Cabo's BC29 to Reefer 170 Migration and Tank Build

[soulpatch]

I think you will seriously kick yourself in the rear if you went with a 12" deep tank. I think the min I would want go to is 16" With the growth of corals and such that extra 4" will give you room to actually grow colonies. Otherwise a lot of stuff you will be limiting your growth once you add on rock and such you will have perhaps 8 inches of room for something to grow.

That shallow and you will start to have issues with equipment as well in the PHs.

If it was one of their 45 gallon tanks or such that start to get into the 16-20" deep then I think you are in business. Otherwise I think you are going too shallow for your to be happy with longer term.

 

[ReefWreak]

I definitely agree with nothing shallower than 16". Imagine you lost 6" of your biocube height! I would go for as large a footprint as possible, and if you want shallow, do open top and 16". Maybe even cube.

Those ZeroEdge tanks used to be neat. Never really truely caught on though. Maybe it was the $6K price tag...

 

[Cabo2008]

Well Fine! Everyone rain on my parade! Ha!

Actually that's pretty much what I was thinking but I make some rash decisions sometimes, so I figured posting here would "slow me down".

I may just wait until I move to a house to upgrade again. I already have that tank, plumbing, everything spec'd out since I was going to build it out before I moved and didn't get around to it.

Oh, and yeah, the zero edge tanks are cool to look at, but I can't see me getting one. Especially with that price tag!

 

[Herbie]

Just following ....... really like these 170's ! Might have to get one .
I especially like Red Sea's version of the quiet flow plumbing ! Looks like the device they use, may work better than a ball or gate valve . Is the tank pretty quiet ?

Got a quick question for you ....... I am just wondering how much space is between the factory Red sea sump, and the factory stand . Just wondering how large of a top off reservoir can fit in there .........the factory top off tank is a bit small imho . Is it 6" wide or even smaller ?

Oh and BTW, if you do decide to go with a shallow tank ....... let me know before I buy a new 170 ...... I could just buy yours instead

 

[Cabo2008]

Yeah, I really like the 170, I just like the idea of a shallower reef. I'm not sure what I'm going to do right now though. It is quiet, if you set it right and change out the filter socks frequently enough that they don't cause an overflow, you can't hear it at all. I hear my skimmer more than the overflow.

If I remember right, spacing between the sump and far wall is about 4-4.5". I know that the eshopps container I picked up for keeping my dosing fluids in wouldn't fit there and it's 5" deep.

If you really want the 170, PM me sometime and we'll chat. You never know about me, I can change stuff out at the drop of a hat........ask Soulpatch...lol

 

[soulpatch]

ask Soulpatch...lol

I think my wife would prefer if Lee and I not talk to one another either via phone or on this site. It normally results in one of us spending a significant amount of money and recently it is like we are in an arms war with one another. LOL

He pinged me he got the WAV so I of course needed it as well. He got the reefer 170 so I went out and got a 150 gallon tank. Round and round we go.

But yes both of us seem to have itchy fingers. For me personaly I have Kessils already lined up for the new tank but thinking of scrapping one to go with T5 across the middle. So who knows what the next fixture will be to cross my doorstep. I need to sneak it though after dropping a few grand in the past few weeks...

 

[Herbie]

Yeah, I really like the 170, I just like the idea of a shallower reef. I'm not sure what I'm going to do right now though. It is quiet, if you set it right and change out the filter socks frequently enough that they don't cause an overflow, you can't hear it at all. I hear my skimmer more than the overflow.

If I remember right, spacing between the sump and far wall is about 4-4.5". I know that the eshopps container I picked up for keeping my dosing fluids in wouldn't fit there and it's 5" deep.

If you really want the 170, PM me sometime and we'll chat. You never know about me, I can change stuff out at the drop of a hat........ask Soulpatch...lol

Thanks for the info !
Yea, thats what I was afraid of for space between the sump and cabinet .
I have this crazy idea to use that space for some kind of top off reservoir (even if i need to get one custom made) that is larger than the Red Sea top off reservoir . Then ..........use the Red Sea reservoir exactly where its sits , to use as a refugium . What do you think ?

Anyway .........Pmed ya about somehow getting your 170 into my hands ! :lmao:

 

[Cabo2008]

but thinking of scrapping one to go with T5 across the middle

Hey man, PM me about that idea. My ATI fixture will be back from being refurb'd by ATI on Tuesday.

 

[Cabo2008]

Thanks for the info !
Yea, thats what I was afraid of for space between the sump and cabinet .
I have this crazy idea to use that space for some kind of top off reservoir (even if i need to get one custom made) that is larger than the Red Sea top off reservoir . Then ..........use the Red Sea reservoir exactly where its sits , to use as a refugium . What do you think ?

Anyway .........Pmed ya about somehow getting your 170 into my hands ! :lmao:

I'm actually drilling the ATO tank that came with the reefer this weekend to turn it into a 'fuge. For ATO I just use a Tunze 3155 and a 6 Gal bucket I fill with RO/DI once a week.

