DreC80's Reefer XL425

[DreC80]

Hello Nano Reefers, been in the hobby off and on since 2004...but due to military service I haven't been able to keep a reef going for more than a few years at a time.  On a positive note, this has allowed me to start up several tanks and learn as much as possible, especially from my mistakes.  Throughout the years I've browsed several the of reefing community sites, but never created a profile or interacted with folks.  I decided it was time to finally create a profile and start this journal in an effort to document my tank's progress over the next couple of years.

 

I'll be able to retire in about 18 months and would like to eventually start a large reef in the 200 gallon range.  My desire to start this current tank was to begin building my coral collection in order to transfer them to the larger system upon retirement.  My plan was to keep it as simple as possible, reuse the equipment I had on hand and see if I could successfully grow SPS corals in this "smaller" system.

 

Got the tank wet and started the cycle in January 2018.

 

* Upgraded to a Red Sea Reefer XL425 - Sep 2019

 

Parameters:

Temp:  77.8

Salinity:  1.025

Calcium:  395 - 415

Alkalinity:  7.5 - 8.0

Magnesium:  1260

Nitrate:  20 ppm

Phosphate:  .03

 

Equipment:

Aquarium - Red Sea Reefer XL425

Return Pump - Simplicity 120DC

Flow - 2x Nero 5, 2x Icecap Gyre 4K

Lights - 3x Radion XR15 w/ diffusers & Aquatic Life T5 w/ 2x blue plus & 2x coral plus bulbs

Dosing Pump - ATI 6 channel

Skimmer - Simplicity 240DC

Heater - Eheim Jager 250w x2

Controller - Neptune Apex EL

 

Filtration:

Skimmer

Filter Socks

Carbon (occasionally)

GFO (sparingly)

85 lbs Marco & Reef Cleaners Rock

 

Dosing:

ESV Calcium and Alkalinity

Brightwell Magnesium

Acropower

Stability (on occasion)

 

Livestock:

Fish:

Wyoming White Clownfish

Six Line Wrasse

Falco Hawkfish

Scribbled Rabbitfish

Captive Bred Yellow Tang

Captive Bred Rolland's Damsel x3

 

Corals:

Jack O Lantern Leptosaris 

Green Leptosaris 

Mr. Freeze Leptosaris 

Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

Burning Banana Stylocoenela

LA Lakers Scroll Coral

ORA Purple Stylophora

Green Stylophora

Birds of Paradise Seriatopora

Sunset Montipora

Slow Burn Montipora

Red Montipora Cap

Seasons Greetings Montipora Cap

Rainbow Montipora

Mystic Sunset Montipora

Orange Montipora Digitata

Green Montipora Digitata

German Blue Polyp Montipora Digitata

Jedi Mindtrick Montipora

Tubb's Stellata Montipora

Green Goblin Anacropora

JF TNT Anacropora 

Cali Tort Acro

GARF Bonsai Acro

ORA Frogskin Acro

ORA Pearlberry Acro

Bali Green Slimer Acro

Miyagi Tort Acro 

ORA Red Planet Acro

JF Coolers Champagne Acro

JF Fox Flame Acro

Pink Lemonade Acro

ASL Red Robin Acro

JRC Great Unknown Acro

JRC Oscar the Grouch Acro

JKR Apocalypse Now Acro

FHC Kryptonic Acro

Blueberry Limeade Tenuis Acro

RRC Pink Cadillac Acro

TCK Orange Milli Acro

TCK Pikachu Acro

TCK Rainbow Acro

TCK Molten Core Acro

TCK Pink Bear Acro

Sanjay's Leprechaun Beard Acro

ARC Fireworks Acro

CC Firewalker Milli Acro

WWC Lil' Red Ferrari Acro

WWC Yellow Tips Acro

Katropora - Acropora Subulata

 

Thanks for looking,

Andre

 

Nuvo 30l - 2018

 

Red Sea Reefer XL425 - 2020

[alpinestar]

What a lineup - Looks fantastic. Let's see some closeups!

[DreC80]

A few more photos...not the best as I'm taking them with a Galaxy S9.

[DreC80]

[DreC80]

[DreC80]

[alpinestar]

and boy did you deliver..

