Broadfield's Red Sea Reefer 450 Build - OCD Inspired... Going Back To a Reef

revhtree

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Hey bud. I came across your tank pictures on Google a while back when I got my 350.
I loved your apex setup and pretty much tried to replicate in my cupboard. Here are the results in white.
I only just now came across your tank build! Absolutely love it!
image.jpeg
Amazing that you inspired me to do mine all the way down in Australia!

Great job! How about sharing your tank in a new thread? :D
 
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Broadfield

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So just a little update on my Ecotech Vectra M1 for those worried that also own one. It was just the power supply! I can only assume it was outputting enough to power up the controller, but not enough to kick the pump on at all. As mentioned before, Ecotech sent me an entire new kit and instructed me to replace all of it. Well, my wiring is so pretty that I didn't want to have to replace the power supply. So I swapped out the pump and controller first... only to have the same INOP issue. At this point, the only thing left was the power supply. As I went to yank it out, I did notice that the green light on it was actually dim compared to what it should be. Regardless, the power supply was the issue.
 
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Broadfield

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When you say power supply, do you mean the outlet in the wall?

The power supply(AC adapter) brick that goes between the controller and the outlet at the wall.

images
 
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Broadfield

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As I'm somewhat new to reefing in the grand scheme of things, I have only ever taken pictures/videos with just my iPhone. Now that the tank is actually starting to look respectable, I figured I would bust out my Canon 50D and try a macro lens. I've actually never even shot anything with a macro lens before lol... had to borrow one from a friend. So here goes a lame attempt... don't judge;). It was actually a lot harder to focus, on what I was trying to focus on, than what I thought it would be. I definitely need some practice.

IMG_4866 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4844 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4770 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4744 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4746 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4899 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4763 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr
 

Scubafrog

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Great pictures!

I wish I had a macro lens for my Canon. What lens did you use? What lighting are these photos taken with?
 

revhtree

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I think you did great!
 
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Broadfield

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Great pictures!

I wish I had a macro lens for my Canon. What lens did you use? What lighting are these photos taken with?

I used a Canon 60 mm f/2.8

I took them under my brand spanking new Giesemann Aurora T5/LED hybrid.
 
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Broadfield

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Man nice picture take some of the new light setup

I need to... it's just that I work about 90 hours/week. So I only have so much time in a day.
 

Sharkz

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Broadfield I read in another thread that you run a Oxydator on your system. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? Never really heard of it. Maybe some pictures? Thanks.. Oh and as always sweet build thread!
 
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Broadfield

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Broadfield I read in another thread that you run a Oxydator on your system. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? Never really heard of it. Maybe some pictures? Thanks.. Oh and as always sweet build thread!

You are correct! I have had zero algae in my tank, but have been battling cyanobacteria for months now. Didn't matter what I did, I couldn't get it to go away. You'll always here the blanket statement... "you need more flow and less phosphates." Well, that may work for some, but it seems like the majority of people with cyano issues don't have any luck with employing these basic methods. I have cranked my flow up to where my corals are ticked, but cyano just keeps on truck'n for weeks. I fed my fish very little, along with the increased flow, and the cyano still persisted after weeks of this. I would manually remove it before I took pics or shot videos, but it would be back within days. So at my wits end, I decided to start dosing hydrogen peroxide. I started dosing 1mL per 10 gallons, once per day. This had not effect on the cyano. After days of this, I then started dosing 1mL per 10 gallons every 12 hours. Within 24 hours I noticed a decline in the cyano. Within days I had zero cyano. The water is also CRYSTAL clear. I thought it was clear before... I was "clearly" wrong lol. So then I heard about an Oxydator which is basically a hydrogen peroxide doser. It's almost too good to be true. It just sits in my sump and uses a small little catalyst to convert and dispense the peroxide into pure oxygen into the water. You can read more here:

https://saltwater-conversion.com/products/sochting-oxydator

And then our very own @twilliard on R2R is doing a peroxide dosing study which I have posted in also... it can be found here:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/back-at-it-peroxide-vrs-cyanobacteria.241002/
 
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Broadfield

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For the last month or so, I have noticed that my weekly water changes are no longer keeping my calcium and alkalinity stable... rightfully so. I knew that the day would come that I would need to hook up my 2-part doser. I had my BRS dosing pumps and Vertex reservoirs from my old nano, but knew that I wanted to go with the Neptune DOS and DDR for this tank. So I finally added my DOS and DDR a couple of weeks back. For the life of me I can't figure out why I didn't buy these earlier. I never would of imagined that it could be that much better than the standard BRS pumps ran through an Apex. These things are so baller!

I was happy that they both fit nice and snug behind my command center:

IMG_5030 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_5021 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4995 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4994 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Also, a quick morning teaser of the new fixture... more on that to come!

IMG_6216 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr
 

shadow1013

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Why are they so much better than the BRS being controlled by the Apex? The price is a bit higher and it just has two pumps. The container is super expensive compared to others brands. Just curious to hear why you think it's worth the price.

Also what board did you use for the command center? Where did you buy it?

For the last month or so, I have noticed that my weekly water changes are no longer keeping my calcium and alkalinity stable... rightfully so. I knew that the day would come that I would need to hook up my 2-part doser. I had my BRS dosing pumps and Vertex reservoirs from my old nano, but knew that I wanted to go with the Neptune DOS and DDR for this tank. So I finally added my DOS and DDR a couple of weeks back. For the life of me I can't figure out why I didn't buy these earlier. I never would of imagined that it could be that much better than the standard BRS pumps ran through an Apex. These things are so baller!

I was happy that they both fit nice and snug behind my command center:

IMG_5030 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_5021 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4995 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

IMG_4994 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

Also, a quick morning teaser of the new fixture... more on that to come!

IMG_6216 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr
 
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Broadfield

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Why are they so much better than the BRS being controlled by the Apex? The price is a bit higher and it just has two pumps. The container is super expensive compared to others brands. Just curious to hear why you think it's worth the price.

Also what board did you use for the command center? Where did you buy it?

I think it's a lot better because it tracks/graphs how much is dosed, how much is left in each reservoir, it has level sensors in each reservoir to warn you if they get low, the dosing graphs can be compared to anything else on the Apex for easy correlation etc. As far as setup, you simply tell the Apex how much you want to dose each day and within what range of hours... it will then take care of dividing up the doses on its own within the specified timeframe. It just doesn't get any easier and being able to keep track of what is dosed, when it's dosed and how much was dosed is huge.

DOS:DDR by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr

For the command center board, I actually went cheap. I simply used Rubbermaid shelving from Home Depot and cut it to length. I then simply sprayed the cut edge with some black spray paint.
 

eg8r210

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Quick question about your peroxide dosing. Prior to the oxydator, how were you actually dosing the peroxide. I have been dumping mine right near the skimmer and it has seemed to darken up the skim mate a bit. I have heard others will pour right into the display. Just wanted to see what you were doing.
 
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Broadfield

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Quick question about your peroxide dosing. Prior to the oxydator, how were you actually dosing the peroxide. I have been dumping mine right near the skimmer and it has seemed to darken up the skim mate a bit. I have heard others will pour right into the display. Just wanted to see what you were doing.

I was dosing mine into the return chamber of my sump. I figured that way it would disperse into a high flow area.
 

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