DanH’s Reefer 250 tank

[DanH86]

Hi everyone. I’ve had my reefer 250 tank for just over a week now and am slowly getting to grips with setting it up ready for water.

Day 1: visit to lfs to collect everything that was on order. Only half the water fitted so a second run had to be done!

Remainder of day 1, into day 2: cabinet build

Day 2: mount tank onto cabinet and start sump assembly

By the end of the first weekend, this was the status:

Then this weekend the next round of work started. I began to make my own power distribution board

Which was then mounted in the rear of the cabinet and wiring began.

I removed the cup that comes with the Red Sea sump and fitted a second filter sock. I have bought a block of marine pure media which will be sawn to size and placed in the sump instead of using the cup.

I also wired in two 4000 l/h powerheads, which brings me to today. I have some tidying left to do to the wiring and then I think I’m ready for water...

Questions that I have

- are the power sockets too close to the sump? Is humidity an issue in cabinets?
- as above, for the controllers. Are they likely to fail if located in the cabinet?
- I go on holiday in 7 days, for a week. Can I fill the tank and start the cycle before I go or is it best to be here and monitor the cycle every day?

Dan

 

[powers2001]

- are the power sockets too close to the sump? Is humidity an issue in cabinets?

As long as a hose doesn't slip off a pump or a pipe or pipe fitting doesn't break off you should be fine. You have a space below the power sockets that exits the cabinet interior so that helps keep humidity down. This will be okay for know but when time and money permits you should have a separate exterior cabinet for your electronics to be safe. Mixing electricity and saltwater is not good. @pelphrey has one connected to the side of his Reefer 250 caninet. (See my build thread link in my signature line for example of separate cabinet.)

- as above, for the controllers. Are they likely to fail if located in the cabinet?

The controllers are a little more safe than outlets as they are usually splash proof but should be located else where eventually.

- I go on holiday in 7 days, for a week. Can I fill the tank and start the cycle before I go or is it best to be here and monitor the cycle every day?

I would go ahead and start the cycle but while you are gone shut down the return pump to be safe. If something should crack, break, or slip off your could have a lot of water on the floor. The first few days after a plumbing job is critical when checking for problems.

@DanH86 congratulations on the new purchase and build thread !!!

 

[DanH86]

Been a while since the last update due to going away on holiday but got back today and cracked on with the tank.

Put the sand in place. Was supposed to be pre-rinsed but I rinsed it anyway as it was so dusty.

Then started filling with lfs supplied saltwater. My refractometer isn’t calibrated yet but says they have given me 1.035 water. My limited knowledge says this is way too high so I’ll bring that down during the cycling process.

Tank filled and looking cloudy despite the sand rinse:

And a sump/cabinet shot:

Took ages to get the Red Sea valve dialled in. The manual says to back it off fully for the first run but it was making some horrible noises so after checking online the advice seemed to be fully close it and then work from there. This yielded a much better result - tank is now very quiet, with 6 inches of water in the return section and the waterline is 1/2inch below emergency pipe which seems correct from what I’ve read.
Skimmer going crazy at the moment, will use the cycle period to break that in.
Heater seems to be struggling to bring the water up to temp, it clicks off every few minutes even though the temp is still lower than set, so I’ll look into getting a second one.

Cycle started with seed bacteria and dr Tim’s ammonia.

Tomorrow’s job - get my 4 stage RODI system plumbed so I can get the ato working.

 

[DanH86]

Small update: 2 weeks into cycling. Been testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily. Dosed ammonia to 2ppm on day 1 and have seen it slowly dropping over 2 weeks, today I have 0.2 ammonia, 1 nitrite and 50 nitrate. I reckon I’ll be a couple more weeks cycling.

The tank cloudiness cleared on day 2 and it’s been crystal clear since. I’ve suffered more than could be expected with equipment failures - a powerhead with a rattling motor, overheating LED power supplies and the standard ATO wouldn’t work. Worked through all of the issues and fitted a Tunze osmolator ato kit which pumps direct to the return chamber from a 25l container - will this cause any stability issues? I’ve seen most tunze systems feed into the standard ato container which then drips into the return chamber but it was my drip mechanism that broke...

 

[powers2001]

@DanH86 no need for the stock ATO glass container. Have Tunze hose empty directly into chamber where drains empty.

 

[DanH86]

Thanks!

 

[RandyC]

Hi everyone. I’ve had my reefer 250 tank for just over a week now and am slowly getting to grips with setting it up ready for water.

Day 1: visit to lfs to collect everything that was on order. Only half the water fitted so a second run had to be done!

Remainder of day 1, into day 2: cabinet build

Day 2: mount tank onto cabinet and start sump assembly

By the end of the first weekend, this was the status:

Then this weekend the next round of work started. I began to make my own power distribution board

Which was then mounted in the rear of the cabinet and wiring began.

I removed the cup that comes with the Red Sea sump and fitted a second filter sock. I have bought a block of marine pure media which will be sawn to size and placed in the sump instead of using the cup.

I also wired in two 4000 l/h powerheads, which brings me to today. I have some tidying left to do to the wiring and then I think I’m ready for water...

Questions that I have

- are the power sockets too close to the sump? Is humidity an issue in cabinets?
- as above, for the controllers. Are they likely to fail if located in the cabinet?
- I go on holiday in 7 days, for a week. Can I fill the tank and start the cycle before I go or is it best to be here and monitor the cycle every day?

Dan

I would be concerned with those sockets that close to the skimmer cup. If you ever have a situation where the skimmer cup overflows because the skimmer bubbles go crazy (e.g. water level goes too high, some tank additives can do this, some types of epoxy for gluing rocks/coral does this), the salt spray from the overflow bubbles popping could do some damage to those sockets.

 

[DanH86]

Thanks for the advice. I’m considering putting some kind of partition to separate the sections - it’s on my to-do list.

 

[DanH86]

Day 21 of cycling today. Ammonia has been 0 for 7 days, nitrite has been off the top of the Red Sea test chart, hoping it starts to drop soon!

Not many changes to the tank hardware, just playing the waiting game. Made the Red Sea jump net, but that’s it.

Starting to see what I think is the first sign of diatoms - brown spots are appearing on the sand under the rock formations that definitely weren’t there a week ago...hard to see in the pic.

 

[DanH86]

Day 41 today and the tank has its first residents! 2 juvenile clowns and 3 hermit crabs.

Hard to get a decent picture, but they’re hanging out in the corner and seem happy enough. Being my first saltwater tank I didn’t want to splash out on expensive livestock until I know it won’t die on me.

Also bought the Eket cabinet from ikea that I saw a couple of others on here have as it matches the reefer cabinet nicely. Currently using it to store all the bits and bobs I have - test kits etc. But eventually this will house the power sockets and the apex system (when I have one, just lost out on eBay last week to a bargain apex classic but still keeping an eye out).

 

[powers2001]

@DanH86 be sure there is food for the hermits. That algae isn't enough for them. A few pieces of granular food should be enough and not add to your bio-load. All the surfaces in contact with water in your system especially the porous matrix of your rock need to be to be colonized by bacteria so you system will catch up with your bioload.