Jestersix

Invictus’ ‘25 Budget Build

Invictus

Invictus

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Hello Everyone, and welcome to my Budget Build journal. Like most of us, an additional tank in the house was the last thing that I needed; but, a friend getting out of the hobby presented a deal that I could not pass up. Given the size of the tank, the only option for me was a garage build. So… out went the car, in went the tank, and off we go!



Overall Budget Goal: Acro dominated sub-$500, with 100% of coral coming from trades, dbtc, and personal fragging.

Ongoing Costs: $226/$500

Date Tank Cycle Began: April 2nd, 2025

Tank Manufacturer & Model: RedSea Reefer Max 350

Equipment List:

Light(s): 2 ReefLED 90 $0 (pending one additional @$100)

Pump(s): Jebao ? $0

Heater(s): Aquatop 300W & Eheim 100W $0

Wavemaker(s): Reefwave45 $0 Reefwave25 $112

Doser(s): Kamoer F1 $54 (not currently installed)

Controller(s): N/A

Filtration: RedSea Skimmer & Reefmat $0

ATO: FZone $60

Sand: Barebottom

Rock: MarcoRock

Additional items: Biomedia added to sump from current display
 
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This is how the tank looked before I broke it down. Rampant dinos and cyano. Two large showpieces with the leather and chalice.
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Drove up Friday night to move the livestock. The shop vac was a lifesaver in removing the last of the sand and water. Sunday we went back for the tank and equipment. The cleaning process was pretty intensive before I was happy.
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Many thanks again to @JVU for the stock tank loan and @Srt4eric for helping with the tank move. Livestock sat in the stock tank unlit for 4 days. I was hoping the “blackout” would kill the dinos.
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Livestock transferred. Rockscape not finalized.
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Actually a pretty cool and unique GSP. Somewhere in between standard and branching.
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Added a new shelf to the garage for organization.
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Current state. Dinos were not killed by the transfer blackout and came back immediately. They have been slowly subsiding as I get nutrients to stabilize and I’m on my 3rd water change. I have a UV that came with the tank but am trying to avoid having to use it. Threw a few tester corals in there, but won’t be putting much more until I’m more confident in the stability.
Currently there are at least 3 large rocks with GSP and green mushrooms on them. Ideally I’m trying to figure out what I want to do with those before progressing with the rockscape any further.
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Tank Stocking:

Coral:
-Massive Space Invader Chalice
-GSP
-Green Hairy Mushrooms
-Green Rhodactis Mushrooms
-Test SPS: Manilla Spy and Red Monti

I’m trying to figure out what the best course of action will be with these corals that came with the tank. I wouldn’t mind them if they stayed as is, but unfortunately these are corals that can explode and take over the tank. I’d ideally like to have clean rocks and start from scratch, but I also don’t feel right about killing corals just to remove them from the rock.

Fish:
-Tomini Tang
-Blue Tang
-Royal Gramma
-Long Nose Hawkfish
-Midas Blenny
-Mandarin Dragonet
-Banggai Cardinal
-Fairy Wrasse
-Filefish

Feeding pellets or flake in the morning, and frozen mysis in the afternoon.
 
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That looks super good already. Do not think “garage tank” setup describes this. This is more of, if you like what you see in the show room, we have more in the back.

Also I think @richiev gave me some GSP that carpets and creates branches when it runs out of room. I have one that I have to trim the branch parts off. It is strange to see in person.
 
Happy to report that I’ve beaten the Dinos and Cyano! The tank is looking clean and chugging along nicely.

Continuing with my plans to target a SPS dominant system, I added an additional gyre to increase flow, which I got at a good price from Eric.

I added a good amount of test SPS frags. Polyp extension has been really good. I’m at 80% power for the ReefLED90; planning to ramp to 100%. I have no hope that these will provide enough PAR for peak SPS coloration, so I’m planning to add a 3rd light onto the tank at some point.

