Cali Kid Corals

Randy's Red Sea Reefer 250

And it's plumbed and tested to be leak free and quiet! Can't wait to get saltwater in this thing instead of just RO/DI water; I'm still waiting for my rock to finish curing. After getting everything ready to go, all I have to say is this sump that comes with the red sea reefer 250 is SMALL! And I hate power bricks. Manufacturers need to figure out a solution to this. I've never had a sump before, but i feel real cramped with everything in there. Maybe I just went overboard. Going to be interesting servicing the dual BRS reactor. Thinking I should have just gone with a single and put GFO/carbon in the same reactor.

full_tank_shot_with_sump.jpg


I used lots of velcro for everything and added a network cable management channel to clean up all the wiring. Doubles as a nice drip loop too. ;) I probably need to spend some time to clean up some of the cabling better though. I also stole someone's idea of using tape LED lighting to put around the top of the cabinet so I could actually see while working.

sump_full_up_angle.jpg


I started with a Sicce Syncra Silent 3.0, but that thing is far from silent. Ended up getting a Vectra M1 which is super silent. Got a second MP40wQD at the same time since BRS had a nano-reef.com special giving 10% rewards points instead of just 5% a couple weekends ago. Loudest thing I have are the bubbles from the skimmer. I went with a cross with 2 (soon to be 3) gate valves to feed the GFO/Cabon reactor, return line, and the fuge.

sump_plumbing_cross.jpg


Here are all the controls. Reeflink is great in terms of distance. I have it plugged directly into Ethernet in another room, and it's able to use RF for the devices just fine.
  • 2x MP40wQD
  • 1x Vectra M1
  • Tuze ATO
  • Reef Octopus 110INT VarioS
  • Ranco Temperature Controller

sump_control_box.jpg


I ended up just drilling holes in the ATO to make a fuge. Cut holes for the return, herbie drain (in the back - not visible) and an emergency drain (overkill for a 2.1G tank, i know). I painted the back, bottom, and backside black to cut down light to the rest of the sump area. None of the plumbing is cemented to the bulkheads, so they just slide out when I need take the fuge out. Connections are pretty snug to the bulkheads (I hope).

fuge_side_view.jpg
fuge_plumbing.jpg
fuge_with_light_on.jpg


Found a 11.5" x 11.5" x 0.5" 225-LED hydroponic grow lamp on eBay for $25. Super thin and pretty cheap. Uses about 20-Watts according to my Kill-a-Watt. Yes, I'm a little concerned with water getting on it, but we'll see how it goes. I poorly hacked a light holder with scrap acrylic pieces. I have it hooked up to a Woods digital timer to run at night from 9pm to 9am daily.

fuge_with_light_on.jpg


fuge_light_side_off.jpg


Probably have another week or two before rock is cured. Ammonia is gone, nitrites are still out the roof, and nitrates are barely climbing. Did a water change a few days ago hoping that bringing down nitrites a little would help me get passed this hump, but looks like it's just going to be time that gets me there.

Can't wait to aquascape!
 
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Wow, that is a lot of equipment squeezed into a small space.
Looks very well organized though!

A thought:
You could put a small vapor barrier between the sump and the electronics on the right. Something as simple
as a plastic drop cloth stapled in.
All that salt spray and moisture might cause trouble over time.
 
Flagg37 said:
It's like that spot was made for it to go there.
Click to expand...

Isn't every empty spot in the house is made for a tank to go there? ;p

Can you get a pic of your drain setup for the fuge if possible. I'm looking to do the same for my reefer one day.

Some impressive organization you got going there.
 
roostertech said:
Isn't every empty spot in the house is made for a tank to go there? ;p

Can you get a pic of your drain setup for the fuge if possible. I'm looking to do the same for my reefer one day.

Some impressive organization you got going there.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

This was my first attempt at creating a fuge or even drilling through glass for that matter, so I'm sure things could have been done better by someone more experienced. The tough part of this was getting everything to fit right. The reason I drilled the drain in back near the tank overflow pipes was to reduce the amount of tubing/pipes in the "main area" of the sump because it was already getting tight to work in with everything else.

