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Hello Nano-Reef, I see a lot of folks writing about their builds now, so I will share some details below. I've been in the hobby for over 15 years now. My interest all started with an investor of mine that had an impressive 120g on display at his office. At the time, I started with a 55g without overflow in my office window overlooking the freeway; however, the lighting was not what it is today, nor did I realize the natural light would be problematic. Life moved on, and eventually, nano-sized maintenance and spending were more in line with my other priorities. I went through various downsizing through trial and error, all the Fluval EVO series, all the BioCube models, and eventually settled on a Red Sea MAX Nano. This nano was a great tank, but my family and I recently moved, and I had to have my own office with all the remote calls and conferences. This time, I was wiser, and with all the experience with nano tanks, I thought I would upscale my tank with my new home office. My LFS is a Red Sea dealer, and using the AR features with my phone; I found the Reefer 250 would be the most efficient with my existing room layout. Without ado, here's my Reefer 250 Office Study build below! Thank you @blaxsun on R2R for the motivation to create this. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My build list: 1x Red Sea Reefer 250v3 1x Red Sea Slide-out Maintenance Control Panel 25 1x Sicce Syncra Silent 3.0 return pump 1x OCTO Classic 110SSS Skimmer 2x Red Sea ReefWave 25 1x Red Sea ReefDose4 with deluxe 4-color tube kit 1x Red Sea ReefMat 500 1x Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 200W Heater (might need chiller) 50 lbs Marco Dry Reef Rock 2x Marco Small Foundation Rock 2x Marco Medium Foundation Rock 2x Caribsea Arag-Alive Reef Sand in Bimini Pink 1x 200gal Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt 1x Fritz Turbo Start 900 4oz 1x Red Sea KH Coraline Grow 1x ARCReef Purple Coraline Algae 1x ARCReef Pink Coraline Algae -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My automation list (will be shown later): 1x AquaticLife 75gal Twist-in RODI filter 1x 10gal Trigger Systems ATO reservoir 1x Neptune Systems ApexEL controller with EB832 1x Apex ATKv2 module (currently in use on MAX Nano) 2x Apex FMM module (on Max Nano, came with LDK) 2x Apex DŌS units (used for auto water changes) 1x Apex 1Link module 1x Apex Trident 1x Apex AFS 1x Apex 24vdc PMUP 1x Apex 24vdc Solenoid 1x Apex ¼ Flow Sensor (RODI supply, larger for return) 3x Apex Leak Sensors 2x Apex Optical Sensors -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I know some of you are probably wondering, "If you have the Neptune Systems Apex controller and a Reefer, why not go with total customization for more components?" Nowadays, everyone has an app for everything, and everything seems to be an IoT device wanting access to something outside your network and control. While I cannot avoid this risk entirely, it is something I chose to minimize by using only the Apex Controller and the Red Sea ReefBeat app (it could be better, I know). The benefit to this approach is that I only have two apps to address, and I can free up some of the control of these Red Sea devices to the APC UPS connected to them for the moment. Additionally, all of these work together with the programming provided and make for a more "whole" experience. I was disappointed that the ReefMat 500 is not a "plug-in-play" as described without modification of the sump and down flow pipes. However, I chose to keep it, knowing that changing socks goes against my "minimalist maintenance" religious beliefs in reef keeping. With this in mind, I opted for all Red Sea lighting since AI lights no longer have IOTA control, and I reserved my dosing pumps for the water change features I know will be ahead and opted for the ReefDose4. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aquascaping and design: Early on in the hobby, I knew the difference between cured and dry rock, but like most, patience with aquascaping was not something I had on my list of must-do items. I had bought this lovely arch of live rock from Florida back then, but it wasn't the most porous, nor did it have many places for fish to swim in and through. So every time I started a new build, I would again look for this incredible display of rock work to purchase but never realized that it was something that one doesn't typically buy but must create themselves. After watching several BRS videos and another from Tidal Gardens, I decided that I wanted something to put on display with this tank and that a negative space aquascape would be best. There is a variant of this known as HNSA, which focuses on the habitat, but getting the right balance of this was a challenge. I started with at least 50 lbs of Marco Dry Rock and bought another 20 out of abundance in caution. While Ryan recommends plenty of rock per pound due to intentional breakage, I was able to get some decent shapes of all sizes. This made breaking it up somewhat easier. The foundation rock is a must-have; without this, one would have some challenges getting the initial aquascape balanced. Another critical item to note is that it was 90-110F this past summer, and doing this is not a few hours on the weekend endeavor. Here's an image before I got started and another afterwards. Most of the rock was broken up over two weekends. I didn't begin assembly of the rock until I returned home from vacation in June. