Jason's Reefer 250: Fish added! Sump Mod, Clarisea, custom plumbing, aquascape w/E-Marco, IKEA cabinet mod. (Pic heavy!)

[Eight]

So not being a sports fan, I took advantage of Superbowl weekend to put a lot of work into the tank. Plumbing is pretty much done save for a few final tweaks. I was lucky and have only very minor drips which should be easily remedied. I'm pretty thrilled with the plumbing. It's dead quiet and so far working great.

I worked the whole day on my aquascape and ended up going a different direction than my original plan with a more dramatic floating design. The tank is still pretty cloudy, but it's clearing up fast thanks to the Clarisea. It's actually running just fresh water for now since everything is dead and I want to work out all the drips before dealing with salt water. Here's how it looks after a very long day:

Now the dry side of the sump is another matter...

I took photos of the aquascape as it was being built and will write up my thoughts on the process in the next few days.

 

[najer]

Love the scape.

 

[Eight]

Thank you @najer!

This was my first time using E-Marco 400 cement and this stuff changes things completely. This wasn't available the last time I set up my tank. My prior techniques used a combination of acrylic rods, superglue, Apoxie Sculpt and gravity. With E-Marco you can achieve seemingly impossible creations. It's easy to mix, sets quickly and is incredibly strong.

I built the aquascape around a very large Tonga branch I've had for years. I broke up several of the dry rock pieces so I could use them as building blocks. An angle grinder and wood chisel make pretty quick work of the dry rock.

The only tools I used were gloves, a red solo cup for mixing cement, a disposable chopstick/knife and patience. This build took me the whole day.

Here's a photo sequence so you can see how I started with a foundation, strengthened the base/core and then expanded outwards with shelves. First step was to find/break up a suitable piece of dry rock to prop up the Tonga branch at the right angle. Having the outline of the tank on the pallet was essential since the branch is so big and I want to have clearance around the whole piece.

Next step was to cement the branch to the base. Most of the cement holding the two together is actually on the back side. I built out the foot of the pedestal using smaller pieces for stability.

Adding more visual interest to the base and playing with the right side rock structure...

Kinda hard to see in this photo, but I added a pretty large Tonga shelf that pivots out towards the front.

More cement to reinforce all the joints (I went over most joints several times) and I added a small antler piece in the center. That little piece was the hardest piece to get to attach because it had to be supported with string while it cured.

... and here's everything in water! It's still cloudy because I didn't rinse the sand. I'm actually surprised at how clean the Tropic Marin Reefflakes are. This is only a single bag of dry sand, I will add the second bag later. Since everything is dry/dead rock and sand, all of the water is just RO... I guess this means this is technically a freshwater tank!

I am going to fix the two or three tiny leaks before adding salt to the sump. The leaks are at the taped threaded joints between the Redsea bulkhead and the 3/4" threaded adapter. I went light on the tape, so I'll just pull it off and give it several more wraps.

 

[canadianeh]

So it is running now, or you just put in water in the tank only?

Where did you buy the o-rings from again?

 

[Eight]

So it is running now, or you just put in water in the tank only?

Where did you buy the o-rings from again?

The tank is running except I haven't turned on the media reactors. The main circulation including the Vario S4 return pump is sending water up and its flowing down through the Clarisea. The Clarisea is auto rolling as expected. After dinner I will address the slow drips, start carbon in the reactors, turn on the heaters and add salt!

One convenient surprise is the location of my main drain valve in the center front pipe makes it possible for me to adjust the gate while simultaneously watching the water level in the overflow box. Super easy to adjust and almost dead silent.

O ring sets I bought from Amazon, but I included the measurements previously so you can just buy those particular rings locally.

 

[canadianeh]

The tank is running except I haven't turned on the media reactors. The main circulation including the Vario S4 return pump is sending water up and its flowing down through the Clarisea. The Clarisea is auto rolling as expected. After dinner I will address the slow drips, start carbon in the reactors, turn on the heaters and add salt!

One convenient surprise is the location of my main drain valve in the center front pipe makes it possible for me to adjust the gate while simultaneously watching the water level in the overflow box. Super easy to adjust and almost dead silent.

O ring sets I bought from Amazon, but I included the measurements previously so you can just buy those particular rings locally.

Which heater(s) you are using? Where you place them to ensure food fit? Eheim 200 watts ones are like 15” in length.

 

[Eight]

Which heater(s) you are using? Where you place them to ensure food fit? Eheim 200 watts ones are like 15” in length.

Well currently I have the Eheim 150W precisely positioned like so... Lol.

Have you purchased your tank yet @canadianeh? I really enjoy answering questions (this is what incentived me to start this thread in the first place), but i think that lots of things will vary once you actually get into building your tank and my advice might not apply depending on the individual choices you will inevitably take. Heater placement is easy. You can pretty much throw it anywhere in the sump. You could do two smaller heaters and stand them up vertically to save space if you wanted to.

