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

[Broadfield]

Did you have any I'll effects switching out all the sand? Mini cycle?

I just did it 3 days ago... so it's too soon to tell. I always stirred my old sand every week if not more... so it wasn't holding much in the way of detritus etc. However, I'm sure I'll have some diatoms.

 

[pelphrey]

Happy new year sir! Back to work for me tomorrow, been a good few weeks off! Haha thanks for your help on the filter socks, that soldering iron didn't do bad on the ABS but it wasn't great either. I've decided to not chop up the trays, instead I am going to put a cabinet beside my tank for my equipment and ATO container and just change my sump out. This is a project with no completition date, I'm in no rush. Want to get some fish and corals first!

 

[Broadfield]

Happy new year sir! Back to work for me tomorrow, been a good few weeks off! Haha thanks for your help on the filter socks, that soldering iron didn't do bad on the ABS but it wasn't great either. I've decided to not chop up the trays, instead I am going to put a cabinet beside my tank for my equipment and ATO container and just change my sump out. This is a project with no completition date, I'm in no rush. Want to get some fish and corals first!

Brotha, you suck!... I didn't get a single day off. My only days off at my day job are Sundays... and guess what day Christmas and New Years day fell on!?!

That's awesome to hear about the new game plan! I think you will enjoy your setup even more with the added space, new sump etc.

 

[3lusive]

Just went through the ENTIRE thread, and all I can say is WOW .

I WAS working on new build plans, but now I feel like it was designed by a 3 year old... time to start over

 

[audikers]

Euphyllias are starting to fill in:

IMG_6123 (2) by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

I LOVE your euphyllis garden going on!

 

[audikers]

@Manchild you need to check out this crazy awsome tank build!

 

[Jstn]

Love the orange accent, bright yet not offensive.

 

[DLHDesign]

Going back a bit in your build history here, sorry;

I keep seeing other's "see-through" tanks and love the illusion of depth it provides when it's up against a lightly painted wall. I said "F it" and yanked the black film off the back of my Reefer lol. ... I knew there was nothing I could really do about the overflow being black.

Did you remove the film from behind the overflow (eg; take the entire thing off)? Or did you cut the film into pieces and leave the center? I'm contemplating pulling mine off, but am not sure about the impact it would have on the transparency of the overflow box (which, if I shine a light at, I can see through). I can always add a black piece inside the overflow to solve that transparency, I suppose...

 

[Scaff]

Going back a bit in your build history here, sorry;

Did you remove the film from behind the overflow (eg; take the entire thing off)? Or did you cut the film into pieces and leave the center? I'm contemplating pulling mine off, but am not sure about the impact it would have on the transparency of the overflow box (which, if I shine a light at, I can see through). I can always add a black piece inside the overflow to solve that transparency, I suppose...

If your able to get at the back of the tank easily. just run a blade up each side of the overflow box. I just did mine it was easy and dont have to worry about light getting into it now

 

[Guy3103]

Just finished going through this super cool thread.

I can see how inspiring your work must be to 1000's of Reefers out there.

What's even more impressive is that it's all DIY.

Maybe one day i'll set on a similar quest.

 

[PmRg]

Congrats I love the clean look of your tank that cabinet is amazing.

 

[Chrisfish]

Your "reef" is just beautiful, one of my absolute favorites

 

[Broadfield]

Going back a bit in your build history here, sorry;

Did you remove the film from behind the overflow (eg; take the entire thing off)? Or did you cut the film into pieces and leave the center? I'm contemplating pulling mine off, but am not sure about the impact it would have on the transparency of the overflow box (which, if I shine a light at, I can see through). I can always add a black piece inside the overflow to solve that transparency, I suppose...

I only had a few inches to work with behind my tank... so on a 450, it was a little difficult reaching behind and getting the film off towards the center. With that being said, there was no way I was going to be able slice the film in order to leave the section in place behind the overflow. So I simply pulled it all off and then double stuck a piece of black ABS behind the overflow.

 

[Broadfield]

Just finished going through this super cool thread.

I can see how inspiring your work must be to 1000's of Reefers out there.

What's even more impressive is that it's all DIY.

Maybe one day i'll set on a similar quest.

Thanks man.... I imagine DIY on steroids lol.

