Hello fellow reefers! This is my first ever post and will also be a build post too. A little intro about me. I started getting into reefing about 8 years ago, before that I was into freshwater aquariums and kept angelfish, had some breeding projects as well. I got interested in reefing after my wife asked me to downsize from the 10+ tanks I had to just one. I picked up a Reefer 250 second-hand and have been burning money since then killing a lot of fish and coral. It hasn't kept me away from one day creating a reef I'm proud of.
Anyways I'm starting a build post to share the progress of a new tank my wife and kids surprised me with. It was a week before father's day and I came home to a little treasure hunt put on by them. A Red Sea Peninsula 500 Deluxe kit was at the end of the hunt. However, as I opened the crate it turned out that the tank delivered was not a peninsula but rather a Reefer 425 G2. Had to work with Red Sea to get the correct tank redelivered - took about a week. I had a great experience with the rep. and received the correct tank on Father's Day.
As I began opening the boxes for the cabinets. To my dismay, I found out 4 of the 6 exterior panels were cracked at one corner. Submitted another ticket with Red Sea in hopes to get this resolved as soon as possible.
Needless to say, my build is on hold. I have a half-built cabinet sitting in the dining room, a huge pile of reefing equipment next to the front door, and another pile with the crate in the garage.
I'm itching to get the cabinet built and the tank put in place. It will be a while yet before water is put in, let alone rehoming the fish and coral from the 250.
For this build, I've gone with all Red Sea equipment - wherever possible. I appreciated the quality of the 250 and the simplicity of their supplements like reef energy and colors programs. I have many more products to try out now that I have a better understanding. With their recent dive into a smart ecosystem. I thought I'd use their equipment on this new build. Most of the tech reflects what I've become used to. I had Maxspect gyre pumps and Kessil lighting on the 250. So their systems wouldn't be too different.
Build contents:
Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 500 with white cabinet
4x ReefLED 90 with trays and white pendant
3x ReefWave 45
2x ReefDose 4
ReefMat 1200
Reefer Skimmer 600
Slide-out control panel 60
1x each of ReefDose colored tube kits
Sicce Syncra SDC 9.0
Ink Bird smart wifi temp controller
2x Aquael 200w heaters
For controllers I decided to go with a CoralVue Hydros Control 4 Starter pack - on order. I decided on this controller as it provided the flexibility with the smart controls already available with the Red Sea stuff. I plan to use the Hydros as a third fail safe for the heaters if they stick on and the Ink Bird malfunctions, shutoff skimmer of skimmate overfills, ATO shutoff if the Tunze osmolator float switch fails, and as a shutoff for the return pump should something clog the drains.
In my 8 years of reefing, I've been fortunate enough to not have any catastrophic failures, aside from my own user error. The failsafe I am putting in place should help with my user errors.
I hope Red Sea gets back to me soon about the cabinet doors. For now here's some pix of my progress, or current mess, and the goodies. I had to lay out all the Red Sea equipment.
Anyways I'm starting a build post to share the progress of a new tank my wife and kids surprised me with. It was a week before father's day and I came home to a little treasure hunt put on by them. A Red Sea Peninsula 500 Deluxe kit was at the end of the hunt. However, as I opened the crate it turned out that the tank delivered was not a peninsula but rather a Reefer 425 G2. Had to work with Red Sea to get the correct tank redelivered - took about a week. I had a great experience with the rep. and received the correct tank on Father's Day.
As I began opening the boxes for the cabinets. To my dismay, I found out 4 of the 6 exterior panels were cracked at one corner. Submitted another ticket with Red Sea in hopes to get this resolved as soon as possible.
Needless to say, my build is on hold. I have a half-built cabinet sitting in the dining room, a huge pile of reefing equipment next to the front door, and another pile with the crate in the garage.
I'm itching to get the cabinet built and the tank put in place. It will be a while yet before water is put in, let alone rehoming the fish and coral from the 250.
For this build, I've gone with all Red Sea equipment - wherever possible. I appreciated the quality of the 250 and the simplicity of their supplements like reef energy and colors programs. I have many more products to try out now that I have a better understanding. With their recent dive into a smart ecosystem. I thought I'd use their equipment on this new build. Most of the tech reflects what I've become used to. I had Maxspect gyre pumps and Kessil lighting on the 250. So their systems wouldn't be too different.
Build contents:
Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 500 with white cabinet
4x ReefLED 90 with trays and white pendant
3x ReefWave 45
2x ReefDose 4
ReefMat 1200
Reefer Skimmer 600
Slide-out control panel 60
1x each of ReefDose colored tube kits
Sicce Syncra SDC 9.0
Ink Bird smart wifi temp controller
2x Aquael 200w heaters
For controllers I decided to go with a CoralVue Hydros Control 4 Starter pack - on order. I decided on this controller as it provided the flexibility with the smart controls already available with the Red Sea stuff. I plan to use the Hydros as a third fail safe for the heaters if they stick on and the Ink Bird malfunctions, shutoff skimmer of skimmate overfills, ATO shutoff if the Tunze osmolator float switch fails, and as a shutoff for the return pump should something clog the drains.
In my 8 years of reefing, I've been fortunate enough to not have any catastrophic failures, aside from my own user error. The failsafe I am putting in place should help with my user errors.
I hope Red Sea gets back to me soon about the cabinet doors. For now here's some pix of my progress, or current mess, and the goodies. I had to lay out all the Red Sea equipment.
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