-

Below are some pictures -

TSA Bill Murray-

Blue Oregon tort

Pink milli-

RR Rainbow loom

Electric limeade milli-

 

[EliMelly]

Week 5 update-
Tank has been doing great.

All 3 fishes have settled in nicely. Added some more acros and a red goni. All bought from local fellow reefer at very reasonable price for the chunky frags-

Below are some pictures -

TSA Bill Murray-

View attachment 3061607

Blue Oregon tort
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Pink milli-
View attachment 3061610

RR Rainbow loom
View attachment 3061611

Electric limeade milli-
View attachment 3061615
View attachment 3061617

View attachment 3061618View attachment 3061619

Acros after 5 weeks? I’m curious to see how it goes. Good luck!

 

[exnisstech]

@Bonsai reef Just a question as I recently set up the same tank. Isn't the skimmer supposed to go in the back chamber with the height adjustment? I'm not running a skimmer just curious.

I can’t understand why they don’t extend the cabinet an extra 1/2 inch to support the whole tank. Although they are beautiful tanks. Best wishes for your endeavor

This look is much cleaner. If they extended the cabinet the doors would be sticking out past the tank.

I setup two 350G2's in September the valves are all but useless they never maintain a consistent flow sump levels go up and down causing ATO issues.

I set a 300 up almost a month ago and I haven't had to touch the valve since then. The older valve on my 170 is finicky but not the new style. I have read about people installing gate valves and still having to mess with them. The new valve works great for me.

 

[Bonsai reef]

Acros after 5 weeks? I’m curious to see how it goes. Good luck!

I stated adding acros after 3 weeks

 

[Bonsai reef]

@Bonsai reef Just a question as I recently set up the same tank. Isn't the skimmer supposed to go in the back chamber with the height adjustment? I'm not running a skimmer just curious.

This look is much cleaner. If they extended the cabinet the doors would be sticking out past the tank.

I set a 300 up almost a month ago and I haven't had to touch the valve since then. The older valve on my 170 is finicky but not the new style. I have read about people installing gate valves and still having to mess with them. The new valve works great for me.

As for the skimmer, yes the sump is designed to have the skimmer at the back chamber with water height adjustment and after the refugium in the front one. Though I don't run a fuge, I think its better to have the fuge after the skimmer chamber (for pods to populate your tank and not get skimmed out) and you can do so by lifting the middle glass a little to make your water height adjusted in the first chamber as well and have your skimmer there (like I have it). Then you can have your fuge at the back if you wish to.

 

[Bonsai reef]

@Bonsai reef Just a question as I recently set up the same tank. Isn't the skimmer supposed to go in the back chamber with the height adjustment? I'm not running a skimmer just curious.

This look is much cleaner. If they extended the cabinet the doors would be sticking out past the tank.

I set a 300 up almost a month ago and I haven't had to touch the valve since then. The older valve on my 170 is finicky but not the new style. I have read about people installing gate valves and still having to mess with them. The new valve works great for me.

For the stand, they can extend the top to match the front glass and have the doors tucked inside the top with the door height 1/2 inch shorter. That way it works too I guess.

Also, I didnt have any issue with the valve yet. One thing I did was to change the stock ATO with a float switch one I used in my previous setups. It works like a charm. The stock float valve was not consistent IMO.

 

[exnisstech]

As for the skimmer, yes the sump is designed to have the skimmer at the back chamber with water height adjustment and after the refugium in the front one. Though I don't run a fuge, I think its better to have the fuge after the skimmer chamber (for pods to populate your tank and not get skimmed out) and you can do so by lifting the middle glass a little to make your water height adjusted in the first chamber as well and have your skimmer there (like I have it). Then you can have your fuge at the back if you wish to.

Thanks. I run a fuge and no skimmer for now but I agree with you. It also adds another chamber before the return to reduce bubbles entering the display.

 

[Bonsai reef]

Week 6 update-

Tank doing great so far. With the diatoms almost gone.

water params-

salinity 1.025
Alk -8
Calcium- 400
Mg- 1290

NO3- ~ 10
PO4 - reading 0.00 with Hanna checker LR but with 4 times a day feeding more likely its not 0. It has a error margin of 0.04 so could be btwn 0.04 to 0 but im adding some reef energy ab+ just in case.


Some more acro frags added last week and also a yellow corris wrasse after a month on adding the royal gramma.
Acros added over the week-

1. Garf bonsai
2. BC Adam Bomb
3. TSA Dragonfruit milli
4. Strawberry shortcake
5. Tyree pinky the bear
6. Vivid confetti

 

[Txoutlaw]

looking good!