Hooloovoo's Reefer 525 XL Build

[Hooloovoo]

These build journals have been a great resource for getting ideas as I plan my own tank build, so I thought I would share mine. Here are the details so far:

• DT, Stand, & Sump: Red Sea Reefer 525 XL
• Controler: Neptune Apex 2016
• Circulation: Neptune Wav (pair)
• Return pump: Ecotech Vectra M1
• Lighting: 3x Kessil 360WE Tuna Blue (may supplement with some T5s down the road)
• Heater: Finnex 800 Watt TH Titanium Heating Element
• Sand: 60 lb. Original Grade Ocean Direct Live Reef Sand
• Rock: 80 lb. BRS Pukani Dry Live Rock & 4x 8" x 8" x 1" Plate MarinePure Ceramic Biomedia ( I plan to use the MarinPure as a base for mounting my rock work, and then cover it with sand).

Still trying to decide on a skimmer. The tank is in my bedroom close to my bed, so anything I put in it needs to be real quiet. I'm thinking about going with the Skimz Oval SV203 DC Internal Protein Skimmer from BRS. Any opinions about it? The fact that it is warrantied directly through BRS and they carry all the parts makes it more appealing to me than some of the other fancy brands I have looked at with an uncertain support apparatus in my region (North America).

 

[andy67]

Sounds almost like my 525XL build. but i will tell you 3 kessils isn't going to cut it. I have 4 360WE's over mine and then i added 3 oceanrevive T247 in between the kessil's


Andy

These build journals have been a great resource for getting ideas as I plan my own tank build, so I thought I would share mine. Here are the details so far:

• DT, Stand, & Sump: Red Sea Reefer 525 XL
• Controler: Neptune Apex 2016
• Circulation: Neptune Wav (pair)
• Return pump: Ecotech Vectra M1
• Lighting: 3x Kessil 360WE Tuna Blue (may supplement with some T5s down the road)
• Heater: Finnex 800 Watt TH Titanium Heating Element
• Sand: 60 lb. Original Grade Ocean Direct Live Reef Sand
• Rock: 80 lb. BRS Pukani Dry Live Rock & 4x 8" x 8" x 1" Plate MarinePure Ceramic Biomedia ( I plan to use the MarinPure as a base for mounting my rock work, and then cover it with sand).

Still trying to decide on a skimmer. The tank is in my bedroom close to my bed, so anything I put in it needs to be real quiet. I'm thinking about going with the Skimz Oval SV203 DC Internal Protein Skimmer from BRS. Any opinions about it? The fact that it is warrantied directly through BRS and they carry all the parts makes it more appealing to me than some of the other fancy brands I have looked at with an uncertain support apparatus in my region (North America).

 

[Hooloovoo]

Here I go! Gathering the parts of the Reefer 525 XL:

Getting ready to assemble the stand:

 

[Hooloovoo]

Yeah, definitely not through with the lighting yet. The Kessils will just be a part of the overall plan. I have some ideas for a floating canopy with retrofit T5 lights that I am still toying with.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Constructing the stand

Constructing the stand

A couple of notes on the stand build. As others have noted, the stand quality appears to be very high. However, I think Red Sea could improve on their Quality Control when packing the parts. They threw in an extra piece from the white version of the stand in the kit with my black stand. That caused me some unnecessary confusion for a bit. If anybody out there ordered a 525 XL with white stand, and is missing one of their "part H" pieces, I think I know where it is.

Fortunately, I wasn't missing any pieces, but I did have just enough hardware with no extras of anything except for the plastic dowels. I found that a bit unusual since self-assemble furniture almost always includes a couple extra of each hardware piece to guard against shorting the customer. Red Sea must be very confident in the precision of their counting out of these parts, but I don't know if that confidence is justified given the fact that they managed to slip in an entire extra section of stand into my kit. Still, I'm satisfied with the outcome.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Tank, Stand, and Sump Assembled

Tank, Stand, and Sump Assembled

 

[robgonsailing]

Mine came with the same extra piece in white. I wonder if the white stand comes with 2 "h" pieces.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Just got my order of Pukani Live Rock from BRS on Friday. I can see a fair bit of organic matter including some unfortunate sea urchins that bored into one of the rocks. I've been reading up on best methods for curing it. I think I am going to go with soaking it in salt water in a brute trash can while dosing lanthanum chloride to precipitate out phosphates. I don't want to add the rock to the tank until I am comfortable that it is not leaching high levels of phosphates.

• DT, Stand, & Sump: Red Sea Reefer 525 XL
• Controler: Neptune Apex 2016
• Circulation: Neptune Wav (pair)
• Return pump: Ecotech Vectra M1
• Lighting: 3x Kessil 360WE Tuna Blue (may supplement with some T5s down the road)
• Heater: Finnex 800 Watt TH Titanium Heating Element
• Protein Skimmer: Skimz Oval SV203 DC Internal Protein Skimmer
• Sand: 60 lb. Original Grade Ocean Direct Live Reef Sand
• Rock: 80 lb. BRS Pukani Dry Live Rock

 

[MrDaniel]

I used to run my 100 Gallon (24x48x20) tank using (2) Hydra 52 LED's and a 4 bulb T5 fixture. I found that even this was not enough light. Part of that may be that I don't run any of the white channels on the LED's. In any case I just upgraded to an 8 bulb T5 fixture and am adding an extra Hydra 26 fixture I had laying around. The color combination between the T5's and LED's is awesome in my opinion and it provides the crispness of LED's with the softness of T5's. I would highly recommend it.

