Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 650 - The Immovable Object

[OriginalUserName]

Tank is here and safe. The shipping company beat up the pallet pretty badly but I didn't find any damage. The driver actually suggested I inspect it myself due to the shipping damage which I appreciated.

 

[OriginalUserName]

Tank is on the stand and dry plumbed. My return pump came in what appeared to be used condition with some damage but Saltwater Aquarium.com was very helpful and quick to send me a new one and return label for this one. I am going to go ahead and use a floor jack under the tank in the basement as insurance. It runs parallel to the joists (2 of them) so the weight is a concern. Down the road if I finish my basement I can do something more permanent if needed.

Also happy to report that my 29 cube survived the move with no casualties so far. I laid egg crate in the bottom of a large plastic bin with a locking lid and used that to hold all my frags. Almost all of them stayed in place during the drive and knock on wood they are looking good. I hope to start getting ready to fill the Reefer tomorrow. My rock is pretty well cycled now so hopefully I can get it up and running quickly. Still waiting on the parts from 80/20 for the lights but I can mount one of the AP700s on the standard arms as a stop gap while I wait.

I was looking at the Tunze fans to help with cooling but the reviews say they rust quickly. I'm sure I can build something very clean with some silent PC fans and use the same material as my lights. I may even be able to mount 4 fans in my fixture and have them blow down into the tank, that may work well actually.

 

[OriginalUserName]

Gah, the 80/20 order isn't going to ship until 8/10 or so. Man, I wasn't expecting 2 day delivery, but over a month is way longer than I had hoped. In the meantime I will have to hang my AP700s from the ceiling. :/

 

[Fishpalace]

Great choice of tank and like what you are trying to do.

Will follow with interest!!

Paul

 

[Tmcgoo13]

Following! I have the same tank, Love it, fun to see how others set it up!

 

[OriginalUserName]

Tank is wet! I have the basic structure to my scape in place. I wanted to get fancier but since I'm moving as well I just don't have the time to really go nuts. I have a ton of rubble and small pieces I will use to fill in gaps as needed once I can see it full.

I bailed on lining the tank with PVC sheeting. I could not get the product cut evenly and I was worried I would see an ugly edge. So I'm going with a normal thin layer of special grade sand. I still may use some of the PVC as a base for zoas etc.

I'm hoping the tank will avoid any big cycles because the rock has been cycling for almost two months. Chaeto and pods are coming soon, then I'll give it a bit and throw on some lights. My 8020 order has shipped so I probably wont need a stop gap light source.

Pretty sure my first transplant will be my cardinal. Hes tough and tbh I'm not attached to him, just in case.

Edit, I still have some painting to do in the room so I have to get that done before any coral goes in.

 

[OriginalUserName]

So my 80/20 pieces came in wrong (and I can't find the last door bracket for the stand!). I had the miter cuts set correctly the first time I think, but the online assistance persuaded me that I was wrong. As you can see this won't work for what I had in mind. I talked to 80/20 and it sounds like they are going to make it right asap, possibly cutting the replacements today which if that happens is great customer service.

What I got.

What I need.


For reference this is how the uprights will look against the tank. Going to look slick once I get them painted I think. Please ignore the massive pile of laundry, I did just move and obviously my tank has priority over underwear

 

[OriginalUserName]

The replacement 80/20 pieces are in. Somehow I didn't measure the retrofit components correctly so my sizing is off. I think I'll have to modify the plastic brackets that come with the kit so that the T5s don't stick out below the fixture, though that shouldn't be a big deal.

1 AP700 is temporarily mounted over the tank to keep things lit while I finish the fixture. I was struggling to do my regular house crap in addition to building the new tank and maintaining the old tank so I've accelerated the process of moving the corals over. Knock on wood but so far everybody looks fairly happy. I did get some STN on a few pieces during the move but I think that was mostly due to a spike in DKH. Due to the unintentional rearranging of the rock I set my 360 way lower...which slowed growth and my auto dosing was way too much. I'm an impatient idiot so some corals came in from the last WWC live sale were added also. I had planned on placing them in the old tank but I decided the risk of acclimating them twice wasn't worth it. One of the acros lost a little bit due to RTN but I cut off the dead parts so knock on wood. Running a round of brightwell coral restore, hopefully that helps.

So far I'm absolutely loving the upgrade. Having a sump and a tank large enough to add other animals is great. I've wanted a fighting conch for sometime and picked up a sea cucumber as well.

I have my old LED fixture mounted in the sump but I don't have the time to rewire it properly and the worry that it will cause a fire or something under my 7k$ plus tank setup is too much stress. Kessil H380 is incoming. I'll update a new FTS once I get the corals all mounted.

 

[Picesduh]

What are the miter cut in the profiles for - the point where the upright and cantilever meet at the 90 degree?

Also, saw in one of your other posts you will use floor guides so you can move the upright out of the way- can you please show a picture or describe how that would
Work?

 

[infinite0180]

Love the tank! Following along!

 

[OriginalUserName]

What are the miter cut in the profiles for - the point where the upright and cantilever meet at the 90 degree?

Also, saw in one of your other posts you will use floor guides so you can move the upright out of the way- can you please show a picture or describe how that would
Work?

I ditched the cantilever idea. The miters form the frame for the light fixture. It will basically be a nice looking version of the aquatic life hybrid fixture, and instead of hanging I will have 3 legs supporting it. The legs are where I intend to add the floor glides. The whole thing is designed so that I can just slide it away from the tank. See post #9 for my basic mockup.

 

[Cyked1]

Stupid question, what's the tape for? Just to grid off sections of the tank while scaping?

