Aurora's Red Sea XXXL 900 build!

aurora.k

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So, we moved this past summer to a much larger house and decided to upgrade my tank after the move and - in an effort I think to not have to upgrade again - my husband agreed to the biggest Red Sea tank on the market.

The tank was delivered last night - and we've been putting it together, doing final touches on the room, etc. The tank is ridiculous - I'm upgrading from my Red Sea 250 and BOY is the 900 bigger! (Pardon my ridiculous outfit - was painting/working and it was cold....)

image_50437377.JPG

image_50412801.JPG


We have been getting the room ready for the tank - my husband remodeled a room in our new house to be our "fun / fish room", which will have an area for my crafts and the main TV/den area.

The family/fish room
Before:
NS20086959_23_0.jpg



After:
We will be putting the sump and refugium and all equipment in a large closet behind the wall - this photo before cut outs:
image_50364673.JPG


Cut outs:
image_50396417.JPG


Tank stand / cut outs:

image_50362625.JPG

The fully plumped equipment room (this room isn't done at all - just to give an idea of the space - my current 250 is in here for the time being) - the wall on the left is behind the new tank and all Neptune Apex-related equipment will be mounted on the wall above the cut outs (not shown), the 250 will come out and water tanks will go back out of the way, etc.

image_50412289.JPG





Equipment:
  • Lights: Three Red Sea Reef LED 160s (I decided to try these to get away from T5s - prior set up was 360s and T5s - question: anyone have concerns this won't be enough light? I could add some extra 160s or other lights, if needed, though I do like the look of the 160s)
  • Flow: Two Red Sea Reef Beat and TBD as needed, likely MP40s placed as needed
  • Sand/Live Rock
    • 145lbs +
      • Live rock from my current tank, ~60lbs +
      • Caribsea Life Rock: Xlarge arch (may get another arch), shapes, and additional chunks ~85lbs
      • bioballs of a couple varieties
    • 80 lbs pink caribsea sand (all new)
  • Sump:
    • Octo Regal 200 Internal Skimmer
    • Two Octo VarioS8 Return Pumps
    • Two Aquatop 500W titanium heaters
    • To run as needed, BRS carbon, reactor
  • Technology:
    • Neptune Apex complete set up, with among other bells and whistles:
      • Trident &
      • DOS for KH/Calc,
      • DOS for auto water change, and
      • PMUP ATO
  • Equipment room Misc.
    • BRS 5 stage water saver RO/DI 150 GPD
    • 55 Gal RODI water reservoir
    • 45 Gal saltwater reservoir
    • 45 Gal reservoir TBD
    • QT tank
image_50364673.JPG
 
Last edited:

Zach B

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Keep us posted. Awesome tank!
 

Phil D.

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So, we moved this past summer to a much larger house and decided to upgrade my tank after the move and - in an effort I think to not have to upgrade again - my husband agreed to the biggest Red Sea tank on the market.

The tank was delivered last night - and we've been putting it together, doing final touches on the room, etc. The tank is ridiculous - I'm upgrading from my Red Sea 250 and BOY is the 900 bigger! (Pardon my ridiculous outfit - was painting/working and it was cold....)

image_50437377.JPG

image_50412801.JPG


We have been getting the room ready for the tank - my husband remodeled a room in our new house to be our "fun / fish room", which will have an area for my crafts and the main TV/den area.

The family/fish room
Before:
NS20086959_23_0.jpg



After:
We will be putting the sump and refugium and all equipment in a large closet behind the wall - this photo before cut outs:
image_50364673.JPG


Cut outs:
image_50396417.JPG


Tank stand / cut outs:

image_50362625.JPG

The fully plumped equipment room (this room isn't done at all - just to give an idea of the space - my current 250 is in here for the time being) - the wall on the left is behind the new tank and all Neptune Apex-related equipment will be mounted on the wall above the cut outs (not shown), the 250 will come out and water tanks will go back out of the way, etc.