Remember, I'm using a lot of my prior equipment from older tanks so if I were to do everything new, I might not choose the same equipment.

 

[Eight]

So I am really happy to report that going extra thick on the Teflon tape for the Redsea 42221 bulkhead to 3/4 inch threaded MPT adapters solved the slow drips I was experiencing. I think I ended up doing seven to nine wraps of standard Teflon tape on the threads and then using a pipe wrench and towel to tighten the connection as snug as possible without forcing anything.

Silicone lube on the o rings helped ensure a good seal to the Redsea stand pipes and then the bulkheads themselves were just finger tightened.

I dumped a bunch of Fritz salt that I had leftover into the sump and will let the return pump dissolve it over night. I just eyeballed the amount of salt and will add more as needed.

Nyos skimmer is fired up and is nice and quiet. This said I think the Vario pump at speed level 2 might be even quieter. This whole setup is much less noisy than I expected it to be.

 

[Ross Petersen]

I might have missed this... how did you connect the 1'' drain to the Clarisea? I have the Clarisea 5,000 and it has a 32 mm hard plumbing input. Perhaps the 3,000 is different.

I'm starting to think that using 32 mm PVC and a 32 mm gate valve - given the Clarisea has a 32 mm input and the Red Sea plumbing is 32 mm metric on the drain - might be the best option. I'm naive in this plumbing world though!

 

[MuffinMonster]

I might have missed this... how did you connect the 1'' drain to the Clarisea? I have the Clarisea 5,000 and it has a 32 mm hard plumbing input. Perhaps the 3,000 is different.

I'm starting to think that using 32 mm PVC and a 32 mm gate valve - given the Clarisea has a 32 mm input and the Red Sea plumbing is 32 mm metric on the drain - might be the best option. I'm naive in this plumbing world though!

The description says that the input for the Clarisea is 32mm, but a 1" pipe fits in there perfectly, i think the description is wrong. Unless the 5000 is different, i have a 3000 on mine and its dry fit with a 1" pvc pipe as well.


@Eight looking good man! I got my rocks in my tank Sunday and dumped a bottle of microbacter7 in there and dropped a raw shrimp in my sump. Rocks were taken out of my brute can at 11.5 weeks of cycling. Will allow another 4 weeks or so of cycling in my tank before i add the fish. Once this bacteria bloom goes away ill get some pictures in my thread updated.

 

[canadianeh]

Well currently I have the Eheim 150W precisely positioned like so... Lol.

Have you purchased your tank yet @canadianeh? I really enjoy answering questions (this is what incentived me to start this thread in the first place), but i think that lots of things will vary once you actually get into building your tank and my advice might not apply depending on the individual choices you will inevitably take. Heater placement is easy. You can pretty much throw it anywhere in the sump. You could do two smaller heaters and stand them up vertically to save space if you wanted to.

Remember, I'm using a lot of my prior equipment from older tanks so if I were to do everything new, I might not choose the same equipment.

Yes I did and I assembled the stand already. I haven’t put up the tank yet as I have to be sure that it is okay for the floor. It is on the ground floor and I have a basement. I am also tinkering of getting IKEA cabinet big enough to house all controllers and future controllers. I am thinking to use the right empty spot under the tank just for ATO box. I plan to purchase bigger ATO box.

 

[Eight]

The description says that the input for the Clarisea is 32mm, but a 1" pipe fits in there perfectly, i think the description is wrong. Unless the 5000 is different, i have a 3000 on mine and its dry fit with a 1" pvc pipe as well.


@Eight looking good man! I got my rocks in my tank Sunday and dumped a bottle of microbacter7 in there and dropped a raw shrimp in my sump. Rocks were taken out of my brute can at 11.5 weeks of cycling. Will allow another 4 weeks or so of cycling in my tank before i add the fish. Once this bacteria bloom goes away ill get some pictures in my thread updated.

Yup same here. For the Clarisea SK-3000 it's clearly a 1" pipe inlet. Dry fit is definitely the way to go. Makes it easy to remove anytime and there's just no need to cement that pipe.

@MuffinMonster Thank you! Things have gone almost too smoothly TBH. My wife commented that she can barely hear the tank at all. I ordered Microbacter and Biospira and plan on putting a small bit of live rock to seed things off. I've never started a tank with this much dead rock, will be interesting.

 

[Katrina71]

This is a beautiful build!

 

[Katrina71]

We are using the same PVC in our new build. We are also planning a manifold in a limited space stand. Mind if we copy some of yours? I still have to order the elbows.

 

[New&no clue]

I believe my settings are
Blue 100%
white 50%
red and green 25%

 

[canadianeh]

We are using the same PVC in our new build. We are also planning a manifold in a limited space stand. Mind if we copy some of yours? I still have to order the elbows.

