Xanthurum's RS650s

[Xanthurum]

This build thread is long overdue but I suppose now is as good a time as any. As the title says I was able to get my hands on a Red Sea 650s and set out to try and upgrade some of the components.
3 x Radion XR30 Gen 3 pros
Custom sump by Titan Aquatic Exhibits with built in 35 gallon refugium
Reef Octopus SSS 220 Regal skimmer
Vectra M1 return pump
2x MP40QD to go along with the 4 since 2.0 pumps built in on the back wall
Bubble Magus BM-T11 doser

All this with a custom light mount and custom stand with sliding doors. I will post pics of all the progress later but here is one to help get things going.

 

[vanpire]

Looking forward to your build. Nice scaping so far.

 

[Xanthurum]

For my stand I came up with an idea I had not seen before which was sliding doors. I wanted it to have a rustic look so my kids helped distress the wood. The stand is steel that was painted with hammered texture paint and the sliders are stainless steel that i ordered from a boat company. I still used the electric box from the Red Sea to house all my stuff. The sides of the tank can also open to allow complete access to the sump area. The Radions are suspended above the tank on a piece of wood with custom steel mounts and the wires run thru the wall and come into the stand to connect to the power supplies. I apologize for not having better progress pics with more details but I cant seem to find my SD card that has them. Feel free to ask questions, it took quite some time to design and build it all but it was worth it in the end.

 

[Xanthurum]

So after getting everything up and running it was time to start stocking it with fish. My idea was to focus on fish and corals after. The thinking was if any disease made it into the DT I could potentially treat it without worrying about corals. I seriously doubted that would be an issue because I was not going to compromise my QT process. I have had issues in the past I was going to avoid that at all cost.

The fish list was decided upon and QT measures began but of course there were hiccups. I really enjoy wrasse and had quite a few until my blue side wrasse went rogue and killed my pintail and leopard. He didn’t stop there either, he continued to kill all the fish that were smaller than him. An entire group of lyretail anthias, 5of them, 3 firefish, a longnose hawkfish, and a starry blenny. in fact the only fish he didn’t kill were my tangs. I love tangs and intended to have at least 3 but when you have an addiction things change so I finally settled on 5. Achilles, Powder Blue/Goldrim hybrid, Gem, Purple and a White Tail Bristletooth. Getting the PB and Achilles to tolerate each other was one heck of a chore but that’s a story for another day. So it was back to the drawing board so I decided to go with damsels because I wanted more fish and at 5 bucks each it wouldn’t break the bank if he continued on his murderous rampage. I was able to get 2 Royal Grammas, 4 Four stripe damsels, 3 Talbots, 1 Blue and 1 Yellowtail to coexist with the killer. Everything went very well for a while but sadly after 3 years my wrasse died of old age, I’m guessing. He was fine one day and then swam into a crevice and never came back out. For the first day I know he was alive because I would see him move a little every now and again but the next day when I tried to get him to move I could tell he had passed.

So now I have a bunch of jerk damsels that won’t let anything new in the tank. I tried adding 5 firefish and a Melanarus wrasse but the damsels were relentless, they chased the wrasse until he buried himself in the sand. Anytime he came back out they chased him until he had to hide again and again. The firefish were harassed so much that one swam into my MP40 and was messed up pretty bad. They killed 1 but I was able to remove the others including the unfortunate MP40 swimmer. All 4 were rehomed along with the wrasse. That’s all for now here are some pics of my fish.

 

[Xanthurum]

Corals? I guess it's time to fill you in on coral plans. I love SPS and so I planned on going with a mixed reef with a focus on SPS.

I of course started with LPS and softies like zoas because the tank was started with dry rock. I wanted the tank to mature before attempting SPS.

It was about this time that my Appendix decided to try and kill me which was a lot of fun. I also had some longer term complications that came about from this and had to undergo a second surgery not long after so I was glad that I waited on SPS. Anyway here are some pics of corals, dont worry SPS fans those pics are coming soon.

 

[Xanthurum]

I feel like more pics were needed!

 

[Xanthurum]

Few more LPS and zoas

 

[Xanthurum]

Start the day with a pic of my GIANT brain. I've had it for a few years now and it was pretty big when I got it but this thing is massive now. For reference the yellow tail damsel is a solid 1.5 inches long!

Why not a second pic just for fun

 

[vanpire]

WOW. That's pretty awesome.

 

[malacoda]

Just checked out your SPS thread as well, and your tank looks like it's doing great!

I'm curious...

What levels do you typically keep your minerals and nutrients at?

What type of filtration methods do you use?

And what's your maintenance routine like?

 

[Xanthurum]

I suppose I should do an update. I've been busy changing my sand from black to aragonite. I was struggling with SPS and after trouble shooting for a very long time the decision was made to switch. It took several months to get it out, I siphoned out some sand during water changes and replaced it with new sand. Total time was a little over 3 months to avoid any drastic changes. Here is a side shot about midway thru and a new FTS. Today also marks the 1 week anniversary of my new lighting, I upgraded from Radion Gen 3 Pros to Gen 5 Pros.