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next part of this was not very fun and honestly, was both hot and challenging. I recommend not attempting this in summer if you can and plan this in spring or fall for best results. I also recommend putting on some music, something tropical or whatever inspires you to think creatively. While BRS recommends lots of glue and insta-set, plus mortar in the first video; the second one has Ryan using epoxy and left over marco rock dust. This is ideal and is the same method used by Than Thein of Tidal Gardens. In fact, Than has a video where the epoxy step was skipped over entirely if you are using the dust as a filler and permitting your glue to be viscous enough to set in. Here's his video on the subject below: Over the past four weeks, I started with a foundation and some smaller pieces, gluing them together using a mix of the BRS and Tidal methods. I used epoxy on the base pieces or those where I would have a difficult time getting the foundation to hold or where it would risk full collapse. In others, I used the Tidal Gardens method, since one has to cover the epoxy after that step and really saves time and gloves too! Be prepared to get at least five (5) or more sets of general nitrile gloves and some thicker ones for handing the rocks overall. I found that the glue recommended will eventually run all over as you handle your aquascape and you'll eventually get glued to the rock, the bottle or the fingers of the gloves themselves. This part of the build by far, was one of the most challenging and difficult parts but I now have many places for coral placement, plenty of flow and several areas for fish and corals! While this has been a lot of fun and expense, it's time to move on with getting the groundwork ready for easy maintenance. Next up, water automation and tank cycling. Please subscribe to my thread for updates in the days and weeks ahead! Thank you, OfficeReefer
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Hello N-R.com family, Welcome! If you are just joining us, please know this build thread is 2 tanks in 1 thread. Double the pleasure, double the fun. Over the course of the last 10 years, I've had a number of tanks with varied success, and I hope to put all the lessons learned from those tanks together in this build. Rules of the road: Simplicity is king. 15,000 pieces of equipment just create more opportunities for failure. I am going to do the basics, and I'm going to do them well. I will use automation and monitoring for safety and to make me aware of problems in the tank, but not depend on them for the survival of the tank. Some SPS. I like some SPS Corals, and I might try a frag or two that amuse me, but this tank will go back to my love of LPS, softies, and (hopefully) a clam. Fun, active, and healthy. I want my reef to thrive, the inhabitants to be healthy, and to have a tank that I can get lost staring at for hours. Red Sea Reefer 250 ZeoVit Fueled Mixed Reef Tank After 10 months, my mixed reef in the IM20 tank outgrew the space, so I decided to upgrade into a Red Sea Reefer 250, where I'll continue building upon the ZeoVit success I've had in the nano tank on a little larger scale. 👉Jump to page 5, where the Red Sea Reefer build starts 👉Or, keep reading and see where it came from Equipment Red Sea Reefer 250 (55 gallons) Kessil AP9X Light EchoTech Marine MP10 powerbeads (x2) Neptune COR return pump Clarisea roller mat for mechanical filtration Royal Exclusive 160 protein skimmer Neptune Apex EL Neptune DOS dosing pumps Neptune DOS reservoir Neptune Trident Neptune ATK (auto top off) Customized sump with redesigned plumbing Sapphire Aquatics 10g ATO Custom acrylic lid Modified stand iPad mini display ZeoVit dosing Livestock: Pair of Yasha Gobies Pistol Shrimp Cleaner Shrimp Peppermint Shrimp Blue Maxima Clam Aussie Golden Eye Chalice Branching Cyphastera Green Acans Purple Favia Rainbow Acans Watermelon Acans Weeping Willow Toadstool Orange Ricordia Mushrooms Misc. Green & Blue Zoas Purple Hairy Mushroom Blue Tip Torch Euphyllia Superman Montipora White Zombie Zoas Assorted Acropora and Millipora Green Texas Slimer Baby Blue Bowerbacki Neon Green Birdsnest 20lbs Fiji Pink Sand 30lbs of Tonga branch live rock 20lbs Live Rock from KP Aquatics Tank is Born, 26 December 2020: Sump Setup, January 2021 FTS, 13 January 2021 FTS, 20 January 2021 Innovative Marine 20 Peninsula Clownfish Harem Tank As I move the reef into the larger tank, I will transition this nano tank into a clownfish harem tank.... Equipment: Innovative Marine NUVO Fusion Pro Peninsula 20 Gallon tank Kessil A360X light with wifi InTank media basket Aqamai KPS Wavemaker pump eShopps Nano Protein Skimmer Cobalt Aquatics Neotherm 75W heater Aqua Gadget Spin Stream Nozzle XP Aquatics Duetto ATO system 15lbs of Live Rock Tank is Born, 18 March 2020: Full Tank Shot, 31 March 2020 Full Tank Shot, 14 April 2020 Full Tank Shot, 13 May 2020 Full Tank Shot, 15 June 2020 Full Tank Shot, 20 July 2020 Full Tank Shot, 8 September 2020 Full Tank Shot, 18 November 2020 Full Tank Shot, 13 January 2021 (After livestock transfers to RSR 250)- 223 replies
