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

[kciNFL]

Beautiful tank, do you have a stocking list of all the fish in your tank?

 

[kciNFL]

Nvm i found it (skipped a page on accident) is this still your fish count in your tank?
(1) Purple Tang
(1) Picasso Clown
(1) Ocellaris Clown
(1) Lyretail Anthias
(1) Bimaculatus Anthias (I think this is the one you are referring to)
(1) Bartlett's Anthias
(2) Carberyyi Anthias
(1) Ignitus Anthias
(1) Bicolor Anthias

 

[locito277]

I am running two as seen in the very first image of this thread. I'm debating adding a 3rd to the right side of the overflow, aimed to the front/right and up. But they are capable of a ton of flow.

Awesome. I think three pumping from one side is gonna work like a charm.

 

[Bonese]

Hey Broadfield - Huge fan of your work.

Was hoping you could maybe inform me on the proper term for the valve(?) that is on the straight pipe from the the return pump? I thought it may be a check valve but have not seen any in that nice size. I also am after the proper globe valves you used with the nice hose style handles. Forgive me if I am butchering all of this I am totally new to the plumbing aspect. As you would expect, I am having some issues finding the proper name for these. Your manifold is a true thing of beauty! Thanks so much for taking the time to be such a valuable resource.

 

[Broadfield]

I knew that switching out sumps, plumbing etc would be stressful. So I got as much of the plumbing glued up and ready to roll ahead of time. That way my tank would be down off of life support for the least amount of time. I decided to pull the trigger Monday after work.

Before:

IMG_5972 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Removed:

IMG_7676 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Manifold and main piping installed:

IMG_7681 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Virtually everything swapped over:

IMG_7696 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

I still need to do all of my accent lighting, ultra organize the cable runs etc. I'll then get some pics with my good camera. I have an acrylic shipment coming in this week, so hopefully I can get more done on the control center side.

 

[Adam G]

Looks great! I set up my Reefer 525xl with your original design and am very pleased with it. Now you have me thinking of new possibilities.

From the little section of your tank I can see in some of your sump pics it looks amazing. The sand is so clean, no algae on the bottom section of class between the glass and sand bed, and the colors of your corals are just amazing. Would you mind giving a run down of you latest cleaning and maintenance routine? How about your additive and dosing regimen? Whatever you are doing makes for one stellar looking tank!

 

[Adam G]

Oh, and a current FTS would be awesome as well!

 

[revhtree]

I knew that switching out sumps, plumbing etc would be stressful. So I got as much of the plumbing glued up and ready to roll ahead of time. That way my tank would be down off of life support for the least amount of time. I decided to pull the trigger Monday after work.

Before:

IMG_5972 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Removed:

IMG_7676 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Manifold and main piping installed:

IMG_7681 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Virtually everything swapped over:

IMG_7696 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

I still need to do all of my accent lighting, ultra organize the cable runs etc. I'll then get some pics with my good camera. I have an acrylic shipment coming in this week, so hopefully I can get more done on the control center side.

That's quite a nice upgrade! The old looked great but the new is even better!

 

[ShanH]

New sump looks amazing

Have you used pvc cement in the manifold? If yes where?

 

[Broadfield]

New sump looks amazing

Have you used pvc cement in the manifold? If yes where?

Every single joint in the plumbing is cemented together, except for the threaded adapters where the orange piping mates with the Red Sea piping.

 

[DansReef.co.uk]

Holy **** balls.

I am in LOVE. You have crazy OCD and are super anal lol - a man after my own heart.

I wholeheatifly approve.

In fact, if you don't mind I'm going to talk about this in my next Reef Update (www.youtube.com/c/dansreef)

 

[Broadfield]

Holy **** balls.

I am in LOVE. You have crazy OCD and are super anal lol - a man after my own heart.

I wholeheatifly approve.

In fact, if you don't mind I'm going to talk about this in my next Reef Update (www.youtube.com/c/dansreef)

Hey Dan, thanks for the props man! I would be honored if you wanted to touch on it in your next update. I'm going to shoot some "real" pics in the next couple of days if you would like to use them.

 

[Clarksski]

Looks amazing!! I like how you hung the media reactors to free up space in sump... Never seen that before.. Looking forward to seeing your new OCD inspired control panel build too...

 

[DansReef.co.uk]

Also

Hey Dan, thanks for the props man! I would be honored if you wanted to touch on it in your next update. I'm going to shoot some "real" pics in the next couple of days if you would like to use them.

Absolutely!

That sump is a dream and huge kudos for having the balls to remove the vinyl backing.

What a dream!

 

[jazzmik]

Bad@ss!!!

 

[redtigrinus]

What threaded fittings did you use to connect the new orange plumbing to the Red Sea fittings?

 

[revhtree]

Hey Dan, thanks for the props man! I would be honored if you wanted to touch on it in your next update. I'm going to shoot some "real" pics in the next couple of days if you would like to use them.

Not until we get them first!! LOL!

 

[Broadfield]

Looks great! I set up my Reefer 525xl with your original design and am very pleased with it. Now you have me thinking of new possibilities.

From the little section of your tank I can see in some of your sump pics it looks amazing. The sand is so clean, no algae on the bottom section of class between the glass and sand bed, and the colors of your corals are just amazing. Would you mind giving a run down of you latest cleaning and maintenance routine? How about your additive and dosing regimen? Whatever you are doing makes for one stellar looking tank!

Hey Adam, I'm glad my original design is working out for you. It truly was an easy, simplistic design that looks great and worked very well.

As for maintenance, I scrape the dusting off of the glass about every three days. Otherwise I have zero algae in the tank. I run biopellets and GFO to keep nitrates and phosphates where I want them... I assume this is the main contributor to zero algae.

As for additives, I don't do a ton:

• ZEObak twice/week
• Prodibio BioDigest twice/month
• Prodibio Reef Booster once/week
• Coral Frenzy twice/week
• LRS Reef Frenzy once/day

What threaded fittings did you use to connect the new orange plumbing to the Red Sea fittings?

http://www.pvcfittingsonline.com/836-007-3-4-schedule-80-pvc-male-adaptor.html

Note: the Red Sea is metric, so you will want to use 15+ wraps of Teflon tape on the threads. Another member also said he used the same fitting, but in an electrical conduit fitting version. These are lighter grey in color and he said the thread pitch on the electrical version is different than the schedule 80. He said he only needed a few wraps of Teflon. Me being picky, having two different colors of grey wouldn't fly. But it may work out great if you're not going ultra fancy.

 

[DansReef.co.uk]

Not until we get them first!! LOL!

haha

 

[Coral Frenzy]

What an incredible build. I can't get over how clean and organized everything is. Your system is truly amazing!!!!