AcanthurusRex
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 18, 2016
- Messages
- 547
- Reaction score
- 393
- Location
- Dallas
- What state or country do you live in
- Texas
It has been about a year since I put water in the Reefer 525XL. I never posted a build thread so I’ll start a post build thread.
The first marine aquarium I set up was a 75 Gallon Oceanic back in the late ’80s. Eventually, it evolved into a crude reef tank; MH’s, RedSea Berlin skimmer, 30 gal sump and a chiller. All DIY and looked it. Gave it away somewhere around 2000.
I was searching for an LED light one day in summer 2016 and RapidLED showed up in the search. The heat and resulting noise from the chiller were the primary reason I lost interest before. High power LEDs could solve this so I started to research which eventually led me here to R2R.
Initially, I was going to set up a nano, IM25 lagoon, but things like the ATO led me to the RedSea Reefer tanks. I eventually decided on a Reefer 250 and made the pitch to the wife. Basically, she was dead set against setting up a tank and added; why bother with a little tank like the Reefer 250. So I settled on the Reefer 450XL. When it came time to order the tank I decided to upgrade to a 5ft tank.
Priorities;
No chiller
Automation
Ease of maintenance
Limit the carnage
Does not look DIY
Equipment;
RedSea Reefer 525XL
Ecotech Vectra M1
Ecotech Vortech MP40, 2
Skimz skimmer
Kessil AP700, 2
Neptune 2016 Apex
BRS 5 stage RODI+2 25 gallon water barrels
Clearview mesh top
Marco dry rock, Tropic Eden sand, Marinepure
Additions, to date;
Avast skimmate locker
Neptune DOS
BRS CO2 scrubber
Apogee SQ-520
Gyre 250
Skimz 157 algae reactor
Kazzillions of miscellaneous small items
For the most part, the goals have been met. The tank runs at 77.5F year round. Automation has kept the major parameters stable. Water changes are bucket-less; the water mixing station may be the best feature.
The only equipment failure is the Skimz skimmer pump. I did exchange the Vectra for the whining noise but the new one was louder, not technically a failure.
The fish has been a success. All are either aqua-cultured or preconditioned then QT’d before added to the DT. No deaths by disease/parasites to date. A few bad choices led a few losses, all ORA captive bred; seems like some of the captive-bred fish were either terrified of the open space or thought the tang is a shark, disappeared into the rockwork and starved to death.
Corals are all frags from WWC and Battlecorals. Can’t say the tank has been successful with corals. I’ve only lost a couple SPS frags but compared to others on R2R the tank is not progressing as expected. I unintentionally created a ULN tank and continue to struggle to get any measurable nitrate or phosphate in the system to date. This is also my only major maintenance issue, the filter socks slime up and must be cleaned usually every day.
Sump:
I put together a manifold similar to Mr. Broadfield’s. I never used any of the spigots until recently. I plan on simplifying the plumbing and increasing the pipe diameter.
I bored a 2-inch hole at the height of the sump to pass non-electrical items between the two compartments, dosing lines.
I still use the RedSea ATO.
Control cabinet:
Mr. Broadfield’s display is the aesthetic benchmark for an RSR. I don’t have any extra space for all this “stuff” to be hidden from view. I basically used a couple of melamine shelves and hung them vertically in the back of the cabinets. The hidden shelf has the myriad of power bricks mounted front and back, the visible shelf has the Apex and pump controllers mounted for access. This works OK, still a chore to add/remove equipment.
Equipment comments:
Ecotech Vectra M1; never failed but mine was noisy when new, plumbing does affect the noise levels from this pump. No Apex integration so it’s heading for backup status.
Ecotech Vortech MP40; These are well executed. Unless the dry side fails I will be happy with these pumps. Buy an extra wet side to and pop the dirty one off put the extra clean one on, couldn’t be easier maintenance short of having someone else do it for you. Excellent Apex integration.
Skimz skimmer; Bought because BRS supports them. Would probably by the Nyos today. The Avast skimmate locker is a no-brainer; prevents any runaway skimmer events.
Kessil AP700; I’m happy with the hardware but am skeptical of the control. I’ve already participated in a discussion on these lights; no need to elaborate.
Neptune 2016 Apex; IMHO there are only two paths, Neptune or ReefAngel. The last thing I want to do is Linux admin on an aquarium plus everything is DIY. GHL might be an alternative but the Neptune ecosystem in the US is more accessible. I don’t like the trend away from 3rd party support.
Gyre 250; Lot’s of flow, more noise and harder to clean. Would replace with a Vortech style pump (external motor) if one were available with similar flow characteristics. Lot’s of control but the tedious to program.
Lesson learned;
I’m a science geek who kept a marine aquarium for many years so I was already familiar most aspects of the hobby.
