Cherub's Red Sea Reefer XXL 625

[Cherub]

I have a good story. So I showed up at work at 6am today, and wouldn't you know it, there was a 1000lb pallet right inside our main entranceway. My red reefer 650 deluxe. I work in a pretty big medical building so think large main room with automatic doors and a directory that everyone stops to locate their particulars dr office. They left it in front of the directory. I would estimate 1000 people will pass within a few feet of it just today. No phone call, no inspecting anything, and I was in the office until 5pm yesterday and nobody came so the delivery service must have come at night bc the main entrance is open until 9pm. When I tracked it, it said delivery Wed, and I was promised a call to set up a delivery date which would have been friday. They just dropped it off Tues night and bolted. After a mini heart attack I get some red duct and tape all around it warning fragile etc. Either myself or someone I work with checks on it every 10-15 min nonstop for 10 hours. Fun! I know I need to get this built tonight because it wont last long out there (several people left old coffee cups on it if you get me). I call most of the friends I know and offer them anything they want if they can drop what they are doing tonight and come help me. We all have young kids, I mean this was begging....Well 3 of the manned up and 4.5 hours and several beers later, voila....I am still pretty ****** I didnt get any notice or chance to make sure anything was damaged or missing, but we assembled the base and lights with no issues so I am hopeful the rest is the same. Tomorrow night is the plumbing and possibly the transfer of my old tank as I am getting rid of an old 150g in my house and putting its inhabitants in this new red reefer. Im just such a planner to have something tossed in my lap like this was interesting to say the least. More to come.

I appreciate the posts but can you stop posting your tank pics on my thread...

 

[Cherub]

Hello people, it's time for a minor update.



I ended up swapping out the Reef Octopus for a Vertex skimmer. I wasn't sure if the octopus was going to be enough and figured I'd change that now before the tank is set up. The Vertex is much better quality, it's massive too in comparison to the Reef Octopus.

My tank came in last week finally, however, I was on vacation and haven't had it delivered yet. The shop I used to buy through will be bringing it over on Monday, eclipse day. Hopefully it's not an omen lol. He and his crew already assembled it. He sent me a couple of pics which I will post below. I can't believe it's time already! I've been wanting a new build for a long time. This is a pinch me moment for me lol.

Guess I need to start working on my rock work! I've been slacking on it but it's time lol. More updates coming...

 

[Cherub]

Got my tank yesterday! I threw the Hydras in the tank and the Kessil in the sump to get an idea of the lighting. The skimmer fit like a charm, yay I was worried since it has such a large footprint and I wanted to be able to have a larger refugium. The sumps that come with the XXL Reefers have refugiums and they are adjustable to fit larger skimmers but of course if you get a large skimmer the fuge will suffer for it.

The light spread looks like it will be pretty nice using a Hydra 52 HD in the middle and 2 Hydra 26 HD's on the ends. The tank came with 3 26's and I will use the third one on a frag tank I set up in the basement. Maybe I will post pics of that once it's all set up.

Here are a couple of pics for now. I will throw the rock in later or tomorrow and see how it looks. I am waiting on a controller. I have a RKL to hold me over at least. I was initially going with the GHL but I returned it as I want to try the new eKoral. They start selling it this month at MACNA then the webstore should have it according to their customer service.

 

[Cherub]

Small update. I got some of my rock work in and it takes up a ton of space. I need to figure out how to squeeze some more in lol. Got water in the tank and it's finally cycling. Mounted the lights using the AI HMS 2 arm solution. I bought a hanging kit but decided I didn't like the idea of my lamps hanging over the water so I went with the 2 arm solution. Tell me what you think, should I redo the rock work, add more or just throw more in the sump?

I am not keeping those small rubble pieces in it, I was using those to aquascape and hold things together.

 

[Katieandjon]

Hi Denvercherub, it's looking great!

Following your tank thread, our 625xxl arrives on 22nd September, so we're in the planning stages too. Very excited!

Thank you for the pics of the pallet and info on how heavy it is, really useful for us planning it!

 

[Cherub]

Hi Denvercherub, it's looking great!

Following your tank thread, our 625xxl arrives on 22nd September, so we're in the planning stages too. Very excited!

Thank you for the pics of the pallet and info on how heavy it is, really useful for us planning it!

great! I'm glad I can help. it's a very nice tank, you won't be disappointed

 

[revhtree]

Looking good!

 

[Cherub]

Looking good!

thanks! I'm having a ton of fun with it

 

[Cherub]

I've added another 40 pounds of rock and adjusted the positioning of the lamps and lowered them. Also finally got around to adding my second mp40. Tank has 80 pounds of sand and I tossed in some fiji mud into the sump. Everything is ready, just the waiting part now blah

 

[Katieandjon]

Out of interest are you pleased you went for one hydra 52 and 2x26's rather than 3x26's? Or is it too early to tell?

