Jason's Reefer 250: Fish added! Sump Mod, Clarisea, custom plumbing, aquascape w/E-Marco, IKEA cabinet mod. (Pic heavy!)
OP
OP
Thank you! So the thing about this house is that it was previously owned by the founder of a high end home A/V and audiophile website. He remodeled a few years ago and went all in on the electronics and automation. When we bought the house, it came with all of his prior equipment: full Crestron control, automated shades, outdoor 4k TV, a TV that pops out of the foot of the master bed, 10 audio zones including buried speakers and subwoofer poolside, etc. Honestly, it's totally overkill and I'd never do all of this myself, but I'm not complaining now.
The main speakers are french made Focal Sopra 2s with matching center. My wife and I affectionately refer to them as "Stormtroopers". Tucked into the corner is an SVS 13.5" subwoofer. Surround speakers are embedded into the ceiling. The whole system is managed by a Crestron A/V transcoding hub and powered by Classe amps. The primary TV below is an 85" 4K Samsung.
I work for Hulu, so here's a shameless plug for one of our originals, Castle Rock:
Here you can see four of the six surrounds in the ceiling:
The most over the top thing though isn't the speakers or the TV, it's the networking closet which is comprised of two full floor to ceiling network racks packed with commercial grade networking and enough audio power to rattle the walls. I'm a pretty handy guy with electronics, but I am reluctant to mess with anything in here as long as it continues to work!
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motortrendz
2500 Club Member
Um....Thank you! So the thing about this house is that it was previously owned by the founder of a high end home A/V and audiophile website. He remodeled a few years ago and went all in on the electronics and automation. When we bought the house, it came with all of his prior equipment: full Crestron control, automated shades, outdoor 4k TV, a TV that pops out of the foot of the master bed, 10 audio zones including buried speakers and subwoofer poolside, etc. Honestly, it's totally overkill and I'd never do all of this myself, but I'm not complaining now.
The main speakers are french made Focal Sopra 2s with matching center. My wife and I affectionately refer to them as "Stormtroopers". Tucked into the corner is an SVS 13.5" subwoofer. Surround speakers are embedded into the ceiling. The whole system is managed by a Crestron A/V transcoding hub and powered by Classe amps. The primary TV below is an 85" 4K Samsung.
I work for Hulu, so here's a shameless plug for one of our originals, Castle Rock:
Here you can see four of the six surrounds in the ceiling:
The most over the top thing though isn't the speakers or the TV, it's the networking closet which is comprised of two full floor to ceiling network racks packed with commercial grade networking and enough audio power to rattle the walls. I'm a pretty handy guy with electronics, but I am reluctant to mess with anything in here as long as it continues to work!
Wow. That's all i got.. just wow.
And ps I love castle rock. Great show!
canadianeh
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Sorry for not making myself clear. What I mean is cutting the shape of the crate just enough to cover the bottom of the rock. The rock will still be sitting on the crate. What’s the point of covering the whole bottom of the tank if the rock only in the middle?
canadianeh
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Thank you! So the thing about this house is that it was previously owned by the founder of a high end home A/V and audiophile website. He remodeled a few years ago and went all in on the electronics and automation. When we bought the house, it came with all of his prior equipment: full Crestron control, automated shades, outdoor 4k TV, a TV that pops out of the foot of the master bed, 10 audio zones including buried speakers and subwoofer poolside, etc. Honestly, it's totally overkill and I'd never do all of this myself, but I'm not complaining now.
The main speakers are french made Focal Sopra 2s with matching center. My wife and I affectionately refer to them as "Stormtroopers". Tucked into the corner is an SVS 13.5" subwoofer. Surround speakers are embedded into the ceiling. The whole system is managed by a Crestron A/V transcoding hub and powered by Classe amps. The primary TV below is an 85" 4K Samsung.
I work for Hulu, so here's a shameless plug for one of our originals, Castle Rock:
Here you can see four of the six surrounds in the ceiling:
The most over the top thing though isn't the speakers or the TV, it's the networking closet which is comprised of two full floor to ceiling network racks packed with commercial grade networking and enough audio power to rattle the walls. I'm a pretty handy guy with electronics, but I am reluctant to mess with anything in here as long as it continues to work!
You have the same taste as mine when it comes to house. Love it! How much those floor speakers cost btw? I think we are going to derail this thread soon
OP
OP
Oooohhh. Lol that makes more sense.
I still think it's better to cover the whole bottom though. It doesn't cost me anything extra to cover the whole bottom since my tank is smaller than 4' x 2'. I will inevitably mess with my rockwork, so having the whole bottom covered gives me maximum flexibility to adjust the aquascape any way I want. I also like the idea of having the eggcrate 'locked' in and not floating around. Honestly, it probably doesn't matter too much in the end though.
