Dan's RSR-S 850 Mixed Reef
- Thread starter dandemeyere
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Coral reefer
Past President
Get some help and the move will be fine. I know a guy or two…
Sounds like a great chance to add a frag tank!
Sounds like a great chance to add a frag tank!
Zumareef
Supporting Member
thanks for the detailed info and good luck with the move!I ended up selling the monster toadstool on the left to create a new SPS bommie so the full tank shot won't look that greatI also have a bunch of frag racks in the display right now too
I dose 4L of fully saturated kalkwasser as my base Alk/Calcium additive and I've experimented with All-For-Reef and ESV for the supplemental needs on top of that. I liked All-For-Reef because I thought it would enable me to switch from 3 dosers & dosing containers (ESV Alk, ESV Calc, ESV Mag) to one. I also liked that All-For-Reef comes dry and can be made into solution at home. I quickly realized my Mag needs were higher than the base All-For-Reef recipe so I went back to dosing AFR + ESV Mag. Then I topped out the max daily dose of AFR and needed to dose ESV Alk/Calc to further supplement my consumption needs. The reason I dosed both for a while is that AFR and ESV have different trace elements they add to their solutions and I thought both would give better coverage for trace elements more broadly. Unfortunately, I didn't notice any benefits to dosing both so I took the AFR offline. Right now my daily consumption is 4L of kalkwasser plus 100ml of ESV Alk, 100ml of ESV Calc, and 30ml of ESV Mag.
In other news, my wife and I have a son arriving in May and given our house is relatively small, I'll be moving my office & fish tank into the garage once I finish insulating it. I'm a bit nervous to move the tank and disrupt the system, but there's a chance I'll be able to upgrade (or potentially plumb in another system) as part of this which definitely excites me.
dandemeyere
Supporting Member
Thanks! My two year old daughter loves to look at the tank so here's to hoping my son does as well.
Definitely. There are a few reefers here in North Marin (shout out to @SepToob) so when the time comes, I think the help will be there.
As for the new tank, I'm torn between doing something like a IM 50 lagoon as a frag tank or going bigger with an IM 100 EXT lagoon. Its dimensions are shallow like a frag tank (30" x 47.3" x 16.1") so it would be easy to work in, but it's big enough to have tangs & a proper utilitarian fish crew. Either way I'd want to plumb it into my existing system so I only have to worry about one setup for dosing, automated testing, heating, etc. I'm thinking I'd do something similar to Coral Euphoria where it acts as a SPS grow out tank while looking more like a display vs. a tank with racks of frags:
Thanks! I did a move across town a few years ago that went without a hitch and I've had a move that was only 10 feet away in the same room that ended up re-cycling the tank and killing all my SPS so I plan to be careful with how I plan out the move this time.
I haven't down top down photos in a while so I don't have a recent picture, but I'll try to snap one in the next week or two. I have a PAR meter so I know the maxima is getting around 300-350 PAR. Not as fast of a grower as the derasa though.
Zumareef
Supporting Member
Very similar experience moving my reef as well; moved it to a larger tank and then back to a smaller tank with no problems but most recently down sized to a smaller tank for temporary holding purposes and lost most of my sps too!
dandemeyere
Supporting Member
I was doing a water change today and snapped a top down photo of the maxima for you
The TSA Bill Murray is really getting big too!
I added a New York Knicks torch to go alongside my Dragon Soul torch colony that's growing really well but still isn't ready to be fragged (tissue still goes down to the base making no obvious places to cut the branching heads):
Looks awesome! The lighter colored streaks with dots are a really nice combo. That dragon soul is a BEAST. DBTC perhaps? hahaI was doing a water change today and snapped a top down photo of the maxima for you
The TSA Bill Murray is really getting big too!
I added a New York Knicks torch to go alongside my Dragon Soul torch colony that's growing really well but still isn't ready to be fragged (tissue still goes down to the base making no obvious places to cut the branching heads):
dandemeyere
Supporting Member
Haha I need to start more DBTCs but it might be a while before I do the Dragon Soul
dandemeyere
Supporting Member
I'm not exactly sure what is the cause of it, but the tank has been steadily improving for the past month or two in terms of coloration & growth rate. I changed salts from Tropic Marin Pro to Red Sea Blue Bucket and I've been doing large, 20% weekly water changes so I imagine one of those two changes is playing a big role.
Anyway, I snapped some pics yesterday I wanted to share. Here are a few of my favorite corals that are finally starting to take off:
Pengs Blue Monster
WWC Yoda
New York Knicks Torch (top left)
Anyway, I snapped some pics yesterday I wanted to share. Here are a few of my favorite corals that are finally starting to take off:
Pengs Blue Monster
WWC Yoda
New York Knicks Torch (top left)
Coral reefer
Past President
I like the red one in the middle pic! What is it?
dandemeyere
Supporting Member
That's the good 'ole fashioned ORA Red Planet.
Coral reefer
Past President
Any not even a speck of green? Looks nice from the top!
dandemeyere
Supporting Member
When I first got it, it was more-so white/green with hints of red. But when it grew out, it turned pure red. My frags still turn white/green after I cut them and they encrust, but the bigger the frags get, the more and more red they become.
Coral reefer
Past President
I always saw more red with more intense light. Maybe it was just in my head
dandemeyere
Supporting Member
Lid is on and the tank is cluttered with frag racks so it's not in the best state for photos, but figured I'd snap quick pic of the tank with my iPhone today:
FarmerTy Eternal Flame starting to take off
FarmerTy Eternal Flame starting to take off
Finally I get to see the source of all these wonderful frags I've acquired; great! Looks really nice, and that torch is huuuuugge!Lid is on and the tank is cluttered with frag racks so it's not in the best state for photos, but figured I'd snap quick pic of the tank with my iPhone today:
View attachment 45163
FarmerTy Eternal Flame starting to take off
View attachment 45164
dandemeyere
Supporting Member
Aw thanks @richiev! I'm about to get my hands on the club's bandsaw so expect some Dragon Soul torch frags soon
dandemeyere
Supporting Member
Two years since my last post! So quite a gap to cover here...