Oh I am copying his exactly LOL, right Jason?

Katrina is much nicer that she asked you first hehehe.

 

[Eight]

Oh I am copying his exactly LOL, right Jason?

Katrina is much nicer that she asked you first hehehe.

@Katrina71 and @canadianeh Lol! It's all good because I basically copied Butuz. So it's just a massive round of plumbing plagiarism here. Lol!

Please feel free and don't hesitate to ask questions if you get stuck, I'm always happy to help. If you need more photos, I can take those as well. There are one or two small tweaks I might have done in retrospect (Nothing major) which I will write up this weekend.

 

[Katrina71]

@Katrina71 and @canadianeh Lol! It's all good because I basically copied Butuz. So it's just a massive round of plumbing plagiarism here. Lol!

Please feel free and don't hesitate to ask questions if you get stuck, I'm always happy to help. If you need more photos, I can take those as well. There are one or two small tweaks I might have done in retrospect (Nothing major) which I will write up this weekend.

Lots of pics. I'm learning on the fly.

 

[canadianeh]

I just finished modding the Reefer 250 v3 sump by removing the filter sock holder and baffles. This was one of the steps I was most apprehensive of because I didn't like the idea of messing with the stock sump. I debated keeping the filter sock area and just tee-ing a separate drain line to the Clarisea, but in the end, I think it'll be better if I just open up that whole area. Although lots of people have done this mod, I haven't found clear step by step instructions... at least not ones that made me feel confident about what I was doing. Here's my write up for others who may want to do this to their own sumps.

The whole process took me about 90 minutes. My goals were to remove the sock holder and glass baffle without breaking anything just in case I ever wanted to replace them. (I highly doubt I will ever replace them though.) I also wanted to make sure I didn't damage any of the other silicone areas. To start, I put down the sump on some cardboard to make sure I had a nice surface to work on.

Although this isn't rocket science, it's not the easiest mod. It takes a good deal of patience, time and strength to cut through all of the black silicone. That said, it's definitely something I would do again.

I heard many people suggest various techniques to cutting out the silicone: fishing line, razor blades, box cutter, guitar string, etc. I tried various fishing leaders, but they kept breaking and were very rough on my hands. In the end, the easiest way for me to cut everything was with a simple flat razor and the flat end of a box cutter to use as a tool to push the razor into the silicone.

There's basically two steps to this mod. The first step is to remove the plastic sock holder as one piece. To do this, you just need to cut between the plastic and glass. I found it best to start by cutting as much 'surface silicone' out from the sump as possible by making straight 90 degree cuts to the glass. The silicone will come off in a big strip. This will allow you more space/visibility to get in between the pieces you are trying to separate.

Next you want to work the flat razor right in between the plastic and the glass. It take a good deal of force to do this.

While you can try pulling the razor along the silicone, the technique that worked best for me was to lay the razor flush to where I wanted to cut and then use the end of the box cutter to force it into the gap.

By repeatedly pushing the razor into the gap with the tool, removing it, shifting it over and then repeating, you can cut the silicone in 'razor length segments'. Eventually, you will get enough silicone removed that you can gently begin pulling up on the filter sock holder. The plastic is somewhat brittle, so don't force it if you want to keep the piece whole.

Here is the filter sock holder completely free.

After you remove the plastic filter sock holder, the next step is to remove the baffle that divides the drain area and the filter sock area. Use the same techniques as before... remove as much surface silicone as you can and then use the flat razor and a tool to force it in between the panels. Be patient.

After you get both sides loose, you'll need to finish by cutting out the bottom.

I only removed two pieces, the plastic filter sock holder and the single panel. I know some other people cut out the little glass bridge piece at the bottom or the rail with the dots, but I chose to remove as little as possible.

This is what the sump looks like with both pieces out.

Those little silicone black bits are a real PITA. They are tiny and stick to everything, but you can remove them by carefully scraping them out with the razor blade and using a wet paper towel to get the stragglers. This is what the fully modified sump looks like when it's done.

Hope this helps!

So I did this last night. Is there a purpose of leaving the smallest divider glass on the bottom of the tank? I removed mine.

Also, did you have to apply silicone to any joints that connected to the big divider glass to the bottom of the tank? I noticed a bit of silicone got removed during the process.

 

[Eight]

It probably doesn't matter much either way. I left that little glass bridge in there for the minimal framing/added support it provides. (It does complete a support 'line' from the back to front of the sump.) If I run a refugium then it also serves to separate settled detritus from the return area and the refugium, although I suppose this makes cleaning ever so slightly harder as well.

As for the silicone gaps, I didn't worry about them. They are inevitable and haven't been a problem since my tank has been running.