Thank you! It's not a surprise we both like the Redsea Reefer series tanks if you like the house. The house and tank both have that clean, mid-century, minimalist modern feel. Those speakers are embarrassingly expensive but I got them as part of the house for a hefty discount. If you're interested in learning about them you can google "Focal Sopra 2".
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canadianeh
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Oooohhh. Lol that makes more sense.
I still think it's better to cover the whole bottom though. It doesn't cost me anything extra to cover the whole bottom since my tank is smaller than 4' x 2'. I will inevitably mess with my rockwork, so having the whole bottom covered gives me maximum flexibility to adjust the aquascape any way I want. I also like the idea of having the eggcrate 'locked' in and not floating around. Honestly, it probably doesn't matter too much in the end though.
Thank you! It's not surprise we both like the Redsea Reefer series tanks if you like the house. The house and tank both have that clean, mid-century, minimalist modern feel. Those speakers are embarrassingly expensive but I got them as part of the house for a hefty discount. If you're interested in learning about them you can google "Focal Sopra 2".
So...... the speakers are $17k for a pair. I see. Ok. Alright. Hmm. Yeah. I see. You sir have a quite a taste!
Is this how you are planning on mounting/running the clarisea? Ive been reading up on them, and im mounting mine on the left side and hanging it on the rim of the sump, about 6 inches off the bottom. Not sure if you've read into it, the higher it sits in the sump the more head-pressure the water has through the filter, which means it will filter more before pulling a new part of the sheet, which makes the filter roll last a lot longer. At least, thats what i have read from a lot of clarisea owners, which makes sense on paper lol.
Other than that, setup is looking good! I just got some of my plumbing done this weekend but some how completely forgot to include a spears gate valve in my order of pvc equipment.... So that is now on its way and ill be able to finish! ill attach a picture to show you what i got so far!
OP
OP
Is this how you are planning on mounting/running the clarisea? Ive been reading up on them, and im mounting mine on the left side and hanging it on the rim of the sump, about 6 inches off the bottom. Not sure if you've read into it, the higher it sits in the sump the more head-pressure the water has through the filter, which means it will filter more before pulling a new part of the sheet, which makes the filter roll last a lot longer. At least, thats what i have read from a lot of clarisea owners, which makes sense on paper lol.
Other than that, setup is looking good! I just got some of my plumbing done this weekend but some how completely forgot to include a spears gate valve in my order of pvc equipment.... So that is now on its way and ill be able to finish! ill attach a picture to show you what i got so far!
Hi Muffin! Your sump is looking great. Yes I was thinking of running the Clarisea like you have yours. I just sort of threw it in the sump facing the front because it looks nicer until I have my plumbing come in.
So here's how it'll probably look:
It does eat up space on that left wall where I was thinking I might need to put a reactor, but we shall see. The nice thing I like about the way you are hanging the Clarisea on the left wall is the inlet is pressed up against the far left and the feed port is easily accessible before the refugium chamber.
How are you thinking of plumbing the Clarisea? Just dry slip fit 1" drain into the elbow with no solvent?
Hi Muffin! Your sump is looking great. Yes I was thinking of running the Clarisea like you have yours. I just sort of threw it in the sump facing the front because it looks nicer until I have my plumbing come in.
How are you thinking of plumbing the Clarisea? Just dry slip fit 1" drain into the elbow with no solvent?
Thanks man! its been a lot of work so far, looking to get it wet this coming weekend, or early next week! And yea i agree, i wish i could have it face forward to look all fancy with the face of the rolls, especially since its a purple/grey that matches my plumbing, but its so much more practical hanging on the side lol.
I have been thinking about this, as of right now i plan on gluing in my 1inch pipe to the clarisea. Then running it about 6-8 inches up, addiing a union between the clarisea pipe and the gate valve. Some others are running barb fittings with 1 inch tubing, i would really prefer to keep it clean though and run my purple pvc too it. Never thought about dry fitting it in there and leaving it, i would imagine you would have some water leak but may not be enough to notice anything. I was going to play with it more once i get my gate valve in and can finish the plumbing.
OP
OP
The flooring in your home is absolutely gorgeous. For your sake, I hope it is vinyl plank and not laminate or hardwood. Saltwater is not kind to those two, and it would be a shame to see them ruined!!
