Kessil

Tank Spotlight for April is Rostato

Well, first off thanks to this club for being awesome. I have met more generous and knowledgeable people here than ever before.

Thanks for the nomination.

Here is my Red Sea Reefer 250
FTS
6570c7df5b61a9781bd9cae0a81cff37.jpg


I’ve had the tank for exactly a year...almost to the day. I picked it up on April 12, 2018. This was a used tank and had some fish and a few corals but it wasn’t in the best shape and had been neglected a bit. But it was lest free and had no major issues so I saw an opportunity to get a nice tank without the ugly stage and swings of a new tank.

Here is is the day I moved it
e5a1b9257446a3e892e1f864f0c0e3bf.jpg


I’ve made a bunch of changes over the year I’ve had it but am very happy now. Here’s the equipment list.

2 Hydra 26’s with custom mounts
1 AI Prime Fuge for growing chaeto
2 Vortech MP40’S
2 Vortech MP10’s
Reef Octopus Regal 150S Varios Skimmer
Reef Octopus automatic neck cleaner
BRS CO2 reactor
BRS mini media reactor with GFO
Reef Octopus various 3 (I think) return pump...It’s the first generation
2 cobalt 150W heaters
Apex Classic with Vortech module (WXM)
Apex DOS with DDR
Tunze 3155 ATO
Trigger Saphire 10g ATO container
2 Ecotech Battery backups in tandem hooked up to one MP40
Customized Red Sea sump with blue tide acrylics divider

Under the hood
45fb2429e751a6f40daf2ec430626639.jpg

f21f8560330b5424973b1223d47ad9f5.jpg

d0758ab3aca1e08751865c2e8cc064d7.jpg



For dosing I’m up to 70ml of b ionic 2 part per day to keep things going. I add magnesium when I see the need which is almost never thanks to b ionic


For feeding, I’ve been feeding Red Sea reef energy A and B every day when I feed the tank my custom mixture of rods food, reef roids, mysis, selcon, and reef nutrition phytoplankton, oyster feast and ROE. My auto feeder goes off 2 other times a day, which feeds Neptune’s cross over diet. I’ll switch to reef nutrition CDO when I run out...same stuff anyway.


I dose red seas trace elements base on calcium uptake every week.


In order to get a fuge with the limitations of Red Sea’s sump, I had blue tide acrylics make me a custom divider, and removed the stock filter sock holders. This gives me about a 7 gallon fuge. I also use a tee off my return pump as a manifold to run back into the fuge to add more flow. It shoots water along the bottom to keep detritus from settling. The other side feeds my GFO reactor.
f38b7558e2994d0f802263bdc97fd30d.jpg

0577e3566279e81ea5db1af44f824be9.jpg



I have packed this thing full of corals. I am very much in grow out mode now. I’ll keep certain corals trimmed while letting others grow to get the whole tank filled up. Here are some pics...
 
Last edited:
I think you’ve mentioned in your tank journal, but what was your experience like before buying this tank? I think you had a tank before maybe you said?
 
I think you’ve mentioned in your tank journal, but what was your experience like before buying this tank? I think you had a tank before maybe you said?

I have had many tanks back on the east coast. Started out FOWLR and then slowly graduated to corals a learned a lot from mistakes.

I took 7 years off and this is my first tank since moving here 8 years ago.

This is by far the nicest tank I’ve had before
 
awesome tank, you've done a lot in a year. I love the mixed reef look. Do you have any issues with the RBTA stinging any SPS?


There are currently 3 BTA’s there now. One of them does touch the Oregon Tort but it only seems to be an irritant to the coral. Only the small portion of the coral it touches seems a bit faded in color.
 
Very nice looking display. I like all the monti's.
One though regarding the Chaeto would be to reduce the distance between the Kessil grow-light and the chaeto ball. I had some luck simply passing a fishing line through my chaeto ball and suspending it with tape such that it sits at the very top of the water column. Second to that may be to drop the lamp down closer to the water's surface.
 
Back
Top