The first marine aquarium I set up was a 75 Gallon Oceanic back in the late ’80s. Eventually, it evolved into a crude reef tank; MH’s, RedSea Berlin skimmer, 30 gal sump and a chiller. All DIY and looked it. Gave it away somewhere around 2000.
I was searching for an LED light one day in summer 2016 and RapidLED showed up in the search. The heat and resulting noise from the chiller were the primary reason I lost interest before. High power LEDs could solve this so I started to research which eventually led me here to R2R.
Initially, I was going to set up a nano, IM25 lagoon, but things like the ATO led me to the RedSea Reefer tanks. I eventually decided on a Reefer 250 and made the pitch to the wife. Basically, she was dead set against setting up a tank and added; why bother with a little tank like the Reefer 250. So I settled on the Reefer 450XL. When it came time to order the tank I decided to upgrade to a 5ft tank.
Priorities;
No chiller
Automation
Ease of maintenance
Limit the carnage
Does not look DIY
Equipment;
RedSea Reefer 525XL
Ecotech Vectra M1
Ecotech Vortech MP40, 2
Skimz skimmer
Kessil AP700, 2
Neptune 2016 Apex
BRS 5 stage RODI+2 25 gallon water barrels
Clearview mesh top
Marco dry rock, Tropic Eden sand, Marinepure
Additions, to date;
Avast skimmate locker
Neptune DOS
BRS CO2 scrubber
Apogee SQ-520
Gyre 250
Skimz 157 algae reactor
Kazzillions of miscellaneous small items
For the most part, the goals have been met. The tank runs at 77.5F year round. Automation has kept the major parameters stable. Water changes are bucket-less; the water mixing station may be the best feature.
The only equipment failure is the Skimz skimmer pump. I did exchange the Vectra for the whining noise but the new one was louder, not technically a failure.
The fish has been a success. All are either aqua-cultured or preconditioned then QT’d before added to the DT. No deaths by disease/parasites to date. A few bad choices led a few losses, all ORA captive bred; seems like some of the captive-bred fish were either terrified of the open space or thought the tang is a shark, disappeared into the rockwork and starved to death.
Corals are all frags from WWC and Battlecorals. Can’t say the tank has been successful with corals. I’ve only lost a couple SPS frags but compared to others on R2R the tank is not progressing as expected. I unintentionally created a ULN tank and continue to struggle to get any measurable nitrate or phosphate in the system to date. This is also my only major maintenance issue, the filter socks slime up and must be cleaned usually every day.
Sump:
I put together a manifold similar to Mr. Broadfield’s. I never used any of the spigots until recently. I plan on simplifying the plumbing and increasing the pipe diameter.
I bored a 2-inch hole at the height of the sump to pass non-electrical items between the two compartments, dosing lines.
I still use the RedSea ATO.
Control cabinet:
Mr. Broadfield’s display is the aesthetic benchmark for an RSR. I don’t have any extra space for all this “stuff” to be hidden from view. I basically used a couple of melamine shelves and hung them vertically in the back of the cabinets. The hidden shelf has the myriad of power bricks mounted front and back, the visible shelf has the Apex and pump controllers mounted for access. This works OK, still a chore to add/remove equipment.
Equipment comments:
Ecotech Vectra M1; never failed but mine was noisy when new, plumbing does affect the noise levels from this pump. No Apex integration so it’s heading for backup status.
Ecotech Vortech MP40; These are well executed. Unless the dry side fails I will be happy with these pumps. Buy an extra wet side to and pop the dirty one off put the extra clean one on, couldn’t be easier maintenance short of having someone else do it for you. Excellent Apex integration.
Skimz skimmer; Bought because BRS supports them. Would probably by the Nyos today. The Avast skimmate locker is a no-brainer; prevents any runaway skimmer events.
Kessil AP700; I’m happy with the hardware but am skeptical of the control. I’ve already participated in a discussion on these lights; no need to elaborate.
Neptune 2016 Apex; IMHO there are only two paths, Neptune or ReefAngel. The last thing I want to do is Linux admin on an aquarium plus everything is DIY. GHL might be an alternative but the Neptune ecosystem in the US is more accessible. I don’t like the trend away from 3rd party support.
Gyre 250; Lot’s of flow, more noise and harder to clean. Would replace with a Vortech style pump (external motor) if one were available with similar flow characteristics. Lot’s of control but the tedious to program.
Lesson learned;
I’m a science geek who kept a marine aquarium for many years so I was already familiar most aspects of the hobby.
- Don’t follow the directions regarding carbon dosing; bio-pellets, NO3
O4-X or AF -NP Pro. I used AF startup procedure. - Patience; this always comes up. Time will eventually mitigate the issues I have with this system. Using proper QT procedures does nothing for instant gratification.
- Current aquarium IoT is terrible. None of this works well. Mostly just gimmicks that will not be supported over time.
