Devoted Reefer 250

revhtree · Jan 23, 2017

Cool man!

pelphrey · Jan 26, 2017

pelphrey · Jan 27, 2017

Had to paint the side of the plywood white, went ahead and painted the entire back! Going to try to move all of my equipment into here this weekend or next week!

revhtree · Jan 27, 2017

Coming along!

pelphrey · Jan 30, 2017

Second energy bar mounted inside the cabinet-

Need to clean this mess up!

Equipment cabinet in place!

I'll get before and after shots under the tank stand soon! I will be going back and cleaning up the cables inside the equipment cabinet soon. I had to take my system completely down to do this move and I wanted to get everything back up and running quickly!

pelphrey · Jan 30, 2017

#reef2reef, #worldwidecorals, #mywwccontest

pelphrey · Jan 31, 2017

Shot some pictures with the iphone 6 last night. No filters and didn't change the light settings at all -

The struggle of keeping a bare bottom tank!

pelphrey · Feb 9, 2017

pelphrey · Feb 16, 2017

Westec818 · Feb 16, 2017

jasonamyers · Feb 20, 2017

pelphrey said:
The Reef Octopus VarioS-6 return pump outlet is 1 1/4" I reduced this down to 1" out of the pump. From there the plumbing is routed in a manner that will allow me to add gate valves later. I still haven't glued any of the fittings together, I am beside myself on the red PVC. I do have black 1" PVC in my garage from a previous project. I also have 2 unions, I may end up only using 1 I'm not sure yet.

What part did you use to do this reduction? I just ordered this same pump for my 425xl.

pelphrey · Feb 20, 2017

jasonamyers said:
What part did you use to do this reduction? I just ordered this same pump for my 425xl.

1-1/4" reduced to 1" slip x slip adapter
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/schedule-80-reducing-bushing-spigot-x-female-thread.html

jasonamyers · Feb 20, 2017

pelphrey said:
1-1/4" reduced to 1" slip x slip adapter
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/schedule-80-reducing-bushing-spigot-x-female-thread.html

Awesome thank you

pelphrey · Feb 20, 2017

@jasonamyers not a problem!! You're going to love that tank and pump!

What lights are you going to run?

jasonamyers · Feb 20, 2017

pelphrey said:
@jasonamyers not a problem!! You're going to love that tank and pump!

What lights are you going to run?

Kessil ap700 is my current plan. I have hydra 26hds over my current tank and I find the kessil much easier to use in my second tank. I'm also seeing better growth in the second tank at the moment. But don't take that as science just my observations. I think the hydra's are a great light for people who understand all the light needs of their system.

pelphrey · Feb 21, 2017

jasonamyers said:
Kessil ap700 is my current plan. I have hydra 26hds over my current tank and I find the kessil much easier to use in my second tank. I'm also seeing better growth in the second tank at the moment. But don't take that as science just my observations. I think the hydra's are a great light for people who understand all the light needs of their system.

A lot of people use and like the AI lights, I've never personally used them. In my short time in the hobby I've ran Kessil, I don't know what I could run another fixture and be happy. Go ahead and buy two of those ap700's and send one my way! hahaa

jasonamyers · Feb 21, 2017

pelphrey said:
A lot of people use and like the AI lights, I've never personally used them. In my short time in the hobby I've ran Kessil, I don't know what I could run another fixture and be happy. Go ahead and buy two of those ap700's and send one my way! hahaa

Wife would KILL ME!

pelphrey · Feb 21, 2017

I wanted to try out the Gyre for awhile, so I picked up the 230. I actually thought about the WAV pumps, there are a couple reasons I didn't go this route. First reason is that my tank is 3' and the WAV pumps are just to much. Second reason.... I do really like the Apex but I don't like relying on it 100%, if my Apex brain went out the WAV pumps would stop working as well.

I am currently running a MP40wQD on the tank and love this pump, if my rock work was different I probably would have ran another Vortech pump placing them both on the back wall. With my rock work being so tall I didn't think this was my best solution.

The downside to the Gyre 230 is the noise, I did open a ticket with CoralVue and they said the pump needed to break in and bacteria needed to grow on it. I have the Gyre set to random pluse from 10-40%, after running the pump for a little over a week now the noise has reduced some but it is still the loudest piece of equipment on the tank.

The controller for the Gyre is pretty simple to use once you know what it does. I am running the Gyre and Mp40 on the tank still, the pumps are on opposite walls. Soon the Mp40 will be pulled and sold, I'll pick up another 230 pump to put in place of the MP40. The fact that the Gyre controller can run two pumps is an awesome feature!

Branespikin · Feb 21, 2017

So you like the gyre better than the mp40? Even with the noise? My mp40 qd on my reefer 250 is great. I have it on 60% at max and it's blowing around like crazy

pelphrey · Feb 21, 2017

Branespikin said:
So you like the gyre better than the mp40? Even with the noise? My mp40 qd on my reefer 250 is great. I have it on 60% at max and it's blowing around like crazy

I do like it better even with the noise. Having the try side of the MP40 stick out so much is starting to make me nervous, my oldest is nearly to the point of being able to reach it. I am sure at some point she'll get curious and unintentionally pull it off the tank! haha Of course I do still have the gyre magnet on the outside of the tank, it is smaller and I have it up higher on the tank. The wide flow that the Gyre produces is a lot better for my tank and the rock structures I created.

From the few threads I've read and the responses I've received the Gyre noise will reduce once the pump breaks in. I had the pump set to ramp from 10-50% quickly and that was loud, the setting I have it on now gradually increases which reduced the noise.

Time will tell, the defining moment for me will be cleaning the gyre. Cleaning the MP40 is SUPER simple since the wet side doesn't have any cables. I've seen some people just soak the gyre in vinegar without taking it apart, I figure once I get the other gyre pump I can alternate cleaning.

I shot a video comparing the two pumps, the only factor to keep into consideration is that the Gyre 230 and MP40 don't really compare when it comes to water movement. The MP40 is a bigger pump and it capable of moving a lot more water. I primarily focused on noise, once edited I hope to have that video out in a few weeks.