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Equipment Tank: Red Sea Reefer 250 Lights: TBD – Interested in the Kessil AP9X Skimmer: TBD – Bubble Magus or Reef Octopus likely Flow: Sicce Syncra SDC 6.0 WiFi Controllable Pump (530-1450 GPH) Heater: (2) Eheim Jager 150W Controller: Hydros Controller Planned Livestock Fish: No clue, but I really want a mandarin and a canary wrasse. I kind of want to go fishless though. Corals: I want a lot of movement in this tank, so I’m looking primarily at softies and LPS. I know I want a GSP rock up front and I’m looking forward to large leather corals, trying Goniporas, and Euphyllias. I’m hoping this tank allows me to have a fresh start to improve/correct issues with my Nuvo 20. I moved the Nuvo 20 to a less desirable area of the living room and maintenance is incredibly inconvenient and difficult. The kitchen table was never used so I’m planning to ditch it and put the Reefer 250 there. Keep checking in to watch the dumpster fire. I’m still sorting out the aquascape and plumbing, but I hope to get this tank cycling within a few weeks.
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Hi!First of all a little of my background, in 2011 I started my first aquarium with a 55 Gal tank i got on Craiglist, for that aquarium I decided to do a low to none maintenance planted native freshwater tank, I used dirt and local lake bed sand as substrate, with several local fish, panfish, darts, mosquito fish, minnows etc, crayfish and snails from the lakes, that tank ran with a HOB filter for water movement and for 5 years never did a water change just top offs, also had to trim the macro algae every other month, this tank was on the garage and survived 2 moves. I was raised on the sea and was snorkeling in coral reefs almost every weekend during my young ages. I love the ocean and everything related to the sea, so in 2015 decided to start a saltwater tank and bought a Biocube 29, I started with a pair of clowns live rocks and sand, later I added a goby and a tiger pistol, later added some zoas and softies to the mix, the tank was very low tech no skimmer and only a ATO, I converted one of the back chambers into a fuge. It ran well for some years until I had a Dino outbreak that killed all my corals, so I decided to give up on corals and transferred some macro to my display and keep it as Fish only tank, I really liked it and I am not really this crazy about growing corals, I am more a fish person, so that bring us to 3 weeks ago.My Old Bio (Didn't had trimmed the macros and GHA for a while 😞 After 5 years with a Biocube 29 and taking advantage that I had to stop my work travel due to the COVID crisis I started researching about doing an upgrade to my setup.I always loved the Red Sea aquariums so 3 weeks ago I went to my preferred LFS to buy RO and Saltwater for my Biocube and found this beautiful Red Sea Reefer 250 at a very good price, ready to pickup and take home... So I went for it. I just bought the tank and the stand. (Now I needed to convince my wife that this new tank will be better and nicer than the old one to get budget approval).After setting the tank and stand in the living room, got my budget approved by the management. My plan for this tank is for now is to move all my current livestock to the 250 and then keep a soft coral and some LPS, I have no plans so far for trying SPS and also would like to keep the bioload low like I did on my Cube so I decided on this gear, good thing is that if in the future I change my mind i can always upgrade:Skimmer: Octo Classic 110S.Return Pump: Current eflux 1050 DC.Power Head: 1 Vortech MP40Lights: 2x Prime 16HD.Controller: Apexel.Fuge light: Finnex FugeRay Planted.ATO: Hydor smart level (Existing from cube)Sand: 40 lb caribsea ocean direct live + 20 lb caribsea live sea fiji pink.Rock: super live 30 lb from existing biocube + 30 lb new live rock from LFS.Livestock all from my old cube:2 Oscelaris Clowns (5 years with me)1 YWG1 Tiger pistol shrimp.2 Emerald crabs.Several snails.Why I choose those options?, based on my research those equipment will give me what I need without breaking the bank, I will try to update this thread with reviews on how each device is performing on my setup.So