image_50412289.JPG





Equipment:
  • Lights: Three Red Sea Reef LED 160s (I decided to try these to get away from T5s - prior set up was 360s and T5s - question: anyone have concerns this won't be enough light? I could add some extra 160s or other lights, if needed, though I do like the look of the 160s)
  • Flow: Two Red Sea Reef Beat and TBD as needed, likely MP40s placed as needed
  • Sand/Live Rock
    • 145lbs +
      • Live rock from my current tank, ~60lbs +
      • Caribsea Life Rock: Xlarge arch (may get another arch), shapes, and additional chunks ~85lbs
      • bioballs of a couple varieties
    • 80 lbs pink caribsea sand (all new)
  • Sump:
    • Octo Regal 200 Internal Skimmer
    • Two Octo VarioS8 Return Pumps
    • Two Aquatop 500W titanium heaters
    • To run as needed, BRS carbon, reactor
  • Technology:
    • Neptune Apex complete set up, with among other bells and whistles:
      • Trident &
      • DOS for KH/Calc,
      • DOS for auto water change, and
      • PMUP ATO
  • Equipment room Misc.
    • BRS 5 stage water saver RO/DI 150 GPD
    • 55 Gal RODI water reservoir
    • 45 Gal saltwater reservoir
    • 45 Gal reservoir TBD
    • QT tank
image_50364673.JPG
If you look at Red Sea's light chart, they have the various tanks and how many LED 50s, 90s and 160s you would need. i think 3 160s will be plenty.
 

Daniel@R2R

Living the Reef Life
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This is gonna be awesome!! Great job with the build. Can't wait to see it fill up!
 
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aurora.k

aurora.k

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Dry version of the aquascape - husband made a scaffold for two 24” life rock arches we connected so a bit hard to see, but I am super happy with it. Will let all the glue gas off. We used this method from @Tidal Gardens (sand and thin super glue) which has been working amazingly well!

01F9A7E9-5E96-4E61-A896-A39661E8FDD3.jpeg
6441521D-3A73-4B33-BBE8-96D8C07FCA47.jpeg
AD428837-AA30-4D17-9959-B8B5F08A60DE.jpeg
 
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aurora.k

aurora.k

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So, I moved everything to the new tank and so far everything looks super happy (though I haven't found the final home for the coral or live rock in the new tank.)

IMG_5946.jpeg


After reading a bunch of threads about setting up new tanks, including this very helpful one, I decided not to do a full cycle in my new tank, and instead move over all my water and live rock / bioballs to the new tank at once - for good measure I took three additional steps (1) a couple months ago I added extra bioballs and Dr. Tims, (2) I fed a lot and banked up 90 gallons of "nutrient rich" water that matched my tank water in chemistry (salinity, alk, calcium, and mag) - see below for method, and (3) I added 16 oz of Dr. Tim's to the new tank. Now I'm feeding heavily and I started my dosing at the same amounts I was dosing in my 250.

The way I did No. 2 was I filled to 45 gallon food-grade trash cans with salt water matching my chemistry, and then I did "auto water changes" into DT and then back into the 45 gallon can (in other words, instead of draining the "waste" water I added back into the 45 gal container - for each container, I kept the water aerated and added a heater/powerhead). This allowed me to build up nutrients AND artificially increase the water capacity of my Red Sea 250 by 90 gallons - so I only needed to add ~100 gallons of brand new salt water, and added ~150 gallons of "existing" salt water.

So far, my chemistry in the new tank is same as the old tank (so I've maintained steady salinity, alkalinity, calcium, and mag) though nutrients dropped, but not to 0. I've done 4 ammonia tests over the past 48 hours and all read 0, and one nitrite test that was 0 for good measure. So, so far, so good - and corals look very happy Only thing that is off is the ph, which is not settled back into a nice curve, though it is all within normal (between ~8 and 8.5, but just zig zagging around a bit). I waited 48+ hours to tell everyone, so if I screwed anything up I could keep my shame secret.

Some photos:

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IMG_5920.jpeg
IMG_5941.jpeg
IMG_5923.jpeg
 

A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

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