High Tide Aquatics

Arin's Reefer-S 850 Build

Tanks almost clear. Got the ATO on there along with the Nero for some flow (can't find my mp10 #boo).
Looks like I should able to get move the coral & tang from the frag tank over too. I might setup the Red Sea doser as well since I've never opened the box :p

once that's done I can toss some bleach into the frag tank & get that damn thing out of my garage :)
 
The frag tanks is empty too. woot!

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Got all the living snails out but I think im missing a cleaner shrimp & an urchin. once I find those guys its Clorox time
 
Alrighty - frag tank's done. Tossed in 350ml of bleach and in 48 hours I'll empty it and wave goodbye (not sold yet).

Secondary concerns: Trident's shut down & I signed up for the Trident Advanced Replacement plan... so ill have a "new" unit to use with the new tank.

F** up of the day... 'cause, of course, something always get's messed up: I forgot to remove the cycled media/rubble from my sump. :( But whatever - I have 75 lbs of cycled rock hanging out in a Brute.
 
Wondering if your adding extra nori or pellets for the cucs since you have no algea yet? Unless your rubble is serving salad..
 
PjFish said:
Wondering if your adding extra nori or pellets for the cucs since you have no algea yet? Unless your rubble is serving salad..
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I have seaweed extreme pellets and some algae wafers I toss in. I also put in a few large pieces of rock but those are relatively clean.

But you’re right. I should tie some nori to a rock and plop it in for them.
 
Frag tank is finally empty. I should probably put the XR15 blues for sale soon.

Hoping to get the gear out tonight. I’ll run it all through some fresh with citric acid next week then start plopping it into the new 850.

Honestly, I should have taken a week off work to get this all setup. Doing this work it on nights & weekends drags on & on.
 
Pretty minor update. Finally unboxed the skimmer, assembled it and got it into the sump.

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Without the refugium divider.​
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With the refugium divider.​

Not sure which orientation I'll place it in (pump to the left, or pump to the right). I'll simulate some maintenance and see which way makes life easier.

First impressions of the skimmer:
  • This is my first time having a skimmer w/ an external pump. Its kinda annoying LOL. Very minor but it is a bit annoying moving it or positioning it as you have to handle 2 separate components. Not a huge deal but it caught my off guard.
  • The manual is pretty lame. I had to reference some pics online to assemble it. Assembly took a minute or two but it would have been nice if there we some clear "step 1, step 2" instructions. The only reason I bring this up is because its expensive... ya, everything went where you think it would but with a $1k skimmer I wanted to be surer cautious of what I was yanking at.
    • Ex: does the head screw off or is it using an o-ring and you gotta yank it?
    • in the end I'm nitpicking
  • The packing is pretty nice.
  • The Red Dragon 3 pump is pretty beefy!. The pump weighs quite a bit whereas the controller is massive yet, surprisingly, light.
  • The drain tube for the skimmer cup is tiny & comes with a plug... would have preferred a longer tube with a valve. Easy mod.
The thing I found most interesting is Red Sea's refugium divider. It actually comes with 2 different types of weirs. One is a "block" to attempt to prevent water flow and the other is the familiar teeth type design. I assume this is to give people the option to force as much flow through the extension sump as possible or operate "normally" (especially if you don't use the extension).

I found that pretty cool attention to detail.

Next few agenda items:
  • figure out how I want to plumb this
    • one return or 2? (probably 2)
    • how am I gonna mount the UV?
  • get the Radion rail mounted
  • figure out the 'scape
 
phatduckk said:
Same! Its taking way too long. We always have weekend plans so things are constantly pushed back a week. Tomorrow's my daughter's bday party (this one's fine), Sunday we have a friend's birthday party, next weekend we're going skiing... so, ya, it's gonna take a bit.
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Yadda yadda
Blah blah blah

Life get in the way of your hobbies
I understand, I’m just yanking yur chain
 
Climbed into the tank to start marking up where I’d drill to mount the light hanging hardware.

Now, are the studs really there? LoL I used a digital and magnetic stud finder. Supposedly there’s studs. I knocked on it… kinda sounds different but who knows.

Hopefully I don’t end up with extra holes

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Alright. Sometimes a project seems so easy then random crap goes wrong. How hard can it be to hang the lights? It’s just 2 screws right? Identify the studs, measure, pilot hole, screw…

We’ll thankfully this was simple lol. I’ve had a few instances where the stud finder straight lied but I double, triple checked and this was easy as pie.

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Haven’t leveled it but it’s centered on the tank and that’s what counts.
 
All the live rock from my old tank is in a brute-on-wheels.

So last night I had a stupid dream where I was magically living on a steep hill & somehow the brute-on-wheels was sent screaming down the hill.

Yup. Totally sad & dumb. Thought I’d share and get laughed at
 
I lost track of how many times I woke up to rain in the middle of the night with the "my living room is being flooded by a leaky tank" panic attack. You aren't alone.
 
grizfyrfyter said:
I lost track of how many times I woke up to rain in the middle of the night with the "my living room is being flooded by a leaky tank" panic attack. You aren't alone.
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Ya I guess my inner fear is that I didn’t store the live rock properly & “killed” it. But it’s got heat & flow … plus I toss in some pellet food a couple times a week.

Should be good… I think
 
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