Tikosyn's Red Sea Reefer 750XXL

[Tikosyn]

Hi all! So I've been visiting this forum for months, gathering information and learning about reefing. Ive learned a lot, so much so that I am finally starting my very first reef tank. My build won't be live for probably another month or two but my tank just came in so I wanted to get a build thread going. I decided to go with Red Sea because their tanks are high quality and easy to work with from what I've read.

I've kept freshwater aquariums for a long time and the constant maintenance was getting old so in my reef tank the name of the game is automation. I'll be utilizing technology to make this as easy as possible, namely the Neptune apex, and the genesis automatic water change system. I'll be updating this with a component list soon.

Side note I want to thank this community for all of the helpful advice/information I've gotten over these past months, it is much appreciated!

First question-- I want to buy dry rock and seed it with some high quality live rock. I was planning on 10-20 lbs of live rock. My tank is 160 gallons, how much lbs of dry rock should I go with? I was thinking somewhere in the vicinity of 150 lbs. Planning on going with reefcleaners rock

 

[bif24701]

Hi all! So I've been visiting this forum for months, gathering information and learning about reefing. Ive learned a lot, so much so that I am finally starting my very first reef tank. My build won't be live for probably another month or two but my tank just came in so I wanted to get a build thread going. I decided to go with Red Sea because their tanks are high quality and easy to work with from what I've read.



I've kept freshwater aquariums for a long time and the constant maintenance was getting old so in my reef tank the name of the game is automation. I'll be utilizing technology to make this as easy as possible, namely the Neptune apex, and the genesis automatic water change system. I'll be updating this with a component list soon.



Side note I want to thank this community for all of the helpful advice/information I've gotten over these past months, it is much appreciated!



First question-- I want to buy dry rock and seed it with some high quality live rock. I was planning on 10-20 lbs of live rock. My tank is 160 gallons, how much lbs of dry rock should I go with? I was thinking somewhere in the vicinity of 150 lbs. Planning on going with reefcleaners rock

Where did you see this Live Rock? Most all live rock these days is no longer the real live rock we could get years ago. Most LFS just throw a bunch of dry rock into a large bin with salt water and sell it as Live Rock. Also Live rock is a PITA for a beginner, curing, pests, algae, and nutrient problems.

Go with a quality dry rock like BRS Pukani. Pukani is better because it came from the ocean and has far more porosity than the typical base or Reef saver rock. The base/Reef saver rock is mined, not collected. This type of rock is heavy and dense. Very difficult to cut or shape, water does not penetrate the surface like Pukani allows. Pukani allows water to penetrate deep within the rock through millions of small and tiny holes. This feature assists Nitrate control because the O2 levels are lower and the bacteria there use Nitrate for energy. This also means that the surface area of Pukani vs other rock is 3-5x's more thus more effective.

Pound for pound you will have more rock with the Pukani, higher surface area, helps Nitrate control, easier to cut/drill/chisel for aquascape, looks great, more holes and crevasses for life/clean up crew/Pods/worms/ I even have many fish that live directly in some of the bigger rocks.

Pukani requires an easy curing process to help eliminate the organics on it because it actually came from the ocean. This is done with RO water and some bleach. BRS has a video on the Utubs discussing the whole process.

Base or Reef saver rock is dense, heavy, very difficult to cut or drill, holes are fewer and usually larger, does not need to be cured, and it can stack easily for aquascape.

I recommend Pukani.


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[Tikosyn]

As far as the live rock goes I have two places in mind: either tampa bay saltwater or Atlantic reef conservation premium live rock. Reviews for TBS have been stellar everywhere I've seen and ARC rock looks great and has good reviews too...

I am worried about Pukani because I have read that it leeches phosphates like crazy, also I don't really want to have to cure rock which I can avoid if I go with reecleaners. I definitely respect your opinion of going with all dry rock, I just feel I'll be missing something if I don't at least have some live rock to seed the tank with beneficial bacteria/coralline, etc. All dry rock seems to be a popular way to go these days though.

