Vangvace's Red Sea Max S 650

[vangvace]

In the beginning... there was a betta fish.

It was quickly followed up with small freshwater tank and a Via Aqua 18g saltwater tank. At that point I was hooked, but because of work I would stick to nano and pico tanks for the next 15 years, when not living overseas anyways. Last year I retired from Active Duty, started a new job, bought a house, and kept my eye out for a bigger tank before going for a dream tank.

I kept tabs on my local fish groups and I would miss a tank here and there until I saw this being broken down/sold by one of the local fish stores:

I swung by the store the next day and it was delivered 3 days later and is sitting in my garage waiting impatiently for me to finish planning things out. ;Writing

This is going to replace my JBJ 30g and an IM10. The fish and corals will be the only thing coming over from the JBJ. The IM10 has 10 pounds of KP aquatics liverock that I might use for seeding in the new tank.

The Hardware:
Red Sea Max S 650
8 bulb T5 and 4 Kessil A360Ws
Apex Classic with Kessil module with WXM also available if needed for some vortechs (being moved to a QT setup)
GHL
ProfiLux 4, extra Powerbar, KH Director/GHL Doser 2.1 SA,S-Port & L-Port Breakout Box (For the Kessils)
Original V1 style sump and sump hardware that was never used by the previous owner
Clarisea SK-5000 auto filter system
3 brightwell dimple blocks

Aquascape:
X amount of Marco reef savers rock
40-50 pounds of special grade sand from Caribsea

Location:
I have 2 exterior walls that I am debating for the tank's home. The first wall seems made for it, but the floor joists run parallel with the tank and that part of the basement has a finished ceiling. The other location will partially block 2 windows, but the joists are perpendicular.

Startup:
I plan on using Fritz Turbostart 9K bacteria in a bottle, pods/phyto from Algaebarn, and some BOGO amphipods from Aquarium Depot. I'm also debating ipsf's products as well.

Livestock:
Pair of clownfish
Yellow Coris Wrasse

Invert plans and goals:
A mixed reef; I do prefer LPS and softies but a well placed SPS or two would be awesome.
A ricordia garden
H. Magnifica is a unicorn anemone for me to add.

Fish plans and goals:
This is going to be a challenge coming from nanos and a little out of my element here. I would like 3-4 tangs and leaning towards Yellow, Purple, Kole, and Chevon.
Butterfly?
Randall's Assessor
A small school of Chromis?
Dragonet pair
It seems like Regal Angels are required for a Red Sea Max tank. ;Hilarious


Possible hardware additions under consideration as required:
Ca Reactor
Algae scrubber or refugium?
skimmer upgrade

Other?????? HELP!

Thanks for stopping by.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Beautiful! Welcome to R2R!

 

[ngoodermuth]

Love your tank! Following

 

[SPR1968]

Beautiful tank and welcome to R2R as well!

I also have the S 650

 

[Dub_G]

Sounds like a good start. Have fun with your build.

 

[vangvace]

The future home of the tank. I'll be moving these while the Red Sea is cycling. The picture is off center, but the business card and heater box mark the front corners of the tank with 6" of space behind the tank.

The sump is so clean minus the dust bunnies. The clarisea is going into the chamber where the sponges currently is located. For the Brightwell blocks, I was thinking that they could go under the skimmer stand or the egg crate? I have no clue what to do with that super sized chamber on the left side. Suggestions?

 

[vangvace]

@SPR1968 I may have read your build thread a time or two ;Lurking and used it as my example of potential when the girlfriend gave me the look.

Monday I am picking up a 100g rubbermaid tank to soak the rock after its upcoming shower. I am not sure if I am going to go tap, RO, or saltwater at this point and largely the soak is for loosening up what the hose misses and to see of anything happens to leach out.

Waiting on the LFS and Red Sea to let me know my drain plumbing size. Apparently it might have changed over the generations so they needed the serial number of my tank.

The previous owner had 2 thin pieces of plexiglass siliconed to the bottom of the tank, but over time the silicone lost its grip. I think I am going to scrape out the old silicon (clear and white in the picture) and place a small bit of black abs or 1/8" White Expanded Foamed PVC Sheet down on the glass.

