Jeremy's RSR 525 XL Build

[omajehal]

Well I made the plunge in upgrading from a JBJ 45 AIO to a RSR 525 XL! I just couldn't get past the limitations of the AIO regarding space, equipment layout, etc., so when I was in the process of moving my tank from my bedroom to the basement, I pulled the trigger on trading it in for a credit towards my dream tank. I would've gone for the 625, but was already at the top end of my budget, so 525 it is! Even so, it'll be a slow process to get things setup and pieces added as I have the extra cash for them. So far I've got a Sicce Syncra SDC 7.0 for the return pump and a Finnex 500w heater. Next will be getting a couple of lights and hopefully a skimmer before too long. None of my old equipment would've been suitable for a jump this big, so it is essentially starting from scratch. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to the move upward!

 

[lapin]

Nice

 

[AZMSGT]

The 525 is a great choice. I was torn between the 525 and the 625. You can see I ended up with the 625. Looking back I sometimes wish I had the thinner tank. Would be easier to reach the back corners.

 

[omajehal]

The 525 is a great choice. I was torn between the 525 and the 625. You can see I ended up with the 625. Looking back I sometimes wish I had the thinner tank. Would be easier to reach the back corners.

I had similar concerns as well. I was also worried that it would stick out too much into the room. I know it’s only three inches, but I was already pushing my luck with my wife as it was

 

[jp_75]

happy wife happy life...
congrats! looks nice!

 

[HD_Reefer]

Well I made the plunge in upgrading from a JBJ 45 AIO to a RSR 525 XL! I just couldn't get past the limitations of the AIO regarding space, equipment layout, etc., so when I was in the process of moving my tank from my bedroom to the basement, I pulled the trigger on trading it in for a credit towards my dream tank. I would've gone for the 625, but was already at the top end of my budget, so 525 it is! Even so, it'll be a slow process to get things setup and pieces added as I have the extra cash for them. So far I've got a Sicce Syncra SDC 7.0 for the return pump and a Finnex 500w heater. Next will be getting a couple of lights and hopefully a skimmer before too long. None of my old equipment would've been suitable for a jump this big, so it is essentially starting from scratch. Nonetheless, I'm looking forward to the move upward!

Looking good! Congrats!

 

[omajehal]

Aquascaping

Nothing like trying to aquascape in Nebraska in the middle of winter... needless to say that this has been a challenge! Between my wife being adamant about not doing the rock work in the house, to the cold temps (and 13” of snow), or the struggle to do my first NSA-eque setup, I have been beating my head against the wall and am way behind where I wanted to be. This year I’ve made a resolution to use the hobby to learn a grater level of patience. Let’s just say it’s testing my limits.


To start, I had dried out rock that I had planned on keeping live from my old tank. That debacle involved bleach curing in a plastic tote wrapped in Home Chef packing insulation and a heater in my garage for a couple weeks. Letting the rock dry in the sun isn’t exactly an option when it’s 15° outside, so this was followed by a RO and Prime soak in my basement utility sink before coming back out to the garage to dry out and off gas any remaining bleach.

I’ve seen a hundred BRS videos making aquascaping look easy, I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $50 on super glue, $10 on accelerant, $45 on mortar, and God knows what on acrylic rods on top of getting extra dry rock and new sand. So when I finally felt ready to start putting something together I went to a LFS to pick up some glue and mortar that they would recommend. Except they only carried epoxy. No bother, if they say it works I’ll give it a shot. I then made a cardboard cutout of my tank dimensions as a template. Being stuck in the garage, I tried laying on a dolly on the floor and stack rock in a manner that looks interesting. It just wasn’t working out and I couldn’t make anything that I could be proud of. Combined with the complete failure of DD Construction epoxy I was fuming. I went to Home Depot for super glue and spent $20 on a few smaller bottles. Struck out there too. I couldn’t get hardy anything out of the bottle and what did wouldn’t set.

Which brings me to where I currently stand. I was able to return the glue to HD to start. I also made a makeshift work bench on top of my freezer and set up a card table to have a better workspace. I then went to a different LFS and lucked out that they carried E-Marco 400 mortar for $35. They also had the Marco base rock that works out way better than trying to use a grinder with a diamond blade to make my own. I’m only able to add a couple pieces at a time without the super glue, but feel way better about where I currently am. Maybe I’ll have water in the tank by early February lol.

