Hey guys, first post here!
Me and my old man used to have a tank 12+ years ago, life got in the way, you know the deal.
Late 2025 we decided the time was right to get back into this amazing hobby and so began our next journey into the world of salty fish! I tell you what, the hobby has changed dramatically since we last had a tank and it's incredible! We're working with our local fish shop here in Sydney, the same one we used all those years ago, to get the ball rolling with this tank. We've known them since they started the business and have become friends with them over the years outside of fish keeping.
We decided to go with the RedSea Reefer S 550 G2+ tank, as it's similar is size and shape to our last one. We received the tank back in October '25 and have slowly been accumulating parts for the build.
The goal is for the tank to be a high flow SPS tank, working with our LFS to help grow unique frags and support a better and healthier frag market here in Sydney.
Here's a complete list of parts we're using for this tank:
RedSea:
- RedSea Reefer S550 G2+
- 3 x ReefLED G2 170 with ceiling pendant & visors
- 2 x ReefRun 6000 Pumps
- 2 x ReefRun dual controllers
- Reefer DC Skimmer 900
- ReefMat 1200
Neptune:
- Apex Pro 3
- Energy Bar 632
- pH / ORP / Temp / Salinity / Sump level / Flow sensors
- ATK kit (FMM)
- With additional level & leak sensors for 100L RO drum
- Trident
- 2 x DoS units
Other:
- TANK TK 1000 chiller
- 600w Heater element
- 4 x Tunze 6105 eco + Controllers
- RODI machine
- UV light tube
- Pond pump for Salt water change
- 2 x 100L barrels for RO & Salt
- Loads of PVC Pipe
- Bamboo Labs P2S 3D printer (Not bought for this, but heavily used!)
- Loads of cables etc.
(I'm sure I've forgotten a few things too)
Here is the first of many piles of boxed goodies that arrived!
We know we have gone extreeeemely overkill on this tank, but hey, why not!
As for build progress, after getting the tank we worked with the crew (the gang from our LFS) to work out how we wanted to plumb this bad boy up! Since our living area where the tank is going has a car port underneath we decided to put the chiller / UV down there as well as put 2x 100L drums for RO / Salt.
Next up is building the tank! We got the flat pack boxes in to build the cabinet of the reefer and i have to say, I'm impressed with the quality of the materials used. The LFS held onto the tank it's self until we were happy the cabinet was built, in position and level as well as drilling all the required holes behind the tank for the plumbing to go down below.
From there, we got the tank in and situated and this is where the fun for me began. I'm big into making things neat and tidy when it comes to electrical stuff and this tank was no exception with what we have planned to go in it. So i got the 3D printer fired up and started designing a million different brackets / holders / supports / etc for the tank.
First up was the lights. Having the ceiling pendant for the G2 170 LED's meant i had to do some creative work to get it looking pretty. I'm still not 100% happy with the current setup, but it's dang close to how i want it.
I decided to put all the power bricks up with the lights along with a tiny 4 slot power board, so we only had to worry about 1 cable coming out from them and down the wall behind the tank. After getting everything in place, i soldered up some custom power cables and used some very handy right angle adapters to keep it tidy and as low profile as i could. Here's what i came up with:
Once again, going over the top, but why not!
Next up for me was the slide out panel on the right side of the cabinet. I did a deep dive in the forums here & else where for inspiration on how to mount everything up and saw a few builds where all the power bricks were mounted behind the slide out panel. This is how i wanted to do it. So i mapped out where i wanted things to go on the panel and worked with the LFS crew to just double check everything would work where i wanted it and then started playing. Fired up Fusion360 again and made some fittings to make the holes look nice and neat as well as printing up plates for velcro cable ties to keep everything in place.
Half way through wiring this up, i decided i was sick of the tiny torch light i was using and wired up some LED strips to light the place up on both sides of the cabinet and wired it to a switch that when the right door opens, they turn on! This isn't the end of the wiring, i made a lot of adjustments later on!
In-between working on the wiring, myself and the LFS crew are working on plumbing up the tank and all the goodies downstairs and it came together rather well. One of the 6000 pumps is purely for the sump and tank, a simple loop. the other takes water downstairs, through the chiller and UV and past the flow meter and back up into the tank. As it gets hot here in Australia, we decided we didn't want the hot air from the chiller spitting it back into the living room, fighting against the aircon.
Here's what we came up with, it's not pretty (and still needs to be cable managed properly), but it works well! Oh and 2 bonus shots of the (almost) finished cabinet (added a cable box) and sump wiring management i did for the probes.
So with everything plumbed, we have filled the tank with water and added the salt in a few days ago! No leaks and everything is reading good! Now we're waiting for a fresh delivery of live rock to the LFS to start mapping out the structure in the tank! Here's the final shots of this bad boy!
Thanks for checking out our build and we'll keep this thread updated with all the progress we make!
