Red Sea Reefer 250 - First Build

[B33TR00T]

...Following on from my intro thread - in which I was so warmly welcomed to this superb community (thank you!)

Here's where I'll document my first ever Aquarium, a brand new Red Sea Reefer 250!

Behold...

Nothing special, nothing you guys haven't seen a million times before, but this one is mine I'm excited!

I like to think I've wired this up to a standard which - I think will work - but - I'm ready to strip it off to re-do it... right now it's all heavy duty velcro and cable ties, I've just been sure to position all electrics above the sump water level, not directly over the sump, and sheltered from any tank spill - job done, should the time come where my reef justifies taking the next step into Apex and such - I'll be looking at controller board options, but for now this will do just fine!

The first thing I did is get rid of the ATO float valve and reservoir, in went a 6.6g container and a D-D H2Ocean compact ATO, I see a Tunze 3155 in my future but I'd seen good things about the little H2Ocean, the supplied pump fits nicely into the container without cutting, and I got a great deal on it to we'll see how it performs.

Next to go in here will be a dosing pump, probably of the Jabao/Jecob variety, however that's what I thought when I purchased the Jecod SOW-4 Wavemaker's - only to sideline them in favour of a Nero 5 (to which I'm going to add a Gyre - undecided which), but those SOW-4's will sit nicely in reserve.

At the moment we're looking at:

x2 Radion Gen5 XR15 Blue LED's
AI Nero 5 (powerhead)
Jecod DCP4000 DC (return pump)
Bubble Magus Curve 5 (Protein Skimmer)
D-D H2Ocean compact (ATO)
Eheim ThermoPreset 200w (Heater)

Next I'll be working on the aquascape, bare-bottom is 100% decided no question about it - no sand in my reef, I have some interesting rocks to work with and some Aquaforest stone fix so we'll see what I can do with that for the next post.

Happy to be here!
Brad

 

[Jeffcb]

Looks good. Reedy for water! I have had a Reefer 250 for about 18months now and I love it!.
Red Sea builds a quality product. Following!

 

[Ghost Reefer]

Looks great!

 

[blaxsun]

Nice and shiny clean! I am curious why you have the skimmer draining back into your filtration - or is this just temporarily positioned there?

 

[B33TR00T]

Nice and shiny clean! I am curious why you have the skimmer draining back into your filtration - or is this just temporarily positioned there?

Yep it's just coincidentally in that position for no apparent reason, I'm probably not going to use the drain for a while, maintenance will be more frequent than weekly on this tank to begin with, emptying the skimmer cup will just be part of that.

 

[blaxsun]

Yep it's just coincidentally in that position for no apparent reason, I'm probably not going to use the drain.

It's handy for when you go on holidays (and you have space for a collection container next to your blue reservoir).

 

[Lavey29]

Looks like you are off to a great start. I have the XL300 and love RedSea quality.

 

[Lavey29]

I used all Ecotech components. Since you are considering radion lights if you go with MP40s and Vectra return pump everything functions under one app called Mobius. It's really nice and easy to use. For dosing. The RedSea doser is great and fits nice inside the cabinet too.

 

[B33TR00T]

I used all Ecotech components. Since you are considering radion lights if you go with MP40s and Vectra return pump everything functions under one app called Mobius. It's really nice and easy to use. For dosing. The RedSea doser is great and fits nice inside the cabinet too.

I've already got the Radions mounted and very very happy with those, I already know my Jecod DCP will be replaced by a Vectra with a backup battery later on down the line, that's already the plan, when it comes to the MP40's - arghhh, I'd love them, but I'm trying to be economical to begin with and there's already so much I need to buy before I can worry about external wiring and having a single app to rule them all, they're certainly in my future but it's the Nero life for the time-being

 

[Lavey29]

I've already got the Radions mounted and very very happy with those, I already know my Jecod DCP will be replaced by a Vectra with a backup battery later on down the line, that's already the plan, when it comes to the MP40's - arghhh, I'd love them, but I'm trying to be economical to begin with and there's already so much I need to buy before I can worry about external wiring and having a single app to rule them all, they're certainly in my future but it's the Nero life for the time-being

Smart moves, I have the back up ecotech battery to and worked perfectly during a 12 hour black out. Depending on what fish you go with. Clearview lids makes a mesh and plexi top that fits perfectly and still let's nice shimmer out. Mp10s would work fine too at cost savings.

 

[B33TR00T]

Set back -
Aquascaped, filled with RODI...

And what I knew was coming - came, but as usual I find myself learning the hard way.

You guessed it, I can't get the diaphragm valve tuned.

To be honest, even if I did get it tuned at this point, I still wouldn't want it, I'd be forever haunted by the dang thing going forward.

So, I'm in the planning phase of my Spears gate valve mod.

It's a V3 so no need for a weir connector, I'll just be cutting below the last elbow above the diaphragm valve then it's -> coupler -> few inches of PVC -> gate valve -> few more inches of PVC into the sump.

 

[B33TR00T]

Just put the order in -

The intention is to go from below the last elbow, but as you can see I've got some spares and extra's, the reason (besides mistakes) is that I might not be happy with how much pipe remains for the coupler after the cut below last elbow, if that turns out to be the case then I will cut half way above the last elbow and that's where I'll put coupler, then some pipe and introduce a custom elbow - from which I can extend as much pipe as I wish directly into the valve.

 

[Flameback Pair]

@B33TR00T great choice with the Red Sea system. I’ve got a Reefer 250 too !!! Glad you’re in the RS250 club.

 

[B33TR00T]

@B33TR00T great choice with the Red Sea system. I’ve got a Reefer 250 too !!! Glad you’re in the RS250 club.

Completed the gate valve conversion, build has been on the backburner since then due to being overwhelmingly busy, about to get things moving again this weekend!

 

[Jeffcb]

Completed the gate valve conversion, build has been on the backburner since then due to being overwhelmingly busy, about to get things moving again this weekend!

I never had a problem with either of my diaphragm valves. Just lucky I guess. Going to be a nice build.