I think we're going for the radions but considering 3 x XR15s or 2 x XR15s and an XR30.

 

[Cherub]

I think it looks great and the light spread is perfet... to the eye. I won't know if it's good enough until i have coral but my last 125 had 3 52's, the non HD, and it was perfect. This tank is not as long as the previous one. I did get the 3 Hydra's with this one as I ordered the deluxe but I fear shadowing and I can say that right now I have n0 shadows with this set up and am pretty sure I would have had them if I went with three 26's, especially if I had them sideways like they recommend. One thing I will recommend is getting the locline splitter for the return. It was cheap on BRS and the adapter you need is 7.50 or so from this link. https://vividcreativeaquatics.com/s...-line-adapter-25mm-slip-fit-to-12in-loc-line/ and this will keep your return from leaving a bald spot in the sand bed

This is the tank with the lamps at 40% to give you an idea. The camera kinda compensated for the brightness in the ISO but it's very bright.

 

[Katieandjon]

Thank you - that's really helpful.

Tank is looking awesome!!!! Great aquascape!!

 

[Cherub]

Thank you - that's really helpful.

Tank is looking awesome!!!! Great aquascape!!

Thanks, let me know if you have any other questions. I don't mind at all.

 

[Cherub]

Out of interest are you pleased you went for one hydra 52 and 2x26's rather than 3x26's? Or is it too early to tell?

I think we're going for the radions but considering 3 x XR15s or 2 x XR15s and an XR30.

after I typed my reply to you on this comment I started wondering if I would like the lights sideways instead. I mean technically they would cover more front to back of course. I decided to try 4 26's sideways. I will let you know once I get everything. Labor day has caused a delay so looking at Wednesday of next week grrr.

 

[Katieandjon]

Cool, yes let us know. The radions we're going for are square so no different sideways. Really considering whether to get a xr30 for the middle one! Will think it over and let you know what we decide too!

 

[Cherub]

Cool, yes let us know. The radions we're going for are square so no different sideways. Really considering whether to get a xr30 for the middle one! Will think it over and let you know what we decide too!

Did you ever decide? I don't know if you would like the single puck from the radions on this large of a tank the more I think about it. Maybe 3 30's? The puck in the center of the tank wouldn't give great coverage front to back and you would have lots of shadows. Have you looked at anyone elses XR15's to see? My friend uses them and his SPS are dead on the shadow side which is the front of the tank where everyone sees and he's looking at changing lights or adding T5's.

I ended up removing the Hydra 52 and have 4 26's. I just did it tonight and all I have are the moonlights at this point for pics but the coverage is pretty nice. And since they're sideways with two pucks it will cover front to back pretty evenly.

 

[Cherub]

Hello all

I just wanted to submit a quick update for the tank. I am going through the diatom phase and it seems to be dying down already. I used live sand and Fritzyme bacteria so it shouldn’t have lasted terribly long anyway. I’ve added 2 bangaii cardinals for cycling instead of using a dead shrimp like I had originally planned 2 weeks ago. The fish survived a week happily so I added a Midas Blenny as well last weekend as well as some hermits. Everything has been happy all week. The tank is looking nice despite the brown lol.

I ordered 5280 pod pack combo with the phytoplankton from Algae Barn as well as some “clean Chaeto” and added those Tuesday. Wednesday I got the mounts from BRS for my 2 additional Hydra 26’s HD. I decided to go with 4 Hydra 26 instead of the 2 26 and a 52 in the middle so that I could turn them sideways and have better front to back coverage. It looks nice that way. I also redid the cables in the HMS rail as it looked like crap before.

All in all the tank is happy with the progress and wanted to submit an updated photo.

Thanks all!

 

[Jimbo662]

Great aquascape.

 

[Katieandjon]

Did you ever decide? I don't know if you would like the single puck from the radions on this large of a tank the more I think about it. Maybe 3 30's? The puck in the center of the tank wouldn't give great coverage front to back and you would have lots of shadows. Have you looked at anyone elses XR15's to see? My friend uses them and his SPS are dead on the shadow side which is the front of the tank where everyone sees and he's looking at changing lights or adding T5's.

I ended up removing the Hydra 52 and have 4 26's. I just did it tonight and all I have are the moonlights at this point for pics but the coverage is pretty nice. And since they're sideways with two pucks it will cover front to back pretty evenly.

At the moment we have bought 3 x 15's so guess we won't know until we get them on the tank. You raise some good points though so we'll definitely keep an eye on them to see whether they are good enough.

Yours is looking great. [emoji106]

 

[Cherub]

At the moment we have bought 3 x 15's so guess we won't know until we get them on the tank. You raise some good points though so we'll definitely keep an eye on them to see whether they are good enough.

Yours is looking great. [emoji106]

thanks and good luck with your lighting. When is you tank coming?