Me and my old man used to have a tank 12+ years ago, life got in the way, you know the deal.
Late 2025 we decided the time was right to get back into this amazing hobby and so began our next journey into the world of salty fish! I tell you what, the hobby has changed dramatically since we last had a tank and it's incredible! We're working with our local fish shop here in Sydney, the same one we used all those years ago, to get the ball rolling with this tank. We've known them since they started the business and have become friends with them over the years outside of fish keeping.
We decided to go with the RedSea Reefer S 550 G2+ tank, as it's similar is size and shape to our last one. We received the tank back in October '25 and have slowly been accumulating parts for the build.
The goal is for the tank to be a high flow SPS tank, working with our LFS to help grow unique frags and support a better and healthier frag market here in Sydney.
Here's a complete list of parts we're using for this tank:
RedSea:
- RedSea Reefer S550 G2+
- 3 x ReefLED G2 170 with ceiling pendant & visors
- 2 x ReefRun 6000 Pumps
- 2 x ReefRun dual controllers
- Reefer DC Skimmer 900
- ReefMat 1200
Neptune:
- Apex Pro 3
- Energy Bar 632
- pH / ORP / Temp / Salinity / Sump level / Flow sensors
- ATK kit (FMM)
- With additional level & leak sensors for 100L RO drum
- Trident
- 2 x DoS units
Other:
- TANK TK 1000 chiller
- 600w Heater element
- 4 x Tunze 6105 eco + Controllers
- RODI machine
- UV light tube
- Pond pump for Salt water change
- 2 x 100L barrels for RO & Salt
- Loads of PVC Pipe
- Bamboo Labs P2S 3D printer (Not bought for this, but heavily used!)
- Loads of cables etc.
(I'm sure I've forgotten a few things too)
Here is the first of many piles of boxed goodies that arrived!
We know we have gone extreeeemely overkill on this tank, but hey, why not!
As for build progress, after getting the tank we worked with the crew (the gang from our LFS) to work out how we wanted to plumb this bad boy up! Since our living area where the tank is going has a car port underneath we decided to put the chiller / UV down there as well as put 2x 100L drums for RO / Salt.
Next up is building the tank! We got the flat pack boxes in to build the cabinet of the reefer and i have to say, I'm impressed with the quality of the materials used. The LFS held onto the tank it's self until we were happy the cabinet was built, in position and level as well as drilling all the required holes behind the tank for the plumbing to go down below.
From there, we got the tank in and situated and this is where the fun for me began. I'm big into making things neat and tidy when it comes to electrical stuff and this tank was no exception with what we have planned to go in it. So i got the 3D printer fired up and started designing a million different brackets / holders / supports / etc for the tank.
First up was the lights. Having the ceiling pendant for the G2 170 LED's meant i had to do some creative work to get it looking pretty. I'm still not 100% happy with the current setup, but it's dang close to how i want it.
I decided to put all the power bricks up with the lights along with a tiny 4 slot power board, so we only had to worry about 1 cable coming out from them and down the wall behind the tank. After getting everything in place, i soldered up some custom power cables and used some very handy right angle adapters to keep it tidy and as low profile as i could. Here's what i came up with:
Once again, going over the top, but why not!
Next up for me was the slide out panel on the right side of the cabinet. I did a deep dive in the forums here & else where for inspiration on how to mount everything up and saw a few builds where all the power bricks were mounted behind the slide out panel. This is how i wanted to do it. So i mapped out where i wanted things to go on the panel and worked with the LFS crew to just double check everything would work where i wanted it and then started playing. Fired up Fusion360 again and made some fittings to make the holes look nice and neat as well as printing up plates for velcro cable ties to keep everything in place.
Half way through wiring this up, i decided i was sick of the tiny torch light i was using and wired up some LED strips to light the place up on both sides of the cabinet and wired it to a switch that when the right door opens, they turn on! This isn't the end of the wiring, i made a lot of adjustments later on!
In-between working on the wiring, myself and the LFS crew are working on plumbing up the tank and all the goodies downstairs and it came together rather well. One of the 6000 pumps is purely for the sump and tank, a simple loop. the other takes water downstairs, through the chiller and UV and past the flow meter and back up into the tank. As it gets hot here in Australia, we decided we didn't want the hot air from the chiller spitting it back into the living room, fighting against the aircon.
Here's what we came up with, it's not pretty (and still needs to be cable managed properly), but it works well! Oh and 2 bonus shots of the (almost) finished cabinet (added a cable box) and sump wiring management i did for the probes.
So with everything plumbed, we have filled the tank with water and added the salt in a few days ago! No leaks and everything is reading good! Now we're waiting for a fresh delivery of live rock to the LFS to start mapping out the structure in the tank! Here's the final shots of this bad boy!
Thanks for checking out our build and we'll keep this thread updated with all the progress we make!
️
