Centerline's RedSea Reefer 525 XL +25 +25 Build

[Snyder1456]

Awesome I just went to the link and ordered my own starboard. Can't wait to install it and get some water in this tank finally!

 

[Snyder1456]

Yup, the starboard really does work. I've done this on 4 different tanks now and aside from my first one where I didn't silicone the edges and had a bunch of detritus build up under it the rest have worked out just fine. If you decide to do this consider beveling the edges of the plastic to ensure you don't end up with a wonky edge. I use painter tape to ensure that I get a nice clean edge. I also use one of these caulk cleanup tools.

For 3 bucks it makes it a lot easier as you do have to run a pretty good bead to ensure you don't have any air bubbles. One other this that helps with cleanup that I don't do but should is to run some tape on the glass as well. I never have a helper and you will need someone to make sure the tape is straight and of course you wont be able to see that as you will be hanging over the tank applying the tape.

With respect to progress on the 525 - I have made some progress, rockwork is pretty much done - epoxyed and glassed together and has been curing in the sun for a couple of months now. I added another 20 amp 4 way to the wall the tanks on, hung the main light, have everything shimmed and dead level and I'm down to plumbing and installing a 400 cfm exhaust fan in the tank room to help with excessive C02 issues I have in the house (stucco with plasticized elastomeric paint - added a fresh coat last year and the C02 when right up - sealed the house right up). I have a few plumbing bits I need and will be ordering those this week as well as a little work in hiding the cables from the light. Here is a messy yet accurate representation of the state of affairs. Its an embarrassment to look at but I'm one of those people who are so busy with work that my personal projects and time get subsumed by it. None the less I am making more progress and as this is the slowest time of the year for us so I may be able to wrap up before long.

One other question. When you silicone the edges, aren't you putting new silicone on top of the old silicone on the glass? Isn't that not supposed to bond or seal correctly?

 

[Centerline]

One other question. When you silicone the edges, aren't you putting new silicone on top of the old silicone on the glass? Isn't that not supposed to bond or seal correctly?

The silicone to glass connection is what keeps the plastic from floating out of the tank. Silicone doesn't really stick very well to the starboard - it doesn't peel right up or anything but its nowhere near as tight as the bond to glass is. By beveling the top of the starboard you have a little more surface area for the silicone to connect to and your building a little silicone dam to keep the plastic down and detritus out at the same time. Hope that makes more sense to you reading it than it does to me writing it

 

[Snyder1456]

yes it does, I was just worried about silicone around the edges and that's silicone being on top of the already silicone corners of the glass and it not creating a good seal.

 

[Centerline]

yes it does, I was just worried about silicone around the edges and that's silicone being on top of the already silicone corners of the glass and it not creating a good seal.

So here is a picture of a Reefer 450 at my office that has starboard in the bottom of it. The tank has had water in it for about two years now and as you can see by the picture there is no problem with the silicone staying in place except where I didn't take my time to ensure there were no air bubbles. The tank itself looks horrid- it got clobbered by hurricane Irma last September and as we started a new building for our business I figured it would be best just wait until the move to reboot it.

 

[Fin]

Don't feel too bad. I started my build thread in January 2016 (the tank arrived 8 months later) and still no water. Like you, I had / have lots of diversions that keep sliding finishing an aquarium down the old priority list. Like you, I was very hesitant to even tear down my old tank, which needed to be done before starting my build. I had a couple of 10 year old fish in that tank and didn't want to lose them in the process, which I knew was going to take a while. I finally quit posting in my build thread. Figure people are pretty bored with it never going anywhere.

Looking forward to seeing yours continue to come together. Following along...

 

[Mark Gray]

Following can't wait to see it put together

 

[Centerline]

Making a little progress. I finally got my main light setup, a Giesemann Spectra with 2 Radiums a couple of ATI Blue plus, a couple of actinic bulbs and 2 ReefBrite XHO Led strips. Still need to plum the wall and hide those cords.

Floating the light took a couple of hours as I had to open the wall and add blocking between the studs so that I could center the light on the wall.

Seriously heavy duty brackets... I built these out of 3/8ths x 2.5" cold rolled with a wedge gusset to keep the profile as low as possible.

 

[C-Reefer]

Following along! I think even though this is taking awhile once you get water in... It will look pretty sick

 

[Centerline]

Following along! I think even though this is taking awhile once you get water in... It will look pretty sick

Lets hope LOL. Sitting in my office right now with all the lights off except a single ReefBrite. In a month Ill be doing the same thing grumbling about the noise from the skimmer or something

 

[Centerline]

This weekend I pulled pretty much everything appart to add an exhaust fan above the tank. High CO2 (and low pH) is a cronic issue in my house and this should straighten that out in the fish room along with room temp and humidity. I have a Honeywell controller someplace at work that monitors CO2, temp and humidity. It has built in relays that I believe I can hook up to my Apex via a breakout box.

So the fan is a very quiet 400 cfm and once plugged in I was pretty surprised at how much air it draws. Im pulling the power and doing the duct work now. I'll post more of that shortly.