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Awesome, thanks for sharing.

 

[Xanthurum]

@malacoda as far as nutrients are concerned I try to keep things as stable as possible. I have had to dose phosphates and Nitrates but only for a little bit and they seem to have stabilized with heavy feeding.
Alk 8.0
Calcium 420-440
I don't check Mag
Phosphate at .05
Nitrate at 10-15

For filtration I run 1, 7 inch filter sock even though I have 2 spaces for socks. I run a Reef Octopus Regal 220 SSS skimmer 24/7. I also have the built in refugium which I only push about 200 gallons an hour thru so the water spends a good amount of time in it.

For maintenance I algae scrape as needed and try to keep up on water changes but since I travel for work I usually only get to do 40 gallons or so every 6 to 8 weeks using Instant Ocean salt using Muriatic acid to lower alk. I dose calcium and alk via a doser and make adjustments as needed to keep things where I want them by checking params twice a week. My wife does this when I'm gone and I walk her thru the process of any adjustments. I also dose EasyReefs SPS Evo gel. Sometimes the best solutions are to simplify as much as possible. The tank is pretty dialed in so I don't do much anymore.

 

[malacoda]

Thanks for the info!

I'm trying to get my 65g dialed in for better SPS growth using the simplest method / least-equipment-intensive approach possible. And hearing about tanks with solid SPS growth is really helpful in plotting out the options.

 

[Xanthurum]

Long over due for an update and a lot has been going on. I finished changing out all the black sand and things have been steadily improving but there have been some setbacks as well. I will be doing a series of updates to outline what has been going on each month. I will be starting with Feb 2021 since my last update was in January. I promise I will be better about updates especially since ROTM is back and that has been a goal of mine for many many years.

So let's see...In February I was still traveling for work so I basically just did what I could when I was home. Nothing much to report so I will just post a few SPS pics that I took in February.
Vivids Confetti

TSA Bill Murray

TGC Cherry Bomb had previously been doing great but after the lighting upgrade the red polyps slowly lost their red and I'm still hoping they will return. This is the last picture I have where there is any red left.

This was January

Bahama Mama

I had been eyeing this one for a long time and was finally able to purchase RRC Rainbow Splice

 

[CoralWealth]

everything looks good.

How often are you doing water changes and any other trace element dosing?

 

[Xanthurum]

I swore I was gonna do better but clearly I was wrong.
@CoralWealth I was trying to do water changes once a month but since I traveled for work it was always changing. Sometimes it was twice a month and sometimes every 6 weeks. One thing that always stayed the same is I would do a 40 gallon WC. I use 2 44 gallon brutes on wheels, mix water in 1 and when ready I drain into the other then refill the tank. Traveling for work was kind of a blessing for the tank because I was obsessed with trying to ensure that things were locked before trips. I never knew how long I would be gone so I spent lots of my time at home trying to make it easier on the tank when I was gone. This will become important very soon because when I got a new job and found myself at home all the time I became less than good at keeping up like I did when I traveled...stay tuned to find out more!

As for trace elements I've tried just about everything through the years. I mean everything but while traveling I tried East Reefs SPS evogel since it can be done with a doser. I didn't really see any major difference so when it ran out I just stuck with the water changes and was pleased with how things looked so I completely stopped dosing any foods or amino acids. I still occasionally use Reef Chili but I mainly just feed my fish a lot.

How bout a few March pics.
Pink Cadillac

BC Dkydoppel

Cliffs Acro

And my Powder Blue/ Goldrim hybrid

 

[SeaHorse-23]

Hi I just found this thread, I also got a second hand red sea max s650 and wanted to ask you about where to buy parts for it, I am looking for the plastic trims, I am missing a few pieces and my lfs doesn't sell them, also a ball valve, any help or referral ? Thanks!!

 

[1ocean]

how is the tank....

 

[Xanthurum]

@SeaHorse-23 sorry I have no idea where to source parts

@1ocean the tank has had its ups and downs. It’s currently just above rock bottom lol. I took a very long break from R2R, not for any particular reason I just haven’t been logging on. The tank reached its peak about 6 months ago and was doing amazing and then one day it just started going downhill. I’ll probably do a few posts about it but then again maybe I won’t. I will say that if I had kept up with posting updates I might have been a contender for reef of the month but not in its current state. This tank gave me great joy but all good things must come to an end I suppose. I still have lots of healthy corals, whatever issue I was having was just with the sps. I have most of my fish but the hybrid snapped one day and killed the Achilles and then took out the Gem about 5 days later so he got rehomed after that. That was a gut punch, especially after living peacefully for over 3 years. I have decided it’s time to say goodbye to this tank. It’s time for a new journey. A much LARGER journey so the prep work has begun on what will be a monster upgrade!