Voodoojar's Reefer 425xl

[JW76]

I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have. It's actually super easy and you can do it for around $200 assuming you already have a Neptune Apex and RO/Di system.

When I had this tank on order I had a heater malfunction in my old tank that killed all my fish except my Wrasses which buried themselves and stayed alive. I wanted to get super serious with this tank and not murder anymore fish, so I bought a Neptune Apex and jstarted programming it to do stuff. Besides like easy stuff like reading SG you can basically program it to do pretty much whatever you want.

Here is my homemade ATO tank I run from Neptune Apex.

I have a little electric float switch I have hooked up to the Apex breakout box that keeps it from overflowing although this is just for backup if a line gets clogged or something because the system is set for the same amount in as goes out. The little fish tank inside the bigger one is where I put my kalk. and speaking of Kalk I have my Apex set so if PH climbs to 8.4 I shuts off my ATO and text me so I can check that Im not overdosing. I setup these types of warning on all my critical systems in an attempt to eliminate stupid accidents that kill tanks.

I also have 4 small jebao Powerheads that I got for $35 each in this tank hooked up to my Apex. I programmed them to do some cool 24hr wave cycles and making the water movement really random. and a bunch of other setting for feeding.

Anyway as you can see I really like my Apex.

**Voodoojar...you're at an expert level man. I can only dream these sorts of things at this point, but learning fast reading up. My tank been up for a just a few weeks and I'm learning on the go. I should have really done this before the purchase, but it is what it is.

As for the Apex system, I do not have yet. There might be a good Black Friday sale on them tmr, so maybe. Can you tell me specifically which one you have and what you recommend.

My 2 'bigger' purchases thus far have been the RO/DI (havent set up yet) and Skimz SM163, which is in transit.

Ideally I would like to make my RO water in the basement which is directly below the tank. Dump the waste water in the sump and move the RO water to a holding tank in the basement where I can easily transfer RO to another tank where I can mix salt for the water changes. Also, want to have a constant top off approach for the tank with the RO. Anyway, I need to come up with a plan. My goal is to automate as much of the process as possible so I spend most of the time growing and enjoying the tank.

 

[Voodoojar]

Here's my tank today. only a few of my LPS and two wrasse, Darwin glow and melenarus survived when my heater blew up in my old tank so I'm kind of starting over. Here is what it looks like after about 6 week

Only had these for 6 weeks so while I'm not going to call it a success yet they are all co-existing without issue, so far.

 

[Voodoojar]

I've got 3 big projects I want to tackle in the next week or so.


First one is I picked up a geo618 on a trade. So I want to get that setup. I'm running an aquamaxx nano right now and dont think it's going to be able to handle the tank once I start to stock SPS.

Second one is oranizing my electronics. I have a ton of apex modules and stuff I need to organize. Here is board one of two. The second board which I havent started will have my two DOS and a tablet to control the Apex.

The third project which I do not have photos. I ordered two 36" Reefbrite XHO 50/50 light which I plan to mount inside my Giesemann Matrix. Also got the dimmer to add Apex control. Right now my 6x39w Giesemann Matrix hung 10" abovre the water is putting out 490 PAR at the waters surface. I was kind of disappointed with these numbers.

What sucks and this should be a warning to everyone is the dimmable Matrix is putting out 20% less par compared to the non dimming light. This is bad because first or all it's a gimmick and second of all it's like $300 more for the dimming light. I wish I could exchange it. I feel lied to. Anyway the Reefbrites should bring my PAR up to where I want it.

So planning on getting all these done this week and adding a some acro frags I have waiting till everything is super stable.

 

[Voodoojar]

Its always scary to tear apart an expensive piece of equipment add 2 reefbrite xho 50/50 to my giesemann matrix im going to ramp these up over the next 2 months but 10 inchs from thw water on the surface this setup is hitting 900 and change par right in the center iam aimfor 150 par on the sand bed in22"deep

 

[TheReefKeeper]

Super excited and haven't slept at all last night.

I've been planning to upgrade my 50g tank with HOB skimmer and no sump for quiet some time. I wanted something bigger that would give me more option with a larger sump.

Yesterday morning I picked up my Red Sea Reefer 425xl from my LFS. It was so heave I barely got it home but after almost dropping the tank I got it in the house put it together and started filling it with water. I bought a 50ft piece of tubing to run straight from the RODI in kitchen. After about 10 hours I'm halfway full.

In the meantime I pulled the black plastic off the back and installed some frosted plastic with an RGB LED strip mounted on the back of the stand.

I decided to get the tank filled and cycling while I work on plumping.

my build list includes,

• Light- 6x39w Giesemann Martix 2 w/Dimmtec
• Return Pump - Jebao DCT8000
• Skimmer - SRO 2000int
• Power Head - 2x Maxspect Gyre xf230
• Reactor - BRS Carbon and GFO
• Heater - 2x Fluval E 300-Watt
• Plumbing - Some Clear PVC pipe
• Control - Neptune Apex w/ Dos, PAR meter and return and powerhead control.
• Backup - 2x IceCap Battery Backup

No Chiller yet, I will wait until next spring and see if it's needed.

This is the 425xl correct?
Can you tell me what the sump area measure?

Trying to get a custom sump build but can't find the space under the stand and the dimensions on Red sea are missing the overflow areas and just give the skimmer and return measurements.

Any help would be appreciated.