there I went: On a side note where the tank is now there was a Ikea bookshelf that my daughter used to keep her craft stuff, I disassembled it and cut it to do some shelving inside the tank cabinetInitial sump work: Shelving and cable management almost complete: Initial fill: Pool of mud: Some Pictures of sump and shelving: After a week and a mini cycle I added my livestock and finished the aquascaping, water was murky due to aquscaping and moving rocks around: Sorry for the bad quality on the pictures but I was not planning to do a build journal, but after all i decided to give it a go so I can see how my tank evolve over the years.So far I have no plans to add anything else for some months to let the aquarium settle and establish. Also will not run the skimmer for the initial 2 weeks to allow some nutrients buildup to kickstart the fuge and keep the snails feeded.Will try to update this build as much as I can.Cheers
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Greeting N-R Friends! Most of you don't know me, so let me take a moment to re-introduce myself... I started my first nano reef tank over a decade ago, but it has been years since I was active in the hobby. Now that I am finally settled in and no longer moving around the globe every few years, it's time to dive back in. For reference, when I was last in this hobby, LED lights were only available to aquarists that were comfortable wiring their own DIY system and the NanoCube tank had just been introduced! At that time, I actually worked in the industry, so I learned a lot about coral and fish husbandry. Coming back now, it's clear things have changed. LEDs are now everywhere on the market and there are more choices of all-in-one tanks than I could have ever imagined. Amazing to see the growth in the hobby. Anyway, if there is anything I learned before, it was that planning, patience and moving slow were the most important attributes when building a reef. Remembering that, I have spent the last few months reading this forum and catching back up on all the things that have changed since I was last around. With great care, I have planned out my next tank, and just ordered all the supplies to start the build. I'd like to give a special kudos to @BulkReefSupply - their videos and BRSTV was a great resource for re-educating myself on the changes to the hobby. I just purchased my tank and supplies from BRS, and will use them for all future equipment needs given their great resources. Equipment: Red Sea Reefer 250 System (white) 2x EcoTech Marine Radion XR15 G4 Pro lights w/mounts EcoTech Marine Vectra S1 DC (1400 GPH) return pump EcoTech Marine VorTech MP40 propeller pump EcoTech Marine Battery backup EcoTech Marine ReefLink wireless controller Neptune Systems Apex EL Controller Neptune Systems DOS dosing pumps Neptune Systems DDR dosing containers Neptune Systems ATK auto top off kit Neptune Systems IO Breakout Box Cobalt Aquatics 150W Neo-Therm heater (primary) HMO-200 Finnex heater (backup) Bulk Reef Supply 4 Stage 150GPD RO/DI system Vertex Omega 150 Protein Skimmer Avast Marine 2L Vibe Zeovit reactor Livestock: Pair of ORA Half Naked Clowns Juvenile Yellow Coris Wrasse Juvenile Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse Red Headed Fairy Wrasse Starry Blenny Diamond Spot Goby Cleaner Shrimp Pulsing Xenia Neon green hairy mushroom Green striped mushrooms Super Shocker Orange mushrooms Black sun coral Pink Birdsnest coral Neon green torch coral Red Acan colony Leather toadstood Mystery green LPS Mystery green zoanthids Mystery blue SPS Red monti plate Random assortment of snails and crabs 60 lbs Bulk Reef Supply Aquarium Saver Dry Live Rock 40 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Reef Sand Red Sea Salt Mix Tank Officially Started: 16 August 2018 Current FTS (3 October 2018): Early Stages (21 August 2018): Tank Design Plan: I am planning to build the tank around softies, LPS, and a few pieces of SPS. While I appreciate the look of a SPS tank, there's something to be said for the hardiness, vibrance, and lushness of softies and LPS. For that reason, I plan to have a nice mix of all of the above. For fish, I'm going to do some active fish with personalities -- clowns, wrasses, goby, etc. In my previous tanks, I dabbled with some of the "fads" -- mantis shrimps, anemones, etc -- and I can safely say that all that stuff is out of my system! Anything that goes into this tank will be deliberate! In terms of equipment, as you probably noticed above, I am going to use a skimmer for filtration. I had great success before with heavy skimming and will pick up there, but am also planning to expand the filtration to include using the Zeovit system. BRS estimates my equipment will arrive next week, so pictures will come then. Then we'll start the long, slow, and patient wait for a cycle and curing of rock. Buckle up... we'll be here awhile. -Kristen aka KMitch
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