D-D Reef Pro 1200

[clawhammer]

Hi All,
Having experienced a life changing (nearly ending) event last year I'm of the opinion that life is too short and I deserve a nice new aquarium. I've been planning for a few months and getting back into reef keeping is helping me recover. I wasn't sure how Mrs CH would react and had planned to order bits over a period of months with the end delivery being the tank and cabinet. My mantra has always been 'it's best to ask for forgiveness than for permission' but I needed her input on colour for cabinet. We made a decision in under a minute with absolutely zero push back about the possibility of a new and larger aquarium so I took my chance and explained that I would be ordering everything the following day. She responded with 'that's fine'. No questions about costs or anything. Now, clearly this is a trap of some sorts but she has given the green light so I'm about to pull the trigger.

Here's the shopping list: -

Aquarium - D-D Reef Pro 1200 with satin black cabinet
Control - GHL Profilux4 MegaSet, KH D, ION D, Doser 2.2 SA x 3, Auto Feeder
Skimmer - Deltec 600i
Heaters - D-D 350w Titanium x 2
Return pump - Ecotech Vectra M2
UV Steriliser - Deltec 20w
Filtration - ClariSea SK3000
Lighting - Ecotech Radion XR15 G6 Blue x 2
Wave maker - MP40 x 2

I had already ordered some GHL items and they arrived a couple of weeks ago. I also have a 4 probe holder, float sensor for the skimmer cup and optical sensor for use as ATO. Just waiting on ION D set that will hopefully arrive end of September or early October.

For the scape I'm having two pieces made. I've made the mock up below to give an idea of what I'm looking for. I have about 2 weeks to finalise the design of this so any help or suggestions will be greatly received. Looking at the image below, I'm thinking the cantilever should be lower than the other piece perhaps?

Originally I was going to put a refugium in the sump and use Triton method. However, I'm thinking of using Triton other and dosing carbon to control nutrients and take advantage of the GHL testing and automation rather than trying to adjust fuge lighting, etc. to balance nutrients. Again, would appreciate thoughts on this.

The next step in the build process is the end of this week/beginning of next when the electrician puts a second double socket onto the wall to take 4 x 6 gang extensions to of which are GHL PowerBars. I'm not electrically minded at all but hoping this will be okay.

That's it for now but will update with any progress but more likely with more questions on bits I'm planning to order.

TIA, CH

 

[Snoopy 67]

Take a look @ Reef-fi Uno lights.
They get great reviews.
My original Vectra pump had problems & turned me off on them.
I have a dc with a 5 year warranty I like if you want another choice .LMK

 

[clawhammer]

Take a look @ Reef-fi Uno lights.
They get great reviews.
My original Vectra pump had problems & turned me off on them.
I have a dc with a 5 year warranty I like if you want another choice .LMK

Hi and thanks for your post.

I’m pretty much set on the brands of equipment as it can all be controlled through two apps, GHL Connect and Mobius.

I’m deciding between XR15 and XR30. The tank is shallow and LFS have recommended 2 x 15’s. I suppose I can always add more later if needed. I then need to decide on Blue or Pro. Would love to hear from anyone with first hand experience of these lights.

I’ve had an MP10 for 7 years and it’s not skipped a beat. Hopefully your experience with the Vectra is a rare occurrence and mine runs smoothly for many years

 

[clawhammer]

Have been doing lots of research and made some decisions.

First off, I’m going with a refugium. I already have an Ai Prime that will be used for lighting and will get some miracle mud. Just need something to partition and prevent bits of chaeto getting around the sump and into the return pump.

Also decided to buy a custom acrylic jump guard. I’m going to have it split into 2 separate sections if not 3 rather than 1 huge piece. It will need to have a removable section for when I’m using the automatic feeder. It will also have cut outs for the lights so I decided to buy a 3rd light now rather than down the road. This will save me having to buy another jump guard further down the line to accommodate a third light.

Sticking with lights, going with the blue rather than pro version. I don’t like very bright lights and always leaned towards blue spectrum in my current tank. Plus, the blue version has blue bits on the light which matches the blue theme of the sump. It’s the little things

I like to light up my sump as it makes maintenance a lot easier when I can see properly. It can also look pretty cool. For this tank I’m going with a Philips Hue Strip light and motion sensor. My home is pretty much all hue lighting so it fits into that ecosystem and I can program it to do a few different cool and helpful things like red at night, blue in the day and change to bright white when carrying out maintenance. Sensor will make it come on when the doors open.

Finally, for substrate I’m going with Caribsea Arag-alive Fiji pink.