About two years ago I decided to upgrade to a Red Sea Reefer-S 850:
To try and minimize the pain of the transfer, I spent weeks leading up to the move transferring water from my RSR 425XL to the 850 – that way I knew the water in the 850 had a healthy nutrient ratio as well as the right parameters. I also moved over 7-year-old live rock from my 425 sump to seed the 850 as well. I put a ton of thought into this transfer and tried to be extra patient, but unfortunately when I did the 425->850 transfer, the 850 got dinos and wiped out all of my SPS colonies. It was really heartbreaking throwing out grapefruit sized colonies of walt disney, homewrecker, etc. and some even bigger colonies of oregon tort, TSA bill murray, etc. It's a big reason why I didn't post on this thread for so long. I fragged what I could of the dying colonies and banked some with some friends, but basically it was a reset for my SPS (my LPS made it through). In hindsight, I should have ID'd the dinos right away and started UV since it was the free floating kind. I thought my tank would mature through it, but that hubris really bit me.
Anyway, here's the tank in July 2023 shortly after all the SPS colonies died and the tank was effectively reset:
I kept the aquascape minimal and low as I knew I wanted to grow more SPS. I'll try to share more about the journey between then and now, but here are a few pictures from this weekend (all SPS were grown from 1" frags in less than 2 years):
When the tank hits two years, I'll try to clean it up more for a better picture. I also have a ton of frag racks which isn't pleasing to the eye but I'm thinking about plumbing in a separate frag system so hopefully at some point this year all of those frag racks will be gone so I can make my display a display again
About two years ago I decided to upgrade to a Red Sea Reefer-S 850:
- Display Tank Dimensions - 71"L x 25.6"H x 26.75"W
- Display Tank Volume - 180 Gallons
- Total System Volume - 225 Gallons
To try and minimize the pain of the transfer, I spent weeks leading up to the move transferring water from my RSR 425XL to the 850 – that way I knew the water in the 850 had a healthy nutrient ratio as well as the right parameters. I also moved over 7-year-old live rock from my 425 sump to seed the 850 as well. I put a ton of thought into this transfer and tried to be extra patient, but unfortunately when I did the 425->850 transfer, the 850 got dinos and wiped out all of my SPS colonies. It was really heartbreaking throwing out grapefruit sized colonies of walt disney, homewrecker, etc. and some even bigger colonies of oregon tort, TSA bill murray, etc. It's a big reason why I didn't post on this thread for so long. I fragged what I could of the dying colonies and banked some with some friends, but basically it was a reset for my SPS (my LPS made it through). In hindsight, I should have ID'd the dinos right away and started UV since it was the free floating kind. I thought my tank would mature through it, but that hubris really bit me.
Anyway, here's the tank in July 2023 shortly after all the SPS colonies died and the tank was effectively reset:
I kept the aquascape minimal and low as I knew I wanted to grow more SPS. I'll try to share more about the journey between then and now, but here are a few pictures from this weekend (all SPS were grown from 1" frags in less than 2 years):
When the tank hits two years, I'll try to clean it up more for a better picture. I also have a ton of frag racks which isn't pleasing to the eye but I'm thinking about plumbing in a separate frag system so hopefully at some point this year all of those frag racks will be gone so I can make my display a display again
Don't feel bad I probably have more frag racks on the glass of my 32biocubeTwo years since my last post! So quite a gap to cover here...
About two years ago I decided to upgrade to a Red Sea Reefer-S 850:
Here's a pic of the tank and plumbing when I was setting it up in March 2023:
- Display Tank Dimensions - 71"L x 25.6"H x 26.75"W
- Display Tank Volume - 180 Gallons
- Total System Volume - 225 Gallons
View attachment 65000
View attachment 64999
To try and minimize the pain of the transfer, I spent weeks leading up to the move transferring water from my RSR 425XL to the 850 – that way I knew the water in the 850 had a healthy nutrient ratio as well as the right parameters. I also moved over 7-year-old live rock from my 425 sump to seed the 850 as well. I put a ton of thought into this transfer and tried to be extra patient, but unfortunately when I did the 425->850 transfer, the 850 got dinos and wiped out all of my SPS colonies. It was really heartbreaking throwing out grapefruit sized colonies of walt disney, homewrecker, etc. and some even bigger colonies of oregon tort, TSA bill murray, etc. It's a big reason why I didn't post on this thread for so long. I fragged what I could of the dying colonies and banked some with some friends, but basically it was a reset for my SPS (my LPS made it through). In hindsight, I should have ID'd the dinos right away and started UV since it was the free floating kind. I thought my tank would mature through it, but that hubris really bit me.
Anyway, here's the tank in July 2023 shortly after all the SPS colonies died and the tank was effectively reset:
View attachment 65001
I kept the aquascape minimal and low as I knew I wanted to grow more SPS. I'll try to share more about the journey between then and now, but here are a few pictures from this weekend (all SPS were grown from 1" frags in less than 2 years):
View attachment 65002View attachment 65003View attachment 65004View attachment 65005View attachment 65006View attachment 65007
When the tank hits two years, I'll try to clean it up more for a better picture. I also have a ton of frag racks which isn't pleasing to the eye but I'm thinking about plumbing in a separate frag system so hopefully at some point this year all of those frag racks will be gone so I can make my display a display again