 

[missgoofyx24]

Aquascaping

Nothing like trying to aquascape in Nebraska in the middle of winter... needless to say that this has been a challenge! Between my wife being adamant about not doing the rock work in the house, to the cold temps (and 13” of snow), or the struggle to do my first NSA-eque setup, I have been beating my head against the wall and am way behind where I wanted to be. This year I’ve made a resolution to use the hobby to learn a grater level of patience. Let’s just say it’s testing my limits.


To start, I had dried out rock that I had planned on keeping live from my old tank. That debacle involved bleach curing in a plastic tote wrapped in Home Chef packing insulation and a heater in my garage for a couple weeks. Letting the rock dry in the sun isn’t exactly an option when it’s 15° outside, so this was followed by a RO and Prime soak in my basement utility sink before coming back out to the garage to dry out and off gas any remaining bleach.

I’ve seen a hundred BRS videos making aquascaping look easy, I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $50 on super glue, $10 on accelerant, $45 on mortar, and God knows what on acrylic rods on top of getting extra dry rock and new sand. So when I finally felt ready to start putting something together I went to a LFS to pick up some glue and mortar that they would recommend. Except they only carried epoxy. No bother, if they say it works I’ll give it a shot. I then made a cardboard cutout of my tank dimensions as a template. Being stuck in the garage, I tried laying on a dolly on the floor and stack rock in a manner that looks interesting. It just wasn’t working out and I couldn’t make anything that I could be proud of. Combined with the complete failure of DD Construction epoxy I was fuming. I went to Home Depot for super glue and spent $20 on a few smaller bottles. Struck out there too. I couldn’t get hardy anything out of the bottle and what did wouldn’t set.

Which brings me to where I currently stand. I was able to return the glue to HD to start. I also made a makeshift work bench on top of my freezer and set up a card table to have a better workspace. I then went to a different LFS and lucked out that they carried E-Marco 400 mortar for $35. They also had the Marco base rock that works out way better than trying to use a grinder with a diamond blade to make my own. I’m only able to add a couple pieces at a time without the super glue, but feel way better about where I currently am. Maybe I’ll have water in the tank by early February lol.

I'm looking forward to following this thread!

I found aquascape to be so tedious and I just spent so much time on trying to make something that was functional for the fish and still nice to look at from my perspective. Good luck there and remember to post photos of your rock work if you want feedback.

I wanted to ask if you still have the sides of the container the tank came in. I used one of the sides and drew the dimensions of the tank (including the overflow) on the side with marker, then I used it as my workbench. If you still have that, then I suggest that as a great workspace for aquascaping. I even used the other side as a temporary electronic panel while I cycled the tank and brainstormed a better wiring map (actually, I'm still on that part).

I'm glad you got ahold of some E-Marco 400 mortar. That was hands down the best decision I made for the aquascape. I'd mortar the lower levels one night and then return the next to mortar the next higher level. There is no way that rock is tipping after that mortar job.

I hope you're remembering to have a little fun with this, I know I wasn't at this point lol.

 

[omajehal]

I'm looking forward to following this thread!

I found aquascape to be so tedious and I just spent so much time on trying to make something that was functional for the fish and still nice to look at from my perspective. Good luck there and remember to post photos of your rock work if you want feedback.

I wanted to ask if you still have the sides of the container the tank came in. I used one of the sides and drew the dimensions of the tank (including the overflow) on the side with marker, then I used it as my workbench. If you still have that, then I suggest that as a great workspace for aquascaping. I even used the other side as a temporary electronic panel while I cycled the tank and brainstormed a better wiring map (actually, I'm still on that part).

I'm glad you got ahold of some E-Marco 400 mortar. That was hands down the best decision I made for the aquascape. I'd mortar the lower levels one night and then return the next to mortar the next higher level. There is no way that rock is tipping after that mortar job.

I hope you're remembering to have a little fun with this, I know I wasn't at this point lol.

You and me both! It's so hard to visualize the end result with pieces that are so random and can be difficult to match up. I'm making progress though. No leftover packing material, so I used some cardboard as a footprint template. The mortar does an awesome job. The only drawback I've seen so far has been the wait time between pieces.

 

[omajehal]

The Final Product

Well it wasn't easy, but I feel like I came up with an attractive aquascape that should mark off most of the boxes. My only other attempt at putting something together beyond stacking some rocks has been on a 10g nano, so this was quite the undertaking.

