Red Sea Reefer 250 G2 SPS dominant build

[spectral_ranger]

Forgot to mention, also installed the 3DReefing diffusers on the Primes, very nice. Less disco ball glare.

Next up is getting some Frag Zone pieces to mount the corals on so I can place them better. Don't think I want to epoxy them onto scape just yet, but at least having them mounted to the rubble should allow me to get them in there less haphazardly til the rest of the corals start getting in there.

 

[SteveDola]

How do you like the water flow with the mp40s on the sides? opposed to the back wall
l.

 

[spectral_ranger]

How do you like the water flow with the mp40s on the sides? opposed to the back wall
l.

I do like the flow better, but still not super happy. Having them on the sides gives the water more length to flow rather than blasting directly onto/over the rocks. And that birdsnest right next to one of the pumps does get a lot of flow (polyps whip around), but still fully extended so I guess its happy. What I don't like is the conical flow pattern, and how that jacks up the sand. I just don't like the bare bottom look, but dealing with the sand is going to be tricky. I had a gyre back in the day, and I think the laminar flow is awesome and would solve that problem. But the downside is the cords in the tank, more complicated maintenance, etc.

 

[Cheddah93]

I do like the flow better, but still not super happy. Having them on the sides gives the water more length to flow rather than blasting directly onto/over the rocks. And that birdsnest right next to one of the pumps does get a lot of flow (polyps whip around), but still fully extended so I guess its happy. What I don't like is the conical flow pattern, and how that jacks up the sand. I just don't like the bare bottom look, but dealing with the sand is going to be tricky. I had a gyre back in the day, and I think the laminar flow is awesome and would solve that problem. But the downside is the cords in the tank, more complicated maintenance, etc.

Try moving the mp40 as high as you can before they start drawing a vortex of air. Put them directly across aiming at each other, and reef crest anti sync. Probable 6” or so down from the surface.

That’s what I do with mine and run them at 40%, and just recently added an mp10 to the back wall on one side of the overflow box and run that at 75% reefcrest. Just waiting for a deal on a second one for the other side. I also run a fine sand and it doesn’t move around at all.

As far as the gyre goes, I don’t think you’ll like it in a 3ft tank. I didn’t Atleast. Just feel the flow is better suited in a 4ft+ tank.

 

[spectral_ranger]

Try moving the mp40 as high as you can before they start drawing a vortex of air. Put them directly across aiming at each other, and reef crest anti sync. Probable 6” or so down from the surface.

That’s what I do with mine and run them at 40%, and just recently added an mp10 to the back wall on one side of the overflow box and run that at 75% reefcrest. Just waiting for a deal on a second one for the other side. I also run a fine sand and it doesn’t move around at all.

As far as the gyre goes, I don’t think you’ll like it in a 3ft tank. I didn’t Atleast. Just feel the flow is better suited in a 4ft+ tank.

Will try moving the MP40s up. Not sure why I'm fixated on having them lower... I guess so there's good flow towards the bottom, but clearly there's plenty with the sand blowing around! And yeah, I had the gyre on a 4' 120g tank last time, it worked well. Regardless, a lot of money in MP40s now so I'm sticking with them!

 

[ifarmer]

Nice tank and lots of colorful sps

 

[NHReefNoob]

I see what you mean on the blowing sand. My suggestion would be to try running a single MP40 and see if you can get enough flow with only one. I have a Fluval 32.5 and am running one MP10 from the side. It seems to be working well. I have directed the flow behind the aqua scape and then it returns across the front of the tank. You could also try moving it higher on the side. For me, there is a sweet spot of having it high enough to not blow the sand around and low enough to not create a vortex from the surface.

 

[spectral_ranger]

Appreciate the feedback on raising the MP40s! Moved them up late yesterday afternoon and swooshed the sand back to the front and corners. This morning, the sand looks to be in the same place. Much better. Will try to bump them an inch or so higher maybe, and incrementally up the intensity til I start seeing sand grains moving a little, then backing off. MP10s for the back will have to wait a bit... Trident will be my next big purchase.

Found this stomatella on an MP40 this morning, cool! Must have come in on one of the corals.

 

[spectral_ranger]

Time for an update. Things are going pretty well. Since the fan noise of the AI Primes was annoying, got a third and have them running a bit lower. Much better! Sand was still blowing a bit in the front even with the MP40s higher, so got a Little Rock to put on the sand. Want to find an even flatter one, but it works for now. ReefMat 500 installed and pulling gunk out, love it! Had to get a stand for the skimmer, couldn’t get it to not blow micro bubbles in the tank. Just put it in today and started dialing it in, much better!

With ATO no longer fitting in sump, bought a Tunze and have the 10g reservoir setup in an IKEA cabinet I setup nearby.

Lid from TopLids arrived a few days ago, fits perfect! Don’t have to worry about jumpers now. And my initial worries about the cats were way overblown. Don’t think they’ve even tried to get on. I do have the cat insert if it ever becomes an issue…

Added a pair of black phantom (or photon?) clowns a few weeks ago, then a pair of Banggais and a yellow clown goby yesterday. All doing great.

Also picked up a sunset milli, raspberry limeade, and Hawkins frag from a local Reefer. All my other “easy” SPS seem to be doing great, so let’s turn it up a notch.

Next up: get all these frags mounted so they’re not just laying on the rocks, and get the doser and Trident hooked up.

 

[spectral_ranger]

It's been nearly six months since my last update, so figured it was about time! Probably stopped posting because things got ugly for a bit, and not as fun to post about things not going well. Cyano hit pretty hard, as well as some hair and turf algae. Got the ReefMat installed, got skimmer tuned, a good number of pods, and a PhytoTank chaeto reactor. After a while (a month or two?), the nastiness mostly subsided.

A number of my "easy" corals also started losing tissue or bleaching at that point. Managed to kill the bird's nest and green slimer, and two of the three acros. Montis were also looking pretty bad, as was the purple stylo. Played with flow a bit, their placement, and adjusted color temp on the AIs (less cool white). After a while, those that hadn't already died recovered and are doing very well now. Not sure if it was a what I adjusted, just a maturing of the tank, or what.

Been continually adding acros (mostly from @dz6t at AcroGarden, along w/ great info and tips!), and they all seem to be doing quite well and getting some good growth. The Banggai's have had two broods so far (turned into food for the others, I guess), and fish healthy for the most part (Yellow Coris Wrasse looking pretty beat up most of the time, but has been like that for over a month and eating fine... not sure what's going on).

Still have some hair algae going on, but I think that's largely under control and dying back. Had a bad outbreak of valonia, too, as you can see in the pics. That too seems to have peaked... hoping it dies back as the corals outcompete it. My nitrates were at 0 so I started dosing NeoNitro, but have cut that out til the algae gets under better control.

I mounted all the corals on reef rubble pieces with the intention of cementing those rubble pieces onto the rock work (sticking them on the sides and whatnot). But that's not working well, the cement can't seem to hold it in place long enough to harden (and I'm not going to sit there for a half hour waiting). Any tips on that appreciated... maybe I just need smaller rubble pieces, the FragZone stuff is kind large. I'm doing the superglue-Tunze Coral Gum-superglue sandwich thing that BRS did videos on. Worked well for coral to frag out of water, but not for mounting to rock work in the water.