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

[Lorn Murray]

This is a game changer....what a cracking setup. I haven't pulled the trigger on a marine tank yet...but after seeing what you have done with water changes and top ups makes me want to think about a 450XL as opposed to a 250!

Can I try walking through this and you can correct me were I'm wrong..I'm no plumber, so this is maybe beyond my comprehension and skill set, but here goes.

From the photos it looks like you have one pipe rather than 2 from the basement up to your tank? If its the same pipe for both are you emptying the tank by gravity when you open the valve at the tank or is there a pump in the basement? So that means you close the valve to the basement to the 65 gal tanks so the old water runs in to waste pipe (white pipe in photo). Then you manually open the valve to the salt tank and a separate pump draws up the water to replenish the tank? The two 65 gallon tanks, one is your DI water, and the other tank is the salted one, and you just open values to top one up?

...or have i totally got it wrong

 

[revhtree]

What a beauty!

 

[Broadfield]

...or have i totally got it wrong

Sounds about right! This should clear anything up if there is confusion. Note: the valves are not necessarily in the correct position in each image... I simply edited the same photo for each. But it's pretty common sense which valves need to be open and closed for each scenario.

Also note, these are images from when I first set it up... technically I wasn't even completely finished. I have a powerhead that sits near the bottom of the salt tank to keep circulation. The salt tank also has a heater, temp and salinity probe connected to my Apex. Then on the RO/DI tank, I have a 1/4" line connected to a pump in the bottom, that pumps up top-off water to the sump... controlled by a Puratek Auto Level Controller. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Reefer 450 Drain by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Reefer 450 Fill by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Reefer 450 ROI by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Reefer 450 Salt Mix by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[Lorn Murray]

Ingenious!...thanks for the comprehensive reply.

...now just need to wait till my lady is out before she can stop me boring a hole through the solid wood floor of the lounge

 

[Broadfield]

...now just need to wait till my lady is out before she can stop me boring a hole through the solid wood floor of the lounge

Hahahaha, good luck my friend!

 

[Broadfield]

One of my hairy little friends enjoys watching me do Sunday water changes.

IMG_6713 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[redsea01]

One of my hairy little friends enjoys watching me do Sunday water changes.

IMG_6713 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

What cute company to have for Sunday water changes. What is his/her name?

 

[seastar]

I just ordered that oxydator, thanks for the link. Do you run carbon as well or just that now?

 

[Broadfield]

What is his/her name?

Her name is Millie.

I just ordered that oxydator, thanks for the link. Do you run carbon as well or just that now?

Sweet! I just run bio pellets and a skimmer at the moment. I have GFO in my 2nd reactor, but only put it online if I notice any sort of algae at all. Which I have had zero algae since my initial cycle... so I don't really run the GFO. Those bio pellets seem to work great! I have only had a short bout with cyanobacteria and then I also had a short stint with spirulina. The hydrogen peroxide cleared the cyano and Chemiclean cleared up the spirulina. I also stir my sand every day. All of this seems to keep my sand white and no algae in the tank... so far any way lol.

 

[seastar]

Her name is Millie.



Sweet! I just run bio pellets and a skimmer at the moment. I have GFO in my 2nd reactor, but only put it online if I notice any sort of algae at all. Which I have had zero algae since my initial cycle... so I don't really run the GFO. Those bio pellets seem to work great! I have only had a short bout with cyanobacteria and then I also had a short stint with spirulina. The hydrogen peroxide cleared the cyano and Chemiclean cleared up the spirulina. I also stir my sand every day. All of this seems to keep my sand white and no algae in the tank... so far any way lol.

Funny you mention stirring the sand... I plan on doing exactly the same once I finish up by 14day treatment for dinos. I might even have to look into bio pellets now as well.

 

[Broadfield]

Funny you mention stirring the sand... I plan on doing exactly the same once I finish up by 14day treatment for dinos. I might even have to look into bio pellets now as well.

I wish the best of luck to you man! It seemed like in my old tank I just couldn't get to a point where I had any success... always had some issues with GHA, cyano and had no luck at keeping corals. With this tank, it's a total 180 flip. I think struggling for 2 years on my old tank, caused the reefing Gods to reward me on this current setup lol.

 

[re76]

Hey Broadfield, I love this set up and am doing my best to emulate it in most ways. You are one of the main reasons I settled on a Reefer 450. I am also shamelessly stealing your design for the mixing station and water change process. Currently I have the tank set up, and all the plumbing ran from the basement to where the tank is. Focusing on plumbing the mixing station this week and getting everything mounted in the basement.

