Reefer 350 build
 

Coming back to the hobby after 20+ years, because the wife and kids wanted a tank...also, this is a repeat post of a thread I started in the red sea forum...oops...

Welp, here is my build...

In the past week I have placed a few orders...some sponsors ship a LOT faster than others (and that is appreciated).

I have the stand together and plan to do some plumbing this weekend if I don't end up out of town. Right now the limiting factor is the RODI unit. It was ordered Monday and I got all the emails regarding it, but still no tracking number.

Items ordered:
-Kessil 360AW and mounts
-Salt, misc kits.
-extra socks
-Tunze 6095

Items considering:
-Media reactor
-Tunze 3155 to rig to the stock ATO (really don't like the float)
-Under cabinet lighting, deciding on tiny refuge or not first.
-Controller
-rock-considering about 100# of Manado from PA or the possible TBS package or just going with Pukani Dry and some Manado or bottle magic to seed.

Wanted to order a new apex, however, in my experience I have seen good products go south pretty quick on version changes, especially when they start pushing it's connect ability. I will probably order an APEX, but will most likely go with the proven version.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...psmotldoyl.jpg

So far so good ,Looking forward to more pictures.

Well, this morning plumbed the overflow. It's a tight fit to torque the overflows and much easier to come from underneath to get them to seat. Not a lot of "-# are needed, but coming from the bottom is easier. Glued connections on plumping.

I have 2x tunze 6095 coming (hopefully) next week with my RO unit. Ordered these on the 24th and still don't having a tracking number. Might call and cancel the order and just go with another vendor if they don't get moving along. Premium Aquatics who shipped the pump and skimmer had the tracking scanned and out the door the morning after I ordered it-kudos to them.

Still deciding to APEX or not (Tunze 7096 and Kessil Spectral Controller). I do like the idea of adding a Kalk drip or 2 part dose where that can go overnight and terminate if pH is too high. But I ABHOR constantly having to tool with or babysit technology. Actually have a thread on this in the beginner forum.

I don't know what I would do without my Apex. Save me more than once while on Vacation

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Well, the big box o' aquarium crap showed up today. BRS took very good care of me....even upgraded my shipping due to some confusion on shipping address so it could arrive in time for the weekend.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...pszdmwx5lw.jpg

So, I hooked up the RO to get it purging. Wanted to put ~6" of water in overflow to check fittings for leaks, got that done. Will let it sit overnight to see if I have anything on the floor in the morning. Thinking of doing a run with just freshwater to make sure the plumbing is all good and the electronics are in a decent place before I add sand/etc, then drain and do a salt run. Another thought to this is my rubbermaid cans for mixing have a very "plastic"smell. Maybe a freshwater run will prevent anything extra from going into tank.

Minor issue- The RD3 50w pump has about a 1 meter cord from it's controller, and quite a bit of cord from the controller to pump. Would like that reversed, as the way the reefer is set up with plumbing, I can either set controller on the non-sump side of the sump, but would have to remove the bulkheads of the tank to pass controller through. Or I can just go for a tight fit with their meter cord. It's a minor issue though....more of an observation for those who go forward with this pump tank combo.

No leaks, but still going to do a trial run with freshwater to get everything mounted and wires ran. Also curious on what temps the water stays at in the tank with my AC settings in our 100 degree+ days and 80+ nights.

Mounted the pump controller on the back wall with some leftover stainless fastenal #6x1/2 screws. Predrilled to 1/16", hope it holds.

Still making water. I bought a Eheim 1000 pump to mix saltwater in the 32g brute. It's not much pump when connected to 10' of 5/8th tubing.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...pspf5iiiev.jpg

Tight fit with skimmer...thought about mounting controller on the right side by the ATO and ditching that ATO...that might come after the dry run when I load the tank with saltwater. The pump controller current position leaves me about 8" of cord on the non-sump side of the cabinet. Going to the left side for the controller would be way too tight for the plug.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...psycij7j5v.jpg

Another boring photo, but with water. Filled with fresh RODI and have the pump running, overflow set, did a power off test and have power to skimmer.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...pssxexsqq7.jpg

Observations-

-The pump is dead quiet. Honestly at a 32w setting there is more hum/noise from the Tunze 6095 head.

-I have read a few threads where there were issues dialing in the overflow valve to where it's not sucking. It took me about 15 minutes...and one needs to go more closed than open...think almost closed-I am about a 1/4 turn open, that gives me about an 1" below the emergency overflow.

-without a heater, I am holding the low end of my temp range. Lights are not on it. This is good...don't want to go chiller route.

Going Forward-

-Ordering a Tunze top off to run off the ATO. A number of users have reported marginal success with the float valve. Not even going to mess with it. I will use the included ATO unless I am away for a few days, then go 5 gallon. User Brianinsac reports that a cover gets nearly 4 days of top-off water with the included ATO box. A 5 gallon will get me a week going by his temp observations.

-Instead of dumping a large amount of good RODI water, I will drain 10-15 gallons in the brute to mix salt. There is nothing wrong with this water...particles that were in the tank from shipping went to the socks.

-still deciding on rock...we are thinking of either 1) ~ 75 lbs of Pukani that has been cultured from PA, or 2) a 55 lb box of walt smith 2.1 mixed with about 25 lbs of Manado.