 

[Picesduh]

I am going through the same process - how are you attaching the Hybrid fixture to the profiles? I am building a frame like you around light frame using 8020 but slightly larger and using these stoppers designed for the profile for the lights to rest on. In the pic it’s sideways but the short side with the two soft rubber things is what the edge of the light will sit on. Maybe 8 of them all around the light.

Originally I was going to use a cantilever idea and actually put the whole cantilever on a hinge at the upright connection point with brakes but I didn’t get comfortable with the idea. Your idea with the sliding uprights sounds neat and I can’t wait to see it work. I would just be careful with sliding around and metal around or above (i.e the lights) around a glass tank.

 

[OriginalUserName]

I am going through the same process - how are you attaching the Hybrid fixture to the profiles? I am building a frame like you around light frame using 8020 but slightly larger and using these stoppers designed for the profile for the lights to rest on. In the pic it’s sideways but the short side with the two soft rubber things is what the edge of the light will sit on. Maybe 8 of them all around the light.

Originally I was going to use a cantilever idea and actually put the whole cantilever on a hinge at the upright connection point with brakes but I didn’t get comfortable with the idea. Your idea with the sliding uprights sounds neat and I can’t wait to see it work. I would just be careful with sliding around and metal around or above (i.e the lights) around a glass tank.

I'm not using the aqua life fixture, but using the t5 retrofit kits BRS sells. Using the fixture would have been simpler, but I wanted to avoid adding all that weight. With the retrofit I can stick the ballasts in the stand somewhere. I will have a dry fit done this weekend I think.

Stupid question, what's the tape for? Just to grid off sections of the tank while scaping?

yes, a rough shot at helping me stick to the rules of 1/3rds.

 

[OriginalUserName]

Mockup of the main fixture. Somewhere along the line I measured wrong or ordered the wrong size material so its going to be tight for the t5s. The actual electronics and bulbs are super slim so it just depends on how much of the plastic I can remove from the retro kit pieces.

For the top of the fixture I am using this alumalite stuff. Its a very thin layer of aluminum with a coregated plastic core. Nice and light.

 

[OriginalUserName]

So my 2nd Neptune DOS came in busted. One of the buttons is permanently smashed down so it always wants to manually pump. BRS is handling the exchange for me so that's easy. For now I'm using my doser DOS for the auto water changes because my corals are not making a dent in my alk so far (acclimation and low lighting plus some deaths )

I have to say that the auto WC is awesome and super easy with the DOS. Until I stabilize I'm doing 20% weekly changes which puts me at about 4.5 gallons a day. I'll post pics but I was able to rout the waste and clean water tubing through the floor register between my stand and the wall. No more lugging around buckets of water and getting everything wet! I want to get the light finished but my radon system is being installed tomorrow and I need to replace the old sump pump.

The Neptune WAV is also working out well. It pushes a ton of water and I'm very happy with the noise level, can't really hear it. I'm pretty annoyed with 1 of my 2 gyres though because it isn't working. I assume a piece of sand got stuck inside of it but you need a pair of needlenose pliers to take these things apart and even though I must have 5 I can't find any of them. I do like that the Maxspect beeps to let you know if there is an issue. Two xw230s and the single WAV might be enough for the tank. I already have way fewer low flow areas than I expected but it's really just my hammer, frogspawn, and Duncan that I need spot for. The blastos can fit anywhere and be sheltered. My clowns are taking up residence in the small island. When I moved the pistol shrimp over I made a small tunnel there as well and he jumped right in. The same night my watchman found him and they seem happy. Cardinal is still being goofy and hiding by the overflow and the new royal gramma is in hide mode as well. Not sure if the sea cucumber is still alive, it crawled into my rocks somehow and I can't seem to find him.

 

[Antics]

Great build so far! Love the custom changes.

 

[OriginalUserName]

More equipment problems. Now my original DOS stopped working. The heads turn but are making this slipping/clicking sound. It seems like the heads are sort of slipping against the internal head tubing. I have a ticket open with Neptune right now and will send them a video of the issue tonight. Hopefully I just have 2 bad heads. Support response has been fast but this will be my third Neptune product failure in as many months. Hopefully the BRS replacement for the DOA DOS will get here soon as I'm relying on the auto WC to keep my alk steady until I have 2 operational DOSs.

Running into more problems building my light fixture and had to order a few more connectors to connect the legs to the fixture. May have to play around with the top panel as well as my cross braced pieces sit flush which makes sense, but I had been envisioning them sitting slightly lower for some reason. I really don't want to learn how to weld just for this project so I hope I can use some bondo, a few screws, and some cutting of the top panels to make it all work. With the delay I believe I'm going to do a temporary mounting of the 2nd AP700 to start providing adequate light.

 

[OriginalUserName]

Possible problem with the stand now. The side panel is bowing out. The gap at the top and bottom of the door is pretty tight, but the middle is maybe 1/16th wider. If I press against the panel I can push in inwards a bit as well. I really don't see how this could be an install issue but Red Sea recommended I take the tank down and replace the screws and cams. They are sending me a hardware pack. At this point I have to say I'd recommend avoiding Red Sea stands, at least on these larger tanks.

I really, really don't want to do that. I think I'm going to try adding another internal support myself. probably leveraging the extra wood pieces that came with the stand as packing material. If I can create a horizontal brace midway up the side panel connecting the center panel and far side panel that should prevent any bowing and tie the stand together far better than stock.

Seems like my DOS issue is just bad heads. Neptune is responsive but I keep having to run back and take a new video etc. Side note, I'm loving the WAV. Very quiet, lots of flow and a wide flow pattern for a standard pump.

 

[Antics]

Sorry to hear about your stand and equipment issues. I've owned and set up a few different things Red Sea tanks and all of the stands and hardware has been great in my experience.