 

[stdonio]

Hi sorry to jump on this thread. I’m looking at getting the reef pro 1500s. I’m a novice when it comes to sumps, but was wondering if there’s room in the sump for all of the following:

- Roller mat (think I just remove filter socks)
- skimmer
- refugium

From the diagrams i have seen I don’t think there’s room for all three?

Thanks in advance

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Any updates on your tank?

 

[clawhammer]

Hi sorry to jump on this thread. I’m looking at getting the reef pro 1500s. I’m a novice when it comes to sumps, but was wondering if there’s room in the sump for all of the following:

- Roller mat (think I just remove filter socks)
- skimmer
- refugium

From the diagrams i have seen I don’t think there’s room for all three?

Thanks in advance

Apologies for not responding. I gave up on my tank thread as it felt like ‘speaking to myself’ due to no response but, admittedly, I was in a bad place at the time

To answer your question, in case others read this thread, yes, 100% those items will all easily fit in the RP1500 sump as they fit easily in RP1200 sump.

 

[clawhammer]

Any updates on your tank?

As said in previous post, I didn’t bother to update the build thread. I will post a quick update though in case any of the information is useful or of interest to other forum members.

 

[clawhammer]

Okay, a quick update in case it’s of any use or interest.

It took from Sept’24 to April’25 to gather all the equipment I wanted for this setup. During this time I changed my mind on a couple of items and returned them and replaced with something else. I made the custom plumbing during this time too.

The tank was first wet April using tap water for a leak test and then filled and started off with Colony and a pair of Picasso Clownfish.

As of today, the tank is about a week out of the ugly stage which started early June and last a month. I’m getting ready to add some more corals but fish stock is as follows:

2 x Clownfish
10 x Green Chromis
2 x Sand sifting Gobies
1 x Fire Shrimp

I have the following CUC:
2 x Conch
1 x Blue legged hemrit
5 x Nassarius
4 x Astrea

I’ll edit later with a few images.

 

[twentyleagues]

Its unfortunate that build threads typically fall by the wayside unless you are someone of importance or are in one of the "clicks". I feel the same way sometimes. But in reality it is very useful to update your tank thread for yourself, it makes it easy to see how things are progressing. Looking at pics I have from then to now you can see the growth that you think really isnt there because you look at the tank daily. I take some pretty awe full pics sometimes I can see why people dont want to look at them...lol. Sorry to hear about your NDE I am glad you are still with us. Keep on keeping on and remember this thread is first for you as you update it and look back at it you'll be amazed at the progression. I do have to really get back on the horse myself its been a minute since I last updated my build thread.

 

[clawhammer]

I’ve kept a good tank thread on a different forum mainly because there just wasn’t any interest on here. I don’t know this forum well enough to know the cliques, etc.
Weirdly, I get a better/quicker response to questions on this forum so I thought I should put something back in. Maybe tank threads aren’t of any interest or the forum is saturated with them.
Thanks for looking in and your kind comments. I’ll take a look at your thread now

 

[twentyleagues]

I’ve kept a good tank thread on a different forum mainly because there just wasn’t any interest on here. I don’t know this forum well enough to know the cliques, etc.
Weirdly, I get a better/quicker response to questions on this forum so I thought I should put something back in. Maybe tank threads aren’t of any interest or the forum is saturated with them.
Thanks for looking in and your kind comments. I’ll take a look at your thread now

Thanks for the reminder on how to spell cliques lol. When I typed that out I just could not get it, probably didnt have enough coffee yet. I am pretty active here and its a great forum just the build threads dont get a lot of attention if its just a build thread. I see a lot of people use it for a social meeting place for their r2r friends which is why I said cliques. Couple things that may help is get an orange filter for your camera or take more white light pics as its hard to tell whats going on in the blue light pics or edit the pics mess with the white balance to make it more visible. Also if you go into your "settings" or account I guess is a better way to say it you can get the build thread badge linking your build so its under your name. That way people can click on it and go right there.

I am able to be on here while at work so I try to bring up build threads and leave likes and comments if I am not too busy. I also try and answer questions or participate in the other threads as well. Work comes first though so it sometimes takes me 2 hours to finish a reply lol just depends on the day.

 

[clawhammer]

Lol, sorry, didn’t mean to correct you like some know it all
Been thinking of how I can get better images. I have a light setting for taking images but the fish are startled when I use it. I do have a ‘proper’ camera with macro lens that I used on my old tank and it took amazing images. I’m sure I could get an orange filter for it.
It’s great that you can break up your working day with R2R I work for myself and mainly from home and the tank is right next to me. It’s a happy distraction. I try to limit myself to one task per day otherwise I’d spend the entire day doing things on the tank and no work