Red Sea reefer 170 Freshwater scape.

[Rich Jackson]

After running this tank for a year and a smaller one for a year before that all was going great... Until one day it all just crashed. Lost ALOT of high end corals and fell out of love for it.
So sold what remained of livestock and equipment. drained tank and just left it sitting there. Wife told me I wasn't to sell it so I had to do something with it.

So its in the slow process of being converted to freshwater.

Currently running a Chihiros Vivid led , which although noisy I'm happy with it. Still running a sump and have media balls in there and will be running CO2 into sump so no equipment showing in tank.
Very slow going as I can only get bits done as and when funds and time allow.

Currently have more wood soaking to fill it out a bit more.
Sitting going through Tropica website for planting lists!!

 

[Courtneybst]

Nice setup!

 

[Rich Jackson]

Finally got round to planting my tank up!! Thanks to my mate Konrad for all the plants . Now for the daily water changes !!

Quite a list of species gone in ..

Bolbitis compact
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Schismatoglotis roseispatha
Cryptocoryne
Red tiger lotus
Microsorum pteropus mini , needle leaf and trident
Polygonum kawagoeanum
Rotala rotundifolia red
Micranthemum
Micranthemoides
Riccardia chamedryfolia
Fissiden Fontanus moss
Mini Christmas moss
Cameroon moss
Staurogyne repens!!

All thanks to Konrad Michalski for the plants !!

Now for daily water changes to get it all cycled .

Once established I plan on pulling the fast growers in the middle back and adding more redmoor to pull the scape over to the left more . Then to tidy up the school boy error with the sand and soul mixing …


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[Rich Jackson]

View from my dining room table isn’t too bad now


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[Karmicnull]

That's looking lovely. Your dining room now rocks.

 

[Rich Jackson]

Stupid school boy error … always rinse before putting in tank .. now have a foggy tank..


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[Rich Jackson]

Really happy with how it’s all starting to take off now . Stopped doing daily water changes and now down to every 3 days . Added a bottle of Fritz7 to give tank a bacteria boost . Just started getting a few signs of algae but hoping once I get the ferts dosing correctly off the peri pump and get CO2 dialled correctly these should die away .

Live stock wise hoping to add fish next week . Looking at some form of shoaling fish along the lines of embers just to give the tank a colour splash and Ottos and possibly Amano shrimps . Not sure if or what else to put in . I would rather have just one main species of fish and more of them … any suggestions welcome !


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[Rich Jackson]

Water change Sunday . Waiting for it to refill


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[Rich Jackson]

So today I moved my tank . Room it was in needs replastering so tank had to move !!
90% emptied and dragged across floor into my lounge . Not ideal but needs must .. looks like I’ve lost 2 fish . Guessing they didn’t make it out of the undergrowth before the water ran out .


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[Rich Jackson]

I think it’s time for a trim …


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[Qwedfg]

Looks great. I kept reef tanks since about 2004 and eventually got sick of the work and expense it took to keep them and began dabbling in planted tanks. Now I have no reef and a planted tank with no intent to go back. Planted tanks are so much more enjoyable and I find more attractive since you can produce a natural scape which is often hard to do in a reef.

Looking forward to updates.

 

[Rich Jackson]

Don’t post on here anywhere near as much as I could .. my tank is ticking along nicely ..


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[MichaelJ]

Rich, I love this but you need to fix that white balance to cancel out that pink cast... not easy to do on a JPEG, but here is my take:



Cheers,
Michael

 

[hypnogogia]

Rich, I love this but you need to fix that white balance to cancel out that pink cast

And there was me thinking that why they’re called ‘Red Sea Reefers’ 😂

 

[Rich Jackson]

Been a while . Tank still going !! Has moved house twice since last post had a slight move around but pretty much the same . Planning a full strip down and rescape soon .

Still can’t take a photo without it being red ish ..


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[Rich Jackson]

New scape incoming …

 

[bazz]

Look forward to seeing what you come up with, is your existing tank still in operation?

 

[Rich Jackson]

It is at the moment . I’ll shut it down when new one is ready as plants and fish will be transferring over .

 

[Rich Jackson]

This is it currently

 

[Rich Jackson]

Few last shots before it gets stripped down next week .
Anyone want a Red Sea Reefer 170 😂.

Most of the plants and the fish , shrimp will all transfer over . I’ve got some new hardscape bits for new tank but might move some of the redmoor root that has established moss on it over .