David's First Reef- Red Sea Max S500

[David_CO]

Hi Everyone

I'm in the process of setting up my first aquarium ever. Over the last 3 months of extensively researched and in the next week or so my tank should show up. I think the general idea is to try to maintain my biosecurity as much as possible. I will quarantine everything except maybe "pre-quarantined fish" from TSM etc but at minimum they will get a multi week observation period in a QT tank. As far as livestock the only plan right now is to start with a pair of clown then shortly after add a Biota yellow tang. Their are lots of fish and coral I have interest in, but up to now I've focused on learning the fundamentals and best practices.

coral/QT invert tank
It's home to a handful of frags from Reefstock, 4 Nassarius snails, 20 cerith snails and 2 peppermint shrimp. In retrospect I wish I put a sandbed in, the shrimp get blown around by the powerhead when they come out. I might add one when this group moves to the display. I'm feeding some aminos, freeze dried mysis and some hikari omnivore pellets and things seem to be going okay so far.

Build list:
-10 gallon petco tank
-50W Aqueon heater
- Sicce Nano 1000 powerhead
-Aqueon Quiteflow 10 HOB
-Kessil A80 Tuna Blue

Quarantine Tank:
Filled it with water tonight, once its heated I'll get it cycling with Microbacter XLM and ammonia.

Build list:
-20 gallon petco tank with glass lid
-100w Aqueon heater
-Tidal 35 HOB filter
-Sicce 2000 powerhead
- a couple 2 inch PVC elbows for hiding
Meds/treatment
-copper power
-prazipro
-Seachem Metroplex
-Seachem Focus
-API General Cure
-Seachem garlic
-safety stop
I'm looking to source some chloroquine phosphate. I called my vet and she acted like I was crazy


Display Tank:
For the most part, I'm seeing how the base system performs before any substantial modifications. I had the upcoming Reefmat on order but after seeing I have to leave a sump compartment dry to make it work i'm likely going to pass and look at something like the clarisea 5000. I inserted some pics of my in progress aquascape below, any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I have a bunch of rock still and think I need to get some more elevation on the right and work on developing more depth.

I do travel frequently for work so a full controller based system is going to be important. I opened up a friends Apex and I'm not impressed with the hardware at all, not to mention the price for it. I hear the others are more or less equivalent. I'll probably have to get over it and get either an APEX or GHL, but as an engineer who provides mission critical hardware for a living its tough. I'm also looking at power backup solutions. I have a gas generator so if I'm in town I'm not worried, but when I travel I'll need something automated. Probably batteries servicing DC powerheads will be my starting point.

Build list:
-Red Sea Max S500
-2x 300W Finnex HMS-300S
-Inkbird temperature controller
-titanium ground probe
-Tunze 3155 ATO- waiting to see what my evaporation rate is before I decide on ATO volume and enclosure


Misc Stuff:
-BRS 6 stage RODI
-Hanna: Alk, Cu, Phos, PH
-Salifert: PH, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, Ca, Mg
-red sea purple salt
-Milwaukee digital seawater refractometer
-25 ft python
-Sicce Ultrazero
-tons of other small misc stuff-tools, food etc
caribsea dry rock
marco rock
cariibsea pink fiji sand- is this going to blow around?

 

[blaxsun]

Good luck with the new build!

 

[David_CO]

Well this is not how I hoped this build would start. The Max S500 showed up today. The crate looked okay, the only thing weird (as pointed out by my neighbor) was it was wrapped in plastic, if anyone can chime in if Red Sea normally wraps their crates in plastic it would be greatly appreciated.

Below are a few pics, overall everything is just filthy, the rear sump cover is broken, the glass has scratches and the silicon looks terrible. Honestly I'm super disappointed right now. The owner of my LFS came by and said he had never seen anything like it. He reached out to Red Sea, but likely wont hear back until monday. I hope they make it right but even then this is going to be a major headache to get sorted

silicon seam is pulling away from the glass

 

[blaxsun]

What the heck...!

From what I recall, yes - my Red Sea arrived very well-packed in the wooden crate with plastic wrap around it (I seem to recall removing plastic wrap from it, but this was last April). Aside from the inevitable styrofoam particles, it was really clean. Nothing like this...

I've watched Red Sea tanks arrive at my LFS (including mine) for the past 2 years and haven't seen anything like this, either.

The amount of damage/dirt really makes me wonder if it was damaged during transit and repackaged by the carrier (not saying this was the case, but I really can't see something leaving Red Sea like this).

Sorry to hear about this - I'm sure Red Sea will make it right, though.

 

[David_CO]

Its super depressing honestly, I dont even know what to make of the various damage and dirt. The plastic panel looks like it was driven over with a forklift for weeks! Even if it was mishandled in shipping the silicon shouldnt look like that. We'll see what happens.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

YIKES!!! That's a bummer for sure, but I'm sure Red Sea will make it right.

 

[David_CO]

I hope so!

 

[blaxsun]

I really don't know how something like this could pass QA at Red Sea. Please keep us posted.

 

[SaltyMermaid86]

Well this is not how I hoped this build would start. The Max S500 showed up today. The crate looked okay, the only thing weird (as pointed out by my neighbor) was it was wrapped in plastic, if anyone can chime in if Red Sea normally wraps their crates in plastic it would be greatly appreciated.

Below are a few pics, overall everything is just filthy, the rear sump cover is broken, the glass has scratches and the silicon looks terrible. Honestly I'm super disappointed right now. The owner of my LFS came by and said he had never seen anything like it. He reached out to Red Sea, but likely wont hear back until monday. I hope they make it right but even then this is going to be a major headache to get sorted

silicon seam is pulling away from the glass

Hi David!

