TinCanHero
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Hello everyone! It's time for a new build thread, and I couldn't be more excited to share my journey with my third reef tank as a dry start. You might remember my first documented setup, my 93g cube. I then had to downgrade to my current RSR 200XL G2 and this time, I’m stepping it back up with the Red Sea Reefer 500 Peninsula G2+.
The Move and Tank Delivery
Moving into a new house is a challenge on its own, but adding a new tank setup into the mix has made it even more fun and games. The tank was delivered on November 1st, but getting it inside was a bit more complicated than expected. They tried to deliver it a day earlier than sheduled, but we hadn't even gotten the keys yet!
The tank arrived in two parts dropped off 20ft from the door in the road - an MDF crate containing the tank itsel and the stand components ontop pallet-wrapped.
Normally, I would have had 4-5 friends help with the heavy lifting, but this time it was just me and a friend. I got the tank unboxed outside, removed everything that wasnt the tank itself and reboxed it back up. The tank was silly heavy for two people, and we got lucky when two passersby offered to help get it up the step and into the house after we managed to move it to the door ourselfs. there was maybe 1mm of clearance with the door removed but it made it.
The stand was straightforward to assemble, much like my RSR 200, and feels solid. This model comes with a brace bar to prevent bowing, a update i believe due to the recent failures.
two days later 4 friends came to help me move the the tank around the corner and lift it onto the stand.
With all the chaos of moving, my aquascape didn't go exactly as planned. I had been working on a design a few months ago, but I accidentally rolled onto it, breaking it into a few large pieces half way through making it. I put it to oneside and forgot about it until the move happened out of nowhere. So, I had to spend an afternoon gluing it back together and "finishing" it rather quickly.
I used CaribSea South Seas dry rock, breaking it into small pieces and using superglue gel and Emarco cement to build the structure. The goal was to create a "floating shelf" look with a stable base buried under the sand hidden away.
The main pillar is mostly hollow, with built-in caves and dividing walls to provide plenty of sleeping spaces for fish. It’s not as detailed as I initially planned due to rushing to finish, but I’m happy with how it turned out, especially given the time constraints.
I’ll be adding fist-sized rocks to the sandbed for corals as needed. I’ve set some pieces aside in the sump for this purpose.
The sand bed is a mix of Caribsea special grade aragonite and there larger chunked aragonite along with around 7kg of TMC eco sand large (a crushed shell) at a depth of around 3-4". I've tried to make the sand a good mix of different sizes to allow my pistol shrimp to build tunnels more easy and so i can possibly some jaw head's later on. After making the mistake of not washing my sand before use last time, this time I made sure I gave it a good rinse.
The Cycling Process
I kicked off the cycle on November 10th, with a bit of a time crunch since we need to be out of the old place by the end of November (just the old tank sitting there now). This is a longer cycle than my previous tank, which I rushed through in just a week.
Cycling Steps
Seeding the Tank: I added a small amount of cycled rock from an established setup along with Aquaforest Bio Life media.
Bacterial Boost: I used Tropic Marin Nitrobiotic and have a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only ready for when I move the bulk of my fish over.
Ghost Feeding: I did a bit of ghost feeding to kickstart the process. There was a noticeable bacteria bloom on day 2/3, but by day 3/4, the water was crystal clear, and tests were coming back with good results.
First Residents: On the 17th, I transferred my two clownfish over to the new tank.
Gear Setup: A Mix of Old and New
Right now, the tank is bare-bones for cycling, but I have most of the gear already on my current tank and ill move it over once the full move happens.
Core Equipment
Return Pump: I opted for a Jebao 8500L/h with a WiFi controller. I initially ordered the 8000L/h model, but they sent me the upgraded version. I prefer simplicity, but this will have to do. i went the Jabo route after trying a few other brands over the years, to be these seem more reliable even know they are branded as "cheep".
UV Sterilizer: I’ve installed a 48W Deltec UV unit. I didn’t use UV on my second tank, and I noticed the difference in water clarity, so I’m excited to see the impact here. its also large enough to keep most parasites under controll. I wont be turning this on for a while yet although ive plumped it up with its own 2500L/h DC pump on a closed loop in the sump.
Heater: Using an Eheim ThermoControl e250. It might need a backup for winter as it's slightly undersized as i prefer to run two with slightly different temp settings for a lower power useage and redundancy.
Auto Top-Off (ATO): The built-in Red Sea ATO is in place, though I’ve had some quality issues with the probe in the past and the pump can be noisy at times, but overall, it’s a decent design.
I added a Deltec SC1500i? skimmer from my first tank, which I had stored away. It was in rough shape after sitting in a open barn for two years being packed away uncleaned, but after a good cleaning, it looks almost new. I had to replace the power supply, but the pump and controller still work great. I’ll need to 3D print a stand for it since the sump water level is a bit high.
Future Gear Plans
Here’s what I plan to add once I move my current tank tank:
Lighting: 1x Hydra 64HD (with plans for a second later)
Wave Pumps: Likely a Red Sea Reef Wave 200(i use now on the 200) or a jabo knockoff of the MP40
Filtration: A ReefMat 500 and a fuge
Controller Setup: Apex EL with Trident for monitoring, though I’ll keep this offline until I have a good stock of coral in the tank.
Dosing: I might use Kalkwasser for coralline algae growth initially, but will rely mostly on water changes until the tank is stocked with coral again. then ill go 3 part with ICP/Moonshiners
What’s Next?
It's been a whirlwind 17 days since the tank arrived, and there’s still a lot to do before the end of the month when I move the rest of my setup, mostly gear setup and cable routing etc.
