Down under Reefer 525 build

[wackyreefer]

I haven’t really played with them much yet. I have them both setup with the same program, in a similar way my Gyre is setup on my other tank. I’ll probably try the lunar cycle preset setting at some point as that’s sort of what my cycle below is meant to mimic - the 300s have a special cycle inbuilt, not sure how to use it yet however.

1. 00:00 Gradual Pulse 20%
2. 07:30 Continuous 10%
3. 08:00 Random 20%
4. 13:30 Continuous 10%
5. 14:00 Random 20%
6. 19:30 Continuous 10%
7. 20:30 Random 20%

OK great. I am currently running OGC 50% and it's moving a ton of water, and some sand

 

[Tang22]

I’ve been able to make some good progress on the build in the past couple of weeks and most of the equipment is now at least mounted, some in use, some still pending parts and work.

I may end up regretting my choice of sand as I went with the Red Sea fine sand that my LFS supplied - I hadn’t thought to specify the exact grade I wanted, rookie mistake I guess. Still it does look good and I have added some coarse crushed coral into the middle which has addressed the initial issues I was having with the return and wavemakers blowing it around too much. Here are some pictures.

Alexa integration up and running.

Battery backup

Teco heater/chiller and tank Apex equipment

Sump

Outdoor RODI station

Picasso clowns, waiting to go into the tank tomorrow

The main items of the project currently outstanding are the ATO for the tank and the Auto-fill and AWC for the RODI station. I should finish the ATO and AWCs over the coming Easter weekend. I won’t be able to finish the auto-fill and put some finishing touches on the RODI until some new equipment arrives.

As I now have two tanks the Apex integration posed a challenge, as Neptune doesn’t make it easy to integrate Alexa with two Apex units. It’s possible but pretty awful. My workaround for this was to register the new Apex and Alexa under my wife’s Amazon account and run them separately. I have granted myself full manage access to the new Apex so I can deal with both tanks under the same Neptune account. From Alexa perspective however they are separate systems. This works perfectly. The voice integration is configured identically on both tanks where relevant so the same voice commands work on both (Alexa, tell Apex Fusion to feed the fish).

The only part of the build so far that has not worked as I expected was the RODI auto-fill. This is because I didn’t realise that the Apex solenoids need to be driven through 1 Link and the EB6 doesn’t support that. I now have a 1 Link kit on order however which will sort that out for me.

Sorry about the long post but I wanted to bring you up to date with my progress. Let me know if anyone is interested in the Apex programming etc.

How long will that battery backup last?

 

[Tastee]

How long will that battery backup last?

I haven’t tested the life of this on my RSR 525. On the RSR 250 I can get about 3 hours out of it running just the return, skimmer and wavemaker and switching to a ‘keep alive’ mode after the first hour, which just runs the devices periodically.

 

[Tang22]

Thanks, do you have any impressions of the stand on the RSR 525 after having it for so long? I've read that it is an MDF stand and does not come with leveling legs (vs a 750 XXL which uses particle board and has leveling legs). Would like to hear from an experienced individual like ourself if you feel that is a problem.

 

[Tastee]

The RSR 525 stand has been great so far. It is made of plywood and does have levelling feet - about 20 or so small ones. I can’t say anything bad about it. My RSR 250 stand, which is 3 years old, is the style you mention, MDF without levelling feet, so that tank is shimmed. That stand however is also holding up very well so far.

 

[Tang22]

The RSR 525 stand has been great so far. It is made of plywood and does have levelling feet - about 20 or so small ones. I can’t say anything bad about it. My RSR 250 stand, which is 3 years old, is the style you mention, MDF without levelling feet, so that tank is shimmed. That stand however is also holding up very well so far.

Having owned the 250 and now 525, did you ever consider the 750xxl? It would be 12 inches longer and approximately 3 inches wider. I'm wondering if the 1000 in price is worth it over the 525. Tks!!

 

[Tastee]

Having owned the 250 and now 525, did you ever consider the 750xxl? It would be 12 inches longer and approximately 3 inches wider. I'm wondering if the 1000 in price is worth it over the 525. Tks!!

I didn’t consider it in my case. The 525XL was the perfect fit for the space I had and the 750XXL would have been too large.

 

[Tastee]

Here are a few more photos of the tank and equipment cabinet. The equipment cabinet is complete for now, with three 5 litre reservoirs for my AF dosing fluid. At the moment that will last about 11 weeks (62 ml/day). I expect that to bump around as I fill it out with corals however. Right now I expect it’s coralline algae consuming the bulk of my fluids.

Cabinet.

Tank.

Corals.

Sunshine (YT) and Dino (LB) hanging out.

 

[Tang22]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[fishguy242]

yes,coming along nicely,love the fish pic

 

[Tang22]

Hi @Tastee , I understand that Red Sea released a "v3" version of improvements to many tanks. This includes a better sump as well as the use of plywood and leveling legs. New versions of the 525XL apparently get these improvements as it also seems yours did.

Can you comment on a few more details please? It would really help in my decision on purchasing one.
1)Do you know if they made improvements to the seams itself with "armored seams"?
2)for the stand did they change it so the top board is one entire piece as opposed to individual pieces.
3)Is there an aluminum lip to support the front overhang
4) Did they add two boards to the vertical supporting piece of the cabinet?

I attached some pics I found from another post here of a 750XXL where I believe some improvements to the stand and tank were made.

 

[Tastee]

1)Do you know if they made improvements to the seams itself with "armored seams"?
2)for the stand did they change it so the top board is one entire piece as opposed to individual pieces.
3)Is there an aluminum lip to support the front overhang
4) Did they add two boards to the vertical supporting piece of the cabinet?

1) I’m not sure what Armoured seals are sorry.
2) It is one piece I believe, at least from what I can see underneath. I had my LFS set it up for me and didn’t look at the top board from above before I filled it with sand, sorry.
3) No.
4) No.

The improvements you see in the 750XXL look like after market ones.

 

[Tang22]

1) I’m not sure what Armoured seals are sorry.
2) It is one piece I believe, at least from what I can see underneath. I had my LFS set it up for me and didn’t look at the top board from above before I filled it with sand, sorry.
3) No.
4) No.

The improvements you see in the 750XXL look like after market ones.

Thanks @Tastee. By armored seals, it is a thin strip of plastic covering the aquarium sealant on the insides of the tank. I think Red Sea has these on the bottom of the tank, but just introduced them on the inside corners running the entire length as well. It helps increase the surface area of the sealant to 1 full inch and protects in the event someone might accidentally scrape the sealant when cleaning. Many custom manufacturers offer it for more $$$ but Red Sea started making it standard on the 750XXL as well.

The improvements posted in the pictures are actually standard for the 750XXL right now.

 

[Tastee]

I've had a look and I can't see the thin strip of plastic you mention on the size seams. It may be on the bottom seams but I can't really tell when looking now, covered by sand.

 

[lou.ghanem]

Dear Tastee, Love this build thread, thank you. I'm wondering how you feel about your neptune controllers at this juncture. Any issues or buyer's remorse? Have you made changes or upgrades to the control systems. Also thank you for detailing how you ran lines to your reservoirs. I'm planning for a RSR display and sump on my main living floor with RO and SW reservoirs in my basement. There will be about a 30 ft distance and 10 ft of elevation between the tank and reservoirs. I liked your strategy of running tubing through electrical conduit.