Im new to the hobby too so I just wanted to send you lots of positive vibes. I have a red sea xl 200. They do come boxed, wrapped in black plastic for added security while on the pallet during shipping. I had to contact them right after I received my tank due to scratches that were driving me nuts. They shipped me out a new tank after I provided pictures and asked that I send them a picture of me destroying my sticker with the serial number on it. In fact I had my new tank before I even sent them the picture. They've been pretty easy to work with and timely. I hope you get it all worked out. Possibly the freight co is at fault and not RS? Either way I'm sure they'll get it all worked out for you. Best wishes!

 

[David_CO]

appreciate it. fwiw mine was wrapped in clear plastic, probably irrelevant but figured I'd throw it out there

 

[David_CO]

quick update....

Red Sea is going to send me a completely new system. I have to some how put the crate back together and pack everything in there and get the freight carrier to come get it. Then and only then will Red Sea ship a replacement. A decent outcome so far but still a major headache for me.

 

[blaxsun]

Sorry you had to go through the hassle - but at least Red Sea is going to provide you with a replacement. Do let us know if you ever find out what happened.

 

[David_CO]

so after about 5 hours the thing is crated up and ready to be picked up by freight whenever it can get scheduled. My LFS has been great, the owner has been out to my house twice now. I had him out today to help me figure out where things went in the crate as I wasnt paying attention when I unboxed.

We have determined this was caused by the shipping company. As you can see from the pics the tank crate is on two pallets. I'm told Red Sea only ships on a single pallet (which is heavily damaged in my case). The other tips off you can see in the second pic. The plastic wrap which I mentioned as a potential issue was tied to the "new" pallet. The most logical thing to conclude is they dropped the crate and cobbled it back together then wrapped it in like 10 layers of plastic so it looked good at delivery.

Hopefully this is a one time deal, but I haven't had much luck with freight deliveries over the years.

 

[blaxsun]

I had a sneaky suspicion it was the shipping company, and yeah - Red Sea only ships on a single pallet (and it's clearly damaged). What a bunch of dishonest SOBs - I hope you get in touch with them to voice your extreme displeasure.

 

[David_CO]

and its gone......replacement tank will ship out sometime next week. If you look closely you can see the redsea pallet is nearly destroyed.

finalizing what I want my aquascape to look like, getting close to something I'm happy with.

 

[Bob Weigant]

By a lousy thing to go threw. Glad your getting your replacement but still sucks. I also have this same tank and I really like it

 

[David_CO]

so the saga continues.....

Today was the round 2 delivery. I was able to track the package but they did not call to schedule like they did the first time. When I called they said it was out for delivery but said it was shipped with no signature required, not sure what was up with that. The truck finally arrives and its obvious the shipment was mishandled again. The back panel of the crate was completely missing, the red sea pallet was gone (and it was now on a proper pallet) and the infamous plastic wrap was back. Needless to say I was not pleased and considered cancelling my order on the spot. I called up my LFS and he promptly came over while I held the truck. He called his Red Sea rep and sent some pics. Red Sea advised me to accept the shipment and notify them if anything was messed up. The owner of my LFS and I broke down the crate and "knocks on wood" I think everything is okay........only time will tell. So far it has not been the experience I hoped for.

Their is no doubt the shipping company is awful. My LFS owner had to deny delivery of another S500 delivered to his store last week. So that's 3 in a row through his shop with considerable shipping issues. On the other side of things Red Sea really should improve their crates, they put reasonable screws and brackets on 3 sides but the back is held by 2 screws at the top and then just staples around the perimeter. IMO this is unacceptable for a premium product. I also think a large number of the issues come from them not using real pallets and opting for cheap particle board with 4x4 square wood blocks for the "lift". These things can be knocked off really easily and is not how you should be shipping something weighing almost 800lbs.

 

[blaxsun]

At least it's here now and you don't have to deal with this shipping company again...

 

[David_CO]

The tank is up. I got everything installed without too much of an issue. I filled the tank for a leak check and rinse then loaded in my aquascape.

I believe their is a manufacturing issue that would prevent me running the chiller return. To clip it in the manifold to the chiller has to be open and once installed its impossible to close the valve. I live in colorado so its a non-issue but my alignment points do not look like the screenshot below.

I made this thanks to the great DIY section.

A LFS had a 20% sale on all neptune gear so I went ahead and picked this up despite complaining about them

 

[David_CO]

The tank is up and cycling. One of the carib sea sand bags I had was leaking slightly so i threw it in an open garbage bag and left it for a couple weeks while everything else came together. When I grabbed the bag i noticed the carib sea bag was inflated, it seems the bacteria had been culturing in the bag, I decided to go ahead and throw it in the tank anyway. Hopefully I wont regret it later.

I dosed to 2ppm ammonia day 1 with an excessive amount of fritz turbo start 900. In my sump I have 1L of seachem matrix, a large box of siporax and a medium box of Marine Pure Gems. I also bought a Marine Pure large block but I dont have anywhere to put it as I wait for my reefmat to come in.

The second day ammonia was almost undetectable with 2 different test kits. Probably going to dose again today and see what happens.

I'm also going to switch to aquaforest salt (open to other suggestions too) from red sea pro. I dont like how if I mix for too long the alk precipitates out.

The Sicce recirculation pumps are slightly louder than I prefer. I found some rubber feet at lowes that helped a decent amount. Pic below. Hopefully it can help someone else, these were hard to find. Everything else is dialed in and quite, I would say the recirculation pumps sounds like a small mini fridge. I'm thinking about making a manifold in the rear chamber and getting a larger dc pump to run all 3 ports.

I'm not running the skimmer yet, its by far the loudest item. Definitely will replace with a DC pump to decrease noise and get more control.

since these pics were taken I've added another "dumb" controllable power strip for my cabinet lighting controls and added a probe holder.