Finally building out my dream reef - RSR 3XL 900

[Richmond]

With a living room redesign, I now have a ~80 inch long x 30 inch wide open space. After a month or two of debate, my wife conceded and I'm going to be getting a tank to fill the space. After looking around, and deciding I don't want to build a stand or have to piece together tank/stand/sump, I'm 99.99% sure I'm going to get a Red Sea 3XL 900. With Black Friday deals going this week, I started piecing together the components. I placed an order for the tank but the store I picked appears to be in transition so I'm just going through an online vendor. Any suggestions?

Anyway, here's some pictures of the first round of equipment.

 

[Richmond]

Equipment list:

Abyzz A200 return
GHL KH Director
GHL ION Director (unless it doesn't actually manifest, then a reefbot)
Apex Controller
Apex ATO
Apex PAR monitor
Apex Flow Monitor
Eheim Jager 300w heater x2
Inkbird temp monitor
Red Sea ReefLED 160s x3 (not yet purchased)
Red Sea Skimmer 900 (not yet purchased)
Red Sea Reefwave 45 x2 (not yet purchased)


Open to input and advice!

 

[Richmond]

Really having an internal debate on skimmer. I'm trying to decide between the Red Sea 900, Bubble King Double Cone 200, and the Octopus 200 Elite.

Help me decide!

 

[Richmond]

Alright, some updates. I'm going to wait until I have the tank (allegedly early January) to decide on skimmer or filter roller (possibly both). If I can remove the filter sock holder, and open up enough space I'm going to get a Dreambox Compact Filter Roller from Royal Exclusiv.

I decided on lights!!! After much debate, and finally finding a mounting option (Thanks @siggy), I'm going with Aquatic Life dimmable 36" lights. I'm going to mount two of them side by side and add 2 Kessil A360x to each. This should be plenty of light, and flexible enough to give a spectrum of light my wife won't complain about (she hates the overly blue look). I'm getting the adapter to control the kessils with my Apex.

I'm going to use the split sump for my refugium, with hopes of keeping algae growth in main sump to a minimum. Using the Kessil H160 refugium light. Still undecided about tumbling/flow in the refugium.

My stock bins are nearly (fingers crossed) cycled. I have two 50 gallon rubbermaid tubs setup to temporarily house my two current tanks, since I'm going to be redoing the floors and will need to move my tanks. Once that process is over, one will stay setup to cycle rock and ultimately quarantine everything for the new tank.

 

[Richmond]

Finally getting around to building some garage storage... Making room for the tank delivery.

 

[Jeffcb]

I ordered a 900 today. Following. I have to build a mixing station. Looks like Jan. delivery.

 

[aurora.k]

Nice! My 900 should be getting her next week or the week after! SO excited, I'll start my own build thread soon and will follow yours!

 

[metzer]

Really having an internal debate on skimmer. I'm trying to decide between the Red Sea 900, Bubble King Double Cone 200, and the Octopus 200 Elite.

Help me decide!

I have had good luck with reef octpus with my 900. I splurged on the auto neck cleaner, and I love it.

 

[siggy]

I cant wait to see this come together

 

[Richmond]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'm currently rebuilding my mixing station. It's the worst part of owning a fish tank - plumbing. This is 80% of the reason I went with the RSR 900; Precut assembly ready!!

I've come up with a design for my light situation, based on an article by @siggy (

Recipe for 80/20 Light supports, Aquatic life Hybrid Fixture

Sleek 8020 light stand

www.reef2reef.com

)

I've attached a rough draft of the setup. I plan to use a linear actuator to raise/lower the light. My expectation is that I'll get it where I want it, with best light fill etc. and then use the actuator to move it out of the way when I need to work on the tank. Would be interested in feedback on this silly plan.

Edit: This is not to scale. The spacing is way off on my sketch. The middle piece will only be 13 inches long.

 

[ID-Reefer]

Following
Also have a Reefer 900. Started my build a few months ago. Looking forward to seeing your build progress.

 

[Richb5571]

I ordered a Red Sea 900 and expect delivery mid January. Spent the past few weeks organizing the garage and installing water softener and RO/DI system. I will post my build here when tank arrives

 

[ImaFlippinDolphin]

Love my 900! The footprint on that bubble king would probably need to be in the sump extension, I have the red sea skimmer in it there, I feel it helps with the flow through the sump

 

[Richmond]

Well, it arrived. The stand is dinged, hoping the seller responds to my email about it.

 

[ImaFlippinDolphin]

Well, it arrived. The stand is dinged, hoping the seller responds to my email about it.

Dang....hope they make it right for you bud

 

[cpachris]

Did they compensate or replace the damaged cabinet?

 

[Mike1970]

Lots of nice stuff!!! Can’t wait to see it set up

 

[Richmond]

Way overdue update! Red sea quickly sent a replacement cabinet piece, so all is well.

I haven't even started the setup, still, because we JUST had the painter out last week. Now that it's done, I'm going to get in-wall plumbing done for the water change and ATO station in the garage, and crawlspace supports for the floor. Should be actually moving forward in the next week or two.

 

[Richmond]

Tank is in. Plumbing to garage is run. Working on aqua scape now.
For anyone ever moving a large tank, get “forearm forklifts”. 8 people and 2 straps made this a breeze.

 

[Richmond]

The rock construction is done. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm going to do a low structure in the middle (probably), for some zoas or anemones. But for now, just letting the cycle go while I figure out a bracket for lights.

I did add microbacter starter and fishless cycle ammonia 2 weeks ago. Now I'm just phantom feeding and considering the first round of fish. I have a lot of cable management to do.

The apex has been a nightmare. The salt probe won't calibrate and apex wants me to pay for them to assess the problem, on a brand new out of the box first time use probe. So I'll suck up the ~$2000 loss and go back to GHL.

Still trying to figure out a filter roller. I've seen a couple people that have managed to fit them, but none of the ways I've seen work for me. Deltec VF6000 is current #1 contender, but still weighing options and thinking it through.