Cardiffgiant's RedSea Reefer 525 Build

[cardiffgiant]

Hard to catch a break on this project. The 100' apex cable that runs to my water change station doesn't seem to work. There's no real way to replace it since it runs through the conduit with other hoses and cables outside of the house. I ordered a 50' and I'm going to have to do a more ugly run along the baseboards inside and connect to a EB8 that will be on the other side of my living room.

It's a real challenge to keep the cables inside of this thing both organized and at the necessary lengths.

I put some J Channel inside of the sump compartment to keep those cables and wires pretty inconspicuous. I'll grab a picture of that for the next update.

Next up, leak testing the plumbing and overflow.

 

[spinoleo]

very nice build

 

[Specfishin]

Looking great! I like the clean look.

 

[cardiffgiant]

Thank you!

 

[cardiffgiant]

Some big developments today! We're getting close!!! I'm adding sand and water tomorrow, and then the cycle begins.

I used the lid from the crate to make a template of the tank to plan my aquascape. Then I used e-marco 400 to cement the rock together. I used 9 large pieces in all and another 6-7 of rubble for shape and filler. I planned to use acryclic rods as well, but I'm impressed with the how solid the e-macro is.

FYI, the large bucket of e-marco would handle 3 of these tanks. Also, 100lbs of pukani is a LOT of rock. Literally too much and BRS gives you some HUGE pieces. Look for a deal on rock, mortar and acrylic rods

 

[Nola Bear]

Great looking scape!

 

[mrpergo]

The scape is stunning.....nice job

 

[cardiffgiant]

Thank you! Here area couple of shots from today. I ran the new USB cable, set up my breakout box, and added the avast barrel tender to my water change station.

The lights and skimmer were only on for effect. I've had the system running dark with no skimmer during the early part of the cycle.

This little eshopps curve is pretty bright against the vinyl wrapped sump.

I set up float switches in the back right corner of my top off reservoir. This way I can fill the in sump ATO as needed and let it top the tank off slowly.

I've got a shrimp chillin in my sump to jump start the cycle. It went in raw, but looks like its cooking nicely...

 

[cardiffgiant]

Oh, there's also water in the display. The return nozzle displaces all of the sand in the front of the tank, which is pretty annoying. I ordered a loc line T to try to direct it to the sizes.

 

[Nola Bear]

I look at these huge builds and I'm just amazed at how much i need to learn... in due time. Thanks for sharing~

 

[Y-Diver]

Tagging along, looks like it's going to be a good build! What kind of stocking list (fish and coral) are you thinking about?

 

[cardiffgiant]

I'm just through my cycle, so I started with a small school of yellow assessor basslets. Next I'm adding a pair of Davinci clowns. Longer term, I'm planning a purple tang, kole tang, and maybe 2-3 reef safe wrasses.

I had a minor setback on my radions. I ordered 3 gen3 pro upgrades, but I bought my gen2's used and it turns out that they were all previously upgraded gen1's. This is OK, but it means that I need to send them in to ecotech to have them change a wire harness.

 

[mystikal]

Awesome looking building. Really love the Red Sea reefers. I'm interested to know about the upgrade kit on the radions. I think I have the gen2....so you purchase the upgrade through ecotech and have to mail it into them? You couldn't just do the upgrade yourself?

 

[cardiffgiant]

You can upgrade gen2 to gen3 yourself, and its pretty easy to do. Gen1 to gen3 needs to be done by ecotech. Mine turned out to have originally been gen1s, which I didnt realize until I started the upgrade.

 

[mystikal]

Oh ok! I think once you upload them on the EcoSmart live it should tell you want gen it is right?

 

[St Pete John]

Looking good.

Welcome to town.

 

[cardiffgiant]

Oh ok! I think once you upload them on the EcoSmart live it should tell you want gen it is right?

ESL shows you the generation that you upgraded to. Mine currently show Gen3, but the lights won't turn on because the wiring harness is not fully compatible. I probably could have looked up the serial numbers to definitively know what version they started as, but I bought them used and made the assumption that they were always Gen2's.

andd when you assume in this hobby... sometimes you get a tank with no lights for a couple of weeks...

 

[SPS911]

How do you like the barrel tender? Does it require a booster pump?

 

[cardiffgiant]

I like the barrel tender a lot, but you could also set up a couple of float switches and a solonoid. You don't need a booster pump, but you do need a shutoff on your RODI. I already had one, but something to keep in mind of you don't. I ordered the one that connects to my breakout box, so I can keep an eye on when it's on/off.

Here area couple of shots of recent activity.

The return for the Reefer points forward, which blows the sand away constantly. One simple mod proposed by poster Broadfield was to remove the original nozzle (which is just push fit), and replace with loc line that directs te flow to the right and left. The nozzle isn't threaded, so you wrap the threaded end wiuth teflon tape about 10 times, insert, remove, wrap 10 more times, then reinsert. Works like a charm. Redhook IPA is optional, but recommended.

Used an old iceream container and a spare MJ to make a carbon chamber. I later replaced the MJ1200 with a MJ600

Refugium is going.

Davinci clownfish added.

My lights went back to EcoTech for the upgrade and I should have them back and installed within the next couple of weeks.

 

[mystikal]

Awesome. How much did the t splitter cost you?
I picked up a reefer and slowly starting my build