Here are the drain location pictures. If you want more detailed info, look beyond the first three pictures. Still planning to build an overflow box. Will likely just get some cheap plate glass from Home Depot/Lowes and use some mesh for the weir.

fuge_plumbing_return_emergency.jpg


This is the angle the drain sits in when installed back in the sump because of the tank's overflow drains.
fuge_plumbing_back_notinstalled.jpg



fuge_plumbing_return_stacked_topangle.jpg



---- detailed info below ----

I didn't cement anything to the bulkheads so that I could remove everything easily if needed. So the gist of what I did was:
  • 3/4" bulkhead were used from BRS
  • return is a 5/8" hose connected via a 3/4" garden hose connector-to-5/8" barb <-> 5/8" barb-to-3/4 thread <-> 90 degree elbow cemented to 3/4" PVC <-> bulkhead. Going to change to a gate value. Ball valve is too stiff to dial in the exact right amount of flow to get rid of noise.
fuge_plumbing_return_hose_bib.jpg

  • emergency drain is just a 90 degree elbow cemented to 3/4" PVC <-> bulkhead outside the tank. Inside, same thing with the 90 elbow turned up, but I shaved the top of the 90 elbow off so it wasn't so close to the top of the fuge.

fuge_plumbing_return_stacked_straighton.jpg

  • the actual drain was pain of it all because of the 45 degree coupler for the emergency drain from the tank. The bulk head was too long and was bumping on the return drain and there is a seam in the bulkhead so you can't push a 3/4" PVC pipe straight though. This may be an RSR250 specific issue as I don't know where the other reefer sizes have their drains. So I cut the bulk head past the seam which was pretty much up against the nut (I did this while it was installed in the fuge).
fuge_plumbing_backinstalled.jpg



fuge_plumbing_bulkhead_trimmed.jpg

  • Second problem I ran into was that the returning the water from the fuge to the same water return of the tank created too much flow and created a loud waterfall sound going into the first filter sock.
  • But To move the drain to return pump area, I had to work with some weird angles because of the 45 degree return from the tank. The return is a 90 elbow with the top shaved off turned up inside the tank, and outside a threaded 90 degree elbow angled at 45 degrees counter clockwise (when installed) so it wouldn't bump the 45 couple from the return drain, then I have a 90 degree 1/2" quick connect elbow connect to a 1/2" QC tubing and a 1/2" valve. I used 1/2" because I had an extra QC valve laying around, but I'm sure to you do the same with larger hose if you needed more flow, but it may be real tight.

fuge_plumbing_herbie_taken_apart.jpg
 
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There are more reasons than the frag swap to $upport this club and should actually be the last! All of the questions and help you are looking for is coming from those that ARE supporting members. It indicates a level of commitment...to the club, the hobby and your tank. And NOT about getting free stuff.

If you can afford the hobby, YOU can afford to $upport our club
 
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Run that setup for a while with tap water, and put newspaper below the tanks.
With so many fittings, especially cut off in spots, you could easily have a small drip or two.
Paper should show drips well.
 
rygh said:
Run that setup for a while with tap water, and put newspaper below the tanks.
With so many fittings, especially cut off in spots, you could easily have a small drip or two.
Paper should show drips well.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. I do plan on letting everything run with FW until my rock cures. I've actually had water in the DT and sump for a couple weeks now and tanks look leak free.

Luckily all the fittings sit in or directly above the sump. So if there is a leak, it'll just go into the sump. The only water that's outside the sump is from the 1/4" tubing from the ATO.
 
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Woot! Dry Pukani rocks are cycled! Did a 50% WC yesterday morning and still tested between 2-5ppm nitrites and just like that, overnight, nitrites nosedived to zero. Ammonia at zero and nitrates between 20-40.

