Cashed my Karma - 425XL

[Sump Crab]

Hello! I have been an aquarium owner for as long as I can remember and got into saltwater around the age of 18 and I have been reefing since my early twenties. I have had numerous systems from an 8g biocube all the way to a 120g. For the past couple of years I have been rolling with a 40b, which was a little too small so I decided to beign looking for a larger tank. Well my constant trolling of craigslist paid off when I found a Red Sea 425XL Reefer that included 2 MP10's, a Vectra, 2 Radion XR15 G4 Pros, a Reef Octopus 150INT Regal, and other goodies for the grand sum of $500! As I said in an other thread I feel like my Karma has been cashed out. Anyways here is my attempt at a build thread. Thanks!


MY OLD 40B:

THE 425XL:

 

[Reefer_Rob]

Beautiful deal!

 

[VB313]

500$ that’s not fair lol what’s the story behind that find?

 

[Sump Crab]

So I decided to move a couple of my rock around. I think I like this look better, what do you think?

 

[Sump Crab]

double post

 

[Sump Crab]

500$ that’s not fair lol what’s the story behind that find?

Sometimes one must take a leap of faith, and I really did on this one. I was surfing craigslist and saw an ad titled "red sea 88 gallon" the description just said "88 gallon red sea for sale - $500". I quickly contacted the seller to inquire. She was an elderly woman getting ready to move to the Midwest. She said she bought the tank from her LFS in April of 2018. I asked her about the equipment to which she had no idea what she had. She just told me she had 5 fish and an urchin lol. Anyways I decided to drive the 2.5 hours to check it out, and boy am I glad I did! Honestly I was mostly expecting to be disappointed, perhaps it wasn't even a red sea tank. Once I saw it, though, I knew I had hit the jackpot. Besides all the top rate equipment she also had a beautiful flame angel, a fire shrimp, and a cleaner shrimp. Not to mention an entire CUC of blue legged hermits and a breeding pop of Mexican turbos plus some really nice liverock to boot (and some plastic plants lol!).

 

[VB313]

Jeez you totally stole 2-3 thousand off a little old lady ;Hilarious I was expecting the old divorced/separated story and she sold it for what she was told he bought it for lol
jealous but congratulations

 

[Sump Crab]

Jeez you totally stole 2-3 thousand off a little old lady ;Hilarious I was expecting the old divorced/separated story and she sold it for what she was told he bought it for lol
jealous but congratulations

At one point while I was breaking down her tank I mentioned how nice all of her equipment was and she said something along the lines of "she knew what she had payed for it all". I definitely think she remembered how much she payed for it all but I dont know if she sold it for so little because she underestimated the value it still had or if it was because she needed to sell it fast. Plus she lived in a nice house on the water of lake toho so perhaps she just didnt need the money very much.

 

[Sump Crab]

So my eheim jager is now leaking electricity into my tank. I just removed the eheim and replaced with a back up. I am going to buy a new heater/heaters tomorrow. Any suggestions?

 

[VB313]

eheim Jagers seem to be the #1 choice in Red Sea reefers builds I’ve seen ,how did you find the leak?

 

[Sump Crab]

eheim Jagers seem to be the #1 choice in Red Sea reefers builds I’ve seen ,how did you find the leak?

I stuck my finger in the sump and felt it lol! ZAP

 

[sam.veilleux30]

So my eheim jager is now leaking electricity into my tank. I just removed the eheim and replaced with a back up. I am going to buy a new heater/heaters tomorrow. Any suggestions?

Just change my heater last week (cobalt) and went for a finnex with controller.
Seem to be working fine so far and the controller is a game changer for me.
Nice setup by the way!

 

[Sump Crab]

Replaced my heater with a eheim jager 300w, so far so good. Anyways I picked up a new coral yesterday. Its a really nice shroom and the momma has green specks on it too. Hoping this guy gets the green!

Here it is next to my Jawbreaker:

 

[Sump Crab]

Unfortunately I had to bring my Flame Angel to the LFS for trade, it was nipping at my scoly. I have always had great luck with dwarf angels in the past, not this time though. The Flame came with the 425xl when I bought it. I made a trap out of a 2 liter bottle and it did the trick, caught him in about 3 hours.

I also added a tail spotted blenny. What a cool little fish!

On another note am I the only one who forages for fish food? I like to catch speckled trout and eat them. I collect their roe and feed to my fish. All my fish LOVE this treat!

 

[Sump Crab]

Just change my heater last week (cobalt) and went for a finnex with controller.
Seem to be working fine so far and the controller is a game changer for me.
Nice setup by the way!

How do you like the cobalt finnex combo? I would have gone with a cobalt neotherm but they do not make them with the wattage I wanted.

 

[SaleenCB]

That's an awesome deal and it looks great!!! Props to you for holding out till something popped up...I'm not sure my patience level would have been able to do that. Tank looks beautiful and love the shrooms.

 

[Sump Crab]

Here is the type of fish I collect the roe from. The meat happens to be exceptionally delicious as well. WIN, WIN, WIN.

 

[Sump Crab]

That's an awesome deal and it looks great!!! Props to you for holding out till something popped up...I'm not sure my patience level would have been able to do that. Tank looks beautiful and love the shrooms.

Thank you! Patience is a virtue that I normally lack. I just got lucky lol!

 

[sam.veilleux30]

How do you like the cobalt finnex combo? I would have gone with a cobalt neotherm but they do not make them with the wattage I wanted.

Maybe my post wasn't clear: the cobalt die after 2 years of use and then i bought the finnex with the controller.
So far it seem to work fine and it's easier to adjust a controller than a heater.

 

[Sump Crab]

Maybe my post wasn't clear: the cobalt die after 2 years of use and then i bought the finnex with the controller.
So far it seem to work fine and it's easier to adjust a controller than a heater.

OOPS, misread your post. I almost went with a finnex and controller on my tank but settled on a 300w eheim jager. I had a Cobalt on another tank for about 2 years and it failed OFF as well. The Neotherrm is a great heater but they seem to fail faster than jager IME.