We love the floors too, thank you so much. <3 They are in fact real hardwood and I have fretted about how to keep them beautiful. I've had my share of floods with past tanks. Most often they were caused by poorly sized sumps that overflowed or ATOs that I tried to get too 'smart' with that went overboard. I've personally found that becoming 'too clever' and 'too automated' makes me a lazy reefer, resulting in neglected maintenance and then accidents and floods. This time around, I am planning to build around a weekly maintenance cycle. This means no ridiculously large ATO container which adds to flood risk. And of course, I have built up an armada of dog/fish towels should the need arise!
One thing I especially like about the Reefer stand is that it comes with little plastic feet that keep the whole tank off the floor about 1/2". (You can see this in one of my early posts.) If saltwater will be hitting the floor, ensuring that it dries quickly is the most important thing to safeguard your floor. I have flood sensors which I will be placing both in the tank stand and on the floor, so hopefully I will catch accidents in time!
In the end, I enjoy this hobby too much to let the risk of water damage on the floor hold me back.
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OP
OP
I know it's so much prettier facing forward right? The sacrifices we small sump owners must make! I'm hoping to get my system wet around the same time frame as you if pvcfittingsonline.com gets their butt in gear and ships my order!
I like your gate valve idea. I might do the same depending on how crowded that area is. I was originally thinking just dry fit for simplicity as I don't think it'll make much of a difference if some water comes out of the joint. Some Clarisea users tee off the main drain to avoid cutting the baffles out and it seems to work for them.
OP
OP
While I wait for plumbing to arrive, I decided to work on my aquascape. I started by using the eggcrate that I had cut earlier to trace out the footprint of the tank onto the pallet the Reefer 250 came on. This gave me a nice staging surface.
Gardening gloves are key. I don't know how many times I've torn up my arms or hands because I was too lazy to fetch some protective gloves. New dry rock is especially 'sharp', more so than matured rock that's been crusted over with coralline algae.
The tank will be in a corner, so although it's technically three sides visible, it'll really be mostly viewed from the front and front right of the tank.
I'm trying for a minimalist aquascape with the following goals and constraints:
1) Try to emphasize a sense of front to back depth
2) Plan for future growth
3) Plan for a mix of LPS and SPS. I tend to like encrusting corals, so try to have flat horizontal surfaces
4) Minimize contact points to the sand bed to keep the rockwork off the floor
5) Keep open sand stretches in the front
6) No rocks leaning on the back glass and ideally not on overflow either. I might decide to take the black backing off the back at some point in the future
7) I have a few old pieces of Tonga and Fiji rock from over a decade ago that I'd like to use as the foundational pieces. I can supplement with dry Marcorocks as needed. Here's what I've come up with so far.
Front view:
Front right view, which is how most people will approach the tank:
Top down. The rocks look like they cross the tank outline due to the lens distortion on my phone camera:
I find it hard to truly grok a 3D layout with just photos so here's a quick and dirty video:
Would love others thoughts and input! I toy with the idea of doing something more dramatic like flipping that whole left side piece upside down so it's more 'tree like' as opposed to 'root like', but that would take some serious balancing and epoxy work and might be too tall. Right now the tallest point is a few inches below the return outlet. The whole thing is also gravity stable, but I will use cement to bolt it together once I settle on the design.
Gardening gloves are key. I don't know how many times I've torn up my arms or hands because I was too lazy to fetch some protective gloves. New dry rock is especially 'sharp', more so than matured rock that's been crusted over with coralline algae.
The tank will be in a corner, so although it's technically three sides visible, it'll really be mostly viewed from the front and front right of the tank.
I'm trying for a minimalist aquascape with the following goals and constraints:
1) Try to emphasize a sense of front to back depth
2) Plan for future growth
3) Plan for a mix of LPS and SPS. I tend to like encrusting corals, so try to have flat horizontal surfaces
4) Minimize contact points to the sand bed to keep the rockwork off the floor
5) Keep open sand stretches in the front
6) No rocks leaning on the back glass and ideally not on overflow either. I might decide to take the black backing off the back at some point in the future
7) I have a few old pieces of Tonga and Fiji rock from over a decade ago that I'd like to use as the foundational pieces. I can supplement with dry Marcorocks as needed. Here's what I've come up with so far.