Decisions Decisions

Looking great! Glad to hear you dialed in the overflow fairly quickly. That's what I'm most apprehensive about as I begin to build my 525XL.
Also following you progress on the ATO, as the Tunze ATO is in my cart, but hoping to delay the purchase depending on how the provided float valve and container work out.

Excited to see which way you go with rock, keep up the good work.

Oldcabin-On the overflow, just put about 6" of water in your pump chamber...put a witness mark with tape (see above).

Turn on pump.

Crank down on the knob from open to close till the sucking stops. Wait a couple minutes and move it a few thousandths to fine tune. Note that the water level in the overflow will be an inch or two below the emergency tube.

It's only hard if your afraid of messing up. The emergency overflow will prevent from flooding tank and running pump dry.

Awesome, I'll give that a go. Appreciate it! Just took arrival today and finished the stand, now onto plumbing!


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Yesterday I hooked up the APEX to the pump and skimmer. Spent a little time getting familiar with APEX, hooked the Tunze 6095 to the APEX and used the Apex wizard to start a little program for circulation-nothing complicated or cool-just 30% on both pumps overnight ramping up to 100% and alternating flow.

Member Slief has a thread here regarding apex/tunze pumps and programming. Interesting read. Played around with it some last night, got frustrated, then defaulted to the above pump programming. Seems I need to get to the classic interface of Apex, I can do that, but could not access any other pages in apex from the classic interface. Probably a network thing, and I assume something simple, at the moment I will just run what works and continue on with the tank vs network diagnostics (yawn)-save that for later.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1994312

Putting the Kessils on today.

Got the Kessils wired-got some wacky program running. They are 10.5" above waterline, going to move them lower so there is not as much overflow around the tank. I like the newer A360we...I have only seen the older version locally, the newer version seems to have less shimmer-they just toned it down a bit.

Issues-

-Their 6 foot stereo cable to sync the lights is too darn short. Will order another and a dual female connector.

-My apex unit will not control the Kessils on V3/V4, moved the heads to that port with no issues and then just moved the Kessils to V1/V2.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6gnoahg9.jpg

Trying to clean up the Octopus...we need a thread showing the hot mess of various members cables....

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...ps69nb0dtz.jpg

Nice!!!!

What return pump are you using. I want something quiet.

Royal Exclusive RD3 50w (see sponsor forum for a thread on that).

Tweaked the lighting a little...looks much more pleasing. So far, running the pump, 2 heads, 2 kessils, skimmer and apex I am pulling a whopping 2.1amps max and generally around 1.9avg.

Started putting in salt - TMPro reef. Siphoned off 20 or so gallons, mixed 10# of salt and threw an Eheim in for about 30 min then pumped it into the tank. Running with heads just to stir some more in tank.

I purchased a red sea refractometer, zeroed w RODI, then used a 35ppm/1.026 check solution to re-zero.

Also lowered the lights to 9.25 off the water.

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...psrvpin9wr.jpg

Wife is going to love it!!!

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...psioqypben.jpg

Ordered 75# of Pukani cultured from TBS...very excited to see what I get!

Awesome, nice progress. Can't wait to see your scape.


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How do you like the Kessil's? I'm comparing those with Hydra 52 for an SPS tank.

Scary, I did not care for the look of the older kessils, wayyyyy too much shimmer for me...looked artificial. The new ones are toned down. Being new and previously using VHO bulbs 20 years ago, I wanted something more idiot proof with the light spectrum...hence the new kessils. Plus I also liked the cleanness of their mounts.

Old cabin...I am no aquascaper.

Tank is slowly clearing. Put in a 300w finnex hmo. Seems it is about 4 degrees above my apex probe...going to have to find something to calibrate. Currently have it plugged into a relay on eb8 and set 77 on 78 off, with the thermostat at 81. Might have to bump the thermostat on the heater up another degree.

The sandstorm settled out...Had some in my sump, cleaned socks in RO and the black filter...tried my best to get most of the 'dust' out of the sump...can't be good on pumps.

Well, rock arrived as planned. Richard emailed me early this morning that it shipped, and again when it was at the SWA cargo just across town. I ordered 3-25# boxes, total weight ended up being around 161# (water, boxes, etc). Shipping from Tampa to Love Field was 150.00 total. The cargo pickup is the shortest line at that airport.

Brought it home...started looking for bad stuff. Found a couple small questionable crabs, too small to ID. Plenty of good stuff, sponges (one very large), the familiar clicking sound (visually ID'ed two pistol shrimp), Porcelain crabs, few tiny starfish, feather dusters, cucumber, etc. Very cool little package.

Salinity is 1.025, ph is 7.94, temp is 76.8, skimmer off now but going back on in 30 or so...making water to prepare for NH4 change if necessary.

Richard at TBS is incredibly easy to deal with...I expected freight charges to be more.

Still thinking of layout...I like the left side(see 2nd photo below) (big sponge of some sort in the front...enjoy it while I can but it might be short lived), but the right side is pretty clumsy. I don't claim to be an aquascaper...

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...pscdwayc0d.jpg

http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/...psbyvwnidi.jpg

Rock looks great, as does your scape. Lots of interesting shapes, but not overdone. Still loads of room for coral.

Nice job!


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Your aquascape looks good.

Looks like you are coming along pretty well. I just bought a CadLight Artisan 125 that has a lot of the Red Sea Reefer style. Mine is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday and I can't wait to get started. I have some pretty big plans as this is replacing a 180g and a 75g that shared a stand in our dining room.