JDowns Red Sea Reefer 525XL Ver. 2.0

dantimdad · Feb 6, 2019

JDowns said:
Drop in filter pad inserts for the V3 Sump and micro adjustment for the Spectra-pure ATO pressure sensors, and Madison miniature float switches for high / low water alerts on 1/4" threaded PVC rod.

Close up of the dosing assembly.

OK, that's just too cool!

dantimdad · Feb 6, 2019

You need a thingiverse account to post some of this. Or, make some money selling it.

JDowns · Feb 10, 2019

While I'm waiting on acrylic parts and paint to dry. Finished printing up the breakout box for Apex.

dantimdad · Feb 10, 2019

Looks really good!

JDowns · Feb 13, 2019

Slowly making progress. Waiting on the acrylic to arrive next week so I can finish the sump area.

Need to figure out how I'm going to route things for the CO2 scrubber, but want to get some things in place first before I start drilling holes.

Sanded the interior of the stand down which is a pain since the coating Red Sea uses dries hard as a rock (which is a good thing). Repainted the back panels and bottom in black, and the side panels in a dark blue. Then coated the whole interior with polyurethane.

Painted the sump glass with Krylon Sea Glass Dark Blue.

Wired up the under cabinet lighting with a proximity sensor near the door hinge. This is 24 VDC so I'll end up wiring up to a spare Apex port.

Dry fitted the plumbing and switched out to 1" pipe and a Spears Gate valve.

Lights are hung and cables routed. I probably could have made this shorter....but it doos give me room to raise the lights to 24" off the water surface.

dantimdad · Feb 13, 2019

Great work!

Coming along nicely.

Palluk33 · Feb 13, 2019

JDowns said:
Slowly making progress. Waiting on the acrylic to arrive next week so I can finish the sump area.

Need to figure out how I'm going to route things for the CO2 scrubber, but want to get some things in place first before I start drilling holes.

Sanded the interior of the stand down which is a pain since the coating Red Sea uses dries hard as a rock (which is a good thing). Repainted the back panels and bottom in black, and the side panels in a dark blue. Then coated the whole interior with polyurethane.

Painted the sump glass with Krylon Sea Glass Dark Blue.

Wired up the under cabinet lighting with a proximity sensor near the door hinge. This is 24 VDC so I'll end up wiring up to a spare Apex port.

Dry fitted the plumbing and switched out to 1" pipe and a Spears Gate valve.

Lights are hung and cables routed. I probably could have made this shorter....but it doos give me room to raise the lights to 24" off the water surface.

How did you take the light fixture to your stand?

JDowns · Feb 13, 2019

Palluk33 said:
How did you take the light fixture to your stand?

I'll get some photo's when I'm back at the office tomorrow.

But there is a 1/2" plate attached to the back of the stand to allow the fixture to offset from the tank since the tank sits about 1/4" off the back of the stand. The fixture is then attached through the plate and through the stand with (6) 3" x 1/4" carriage bolts. Holes inside the stand are covered with 3D printed plugs.

Palluk33 · Feb 13, 2019

JDowns said:
I'll get some photo's when I'm back at the office tomorrow.

But there is a 1/2" plate attached to the back of the stand to allow the fixture to offset from the tank since the tank sits about 1/4" off the back of the stand. The fixture is then attached through the plate and through the stand with (6) 3" x 1/4" carriage bolts. Holes inside the stand are covered with 3D printed plugs.

Awesome thank you, pictures would be great

JDowns · Feb 14, 2019

Sorry @Palluk33. Totally spaced the pics today. I’ll get that done tomorrow. Got to far down the rabbit hole trying to modify a power head.

Now this power head from AI.

I currently run in the other tank (2) MP40’s and (2) WAV’s. The MP40’s at 50% pulse creating a standing wave, and the WAV’s at a measly 4% on Rincon to randomize some flow. Everything in the tank is happy. But the WAV’s are absolutely overkill for even a 5 foot tank, and (4) MP40’s is silly and your limited to placement and direction.

So I figured I’d try the AI Nero. Whoever the engineer is who listed this pump up to 1/2” glass should be flogged and run out of town. The pull force is ridiculously low, my frag racks hold stronger. This is most likely due to its low profile nature and if the magnet were stronger, would interfere with the motor. I even tried it on the 1/4” sump and that was even weaker than I would expect.

But in for a penny in for a pound. At this point I’m going to figure out how to make these work since they can move just the right amount of water with four of them and directionalized. They are super quiet and are a sleek look.

Phase I was to modify them so they can be pivoted up to 30 degrees.

One piece snaps onto the inner magnet, and the other snaps into the back shroud of the pump. There is a center slide that allows adjustment up to 30 degrees, 25 degrees is more stable though.