Front view:
Front right view, which is how most people will approach the tank:
Top down. The rocks look like they cross the tank outline due to the lens distortion on my phone camera:
I find it hard to truly grok a 3D layout with just photos so here's a quick and dirty video:
Would love others thoughts and input! I toy with the idea of doing something more dramatic like flipping that whole left side piece upside down so it's more 'tree like' as opposed to 'root like', but that would take some serious balancing and epoxy work and might be too tall. Right now the tallest point is a few inches below the return outlet. The whole thing is also gravity stable, but I will use cement to bolt it together once I settle on the design.
thaistalyn
Active Member
I know it has a basis in photography, especially landscapes, but I've always tried to arrange my aquascapes using the rule of thirds (putting important aspects of your photo/scape on the intersections). After overlaying a "thirds" grid on your scape, I would suggest either sliding the tonga rock to the right so it aligns perfectly with the first vertical and pushing the pukani looking rock back and left to align with 2nd vertical and intersection. You are right it is tough to judge with 2D images, even the video. But the principle of thirds should work with you while you work with the scape live
. I definitely love the tonga and minimal rock. If you still have some of that marco, maybe break it up and make a few little shelves on the vertical of the tonga in anticipation of some overhanging monti's, staghorn, or acro's.
canadianeh
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While I wait for plumbing to arrive, I decided to work on my aquascape. I started by using the eggcrate that I had cut earlier to trace out the footprint of the tank onto the pallet the Reefer 250 came on. This gave me a nice staging surface.
Gardening gloves are key. I don't know how many times I've torn up my arms or hands because I was too lazy to fetch some protective gloves. New dry rock is especially 'sharp', more so than matured rock that's been crusted over with coralline algae.
The tank will be in a corner, so although it's technically three sides visible, it'll really be mostly viewed from the front and front right of the tank.
I'm trying for a minimalist aquascape with the following goals and constraints:
1) Try to emphasize a sense of front to back depth
2) Plan for future growth
3) Plan for a mix of LPS and SPS. I tend to like encrusting corals, so try to have flat horizontal surfaces
4) Minimize contact points to the sand bed to keep the rockwork off the floor
5) Keep open sand stretches in the front
6) No rocks leaning on the back glass and ideally not on overflow either. I might decide to take the black backing off the back at some point in the future
7) I have a few old pieces of Tonga and Fiji rock from over a decade ago that I'd like to use as the foundational pieces. I can supplement with dry Marcorocks as needed. Here's what I've come up with so far.
Front view:
Front right view, which is how most people will approach the tank:
Top down. The rocks look like they cross the tank outline due to the lens distortion on my phone camera:
I find it hard to truly grok a 3D layout with just photos so here's a quick and dirty video:
Would love others thoughts and input! I toy with the idea of doing something more dramatic like flipping that whole left side piece upside down so it's more 'tree like' as opposed to 'root like', but that would take some serious balancing and epoxy work and might be too tall. Right now the tallest point is a few inches below the return outlet. The whole thing is also gravity stable, but I will use cement to bolt it together once I settle on the design.
Nice! May I know why you chose those dry rocks instead of Caribsea purple live dry rock? I am thinking of using the Caribsea rocks so that I get that purple look right away.
Also, I am thinking of removing the black film on the back of the tank except the overflow right away. How do think we should mount the wave makers and limiting the view of the cables when the back is clear?
OP
OP
You are too kind, thank you! The house was originally built in the fifties but thoroughly redone since then. The last remodel was completed by the last owner maybe five years ago by Rees Studio Architecture. All of the interior decorating and furnishing we actually did ourselves. Sorry if I'm overly eager to share photos... my wife and I are still in "house honeymoon" stage!
I can't see my reef tank from my office, but I do get a small slice of ocean view.
We are really looking forward to enjoying the pool this year.
We only changed one thing when we moved into the house which was to replace the chandelier in the dining room. This one is made up of rice paper panels that you and your family and friends write notes on to make your own.
... and the last piece of the puzzle is of course the Redsea Reefer 250 to complete the space!
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OP
OP
I know it has a basis in photography, especially landscapes, but I've always tried to arrange my aquascapes using the rule of thirds (putting important aspects of your photo/scape on the intersections). After overlaying a "thirds" grid on your scape, I would suggest either sliding the tonga rock to the right so it aligns perfectly with the first vertical and pushing the pukani looking rock back and left to align with 2nd vertical and intersection. You are right it is tough to judge with 2D images, even the video. But the principle of thirds should work with you while you work with the scape live
Great insights, thank you! I love the rule of thirds as well and always enable the 'thirds overlay' on my camera. In the case of my live rock, while I would love to slide it over more, I'm not sure I can without either going too high or taking up all the space in the tank. I debated pulling that far right rock tower out because it's starting to get close. If I want to keep it, then I can't move the Tonga to the right anymore.
I do like your proposals on using the marco rock to make vertical shelves though. (I really overestimated how much I needed, because right now I'm not using any of the Marcorock that I ordered.)
I felt confident enough about the current layout to give it a dry fit in the tank. I think it's coming together pretty nicely!
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