Then the big move will happen. the fish, inverts etc will come over to the new tank and the old tank will be torn down and moved over here and set back up (fallow for now)
Stay tuned for updates, thanks for following along, and happy reefing!
The Move and Tank Delivery
Moving into a new house is a challenge on its own, but adding a new tank setup into the mix has made it even more fun and games. The tank was delivered on November 1st, but getting it inside was a bit more complicated than expected. They tried to deliver it a day earlier than sheduled, but we hadn't even gotten the keys yet!
The tank arrived in two parts dropped off 20ft from the door in the road - an MDF crate containing the tank itsel and the stand components ontop pallet-wrapped.
Normally, I would have had 4-5 friends help with the heavy lifting, but this time it was just me and a friend. I got the tank unboxed outside, removed everything that wasnt the tank itself and reboxed it back up. The tank was silly heavy for two people, and we got lucky when two passersby offered to help get it up the step and into the house after we managed to move it to the door ourselfs. there was maybe 1mm of clearance with the door removed but it made it.
The stand was straightforward to assemble, much like my RSR 200, and feels solid. This model comes with a brace bar to prevent bowing, a update i believe due to the recent failures.
two days later 4 friends came to help me move the the tank around the corner and lift it onto the stand.
With all the chaos of moving, my aquascape didn't go exactly as planned. I had been working on a design a few months ago, but I accidentally rolled onto it, breaking it into a few large pieces half way through making it. I put it to oneside and forgot about it until the move happened out of nowhere. So, I had to spend an afternoon gluing it back together and "finishing" it rather quickly.
I used CaribSea South Seas dry rock, breaking it into small pieces and using superglue gel and Emarco cement to build the structure. The goal was to create a "floating shelf" look with a stable base buried under the sand hidden away.
The main pillar is mostly hollow, with built-in caves and dividing walls to provide plenty of sleeping spaces for fish. It’s not as detailed as I initially planned due to rushing to finish, but I’m happy with how it turned out, especially given the time constraints.
I’ll be adding fist-sized rocks to the sandbed for corals as needed. I’ve set some pieces aside in the sump for this purpose.
The sand bed is a mix of Caribsea special grade aragonite and there larger chunked aragonite along with around 7kg of TMC eco sand large (a crushed shell) at a depth of around 3-4". I've tried to make the sand a good mix of different sizes to allow my pistol shrimp to build tunnels more easy and so i can possibly some jaw head's later on. After making the mistake of not washing my sand before use last time, this time I made sure I gave it a good rinse.
The Cycling Process
I kicked off the cycle on November 10th, with a bit of a time crunch since we need to be out of the old place by the end of November (just the old tank sitting there now). This is a longer cycle than my previous tank, which I rushed through in just a week.
Cycling Steps
Seeding the Tank: I added a small amount of cycled rock from an established setup along with Aquaforest Bio Life media.
Bacterial Boost: I used Tropic Marin Nitrobiotic and have a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only ready for when I move the bulk of my fish over.
Ghost Feeding: I did a bit of ghost feeding to kickstart the process. There was a noticeable bacteria bloom on day 2/3, but by day 3/4, the water was crystal clear, and tests were coming back with good results.
First Residents: On the 17th, I transferred my two clownfish over to the new tank.
Gear Setup: A Mix of Old and New
Right now, the tank is bare-bones for cycling, but I have most of the gear already on my current tank and ill move it over once the full move happens.
Core Equipment
Return Pump: I opted for a Jebao 8500L/h with a WiFi controller. I initially ordered the 8000L/h model, but they sent me the upgraded version. I prefer simplicity, but this will have to do. i went the Jabo route after trying a few other brands over the years, to be these seem more reliable even know they are branded as "cheep".
UV Sterilizer: I’ve installed a 48W Deltec UV unit. I didn’t use UV on my second tank, and I noticed the difference in water clarity, so I’m excited to see the impact here. its also large enough to keep most parasites under controll. I wont be turning this on for a while yet although ive plumped it up with its own 2500L/h DC pump on a closed loop in the sump.
Heater: Using an Eheim ThermoControl e250. It might need a backup for winter as it's slightly undersized as i prefer to run two with slightly different temp settings for a lower power useage and redundancy.
Auto Top-Off (ATO): The built-in Red Sea ATO is in place, though I’ve had some quality issues with the probe in the past and the pump can be noisy at times, but overall, it’s a decent design.
I added a Deltec SC1500i? skimmer from my first tank, which I had stored away. It was in rough shape after sitting in a open barn for two years being packed away uncleaned, but after a good cleaning, it looks almost new. I had to replace the power supply, but the pump and controller still work great. I’ll need to 3D print a stand for it since the sump water level is a bit high.
Future Gear Plans
Here’s what I plan to add once I move my current tank tank:
Lighting: 1x Hydra 64HD (with plans for a second later)
Wave Pumps: Likely a Red Sea Reef Wave 200(i use now on the 200) or a jabo knockoff of the MP40
Filtration: A ReefMat 500 and a fuge
Controller Setup: Apex EL with Trident for monitoring, though I’ll keep this offline until I have a good stock of coral in the tank.
Dosing: I might use Kalkwasser for coralline algae growth initially, but will rely mostly on water changes until the tank is stocked with coral again. then ill go 3 part with ICP/Moonshiners
What’s Next?
It's been a whirlwind 17 days since the tank arrived, and there’s still a lot to do before the end of the month when I move the rest of my setup, mostly gear setup and cable routing etc.
Then the big move will happen. the fish, inverts etc will come over to the new tank and the old tank will be torn down and moved over here and set back up (fallow for now)
Stay tuned for updates, thanks for following along, and happy reefing!
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