I am going to do a very similar dual reactor setup to what you are running. I'm sure it won't look nearly as clean is yours. I am going with two small Spyglass reactors from Avast marine. My plan is to try and avoid running GFO and instead run carbon in the first reactor, and all in one biopellets in the second. This will all be run off of the manifold which is connected to a Vectra M1 (sound similar?).

I was just wondering if you are still happy with the Vectra M1, what percent do you operate it at? Would you choose it again?

I have been taking a ton of pictures along the way and plan on eventually starting a build thread. It seems like a great way to share ideas and get great feedback.

 

[Broadfield]

Hey Broadfield, I love this set up and am doing my best to emulate it in most ways. You are one of the main reasons I settled on a Reefer 450. I am also shamelessly stealing your design for the mixing station and water change process. Currently I have the tank set up, and all the plumbing ran from the basement to where the tank is. Focusing on plumbing the mixing station this week and getting everything mounted in the basement.

I am going to do a very similar dual reactor setup to what you are running. I'm sure it won't look nearly as clean is yours. I am going with two small Spyglass reactors from Avast marine. My plan is to try and avoid running GFO and instead run carbon in the first reactor, and all in one biopellets in the second. This will all be run off of the manifold which is connected to a Vectra M1 (sound similar?).

I was just wondering if you are still happy with the Vectra M1, what percent do you operate it at? Would you choose it again?

I have been taking a ton of pictures along the way and plan on eventually starting a build thread. It seems like a great way to share ideas and get great feedback.

Hey man, I'm glad my build could give you some ideas. Please let me know if you ever have any questions. I have zero complaints about the M1... I run it at 100%. Which seems to be the perfect amount of flow, through the sump, when you factor in the reactors.

 

[Broadfield]

Still need to get a full fledge update video of my tank, but I shot a couple of quick 10 second ones at each end of the tank. I don't know about you guys, but I have always loved being able to look through the end of reef tank... just gives an entirely new view and perspective.

 

[Taduga]

Amazing tank man. I got the 350 3 months ago and still thinking what I will do. I love the scape you did. Well done and hope to share some experience. Happy reefing.

 

[Broadfield]

I love the scape you did.

I went through several different scapes, over a period of several months, before I landed on the current one... which I'm 100% happy with. Lol, I don't say that very often.

 

[revhtree]

Sounds about right! This should clear anything up if there is confusion. Note: the valves are not necessarily in the correct position in each image... I simply edited the same photo for each. But it's pretty common sense which valves need to be open and closed for each scenario.

Also note, these are images from when I first set it up... technically I wasn't even completely finished. I have a powerhead that sits near the bottom of the salt tank to keep circulation. The salt tank also has a heater, temp and salinity probe connected to my Apex. Then on the RO/DI tank, I have a 1/4" line connected to a pump in the bottom, that pumps up top-off water to the sump... controlled by a Puratek Auto Level Controller. Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Reefer 450 Drain by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Reefer 450 Fill by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Reefer 450 ROI by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Reefer 450 Salt Mix by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Thanks for the detailed explanation! Tank is looking sweet!

 

[redsea01]

Love it! Your fish are looking so vibrant. I love looking at the tank through the ends too. It gives that whole new perspective AND you can see what is going on in the crevices/backs of the rocks! It's fun for sure!

 

[Broadfield]

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 only had two concerns before doing it: 1) I really didn't want to see cables hanging down the back... would kind of defeat the purpose of doing it and 2) is it going to look goofy with the black overflow still in place. I figured out a way to hide the powerhead cables and light fixture cables... so I went for it. I knew there was nothing I could really do about the overflow being black. But I came up with an easy and slick way to hide the powerhead cables going down the back.

IMG_6805 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

For the light fixture, I simply routed the cables along the backside of the fixture, then dropped the cables down behind the overflow. For the powerheads, I bought some aluminum 90 degree stock, cut to length and then painted them black. Since the Reefer series use black silicone for the seams, the painted black aluminum blends right in... it basically forms a cap around the end of the tank. I simply double stuck the aluminum trim to the corner of the tank and left just enough space for the powerhead cable to pressure fit inside. It also allows me to just pull the cable right out for powerhead cleaning etc.

IMG_6802 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_6803 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

 

[MCooper]

The details are UNREAL on this bad boy!