Dutch reefer antics(RSR425XL)

erichuyn · Jan 22, 2021

Hi all,

Eric here.
Been reading and learning here for a while so now it's time to have a thread for my journey.
I've had a RSR170 before for a little over a year to kind of determine if this hobby was for me.
It went quite well for some time:

Had a cleaner shrimp, 2 firefish, couple of blackice snowflakes, some snails and some coral.
We then moved house twice in a year. A short while to my parents in law and then to our current home which had some work done before we could move in.
The moves went relatively well, then again almost no bioload and corals.
Sadly it went a bit wrong after that. I added a Royal gramma and orange spot goby which then brought something in which wiped out the fish...
I think brook or velvet.

Thanks to Humblefish here, and on his forum, I then figured out QT was probably the way forward. So during the fallow period I tried my best at QT'ing a tiny yellow tang.

Yes I know, yellow tang, 170l/43g tank is a no no. But at this point I had acquired a RSR425XL!

Sadly I messed up with the QT. I was scared of copper treatment so I tried to go General Cure and black molly as indicators. The mollies were fine and even spawning.
The tang was ok for a while and then deteriorated fast before I could get it into the DT. Which was really sad since it almost acted like a puppy:

Then we had a leak in the kitchen which forced us to remove the oak floor that was ruined by it.

Luckily it was al covered by insurance.

So since the floor was already bare ideas started bubbling. As I had no more fish and moving both the RSR170 and the RSR475XL
around during all this was too much hassle I solde the RSR170 and put up a temp home for the corals and inverts:

Then I started to contemplate putting in channels with RODI lines for AWC.
I stepped up the madness by asking the builder if it was possible to put 4x32mm(ca1 1/4 inch) PVC in the floor.
2 drains, 1 return, 1 to be determined. Probably some wiring for the Apex or something like that. It was open so the 1 extra
line cost next to nothing to put in now.
His answer was why not! So we went to work cutting 2 grooves in the floor when this happened:

Which lead to some swearing because of this:

We had just nicked a line for a radiator

. Luckily it was only dripping out but still quite a setback.
Our builder wasn't really phased by this. We just drained the central heating, he put in a new piece and I finished hacking out the channel.
Then some holes in the wall for the PVC to come out of.

This is just temporary until the cement cures. When the new floor arrives we'll also be getting new baseboards.
Should I ever tire of the hobby I can just cut off the PVC and put a blank piece of baseboard there. No one will ever know...
until they check the garage:

Oh right, I used pool PVC lines which are somewhat flexible since I have to manouver the stuff behind the kitchen and
dishwasher and stuff.
Shouldn't be a problem though as they are 100% PVC for use in ponds/swimming pools/etc and you can still PVC glue
everything on.

That's the story for now. It will go a bit slowly since the new floor will be here end of Februari.
By then I hope to have finalized my reeftank coaster idea.
Basically a sheet of waterresistant wood with a wood rim in which tiles are glued to contain drips or minor spills.

Also the remote sump stand with a backwall for the electronics and a mixing station. Keeps me busy while everything else is on hold...

To be continued...

lapin · Jan 22, 2021

theMeat · Jan 22, 2021

Good stuff Eric.

Zach B · Jan 22, 2021

Wow indeed. Sounds like a lot to go through, sorry for that. I'm guessing your tank will be awesome in the end

erichuyn · Jan 22, 2021

I hope the foundation I'm laying down here will help.
Going with 4x32mm/1 1/4inch also means it's quite scalable should the need for an upgrade arise.
But I'll be happy once this one is going along nicely.
Did have a sleepless night with all kinds of ideas racing around for the sump area .

erichuyn · Jan 24, 2021

So whilst waiting for part 2 of the garage sump I had some time to bust out my mad MSPaint skills.

Basically this is my idea of the fishroom section of the garage:

(front view)
Because of the floor disaster event I can now put everything in the garage. I'm actually thrilled since now almost all the space constraints are gone!
RODI unit lines will go through the wall to connect to the dishwasher faucet with the waste line to it's waste line.
In the drawing it's still a brown plywood plate but it will probably be PVC board or something like that.

(to the right of the front view)
Mixing station will be these 2 blue drums(60l/15g and 200l/52g) I already have. Still thinking if I'll put the powerbricks behind the control board for cleaner looks or mount the board flush to the wall and make a neat powerbrick section on it.
The second choice will probably be more practical...

Also tried to put MSPaint to use for the aquascape:

which yielded this comically bad picture.
The left part of the picture was in the RSR170 for almost 2 years. It is now in a heated drum with saltwater &flow which will help with starting the RSR425XL and the dryrock part on the right.
The big piece in the middle has a cave through the center. The piece in the middle pointing to the front also has a cave front to back.
The piece holding the plateau has an opening front to back on the bottom and also the ridge on top of the plateau is a seperate piece with an opening.
The rock at the right on the bottom is also open on 3 sides.

Only thing I'm not sure about is the plateau. I'm not sure if it's suitable for coral placement since it's quite a big flat piece...
Maybe a LPS garden location...
Still I'll have to see it in the tank first or get a lot better at Paint/Photoshop to get a better feel for the aquascape.

Oh yeah, anybody with experience in the garage sump department do you still park a car there?
I'm asking because at the moment my beauty of a Ducati Monster 1200S sleeps there.
It's never driven inside. Also it has to cool down outside already so there are no fumes or smells in the garage of it now.

theMeat · Jan 24, 2021

Looks like you’re planning a nice build, be sure to post pics.
In sump would run socks (or no socks), skimmer, then fuge, then return pump. If you’re running triton method put fuge before skimmer as you have on your sketch. Other wise give skimmer first chance at dirtiest water from tank, and give pods that make it to tank a pass.
Think if your garage has some ventilation it’s fine. Wouldn’t run the car in garage much. Maybe a removable box around sump area may help with temperature. Would also put it on a level platform off the cement floor a bit

erichuyn · Jan 24, 2021

Obviously my MSPaint skills are not good enough
Sump will be on a stand and first thing is indeed a roller mat.
Refugium and skimmer section will most likely be parallel to each other but I can play around with it.

The removable box is a good one. Been thinking of Styrofoam sheets or something like that.

erichuyn · Jan 25, 2021

Our builder had some time today so we wanted to finish the plumbing to the garage.
Well 'disaster' strikes again! We thought we had the water lines all figured out.
Saw them both go into the ground next to each other and coming out next to each other a couple of feet further.
Started to hack, cautiously, well away from were we thought the lines would run and immediately hit the cold water line.

F***!
Apparently the some madman had put the lines parallel to each other into the ground for a part of the run. Separated them underneath the dishwasher and then ran them parallel again where they came out of the floor.