I also am thinking about putting feet on the bottom of my rock to raise it off the tank floor by an inch or so. Similar to what others would do with PVC pipe or eggcrate. The feet would be made from Marco's E400 and an ice cube tray. I was originally thinking about having some of the rock floating 1/4 in ch or so over then sand, but realized that wouldn't last once I turned the pumps on or worse... be a dump and graveyard. ;Walkingdead

 

[SPR1968]

You just need to make sure that whatever you do with the rock, it can’t move when critters start digging

My rock is placed directly on the glass bottom and then the sand was poured all around it so it’s locked into place

And thanks for the compliment, I hoped it worked with the girlfriend! Lol

 

[vangvace]

Put together my new SK5000 and went to dry fit it in the sump and.....

Looks like it is going to need a shave, relocation, or downsize.

 

[vangvace]

Busy week. I moved the old tanks to their new temporary spots as well as talked to #RedSea customer service and have the missing drain lines on their way. (Side note their warehouse sounds busy.)

I am thinking about using a GHL controller this go around and a CA reactor. Time to keep studying.

 

[vangvace]

Slow night at work so I figured I would start counting power plugs and what needs to be smart power controlled. The Red Sea 650 comes with 15 plugs available in its power tray.

Return pump (C)
4 circulation pumps
6 lights (2C)
2 heaters (2C)
skimmer (C)
Clarisea
3 calc reactor (3C)
fuge light (C)
ATO
4 Controller
Under cabinet light

It looks like 25 plugs needed with 10 of those being controlled outlets. Far cry from the nano's needs but not as bad as I was expecting.

The last of the mail ordered plumbing parts arrives on Monday and I am awaiting a quote from the LFS to move the tank to its final spot.

 

[vangvace]

Interesting tidbit of the day.... the couplers in Reef Octopus Varios pumps are metric to standard. The vaios2 couplers fit on the emergency drain and the varios8 couplers fit on the main line. You can buy them direct for Coralvue for a 2 pack for about the same price as 1 from a online pvc store.

 

[vangvace]

Deciding on some of the details of the drain line plumbing and when to migrate from 1.25" plumbing down to 1"

I also decided to try GHL on this build and my order should be on its way this week.

 

[Reef Pro]

Hi, would you be able to take some more pics of the Kessil/t5 retro you did... trying to replicate something like that in my RSM S650..
Thanks

 

[Mjl714]

Deciding on some of the details of the drain line plumbing and when to migrate from 1.25" plumbing down to 1"

I also decided to try GHL on this build and my order should be on its way this week.

GHL, will be following this installation, sounds great.

 

[vangvace]

@reefflow You bet I can take pictures of it. The previous owner did the retrofit, but it is pretty ingenious.

@Mjl714 714 thank you.

I received my GHL shipment, picked up a used Cal Reactor, and my plumbing order from BRS comes in tomorrow. I just need to move the tank inside the house still. Pictures incoming tonight

 

[Reef Pro]

@reefflow You bet I can take pictures of it. The previous owner did the retrofit, but it is pretty ingenious.

@Mj714 thank you.

I received my GHL shipment, picked up a used Cal Reactor, and my plumbing order from BRS comes in tomorrow. I just need to move the tank inside the house still. Pictures incoming tonight

Thanks!

 

[vangvace]

@reefflow here you go. The center bulbs were removed and what looks like a 1/4" plywood painted white was cut into place with holes for the lights. I didn't get the part from the lfs but it looked like its own contained unit. The wood piece you see has a bolt on one side to help keep the aluminium walls separate and protect/place the moonlights. (heh, I have moonlights)

The PVC pipe you see is white 1" schedule 40 PVC that runs the length of the tank. I'm not sure what the Plexiglas base is at the base of the pvc, but it is glued together.

Here you can see the keyholes for the cables for the individual lights for the Kessils. This one is at the far right of the tank and they are all chained together.

 

[vangvace]

Some good updates this week. My LFS will be out on the 23rd to move the tank into its new home and level the stand. I also have all of my plumbing in concept and am excited to dry-fit it all together.

I have been tinkering with GHL a little, things like firmare updates and UI familiarization. I am troubleshooting email notifications and might open a support ticket to see what is happening on their side of the notification process, but I can control my Profilux on my phone or browser.

I received another order from GHL today; an expansion card for another pH probe for carx and sensor, 2 float switches, and a 9000l/h flow meter. The super awesome thing about the flow meter is it connects directly to the return line coupler!

In the meantime, looking at skimmers and CO2 regulators.

 

[vangvace]

So... the email notification issue was totally operator error on my part. I put a fresh set of eyes to it after work today and it works.