[DreC80]

Not sure what type of acro the third picture is, but it's encrusting the bare bottom rather quickly.  Let me know if you can ID it.

[DreC80]

Haha, thanks alpinestar.  I guess I'll eventually need to work on the photo taking skills/get an actual camera...

[FISHnChix]

Well shit you didnt waste anytime filling that sucker in.. nice work looks great I will be following along.. thanks for your service buddy. What branch and where did you serve your time??

[DreC80]

2 minutes ago, Weikel said:

Well shit you didnt waste anytime filling that sucker in.. nice work looks great I will be following along.. thanks for your service buddy. What branch and where did you serve your time??

Sure didn't...I think I put some SPS in there around the second or third month...definitely experienced some struggles until the tank settled down around the 10 month mark.  Still serving in the Air Force...been all over the US, Korea, Afghanistan....18 more months and I'll be retired at 39 years old so not too shabby.

[FISHnChix]

5 minutes ago, DreC80 said:

Sure didn't...I think I put some SPS in there around the second or third month...definitely experienced some struggles until the tank settled down around the 10 month mark.  Still serving in the Air Force...been all over the US, Korea, Afghanistan....18 more months and I'll be retired at 39 years old so not too shabby.

Not to shabby at all. Actually really impressive good for you.. enjoy that shit and keep on reefing

[Christopher Marks]

Welcome to the community @DreC80! 👋

 

Glad you decided to join in and share your nano reef, what an epic collection of SPS coral! Where do you like to get your coral frags from?

 

My good friend recently retired from the AF at 41, flies in the reserves now and just landed a job with a commercial airliner. You're right on track, that's so awesome! I get the sense it's unlikely you'll be transferred anywhere, this close to retirement? So cool.

[DreC80]

Thanks @Christopher Marks looking forward to not having to move anymore.  Definitely shouldn't get transferred anymore at this stage in the game. 

 

I've gotten all of my corals from an LFS...they always have a good variety and very reasonable prices.  I don't think I've paid above $35 for anything.  I haven't purchased anything online yet.  If I do I would probably get a battle pack from Battle Corals, but don't think I'll have room for more in this tank.

[DreC80]

Just got the nuvoskim DC midsize skimmer in today for my wife's tank.  I'll let you guys know how it works in the next couple of weeks in case anyone is interested in getting one for their tanks.  I know the ghost skimmers didn't get good reviews, but maybe this version will be better.  Fingers crossed.

[DreC80]

Well guys, the nuvoskim DC has been up and running in my wife's tank for almost a week now.  It's definitely very quiet, no micro bubbles, and is starting to produce some skimmate. It's rated for up to 50 gallons but I wouldn't put it in anything larger than the 30l.  Let me know if you have questions? 

[DreC80]

Just in case any other nuvo owners hate cleaning filter socks as much as I do, a cheap and effective mod is to cut the filter sock off the plastic attachment, but reuse the plastic attachment as a floss holder.

[DreC80]

Picked up a few new corals today.

 

 

[DreC80]

[mitten_reef]

Nice 👍 

[alpinestar]

That first new coral tho... Wow! 🤙

[DreC80]

Yeah, it's a rainbow monti and hopefully the color will hold.  I'm most excited about the second picture which is a JF Fox Flame...it's my most expensive coral at the moment.  Got it at my favorite lfs for $60...which isn't bad compared to some of the online prices.

 

[alpinestar]

14 minutes ago, DreC80 said:

Yeah, it's a rainbow monti and hopefully the color will hold.  I'm most excited about the second picture which is a JF Fox Flame...it's my most expensive coral at the moment.  Got it at my favorite lfs for $60...which isn't bad compared to some of the online prices.

 

I dig it! 

[SkiCatTX]

Nice!

 

I just got one of the Nuvo Skim DC Desktop skimmers, I love it so far!

[DreC80]

On 1/24/2019 at 10:00 PM, SkiCatTX said:

Nice!

 

I just got one of the Nuvo Skim DC Desktop skimmers, I love it so far!

They are definitely quiet.  Is yours pulling out dark skimmate? Mine isn't, but it's on the wife's 18 gallon tank with a fairly low bioload.