2's Custom Red Sea Reefer MAX 200 G2+ System

[2Plus2]

Hi everyone! I want to share my journey getting back into reefing!
It's been far to long, an if I can put a number on it, it's been roughly 10 years since I've owned a tank.
After weeks of being indecisive, weeks of heading to every available aquarium store, weeks of canceling orders, I have finally settled on a tank.
I couldn't win every battle, If one thing was perfect the other wasn't... Tank dimensions, Tank stand, Plumbing, AIO, Sump, etc...
I will work on pictures showing where I am as of now, I will provide a list of what I've purchased and what was removed.
Hopefully this build can help someone, someone as picky as me because I couldn't just let it be.

***I will update this post when any changes are done to the tank!***


Tank purchased:
1. Red Sea Reefer MAX 200 G2+ System (Just tank, sump, ATO version)

Equipment Removed:
1. 100% of Cabinet plumbing
2. Sump

Current Equipment Purchased:
1. 100% Custom plumbing inside cabinet
2. Fiji Cube Fiji-20 Advanced Reef Sump 2nd Gen
3. Helio (200 Watts x 2 = 400 Watts) PTC Smart Aquarium Heater
4. Bubble Magus Curve 5 Elite Protein Skimmer with Sicce SK-200
5. VorTech MP10wQD x2
6. EcoTech Marine Radion XR30 G6 Pro
7. Reef Brite XHO-K30 (Actinic) LED Add-On Kit - For Radion XR30
8. AquaIllumination Blade Smart LED Strip - Refugium
9. 60lbs CaribSea Fiji Pink

Future Equipment To Be Purchased:
1. Coralvue Hydros Control X4 Aquarium Controller PRO Pack
2. Coralvue Hydros Kraken 24V Power Center
3.

 

[2Plus2]

@d2mini

 

[d2mini]

Need pics!

 

[2Plus2]

Ill start with the cabinet... Working with the given sump and piping that came with the system wasn't going to work with my ideas, so i gutted it all out.
My thinking with all the threaded fittings was not to be wasteful, It's expensive when you have to toss out everything and re-pipe, so now I can just dismantle a good portion of each run if i need to do any rework and only throw away a bit.

I purchased 2 additional sump pump return connectors to make this work. (They have pink stickers in the pic.)
If anyone is interested, this is where I bought them from:

Red Sea G2 Reefer 170/200 Sump Pump Return Connector

Fish Tanks Direct specializes exclusively in freshwater aquariums and saltwater fish tanks. Buy your aquarium fish tanks direct and save with free shipping.

fishtanksdirect.com

 

[2Plus2]

Need pics!

LOL, I got you!

 

[2Plus2]

Don't mind the drywall I'm fixing it up lol.
After mounting the lights, I didn't feel comfortable leaving all that weight on the glass, luckily I found a cable on amazon with the perfect fitting.
I didn't use the light mount end cap since that screw was used for the cable.

 

[d2mini]

Have you thought about just hanging the light with two cables instead of using both mounting systems?
I just hung mine because I wasn't able to get the light hight enough with the mounting arm, and I've always had them hung from the ceiling on past builds. Infinite height adjustment.

When do you think you'll be filling the tank and starting her up?

 

[Bartanto]

Ill start with the cabinet... Working with the given sump and piping that came with the system wasn't going to work with my ideas, so i gutted it all out.
My thinking with all the threaded fittings was not to be wasteful, It's expensive when you have to toss out everything and re-pipe, so now I can just dismantle a good portion of each run if i need to do any rework and only throw away a bit.

I purchased 2 additional sump pump return connectors to make this work. (They have pink stickers in the pic.)
If anyone is interested, this is where I bought them from:

Red Sea G2 Reefer 170/200 Sump Pump Return Connector

Fish Tanks Direct specializes exclusively in freshwater aquariums and saltwater fish tanks. Buy your aquarium fish tanks direct and save with free shipping.

fishtanksdirect.com

Nice plumbing!

 

[2Plus2]

Nice plumbing!

TY TY TY

 

[2Plus2]

Have you thought about just hanging the light with two cables instead of using both mounting systems?
I just hung mine because I wasn't able to get the light hight enough with the mounting arm, and I've always had them hung from the ceiling on past builds. Infinite height adjustment.

When do you think you'll be filling the tank and starting her up?

D2!! I have thought about that, the problem is the wiring, I'm a stickler for it and i hate any random wires just hanging around.
This is the cleanest option IMO, but yes I'm now limited to one set height, so now all my marbles are on this arm.
Today today is the big day, im filling her up right now with just RODI, Ill be adding salt slowly as the pumps run to see the flow.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

This will be awesome!! I’m happy with my Fiji sump. Excited to follow along.

 

[2Plus2]

This will be awesome!! I’m happy with my Fiji sump. Excited to follow along.

Were literally twins, we both have the same sump n skimmer lol.
I'm following yours now!

 

[2Plus2]

I custom designed and 3D printed a mount to slide into the given slots of the Fiji Cube, If anyone is interested I can send you the STL, this will only work with the AquaIllumination Blade Smart LED Strip.
There is a nice gap of 8MM from the strip to plexiglass of the sump, so no heat build up.

You will also need to purchase a 8mm screw thats 10mm long.

@JustAnotherNanoTank Since you have the same sump, just another ID if you need.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

Were literally twins, we both have the same sump n skimmer lol.
I'm following yours now!

I Love that skimmer it was just too much for my system early on at least. I’m running a tiny Fiji Cube NSK-70 skimmer now and love it.

The curve 5 elite really seems to want to be in 9+ inches of water depth too for it to not produce micro bubbles like crazy. I needed bubble trap media but didn’t want to deal with it.

I’m just gonna see how this tiny skimmer does for now!

 

[2Plus2]

Final shots of the sump, I still have enough room to place a few sensor wires, I will probably add another rail for the dosing pump hoses since I wont want those pinched.

 

[2Plus2]

I Love that skimmer it was just too much for my system early on at least. I’m running a tiny Fiji Cube NSK-70 skimmer now and love it.

The curve 5 elite really seems to want to be in 9+ inches of water depth too for it to not produce micro bubbles like crazy. I needed bubble trap media but didn’t want to deal with it.

I’m just gonna see how this tiny skimmer does for now!

I won't be running this skimmer for many months, hopefully I can run it in 10.5-11 inches of water.

 

[JustAnotherNanoTank]

I won't be running this skimmer for many months, hopefully I can run it in 10.5-11 inches of water.

Oh yeah, it’ll run great at that depth!

 

[2Plus2]

Ordered a few pieces, should have an update with pics in about a week.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Final shots of the sump, I still have enough room to place a few sensor wires, I will probably add another rail for the dosing pump hoses since I wont want those pinched.

Sump looks great!

 

[2Plus2]

TYTY!! I wanted to make sure it was as clean as possible.

Sump looks great!