 

[DLHDesign]

I only had a few inches to work with behind my tank... so on a 450, it was a little difficult reaching behind and getting the film off towards the center. With that being said, there was no way I was going to be able slice the film in order to leave the section in place behind the overflow. So I simply pulled it all off and then double stuck a piece of black ABS behind the overflow.

Cheers - I've got the same problem (~3" clearance behind a 525XL I have 0% chance to move while it's full) and will take the same approach (black ABS behind)!

 

[griff500]

I wish we got coloured PVC in the UK!

You can get red, white and clear stuff along with the grey sch80 in the UK and from Europe. That's about it though.

I'm still not quite clear about what would be needed to connect pipework to the pipes on the sump side of the bulkhead.

 

[Broadfield]

I'm still not quite clear about what would be needed to connect pipework to the pipes on the sump side of the bulkhead.

There's numerous ways to do it. I chose to do it the way I believed to be the safest and the most serviceable, while still being cosmetically appealing. Which is removing the threaded barbed Red Sea fitting and simply replacing it with a threaded x SLIP adapter. You can buy two extra barbed fitting assemblies from Red Sea and do the drains also.

I guess you could also remove the barbed fitting from the Red Sea assembly and glue/bond a PVC pipe or fitting directly to it. Personally I don't like the idea of doing it that way. While it might have a slight cosmetic advantage over the way I did mine, I don't think it's near enough to warrant the risk of that bond breaking.

 

[griff500]

There's numerous ways to do it. I chose to do it the way I believed to be the safest and the most serviceable, while still being cosmetically appealing. Which is removing the threaded barbed Red Sea fitting and simply replacing it with a threaded x SLIP adapter. You can buy two extra barbed fitting assemblies from Red Sea and do the drains also.

I guess you could also remove the barbed fitting from the Red Sea assembly and glue/bond a PVC pipe or fitting directly to it. Personally I don't like the idea of doing it that way. While it might have a slight cosmetic advantage over the way I did mine, I don't think it's near enough to warrant the risk of that bond breaking.

Great. I need to replace the valve anyway as it's never been particularly effective.

I'll probably pop some Sears gate valves on them as they seem to be the best available on the UK. I'm very tempted to replace the sump to have it set up exactly how I want it to make it a simple swap over rather than further hacking the one I have.

I'm also tempted to remove the backing on the display - it looks great like that and seems to give great depth to the display and gives the content of the tank tremendous definition. More cleaning and more careful routing of the wires will be required of course!

You've done a great job and provided some excellent inspiration! The car's not too shabby either, although my taste is currently more Germanic than yours.

 

[pelphrey]

I can't stop looking at that sump.... haha It is going to create a lot of problems for me. I've looked around at some other sumps and I don't think I can spend the money on them. I may have to lean in your direction and go with the EA sump. Now my biggest problem which isn't so bad after all, I can technically fit the RS-33 in my cabinet I believe. The problem is I don't have a closet or anything I can put my ATO container in so it has to go inside the stand. So then I looked at the RS-22, that foot print would allow me to keep the ATO container in the stand. When I am ready I may need to reach out to them and get the cost of maybe a custom RS-26, the 26" lenght would leave me enough room I believe to get a ATO container made that is 7" left to right and taller to hold more water volume.

You got my wheels spinning once again, I won't be ready to make this upgrade until probably later this year. I am sure my mind will change 238746234786 times before then.

Hadn't talked to you in a few weeks, hope your 2017 has been awesome so far!

 

[jazzmik]

I can't stop looking at that sump.... haha It is going to create a lot of problems for me. I've looked around at some other sumps and I don't think I can spend the money on them. I may have to lean in your direction and go with the EA sump. Now my biggest problem which isn't so bad after all, I can technically fit the RS-33 in my cabinet I believe. The problem is I don't have a closet or anything I can put my ATO container in so it has to go inside the stand. So then I looked at the RS-22, that foot print would allow me to keep the ATO container in the stand. When I am ready I may need to reach out to them and get the cost of maybe a custom RS-26, the 26" lenght would leave me enough room I believe to get a ATO container made that is 7" left to right and taller to hold more water volume.

I almost pulled the trigger on the EA RS-33 sump as well (for 450) had it in the cart and typed out notes for color choice and to flip the drain lines... but put it on hold for now. I'm spending waaaayyyy too much money right now on this build!!!