Broadfield's Red Sea Reefer 450 Build - OCD Inspired... Going Back To a Reef

[Broadfield]

Current state of tank:
FTS by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

FTS + Stand by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_6030 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr



I am absolutely no stranger to posting build threads on a forum, just not of a reef tank... it's always been of vehicles. So this is my first!

I started with my first reef setup a couple years ago with an Innovative Marine 30 gallon Fusion. Great all-in-one tank, but I decided I wanted something bigger and with separate sump etc. When I saw that Red Sea was going to be releasing their new Reefer series, I started saving my money. I received it about 4 weeks ago and have already got most of it up and running... here's what I got going on so far.

**First off, I want to thank my wife! She agreed that it would be a good idea to convert our dining room into a reef viewing room.**

Ran home from work to meet the freight driver and we put it in the garage. I did a quick visual inspection before I went back to work.

IMG_3820 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_3819 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

After work I did a quick leak test and all was good. I then proceeded to assemble the stand.

IMG_3825 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

I have (3) Hydra 52's going over it, so I got the rails all mounted before I shoved the stand up against wall.

IMG_3826 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Had my neighbor pop over and help me heft this thing onto the stand. I will say that 5/8" glass isn't light. I quickly started toying with scape ideas:

IMG_3899 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

This is one of my helpers:

IMG_3887 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Here is what I came up with on the scape... got it all cemented together so nothing budges. Also filled the tank with salt water and sand. There's plenty of clearance all around the rock for flow, cleaning of the back glass and swimming lanes for larger fish.

IMG_3937 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Our viewing chairs arrived to help finish off the room. We still need to get a different light fixture for the room, but that's the least of my concerns at the moment.

IMG_3978 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Next up, basement plumbing for salt water mixing, water changing etc!

 

[redsea01]

I'm following along! Reduce makes such eye-pleasing setups....I love the rockscape, I've always been a fan of the "two-island" look!

Cute pup by the way!

 

[jason g]

Wow you work fast. Looking good and what an awesome helper you have there. Those chairs are very nice as well.

 

[Joshblah]

Good job!

 

[Broadfield]

Even though I only had a 30 gallon previous to this setup, I still hated water changes... making RO/DI water, mixing salt in a 5-gallon container, hauling buckets of tank water, hefting 5-gallons of salt water over the edge of the tank etc. My RO/DI was set up under my kitchen sink, that was inconvenient... I'm sure I could think of a few other things to complain and whine about. So now with a larger tank, I took this opportunity to make all of this easier. I purchased two 65-gallon tanks from Farm & Fleet. I was lucky that my local store actually stocks them. The tanks themselves are not extremely expensive. But by the time you factor in freight charge, if you buy online, it gets out-of-hand quickly. I used 3/4" schedule 80 to plumb it all. A bunch of Viton sealed, true union ball valves later, I had an easy way to manage my RO, salt water and do water changes without any buckets or hoses.

IMG_4021 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4019 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4022 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[shadow1013]

Cannot wait to see it built. We won a 170 a couple of months back. We love it. I'd love to get a larger one.

 

[whatchamacallit]

Nice I ordered a 170. This is what I'm going to purchase when I move at the end of the year, and use the 170 as a frag tank since they both blend together perfectly.

 

[Broadfield]

Cannot wait to see it built. We won a 170 a couple of months back. We love it. I'd love to get a larger one.

Nice, you can't beat a free Red Sea Reefer... no matter the size! I wish they had a 6 footer, but this 450 is a heck of a tank. I'm really loving it.

 

[Civilized_drifter]

Looks good! Your name sounds familiar. Are you on zilvia?

 

[Broadfield]

Onto the Apex system and wiring. For this tank I wanted to get ultra organized. I don't have a need for a chiller where I live. Once it hits at least 80 in the spring here, it's humid as can be... so the air is on. So this gave me a great place to mount/display all of my Apex gear, Vortech controllers etc. I decided I would do a false panel that held the modules/controllers and then have all of the power bricks and EnergyBars behind it.

I blocked off 2/3 of the opening for a "power panel". You can also see the 3/4" schedule 80 that comes from the basement for water changes etc.

IMG_3987 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

I then secured a panel up high for part of the gear and hinged a second panel below it for all of the Apex modules and controller. This can be hinged up 90 degrees to gain access to all of the cabling. Then lastly a 3rd panel to block off the bottom. My next task is to organize all of the cables behind there.

IMG_4008 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4020 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4012 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[Broadfield]

Looks good! Your name sounds familiar. Are you on zilvia?

Yes sir... and judging by your username, you are too

IMG_8218 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[Civilized_drifter]

Oh yes! I haven't been on in a long time tho. I moved over to the z32 world about 6 years ago. I actually talked to you at Import alliance one year. The first thing that came to my mind when I read you user name was your custom gauge cluster lol

 

[Broadfield]

Finished my media reactor setup. I decided to do a manifold inline with the return line. I did 3/4" hose(about 6" long to eliminate vibrations) out of the pump and then into 3/4" schedule 80. Up from there into the 3/4" manifold, which T's out to 1/2" gate valves and into the reactors. Works absolutely perfect. This is my first time doing anything with plumbing at all, so I was pretty happy with the results.

IMG_4098 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4060 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4085 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4078 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

A shot of my water change line. Simply priming this line, turning off the pump, open the valve in the image, open the drain valve in the basement... instant syphon to drain the entire main sump area. I love sitting in the chair in front of my tank and using Apex Fusion to turn on the basement pump to pump salt water back up to the sump. I really hated lugging buckets around with my old tank.

IMG_4108 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[Broadfield]

Oh yes! I haven't been on in a long time tho. I moved over to the z32 world about 6 years ago. I actually talked to you at Import alliance one year. The first thing that came to my mind when I read you user name was your custom gauge cluster lol

Yeah, I'm going pretty strong on the custom gauge stuff now... still trying to build the business into a money maker though.

https://instagram.com/broadfieldcustoms/

http://www.broadfieldcustoms.com/

https://www.facebook.com/BroadfieldCustoms

 

[Civilized_drifter]

Yeah, I'm going pretty strong on the custom gauge stuff now... still trying to build the business into a money maker though.

https://instagram.com/broadfieldcustoms/

http://www.broadfieldcustoms.com/

https://www.facebook.com/BroadfieldCustoms

dang. Those look freaking amazing

 

[TaylorPilot]

Looking good! Red Sea tanks are an awesome package.

 

[Broadfield]

****. Those look freaking amazing

Thanks man! Just let me know if you ever need anything done for the Z32.

 

[Highgrade]

Nice setup. I'm on the fence about a 350 or the 450. What return pump are you using?

 

[KDawg0623]

This looks like a great set up

 

[Scubafrog]

Wow, awesome and clean build. Love it. Love the electronic set up in the "chiller" compartment. Does your ATO come from your basement tank? Can you show a full shot of your sump compartment.