One day I'll probably just pick up the eShopps 5 GAL or 10 GAL ATO reservoir, but for now, a bucket will do.

 

[Herbie]

I'm actually drilling the ATO tank that came with the reefer this weekend to turn it into a 'fuge.

Cool.........let me know how it turns out .
Guess you will use a small feed pump in the sump for it ?

 

[sixpackgarage]

amazing that you were able to get the WAV pumps to work with your little tank. On my 65, I played around for 5 hours trying to make them behave.. just way too powerful for my corals.. I had to pull them out and run two MP10s instead.

 

[Cabo2008]

amazing that you were able to get the WAV pumps to work with your little tank. On my 65, I played around for 5 hours trying to make them behave.. just way too powerful for my corals.. I had to pull them out and run two MP10s instead.

HAHAHA! Who said I got the WAV's working properly on my tank?
I did get a starter set, tried with 2, no way. Tried with 1 and I get get pretty close, but some of my softies are not digging it at all. And believe me, I've been trying...for weeks now.

So I'm reverting back to either my RW-4's or MP-10 this weekend to see what happens. At the end of the day, keeping everything happy is more important than me having the coolest toys to play with.

I've changed my rock work around significantly while trying to make the WAV work well so I need to see how it all pans out with the other PHs.

I think if it was an all SPS or even LPS tank, I could make it work (albeit only running and 1%-5%), but with having softies in there too, it's very difficult unless I want to build a "current dam" around them with rocks.

 

[Herbie]

I'm actually drilling the ATO tank that came with the reefer this weekend to turn it into a 'fuge.

Cabo ...............check this out.
Looks like it does work !

 

[Cabo2008]

Hmmm, that's not bad. Not sure how he/she hooked up their flow for the fuge, but it looks pretty good.

I'm going to also paint the outside black accept for the front to minimize light in the sump (algae and stuff ya know).

 

[Herbie]

O.K. , just bit the bullet and ordered a 170 in black from BRS ........... see what you did Cabo !

Figured I would get it from BRS, I like those guys ! Since its the same price everywhere basically, at least I earned about 50. in BRS points ! I will use that towards something ...........

Have a Maxspect R420R 120w 16k going on it already . Will probably go with a Sicce Syncra 2.0 for a pump, and still not decided on a skimmer yet . Maybe a Skimz or Bubble Magus Curve 5.

So it begins ............

 

[Cabo2008]

O.K. , just bit the bullet and ordered a 170 in black from BRS ........... see what you did Cabo !

Figured I would get it from BRS, I like those guys ! Since its the same price everywhere basically, at least I earned about 50. in BRS points ! I will use that towards something ...........

Have a Maxspect R420R 120w 16k going on it already . Will probably go with a Sicce Syncra 2.0 for a pump, and still not decided on a skimmer yet . Maybe a Skimz or Bubble Magus Curve 5.

So it begins ............

That's cool Herbie. Make sure to start a build thread so we can pick on....errrrr....see what yer up to!

 

[Cabo2008]

First off, Merry Christmas everyone! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then happy holidays!

Well, I figured that since I had 3 days off (kinda) I'd go ahead and make the changes I've been planning for my tank.

Kessil and ATI are out and a Nanobox Duo is in for lighting.....and so far, I'm pretty darn impressed.

Skimz skimmer is out and a Lifereef SVS3-24 is in. I'm still trying to figure out some tweaks on the skimmer, but so far, so good.

Neptune WAV's are bye bye. I could have gotten by with using just one at about 1%-5%, but that just seemed silly to me. So now I'm back to my MP10 for now. Deciding if I'll get another one for the other side of my overflow (the one I have is mounted on the back of the tank, between the overflow box and the glass) or if I had it right the first time and I go back to the RW-4's.

I'm going to clean the tank today and then I'll post some updated pictures tonight or tomorrow. Between Christmas and me trying to sell my large cabinet humidor and arrange local pickup for it, today's going to be a busy day.

 

[Cabo2008]

As promised, couple of new pictures. I'll update them again once I get the light fully dialed in and modify the skimmer plumbing.

 

[Cabo2008]

Just made the changes to the skimmers plumbing. Now I can get the filter sock tray out without moving it and the output is over by the return pump instead of being right on top of the input pump.

Had to build a little eggcrate stand for the skimmer to sit on to get the output line over the baffles between the skimmer chamber and the return pump chamber.

I think I need to run a manifold off my return pump to "power" my reactor and refugium (if I still do it). Need to start minimizing gear in the stand, it's getting pretty crowded!

 

[Cabo2008]

A quick little update.

So far, loving the Nanobox Duo over the tank. It seems to minimize the one real issue I had with the Kessil, which was shadowing. Don't get me wrong, I still love the Kessils, I just think I'd need 2 or more on this tank to minimize the shadowing effect and that's just silly for a tank my size.

The Lifereef skimmer is kicking in nicely now too. I need to adjust the water height in the reaction chamber a bit, but other than that, I think it'll be a "set and forget" skimmer....which is what I was looking for.