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Only issue I’m facing right now is my Blue Tang. It harasses the other fish, eats like a pig, and doesn’t pick at any algae. I may remove him at some point in favor of a Kole or Yellow tang.
 
PizzaOven said:
Are you able to remove those frag plugs from those conical shaped ceramic pieces glued to the rock? I gotta try this.
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Yes they are frag seats makes coral easy to remove, move around or frag later they will eventually naturally blend in with rock structure.
20250515_153338.jpg

Some in my tank.

They also have disks that can sit on top of the seats to allow sps to encrust over them. I should have 1-2 in the tank u can see if u zoom in.
 
PizzaOven said:
No need if you're not happy with the product. Let me know if you find a better solution.
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I would say they work, but with what you get compared to the price is kinda blah. Issues i noticed. Is some frag plugs are to large to fit. Others are to small they fit but they wobble if in good flow.

For what they do I like them. Yet agree with @Invictus what you get verse the price is a little underwhelming.

I imagine you could possibly make some of these with reefing cement and a little patience. Would I buy them again probably. Would I love to see a better product definitely.

Over all I would say they serve their purpose, but definitely could be improved. In several ways. Maybe @Coral Hub (Nathan) may have a similar product or consider trying to producd something like it in the future.

@PizzaOven if you wanna play with 1-2 of them. I could bring them to swap if your going?
 
MichaelB said:
I would say they work, but with what you get compared to the price is kinda blah. Issues i noticed. Is some frag plugs are to large to fit. Others are to small they fit but they wobble if in good flow.

For what they do I like them. Yet agree with @Invictus what you get verse the price is a little underwhelming.

I imagine you could possibly make some of these with reefing cement and a little patience. Would I buy them again probably. Would I love to see a better product definitely.

Over all I would say they serve their purpose, but definitely could be improved. In several ways. Maybe @Coral Hub (Nathan) may have a similar product or consider trying to producd something like it in the future.

@PizzaOven if you wanna play with 1-2 of them. I could bring them to swap if your going?
Click to expand...
Yep, I'll be there. Thanks!
 
derek_SR said:
What is the point of those? They look so unnatural - even if the fragrance encrusts down to cover it won’t look pretty odd?
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They’re mostly utilitarian. Meant for aquaculture convenience useful for taking the coral out fragging/cleaning/ etc.

Right now I’m not 100% settled on my rockscape, and if things continue to go well with SPS I will want these premium high light spots to go to nicer Acros. So, this prevents a red montipora from encrust there if I’m going to remove it in 2 months.
 
PizzaOven said:
The appeal to me is the ability to easily remove the frag plug (for dipping, fragging, moving to different location). Aesthetically, maybe not the best. Drilling holes in live rock is perhaps a better option.
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agreed for all those reasons. And yeah drilling in some pre thought out spots would be elite! Just not to many because someone going to say detritus build up in the holes as well.
 
MichaelB said:
I would say they work, but with what you get compared to the price is kinda blah. Issues i noticed. Is some frag plugs are to large to fit. Others are to small they fit but they wobble if in good flow.

For what they do I like them. Yet agree with @Invictus what you get verse the price is a little underwhelming.

I imagine you could possibly make some of these with reefing cement and a little patience. Would I buy them again probably. Would I love to see a better product definitely.

Over all I would say they serve their purpose, but definitely could be improved. In several ways. Maybe @Coral Hub (Nathan) may have a similar product or consider trying to producd something like it in the future.

@PizzaOven if you wanna play with 1-2 of them. I could bring them to swap if your going?
Click to expand...
What can I assist with? Sorry it’s a long thread XD
 
Coral Hub (Nathan) said:
What can I assist with? Sorry it’s a long thread XD
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Frag seats and disks. I'm not sure if this is something you offer, or might consider offering for the future. No pressure at all intended. I know you already make various sized plugs and plates. So I figured it's probably something that would possibly be within your abilities, if you determine it maybe feasible for you to offer something similar at some point in the future.

20250616_133503.jpg

Pictures for a example of what I'm refering to.
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