 

[tjm9331]

I went with all Pukani when I built my tank over a year ago. You're right it does leech phosphates but this can be minimized if its cured properly (which admittedly I probably didn't do) it took just about a year for the phosphates to stop leeching out of the rocks. Had a good battle with hair algae along the way as well.

would I go with Pukani again?...absolutely! What I love about Pukani is that you can get away with fewer pounds than you can with the more dense rocks. Pukani is light weight and porous which means you need less of it. I have a 75 gallon tank but only have about 55 pounds of rock in the tank and it is more than sufficient for my biological filtration.

If you decided to go with Pukani I'd be willing to bet you'd only need 100 maybe 110 pounds of rock.

All that said, I respect your decision to go with the live rock and reefcleaner rock, the live rock will certainly help the tank cycle faster and would more than likely keep nutrient levels lower from the get go.

 

[jbsengineer]

Did you get the deluxe reefer? If not what Lights will you be getting? Also why not the DOS apex route for water changes?

 

[Tikosyn]

I did get the deluxe version so I will be using the 4 AI Hydra 26 LED's. As for the DOS automatic water change, I honestly didn't even know that was a possibility until after I had bought the genesis. I still bought a DOS for eventual dosing that I will need for corals.

I think the Genesis is going to end up being a good purchase, especially since I also got the storm automatic top off and they work in conjunction with eachother.

 

[Tikosyn]

Equipment List:

Return pump--Reef Octopus Varios 8
Flow-- 2 or 3 tunze nanostream 6095 pumps + Maxspect battery backup
Heater-- Finnex titanium 800w
Controller-- Apex 2016
Doser-- Apex DOS + apex DDR
Water change--Genesis Renew
ATO- Genesis Storm
Sand- 120 lbs Tropic Eden dry miniflakes
Rock- 150 lbs reefcleaners dry rock + 25 lbs ARC reef live rock
Skimmer--reef octopus regal 200 int
Lighting-- 4 AI Hydra 26 HD LED's
Water-- BRS 4 stage RO/DI unit and instant ocean salt
Reactors/media-- Biotek marine bio series media reactor running BRS Rox .8 carbon, not going to run GFO to start
Refugium light-- Maxspect Celestial C35 Aquatic algae growing led

Can any veteran reefers let me know if I'm missing something? I still need a few odds and ends like water storage containers but I want to be sure I have everything before I start putting everything together.

 

[jbsengineer]

Sorry I can't answer any of your questions as I'm still in the learning/research phase of jumping into this hobby. However, I am very curious where you procured the 750xxl as I'm also interested in it. Thanks.

 

[Tikosyn]

I got it from Aquariumspecialty.com, I placed the order on 7/4 and received it about 6 weeks later.

 

[jbsengineer]

Why not the recirculating skimmer?

 

[Tikosyn]

For me it was a cost issue. I was reaching the max of my budget (which somehow I've left in the dust at this point anyways) and the difference of 200 dollars for the recirculating version didn't make the cut for me. I've read a lot of reviews for a lot of skimmers and reef octopus seems to give you a lot for your money. I also considered NYOS skimmers but again, cost was a factor there.

Side note my dry rock from reefcleaners looks great! Will try to post some pics soon.

 

[jbsengineer]

For me it was a cost issue. I was reaching the max of my budget (which somehow I've left in the dust at this point anyways) and the difference of 200 dollars for the recirculating version didn't make the cut for me. I've read a lot of reviews for a lot of skimmers and reef octopus seems to give you a lot for your money. I also considered NYOS skimmers but again, cost was a factor there.

Side note my dry rock from reefcleaners looks great! Will try to post some pics soon.

Understood. I am too weighing cost/benefit for the skimmer!

Looking forward to seeing your aquascape. My tank shipped today, got my Pukani on a large table and am started to build my scape!

 

[jbsengineer]

For me it was a cost issue. I was reaching the max of my budget (which somehow I've left in the dust at this point anyways) and the difference of 200 dollars for the recirculating version didn't make the cut for me. I've read a lot of reviews for a lot of skimmers and reef octopus seems to give you a lot for your money. I also considered NYOS skimmers but again, cost was a factor there.