Just to make sure cycle is complete, I dosed ammonia to bring water between 1.5-2ppm ammonia about 2 hours ago and the bacteria has already converted about half the ammonia and nitrites has risen from zero to 0.5ppm. If nitrites are gone by tomorrow night, looks like it's time to aquascape! Right on!

And just for tracking purposes, It's been exactly 31 days since I put the rocks in saltwater.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
That sounds about right. I remember my family was so impatient with the cycle. For a whole month I had to hear about how I spent all that money and all we have is a tank full of water.
 
Rock question? On the glass or use egg crate or PVC? I know everyone different, but wanted to get BAReefers thoughts.

Edit: actually I found this thread. Should have search first before asking the question. http://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/preventing-cracks-from-live-rock.19770/#post-282510

And I just got an email saying that Red Sea doesn't use any tempered glass even on the bottom. Would that change your thoughts?

I'm thinking I may just put a piece of Lexan down. I don't want to deal with deitrius staying in between the egg crate. Plus I don't want egg crate showing if sand shifters move things around too much.
 
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RandyC said:
Woot! Dry Pukani rocks are cycled! Did a 50% WC yesterday morning and still tested between 2-5ppm nitrites and just like that, overnight, nitrites nosedived to zero. Ammonia at zero and nitrates between 20-40.

Just to make sure cycle is complete, I dosed ammonia to bring water between 1.5-2ppm ammonia about 2 hours ago and the bacteria has already converted about half the ammonia and nitrites has risen from zero to 0.5ppm. If nitrites are gone by tomorrow night, looks like it's time to aquascape! Right on!

And just for tracking purposes, It's been exactly 31 days since I put the rocks in saltwater.
Click to expand...

Rock is now definitely live; it processed that ammonia dose like a champ and ammonia and nitrites were zero tonight. Rocks are now in the tank and this RSR250 tasted saltwater for the first time tonight.. Added some carbon to the tank and am looking forward to seeing the cloudiness gone by tomorrow.

aquascape_front_straight.jpg


aquascape_front_right_angle.jpg


aquascape_front_left_angle.jpg
 
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I've started the migration of everything from my 12G Fluval Edge Reef tank. I was deciding whether I wanted to keep both up, but in the end, decided it was better to only have to maintain one tank and not two. Have a 2nd baby on the way, so one tank is probably already pushing it. So far, I've moved over all the euphyllia, candy cane, and the duncan. Also moved over a baseball sized chaeto ball. I still have 2 small zoa colonies, 2 montis, and a mushroom to move. Two clownfish, CUC (around 8-9 snails), and two scarlet cleaner shrimp are still in the 12G for now.

I added a MarinePur block to the sump. A 8" x 8" x 1" piece. First time I've used one, so we'll see how it goes. I did cut it in half though so that I could put a piece under each filter sock so that it would be out of the way. I think Red Sea should consider a bigger sump on this 250 in the future. (Or I just need to not cram so much stuff in here. ;))

If you can't tell, I love me some euphyillia! I'm addicted to the flow. Took these pics around 10pm so they're a little retracted, plus they just got a CoralRX dip a couple hours earlier. This probably isn't final placement as I'm still figuring out flow, but I made sure at least to put them all in 90-130 PAR areas as measured using seneye. I currently only have my Radion X15WPros running at 40%.

coral_migration_fts.jpg


coral_migration_left.jpg


coral_migration_right.jpg



I ended up building an overflow box out of cheap plate glass from home depot. Don't have any weir or screens yet, but I should probably get one up so a chunk of cheato doesn't clog the drain. Running my fuge light at night from 8pm to 8am. Let's see how that flat grow LED panel light from eBay works to grow this chaeto.

coral_migration_fuge_cheato.jpg


I'm sure there will be many, but my first stupid mistake on this tank: ATO container water level is a little taller than the water level in sump when the ATO is >60% full and I didn't notice while I was moving stuff around the tube from the ATO fell in the sump. I siphoned about a gallon of RO/DI water in before noticing. I made sure to secure it this time after bringing salinity back up to 1.024.
 
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