Red Sea Reefer 525 XL Build

mccrayfish · Oct 4, 2016

Hello, So I am new to this forum, recently purchased a 150 Gallon half cylinder on craigslist, after setting it up i was running into too many issues. So yesterday I went online and purchased a Red Sea Reefer 525 and it is supposed to be on the way to me now.

Here are the toys I have for it so far:

2 Ecotech MP40's
2 Radion XR30's with tank mounts
1 Reeflink
1 Aqua C ev240 skimmer (a pump to go along with this too, not sure which one it is)
1 Vectra M1 Return Pump
1 Artica DBE-200 Chiller (a pump to go along with this too, not sure which one it is)

So my initial questions are:

1. What size tubing and how many feet of it will I need?
2. Will I need any other plumbing parts or pieces to go along with it? The Red Sea says it comes with everything for plumbing, but im sure I will need stuff to make connections to the pump and everything else.

Because I am filling this tank with the live rock, fish, corals I already have in my current tank, I would like to have everything here in place ready to build once the reefer arrives.

I will add pictures as the build progresses.

Thank you for any advice on what else I may need to have ahead of time.

abecker · Oct 4, 2016

Not sure if you saw it but there is a great thread of other Reefer owners http://reef2reef.com/threads/show-off-and-discuss-your-red-sea-reefer-series.219309/. I look forward to following your build!

mccrayfish · Oct 4, 2016

I will definitely check out this thread, thanks!

DLHDesign · Oct 4, 2016

Welcome fellow 525XL owner, to R2R!

The tank truly does ship with nearly everything you need. The only piece missing is the plumbing to go from the pump up to the return pipe. The tank will arrive with a multi-stepped nozzle on the return pipe side, so that's covered. You'll need a few pieces to connect this to your pump:

If you don't already know, the Vectra pumps (which are great) have one drawback (for us in the US, at least) - they don't use standard NPT sizes on their ports. To fix this, you'll need a conversion kit. Most people suggest getting the threaded kit as it seems to fit better and gives you more flexibility down the road. I, personally, got the barb kit as it came with the screen, but I also have the L1 instead of the M1, so perhaps that avoided the seemingly common fit issues...
If you do get the threaded fitting, you'll need a hose barb for the above. So, if you want a 1" return pipe (which matches the line for the tank), you'll need a 1.25" female slip-to-1" barb. You'll also need a short bit of 1.25" pipe and some pipe glue to join these two pieces together. You could also try and find a specialty fitting to reduce the number of unions... I didn't have to do this part, so I can't really point you at anything specific, sorry.
About 4 or 5ft of 1" flexible tubing. I suggest silicone as it will help to keep vibration noise down (not the that pump is loud, but every bit helps).

Looking forward to watching the build progress! Be sure to take pictures.