Side note my dry rock from reefcleaners looks great! Will try to post some pics soon.

My 750 just arrived today. Now I can't stop trying to figure out how in the world I'm going to get this into the house and on top of the stand. I called RedSea and they said the tank alone is over 600lbs. Yikes! What is your plan?

 

[Tikosyn]

Congrats on getting your tank! Mine is currently sitting in my garage. I have to somehow get it in the house, and down into the basement. I still haven't figured out how I'm going to accomplish that besides a bunch of strong dudes and some elbow grease. We may have to find a way to slide it down the stairs if it weighs that much! Let me know if you come up with anything. I think it can be done, just very...carefully...

 

[jbsengineer]

It's nice to know I'm not the only person with this issue. For the price of these things Red Sea should include a tank lifting service, :lmao:!

 

[Tikosyn]

Small update, tank is down the stairs and on the stand! This took a small amount of planning and some suction cups. I purchased 6 suction cups rated for about 260lbs each and invited 5 guys over to get it into the house, which wasn't bad at all. Getting it into the basement was a bit trickier. I had a piece of plywood cut at Lowe's to the same width and a little bit longer than the length of the tank. I duct taped cardboard all along one side of the plywood to decrease friction going down the stairs. I also cut a 2x4 and drilled it into the bottom of the plywood so the tank couldn't slide off. Basically, I built a sled for this thing.

We attached two suction cups to the far end of the tank, wrapped some rope through the suction cups and 4 guys slowly lowered the tank down the stairs, worked like a charm! It took 4 normal sized guys to lift it from the floor onto the stand. Now I have to figure out why I decided not to just go with red sea's plumbing and try and do a custom hard plumbing set up on my first reef tank! If anyone has some tips let me know!

 

[Raptor72]

Does the stand not have a floorboard or did you leave it out?


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[Tikosyn]

According to the instructions you're supposed to put the tank on the stand and get it level before putting in the bottom part of the stand and the sump. Also trying to figure out how to space the lights as well.

 

[Shamous113]

Equipment List:

Return pump--Reef Octopus Varios 8
Flow-- 2 or 3 tunze nanostream 6095 pumps + Maxspect battery backup
Heater-- Finn ex titanium 800w
Controller-- Apex 2016
Doser-- Apex DOS + apex DDR
Water change--Genesis Renew
ATO- Genesis Storm
Sand- 120 lbs Tropic Eden dry miniflakes
Rock- 150 lbs reefcleaners dry rock + 25 lbs ARC reef live rock
Skimmer--reef octopus regal 200 int
Lighting-- 4 AI Hydra 26 HD LED's
Water-- BRS 4 stage RO/DI unit and instant ocean salt
Reactors/media-- Biotek marine bio series media reactor running BRS Rox .8 carbon, not going to run GFO to start
Refugium light-- Maxspect Celestial C35 Aquatic algae growing led

Can any veteran reefers let me know if I'm missing something? I still need a few odds and ends like water storage containers but I want to be sure I have everything before I start putting everything together.

I would add a second heater and ruduce the wattage (500W ea), that way if one gets stuck on or fails you wont cook or freeze the tank, I've run the Finnex heaters their heater is well built, I didnt like the duty cycle of their controller. I ended up adding a seprate controller to solve the isue. I also like the Eheim Jager heaters

You Want to invest in a good 75gpd RODI system and youll want to get some containers for storage and salt mixing and a couple of transfer/mixing pumps to help with the work

 

[Tikosyn]

Thanks for the advice Shamous, I have two 300w heaters I just bought as backups in case anything fails with the finnex. As for water storage, I bought a 65 gallon industrial water storage container and have a 75 gal per day RO/DI unit from BRS I'll be using. I also grabbed a 10 gal custom acrylic water storage container for my top off water with some poweheads/eheim pumps to mix and move water. Here are a few more pics with the lights mounted, does the placement look ok? I want to avoid shadowing and make sure the tank is well lit throughout.