I will say, the BRS videos are pretty spot on. It is definitely worth getting some super glue with the accelerator for some aspects. I found a Bob's kit on Amazon for about $12 that covered my needs for glue. I would 100% recommend picking up a pack or two. I was able to prop tools and cardboard to hold everything else in place while the Marco mortar set if needed. The whole structure is essentially three main pieces that all line up.

I'm now on to cycling the tank! This is my first attempt at utilizing a frozen shrimp for the fishless cycle, so wish me luck. It has definitely made the water a bit cloudy, so I'm not sure if it is going to cause an issue or not. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

 

[missgoofyx24]

The Final Product

Well it wasn't easy, but I feel like I came up with an attractive aquascape that should mark off most of the boxes. My only other attempt at putting something together beyond stacking some rocks has been on a 10g nano, so this was quite the undertaking.

I will say, the BRS videos are pretty spot on. It is definitely worth getting some super glue with the accelerator for some aspects. I found a Bob's kit on Amazon for about $12 that covered my needs for glue. I would 100% recommend picking up a pack or two. I was able to prop tools and cardboard to hold everything else in place while the Marco mortar set if needed. The whole structure is essentially three main pieces that all line up.

I'm now on to cycling the tank! This is my first attempt at utilizing a frozen shrimp for the fishless cycle, so wish me luck. It has definitely made the water a bit cloudy, so I'm not sure if it is going to cause an issue or not. Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

I think it looks great! I just finished the initial cycle (before the ugly phase), so I can't offer much advice. I went the Dr. Tim's route. I think patience is the main point to be made.

Best of luck with the cycle!

 

[omajehal]

Current Status

Making steady progress! The cycle completed without a hitch, though I did transfer some rock from my previous tank and holding/QT tank to speed up the progress. I have some Matrix in one of the cups and carbon in the other currently. I also used Frtiz Zyme 9 for bacterial supplements and a frozen shrimp to do the cycle.

I got lucky and found an AI Hydra 64 on open box markdown and snagged it for a good price and just bought a second one to match. Beyond that I've got two Sicce XStream SDC pumps for flow to mat up with the Syncra SDC return pump. For ATO I'm using a Tunze 5017 with a Trigger 5G ATO, but I'm already frustrated with needing to refill it every 2-3 days.

I started transferring my fish and inverts over to the new tank successfully. All that is left in the holding tank is a purple firefish and a couple snails.

Next steps are to finish the Red Sea top cover and get the last fish moved over and let the tank settle in some more. I also need to find time to clean up the mess of cords and plugs.

 

[omajehal]

So it has been a little while since I’ve updated my build, so I though I would take a bit of time (since I’m not on-call at work) to post my progress!

Cycling hadn’t been kind for a period, so I broke down and installed a UV sterilizer on my system. The water had become very milky looking and persisted for well over a month without any improvement before I made the decision. I also took the opportunity to do some hard plumbing and move some equipment into my utility room on the other side of the wall. I found an amazing deal on a (arguably over-sized) Lifegard Pro-Max 5” 55 watt sterilizer. I painted a sheet of plywood and mounted it, along with my controllers to the wall. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a whole lot of options on setting up a manifold or separate pump, so I plumbed it in-line to my return to prevent from recirculating sterilized water over and over again in the sump. I know it’s not as fancy as many setups out there, but all-in-all I’m happy with the results and the over sizing seems to have compensated for the less than desirable setup.

Livestock currently consists of a Flame Angel, Purple Firefish, two Clownfish, a cleaner shrimp, and a Blood Red Fire Shrimp. In the last few weeks of QT/treatment (hopefully) is also a Yellow Tang that I’ve been treating for crypto. He has had 30+ days of Coppersafe and about 10 days of PraziPro. I just placed the Cuprisorb and carbon in the HOB filter to start pulling everything out and monitor him for a few more days before moving him into his new home.

I’ve also added a Red Sea R600 skimmer and tried my hand at a refugium since my last update, as well as made the move from mesh filter socks to filter cups with media and Poly-Fil. It has made the maintenance easier for the time being and until I decide to go with a roller mat or not. Testing has shown low nutrients (actually probably too low) and things have been fairly stable. I’m hoping to start trying my hand at corals soon also!

 

[Jeffcb]

Nice build. Large UV is plus!