 

[Centerline]

Back to the exhaust fan. To get power to the fan I fished a 14 gauge cable down through the wall and terminated that in a covered electrical box, from there to a recessed male plug. The reason for the covered box is that I didn't want to have the cable from the fan and the terminator (recessed male plug) hooked together with twist on connectors just dangling in the wall. The recessed male connector is the same type you find for hiding cables from a flat screen TV. Very simple to install. Initially Ill use my Apex to set the on/off time for the fan and when I figure out how to use the Honeywell controller Ill hook that up. Below are a couple of pictures to explain things a bit more. One thing worth considering with respect to mounting the fan - make sure you tape the edges where the fan and ceiling meet up. If not you will loose a lot of the fans potential to pulling air out of the attic rather than the room.

Notice the gap - lots of attic air rather than room air will be vented unless this is taped up.

Taped up

Electrical box

Recessed male plug

All it need is a short extension cord to make it to the apex.

Next up? Longer wires on my MH fixture - need to hide them as well.

 

[Centerline]

So I wanted to do a quick update on the fan. Its ran nonstop for several days now and according to my home CO2 meter (Awair) has cut the in-home C02 levels by 60-70%. Below are the PH results from a small tank I have in the living room.

Pretty remarkable results for a $170 dollar fan!

In February I installed a CO2 scrubber on the tank that helped a LOT but this is much more stable.

 

[Centerline]

Ok - so its time to pull all of this together and Ill be doing my best to do so this weekend

1. Pull Spectra apart and lengthen cords
2. Change D70 screws out
3. Drill holes in wall for cable pass through
4. Mount Spectra and pull light cords
5. Mount XHOs and pull cords
6. Clean wall and floor
7. Drill wall ports for water, drain, air, chiller
8. Bulkhead new holes
9. Drill Reefer Stand for incoming / outgoing water and air
10. Epoxy holes and add grommets
11. Silicone all internal seams on reefer stand
12. Drill hole in reefer for pump to feed 25 gl tanks (one manifold / need 1.25" to 1" T)
13. Drill hole for return from 25 gallon tanks (one manifold / need 1" to 1.25" T or adapter)
14. Move stand back in place. Level & shim stand
15. Vacuum and clean tank
16. Cut vent 7"x13" openings on 25gl stands
17. Cut vent 7"x13" opening on 525 stand
18. Epoxy edges of vent openings.
19. Silicone all internal seams on 25gl tank stands
20. Build feed manifold for 25gl tanks
21. Build return manifold for 25gl tanks
22. Attach both feed and return manifolds for 25gl tanks
23. Place level and shim 25gl tank stands
24. Attach 25gl tank stands to 525 stand
25. Check that everything is level and plum
26. Remove tank pads from top of 25gl stands
27. Attach appropriately sized tank mats to top of 25gl tank stands.
28. Attach factory plumbing to 525
29. Attach barbed hose fitting to return pump
30. Fill and drain 525 5-6 times
31. Fill 525 and check for leaks over 24 hours.

 

[ksfulk]

Thats... ambitious for a weekend I wish you good luck and get some water in there!!!!

 

[Centerline]

At Home Depot now

Thats... ambitious for a weekend I wish you good luck and get some water in there!!!!

 

[Centerline]

Thats... ambitious for a weekend I wish you good luck and get some water in there!!!!

SO no water this weekend but I did get a bunch of stuff done. Finished the manifolds, fixed the issues with the Spectra, all the wires are nicely hidden and figured out you cant just run to HomeDepot and pickup descent gate or ball valves that fit 1 and 1.25" pipe. At least at my HomeDepot. I got a nice list of plumbing parts together that I need to order in the morning. All in all 10 out of 31 items. Got about 5 hours of work done on a flats boat I have as well so all in all a productive weekend.

Here is how the lights look with the cords properly hung.

Just realized I still need to replace the end caps after changing out the cables - one more thing for this list

 

[ksfulk]

SO no water this weekend but I did get a bunch of stuff done. Finished the manifolds, fixed the issues with the Spectra, all the wires are nicely hidden and figured out you cant just run to HomeDepot and pickup descent gate or ball valves that fit 1 and 1.25" pipe. At least at my HomeDepot. I got a nice list of plumbing parts together that I need to order in the morning. All in all 10 out of 31 items. Got about 5 hours of work done on a flats boat I have as well so all in all a productive weekend.

Here is how the lights look with the cords properly hung.

Just realized I still need to replace the end caps after changing out the cables - one more thing for this list

dang... I guessed 7 of 31

 

[Centerline]

dang... I guessed 7 of 31

LOL - my wife guessed 7 as well. On Saturday she pointed out that obsessing about every little thing was going to screw me up (touch up paint on baseboard trim I messed up with a ladder.). Right as usual. I did remount my RODI unit this afternoon though! Went to change prefilter and carbon yesterday and pulled it off the wall! So I got a 48x18 shelf from home depot, screwed it to the studs, drilled a couple of extra holes in each of the RO brackets and screwed them to the studs. Should hold it now Left some room on the left side for a booster pump (getting about 65 PSI currently).

 

[mcarroll]

So I wanted to do a quick update on the fan. Its ran nonstop for several days now and according to my home CO2 meter (Awair) has cut the in-home C02 levels by 60-70%. Below are the PH results from a small tank I have in the living room.

Pretty remarkable results for a $170 dollar fan!

In February I installed a CO2 scrubber on the tank that helped a LOT but this is much more stable.

Since it's clearly pulling a lot of HVAC'd air out of the house, will you be able to notice what the change in HVAC usage is?

I've considered something like this, but my power bill is already well into three digits on a regular basis.....would love to see what difference it actually makes if you can track it.