Shortcuts to helpful posts in my build thread:
1. Mod the Reefer 250 v3 sump for a Clarisea (Post 6)
2. Cleaning off old live rock with vinegar and citric acid (Post 12)
3. Photos of Kessil A360s LED lights (Post 13)
4. How to adjust the Reefer 250 door hinges and door catch (Post 21)
5. Photos of the room/house (Post 27)
6.Lining the bottom of the tank with eggcrate (Changing mind on this) (Post 37)
7. Photos and details of my AV system Non-Reef Related (Post 42)
8. Detailed Plumbing Walk-through (Post 88)
9. Aquascaping with E-Marco 400 cement (Post 101)
10. Dry side stand build using an IKEA cabinet (Post 125)
11. Nitrate cycle complete and the first fish is in! (Post 148)
12. Tunze Eco Chic 8831 Refugium Light and Algagen Pods (Post 152)
13. First tank/reactor maintenance and first FTS (Post 171)
14. Long overdue update and thoughts on Trident/Vibrant (Post 282)
Featured Photos 3/15/2020
--- Intro and welcome to my build thread! ---
As a serial hobbyist, I'm someone who is constantly jumping from interest to interest. Typically, I'll get super deep into something, lose interest after a few years and occasionally dive back in at a later time. Reefing is an exception to this rule. I've had a reef tank continuously for the past 20 years. I remember my first tank was an 18 gallon tall in my graduate school dorm room with a metal halide bolted to an upside down baking pan. (Talk about a fire hazard!) From there I graduated to countless other tanks... 20 gallon reef, 50 gallon reef, seahorse nano, 72 gallon bowfront, 180 custom Lee Mar set into my house, an Elos 120 and up until last year an Innovative Marine SR80.
Over a year ago a new job took me to Los Angeles and my wife and I purchased our forever home in Pacific Palisades. Originally I was going to move my Innovative Marine SR80 along with all of my coral down from San Jose, but while it was temporarily housed at my mother in law's house, a perfect storm of a network outage and an exploded heater resulted in a complete loss of everything except for two lucky clownfish. Discouraged, I set up a 10 gallon tank just for the clowns and have been keeping them in a fairly sad state while we settled into LA. It's now been six months and the house and I are both ready for some saltwater.
I've been in this hobby for a long time, so this time around, I really want to focus on a few core concepts:
1) The tank should be in a central place where everyone can easily enjoy it.
2) The tank should integrate with the space and feel like a part of the home... not the other way around.
3) Manageable. I have a really busy job so this needs to be easy to maintain.
4) Invest in quality equipment for the long haul, but don't chase every new trend or gadget.
5) Go slow. My goal is a beautiful mature reef, not a continuous frag tank.
6) Mixed reef with RBTA in a light, airy and interesting reef structure.
Before I start I should note that this build is heavily inspired by the prior work of @Broadfield, @pelphrey and @Butuz. In fact, much of the aesthetics of this build will hopefully emulate the beautiful hard plumbing work that @Butuz did in his amazing Reefer 250 build.
Originally, I really wanted to do another Innovative Marine tank because I had a good experience with the SR80. Going sump-less with the SR80 was actually really refreshing. The simplicity of an "all in one" tank with simple components freed me up to worry less about things like flooding and overflow noise and more on the inhabitants themselves. When looking for a successor to the SR80, however, Innovative Marine changed their stand design to an aesthetic I really don't care for. It's a shame, because had they stuck with a simple, white, clean, minimalist cabinet, I would have just gone with them. Fortunately, I saw that Redsea was stepping up with their Reefer tanks.
What I like about the Reefer are the aesthetics and the quality of the build. As I mentioned, I've had a custom LeeMar with starfire glass, an Elos and an IM and the Redsea is every bit as nice as the other tanks. I'm really impressed with the value that Redsea is bringing at this price point. I don't regret at all not going with a more 'expensive' brand.
I ordered my tank from BRS. Shipping was done by XPO Logistics and about 2.5 weeks after I ordered it, the tank arrived. The delivery instructions stated they would only do curbside delivery, but the delivery guy was extra nice and helped me get the pallet up the driveway past the car gate.
The whole package is pretty heavy. However, it's easy to open up the tank, start from the top and take it in piece by piece. I just used a box cutter to open up the package on the driveway and then used the cardboard as an assembly station to build the stand. All told, it probably only took a couple hours to get everything together. With a bit of help from a friend, I hoisted the tank up into its final place.
