The Tucker's Red Sea 650 build

F

Fish Outta Water

We bought a Red Sea 650 back in November. I didn't start a thread here back then so here it is. Gonna post a few pics of the build. Will continue over the next few days. We are now almost 6 months in on this tank.

We bought the tank that was used at the macna conference at the Red Sea setup. So far we love it and don't regret it at all. We decided to use a biopellet reactor because the sump is really not designed for a refugium. We had some issues with the pellets in the beginning. Once I figured out that we needed to keep the alkalinity lower than normal,everything cleared up. We were using the Red Sea coral pro salt with a high level of alkalinity. Switched over to aquavitro and no problems since. I found a dkh of 7-8 to be pest when running the pellets.

Here's what we have as far as equipment.

Red Sea S 650 merlot color (the macna display tank for those of you that saw it)
Mp40
Jbj 1/3 hp chiller
Reef octopus BR110 biopellet reactor
Apex controller

What's in the tank?

60 pounds of dry rock
50 pounds of dry real reef rock
25 pounds of live real reef rock
120 pounds of caribsea special grade dry sand

Livestock

Pair of false percs
Flame angel
Desjardini Tang
Blue regal tang
Bicolor blenny that has changed to all purple since moving him into the tank. No gold at all now. I think he changed color because of the real reef rock.
2 firefish
1 dispar anthias
2 lyretail anthias
2 bartletts anthias
Magnificent foxface
1 schooling banner fish
Various inverts

Just a start to the build. I will add more later. Here are a few pics.
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Matt
 
Also want to give a shout out to local fish stores. We purchase most of our stuff locally. It may cost a few bucks more but we think its important to purchase from the people that help you. No particular order here.

Rift2Reef - tank, some rock, some corals, mp40, and some fish. We wish we could get over to Dane's store more often but it's hike to flower mound for us. Very nice store with a great selection.

Frank's Tanks - most of the fish, sand, some corals, rbta, biopellet reactor, supplements, and a crap ton of advice. Cleanest store I've been in.

Fish2morrow - mostly coral purchases, some inverts, some fish, some supplements. Looking forward to seeing the new place grow. I haven't been in several weeks.

The Fish Place - bought our original Red Sea 130d here, some rock, some fish, and corals that transferred to the new tank. We always forget to go by this store. It's not really near anything we go to but we always stop by when in the area. They are also trying to grow their saltwater area. It's been several months since we've been in the store.





Matt
 
150 display and 25 sump. It's their biggest all in one. We love it. Just a few mods. Biopellets are working just like macro for us. No phosphates and minimal nitrates. It's 800watts of t5 lighting. I really want to change to LEDs. The chiller runs all the time. Plus the replacement bulbs will run me about 5-600 a year as it is now.


Matt
 
Looks great, Matt. (And thank you putting your name in the signature line - it helps people like me!)

I really think the RedSea series like this one is great for those that want everything included. It may cost a little more, but you don't have to puzzle piece it together. It's plug and play.
 
I agree Marc. We fell in love with the tank when we saw it at the conference. Then we came across the same tank at Rift2Reef and had to have it.

I guess I also should have mentioned that we bought our ROdi unit from you at MACNA. More local support.

I put my name in the signature when I'm on my phone because Dorie and I post under the same name. She doesn't like me taking credit for everything. ;)


Matt
 
We lost our second heniochus last night. We bought two last week. One died the second night. The other died last night. They never seemed to recover. The second looked good for a few days then starting taking a turn for the worse a couple of days ago.


Matt
 
A few pictures tonight. All of our fish seem to have recovered from the ich outbreak from the introduction of the schooling banner fish. (Both dead within a week). We hope to try again at some point because they are really cool fish to watch. Very social.

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Matt
 
Sorry to hear they didn't make it. I had some problems with mine... He spent over a month in QT treated with Copper, antibiotics, and antifungals before he went in to the display tank.
 
We have never had a problem with any fish aside from a few spots on the regal and the foxface when we put them in. These two heniochus were bad. Went from beautiful to horrible overnight.


Matt
 
Big sale at Frank's Tanks today. I bought 4 frags at ridiculous prices.

Montiporo spongodes
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Green birdsnest
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I can't remember the name of this montipora. I think it's a monti but can't remember.
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Gold tip torch
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Matt
 
Power went out for almost 2 hours last night. I really need to get a generator. I ended up running to Walmart and getting a 750 converter I can hook onto my car battery. I got it all hooked up with all pumps running and then the power came back on. A bit of a scare but I think everything is fine. We won't know until we get home when the lights are on.


Matt
 
Ya power outage suck. I had that happen not to long ago. I lost most ever sps. Ended up being the reason I broke down my 120g.
 
Latest addition to the tank. Powder brown tang. I have been wanting one of these since we upgraded to the bigger tank. Im so glad i saw it posted on the forum today. The desjardini is picking at him a bit. Hopefully it stops. The powder brown wants to follow him around.

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Matt
 
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