 

[Hooloovoo]

I have ordered two 2x80W Geismann T5 Razor fixtures to supplement my three Kessil 360 Tuna Blues. I have designed a floating canopy for the lights that will mount to the wall behind the tank, and be hinged at the back. I will be constructing the frame of the canopy from black aluminum tubing from www.eztube.com, and the panels will be from www.eStreetPlastics.com. I will use black plexiglass acrylic on the outside with opaque white plexiglass acrylic panels on the inside. I will try to post the build details on the DIY forum if anyone is interested.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Dry Rock Curing Has Commenced

Dry Rock Curing Has Commenced

I put my 80 lbs. of BRS Pukani into a 32 gallon Brute trash can with 25 gallons of salt water and left it out on the patio overnight. A mag drive 3 is circulating the water from the bottom of the can through a filter sock at the top. It smells like the mudflats around the Florida mangroves at low tide, and has a thick foam head on it now. Ammonia is reading 0.75 ppm (Salifert), and phosphate is at 1.68 ppm (Hanna Colorimeter). I just added 10 ml of SeaKlear phosphate remover (lanthanum chloride), and will check the phosphates again in a day or two before dosing again.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Two days after my previous ammonia and phosphate tests, ammonia is up to 1.5 ppm from 0.75 ppm. Phosphate has come down from 1.68 ppm to 0.56 ppm. I replaced about 10 gallons of the water, and added another five before adding another 10 ml of SeaKlear phosphate remover. Working in the daylight this time, I could really see the water milk up with the precipitate from the lanthanum chloride binding with the phosphate. Temp is holding steady ~80F.

 

[ktownhero]

Very similar build to my 415xl. Look forward to hearing about how you like those Wav pumps. I went with an MP40 for now, plan on a second one later. I thought about the Wav since I went with an Apex 2016.

I soaked my Pukani (60lbs) in a 32 gallon brute for about 3 weeks and never changed the water. It then sat out dry for about 2 weeks, and has now been in the tank cycling for about a 10 days. My cycle is moving fast because I had it soaking before, I think... I never bothered testing for phosphates.

 

[Hooloovoo]

Did your Pukani arrive with a lot of obvious dead organic matter and noticeable smell? Mine did, so I was inclined to take seriously some other reefer's reports of phosphate leaching and major hair algae outbreaks that resulted. The water in my curing vat is still the color of weak tea after the water change, I think I will probably do a complete water change once I get my phosphates down.

 

[roostertech]

It seems that 525XL kit come with 2 bottom bar as standard. No mention of that in the doc though.

 

[neiltus]

Pretty sweet corner for it. Fits well.

I would throw that pump with the magnet facing the breezeway on your back wall. Or consider it depending on your rock setup.

 

[Litfury]

Have the 425xl and they sent me the same white piece. It really threw me off at first. Just put it together yesterday.
I also have brs pukani curing in a brute trash can at the moment. Was so tempted to start throwing it in so I can speed things along but I'm going to resist and be patient. I'll be following along since we have similar builds and you are just and few weeks ahead of me in the process. Good luck with everything!

 

[Hooloovoo]

Thanks Litfury. Good luck to you as well. I am testing the water parameters on my curing container every other day. Phosphate has fallen off to 0.1 ppm from a starting point of 1.68 ppm. Ammonia has not yet started to drop though. It's still at 1.25 ppm. I am dosing the water with SeaKlear (lanthanum chloride) to precipitate out the phosphates, and adding Brightwell MicroBacter 7 to help seed the rock with bacteria.

I'm anxious to get water in my tank too. Fortunately, I have a 20 G nano to help keep me occupied while I take things slow with my 525 XL. This is definitely a hobby that rewards patience!

 

[Hooloovoo]

Dry Rock Curing Progress Update

Dry Rock Curing Progress Update

Well, my ammonia level in my curing vat is staying steady at 1.25 ppm with no sign of any nitrites after two weeks. After a substantial decrease over the course of the first week, my phosphates seem to be plateauing at 0.14 ppm. I decided my curing vat might need some more flow, and I really needed the container back for mixing salt water for my other aquarium.

I found a 50 gallon tote that I decided would work better for my dry rock curing purposes, and it would give me room to start breaking in my skimmer as well.

I'm now using an acclimation drip to dose the SeaKlear LaCl. That's what is causing the cloudiness in the pick below. The skimmer is pulling out all kinds of stuff. All that heavy brown foam has accumulated in just the past 5 or 6 hours. Hopefully, my phosphates will start falling again now, and I will start to see some nitrites so I know the rock is actually cycling.

 

[Hooloovoo]

I have nitrites in my curing tub! Hooray!? Ammonia has not started to decline noticeably yet, but at least I know I am cycling now. I'm wondering if I should go ahead and do a water change this weekend to flush away all the particulate that precipitated out from the LaCL, or just wait for the cycle to run its course.