I love that the white gloss stand fits in perfectly with our mid century modern aesthetic!
One thing I was fretting about was whether I should be doing anything to protect my hardwood floors. From past experience, I know that you shouldn't be putting a mat or anything that can trap moisture between the floor and the stand. The most important thing to protect the floors is to ensure that any water that hits the floor dries up quickly. I was really relieved to find that the Reefer comes with plastic feet all around the stand that props everything up about 1/4 inch. In addition, because they're smooth plastic, you can carefully slide the tank around without damaging the floor.
The first mod to the tank is the easiest. I've used stick up motion lights in the past. If you don't have one of these in your sump area, you really owe it to yourself to get one. They are battery operated, so you don't need to wire anything and turn on when you open the cabinet door, making it really easy to work on your sump. This particular one from Amazon was roughly $30 and allows you to control the brightness. I also like that it can be configured to be light+motion sensitive, just motion or simple on/off.
I stuck the light right behind the door stoppers on the top of the sump area. I should call out that I have had one small problem with the tank stand. The left stopper doesn't extend far enough to engage the 'click'. I've tried taking it apart and modifying it to no avail. I will give Redsea a quick email later today to see if I can get a replacement.
One of the key pieces of equipment that I knew I wanted to install was a filter roller. The Clarisea SK-3000 gets rave reviews, with the caveat that you need to modify the Reefer 250 v3 sump. I'll be cutting out the filter socks soon and installing the Clarisea in the expanded drain area.
For the return pump, I decided on the Reef Octopus Vario S-4. Although I'll be using a Neptune Apex from my old tank to control it, I've always found a simple DJ power strip to be really useful for when you need to cut power on something immediately or when you want a convenient switch for a power head.
Today I'll be planning out the manifold. On order from BRS I have a Nyos 120 skimmer, 5 feet of 3/4" PVC and five feet of 1/2" PVC. I still need to order reactors and I'm trying to decide between the Aquamaxx XS or the Biotek Media reactors. Also on the shopping list are red PVC plumbing elbows and tees, Spears gate valves, etc.
I'm probably a couple weeks away still from getting the system wet, but looking forward to this period of planning and building!
1. Mod the Reefer 250 v3 sump for a Clarisea (Post 6)
2. Cleaning off old live rock with vinegar and citric acid (Post 12)
3. Photos of Kessil A360s LED lights (Post 13)
4. How to adjust the Reefer 250 door hinges and door catch (Post 21)
5. Photos of the room/house (Post 27)
6.
7. Photos and details of my AV system Non-Reef Related (Post 42)
8. Detailed Plumbing Walk-through (Post 88)
9. Aquascaping with E-Marco 400 cement (Post 101)
10. Dry side stand build using an IKEA cabinet (Post 125)
11. Nitrate cycle complete and the first fish is in! (Post 148)
12. Tunze Eco Chic 8831 Refugium Light and Algagen Pods (Post 152)
13. First tank/reactor maintenance and first FTS (Post 171)
14. Long overdue update and thoughts on Trident/Vibrant (Post 282)
Featured Photos 3/15/2020
--- Intro and welcome to my build thread! ---
As a serial hobbyist, I'm someone who is constantly jumping from interest to interest. Typically, I'll get super deep into something, lose interest after a few years and occasionally dive back in at a later time. Reefing is an exception to this rule. I've had a reef tank continuously for the past 20 years. I remember my first tank was an 18 gallon tall in my graduate school dorm room with a metal halide bolted to an upside down baking pan. (Talk about a fire hazard!) From there I graduated to countless other tanks... 20 gallon reef, 50 gallon reef, seahorse nano, 72 gallon bowfront, 180 custom Lee Mar set into my house, an Elos 120 and up until last year an Innovative Marine SR80.
Over a year ago a new job took me to Los Angeles and my wife and I purchased our forever home in Pacific Palisades. Originally I was going to move my Innovative Marine SR80 along with all of my coral down from San Jose, but while it was temporarily housed at my mother in law's house, a perfect storm of a network outage and an exploded heater resulted in a complete loss of everything except for two lucky clownfish. Discouraged, I set up a 10 gallon tank just for the clowns and have been keeping them in a fairly sad state while we settled into LA. It's now been six months and the house and I are both ready for some saltwater.