Magnet is still to weak, so I need to order a few N52’s of varying pull forces and test a new outer magnet and print up a housing to encapsulate the new mount.

JDowns · Feb 15, 2019

Palluk33 said:
How did you take the light fixture to your stand?

JDowns · Feb 15, 2019

Well I'm on the fence switching out from Apex to GHL. Going to be doing some research this weekend and determine the best route. GHL's power supplies being UL listed is probably going to be the deciding factor.

JDowns · Feb 16, 2019

Debating whether to remove the black background again. I do like the see through look and the added sense of depth, but you also loose the contrast of the corals against a black background.

JDowns · Feb 17, 2019

Finished the design on the mount for the Nero 5's. Went with a 20lb pull through 1/2" glass from K&J. The mags are already encased in rubber, then they are potted with acrylic resin inside the PET printed enclosures. Used the rubber pads from the old magnets, and tightened up the distance so they only extend about 3/8's from the original design. I can get a good 30 degrees of pivot and can be pointed up or down from there. Mounted a cable mount to the outside magnet for future routing.

Screen Shot 2019-02-17 at 11.49.25 AM.png

Sean1986 · Feb 17, 2019

That’s a shame about the Nero not working I was looking forward to using these on the same build. I don’t have the DIY skills you do. Nice mod man! Build is coming along nicely.

JDowns · Feb 22, 2019

Finally getting close to finishing up the sump side. Hopefully will get this all plumbed and finished this weekend. I still need to decide where the scrubber is going to go and the routing of the lines. Once the last of the dry fit testing is done the top will get sealed to the glass with a bead of silicone along the top edge to avoid salt creep since the top is mostly sealed with lids.

Rock selection came in today from @Bulk Reef Supply. Very very little rubble and a great selection.

JDowns · Feb 23, 2019

Finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel on the sump side. Just a few small things left to do, then I can start on the equipment side. I’ll detail the sump side out at a later date. But a teaser for now.

Huge thank you to Frank @WWC for talking me off the cliff, and keeping the scape open and minimalistic rather than piling in a mound of rock.

JDowns · Feb 24, 2019

Sump side layout.

Skimmer section. Running a Deltec 1000i DC skimmer from @Battlecorals. Love this skimmer and its ease of cleaning and dialing in on the other tank. One of the lid's holes is drilled to accept a 1/2" quick connect fitting for CO2 scrubbing. There is a bulkhead quick connect fitting in the back left corner for the skimmer intake that leads to a 3-way / 2-position pneumatic solenoid that is pH controlled. With my current setup with scrubbing, pH will be above 8.4 for 8 hours of the day and peak around 8.5, and the rest of the day is between 8.35 and 8.4. I plan on controlling whether the skimmer is drawing air from ambient or through the scrubber based on pH. My target range is 8.4 +- 0.5 pH. This should extend the lifespan of the scrubbing media beyond my typical 60 days. There are two 1" pipes with 1/2" quick disconnects on each end that run to the equipment side of the cabinet.

Running two medium @AVAST Marine spyglass reactors, one for Marinepure media bacteria and nitrate reduction, the other for ROX carbon.

Settled on the same light for the refugium as the other tank, a 18" Reefbrite Plantlyte. Grows Gracilaria like crazy.

There are adjustment knobs for (2) Madison miniature float sensors. One for high water alert and the other for low water alert. The other adjustment knob is for the @SpectraPureInc ATO pressure sensors. The ATO pressure sensors already have redundant protection to prevent overfilling, but the Madison's will provide extra notification if other elements fail. The low water sensor can be used to notify if ATO water is not working, and the high water can be used to notify of a pump failure or an overfill event.

Filter socks have been replaced with drop in trays for filter pads.

Two ports are drilled to run cabling through. One side is for sensor wire and the other is for higher voltage such as the Red Dragon pump, heaters, skimmer, and reactor pumps. This way noise can be eliminated by avoiding running signaling wire in parallel with voltage lines.

Dosing for six lines is accommodated for. I plan on Kalk, ALK, Calcium, ATO, AWC / IN, AWC / OUT. AWC should account for any magnesium needs. If not then ATO and AWC / IN can be run on the same line.

Metric plumbing was converted to 1" and replaced the Red Sea valve with a gate valve. New pipe clamps were created to account for the new pipe size. The proximity sensor for the cabinet light and in sump waterproof LED's is next to the door hinge.

Solvent welded a replacement fitting on the metric outlet to accept 3/4" NPT threaded fittings.

Used clear cable clips to run the Nero lines along the top edge.

Controllers for the Nero's are mounted on the back side of the stand. I plan on running a single 24vdc 6A Meanwell to drive the pumps off of one outlet. The cables are easy enough to un-mount the controller and pump and take to the cleaning room without having to unplug the main power supply.