I've been in this hobby for a long time, so this time around, I really want to focus on a few core concepts:
1) The tank should be in a central place where everyone can easily enjoy it.
2) The tank should integrate with the space and feel like a part of the home... not the other way around.
3) Manageable. I have a really busy job so this needs to be easy to maintain.
4) Invest in quality equipment for the long haul, but don't chase every new trend or gadget.
5) Go slow. My goal is a beautiful mature reef, not a continuous frag tank.
6) Mixed reef with RBTA in a light, airy and interesting reef structure.
Before I start I should note that this build is heavily inspired by the prior work of @Broadfield, @pelphrey and @Butuz. In fact, much of the aesthetics of this build will hopefully emulate the beautiful hard plumbing work that @Butuz did in his amazing Reefer 250 build.
Originally, I really wanted to do another Innovative Marine tank because I had a good experience with the SR80. Going sump-less with the SR80 was actually really refreshing. The simplicity of an "all in one" tank with simple components freed me up to worry less about things like flooding and overflow noise and more on the inhabitants themselves. When looking for a successor to the SR80, however, Innovative Marine changed their stand design to an aesthetic I really don't care for. It's a shame, because had they stuck with a simple, white, clean, minimalist cabinet, I would have just gone with them. Fortunately, I saw that Redsea was stepping up with their Reefer tanks.
What I like about the Reefer are the aesthetics and the quality of the build. As I mentioned, I've had a custom LeeMar with starfire glass, an Elos and an IM and the Redsea is every bit as nice as the other tanks. I'm really impressed with the value that Redsea is bringing at this price point. I don't regret at all not going with a more 'expensive' brand.
I ordered my tank from BRS. Shipping was done by XPO Logistics and about 2.5 weeks after I ordered it, the tank arrived. The delivery instructions stated they would only do curbside delivery, but the delivery guy was extra nice and helped me get the pallet up the driveway past the car gate.
The whole package is pretty heavy. However, it's easy to open up the tank, start from the top and take it in piece by piece. I just used a box cutter to open up the package on the driveway and then used the cardboard as an assembly station to build the stand. All told, it probably only took a couple hours to get everything together. With a bit of help from a friend, I hoisted the tank up into its final place.
I love that the white gloss stand fits in perfectly with our mid century modern aesthetic!
One thing I was fretting about was whether I should be doing anything to protect my hardwood floors. From past experience, I know that you shouldn't be putting a mat or anything that can trap moisture between the floor and the stand. The most important thing to protect the floors is to ensure that any water that hits the floor dries up quickly. I was really relieved to find that the Reefer comes with plastic feet all around the stand that props everything up about 1/4 inch. In addition, because they're smooth plastic, you can carefully slide the tank around without damaging the floor.
The first mod to the tank is the easiest. I've used stick up motion lights in the past. If you don't have one of these in your sump area, you really owe it to yourself to get one. They are battery operated, so you don't need to wire anything and turn on when you open the cabinet door, making it really easy to work on your sump. This particular one from Amazon was roughly $30 and allows you to control the brightness. I also like that it can be configured to be light+motion sensitive, just motion or simple on/off.
I stuck the light right behind the door stoppers on the top of the sump area. I should call out that I have had one small problem with the tank stand. The left stopper doesn't extend far enough to engage the 'click'. I've tried taking it apart and modifying it to no avail. I will give Redsea a quick email later today to see if I can get a replacement.
One of the key pieces of equipment that I knew I wanted to install was a filter roller. The Clarisea SK-3000 gets rave reviews, with the caveat that you need to modify the Reefer 250 v3 sump. I'll be cutting out the filter socks soon and installing the Clarisea in the expanded drain area.
For the return pump, I decided on the Reef Octopus Vario S-4. Although I'll be using a Neptune Apex from my old tank to control it, I've always found a simple DJ power strip to be really useful for when you need to cut power on something immediately or when you want a convenient switch for a power head.
Today I'll be planning out the manifold. On order from BRS I have a Nyos 120 skimmer, 5 feet of 3/4" PVC and five feet of 1/2" PVC. I still need to order reactors and I'm trying to decide between the Aquamaxx XS or the Biotek Media reactors. Also on the shopping list are red PVC plumbing elbows and tees, Spears gate valves, etc.
I'm probably a couple weeks away still from getting the system wet, but looking forward to this period of planning and building!
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