First Tank RS 425XL Build

[Morphix]

I've been watching youtube, talking to LFS and Reefer friends, and reading forums for the better part of the last 3 months - Pandemic means it's time to get into a new hobby. I take delivery of my brand new Red Sea 425XL (In White) on Thursday, and will update once I start getting that set up. This is my first foray into Reefing, but as with my other hobbies I tend to not go for the bare basics - Hopefully this thing doesn't completely crash on me 6 months from now.

Before I settled on pulling the trigger, I taped off an area matching the dimensions of the 425XL and put a bunch of boxes that we still haven't unpacked to fill the area and see if it felt awkward in the space. This isn't a large tank, but it's not a small tank either. I've been walking past these boxes for about 6 weeks and it feels okay.

My plan for this tank is to eventually get it onto the Triton Method. I play a lot of simulation games like Oxygen Not Included and Dwarf Fortress, and in a lot of ways a reef tank is similar - it's a living ecosystem with a bunch of interrelated parameters. The Triton Method appeals to me because it greatly reduces the amount of nutrient control I'm doing by changing the water - which while the most common technique strikes me as antithetical to maintaining rock stable parameters, and it forces me to use a refugium instead. Using an organic process of nutrient export tickles me and from what I've read seems to be extremely effective.

That being said, I don't know how well the Triton Method will work on a brand new tank - so I'm planning to start with 2 part and cut over at some point, but designing with Triton in mind. The biggest problem with accomplishing that seems to be getting the 10x change over in the display tank, which is 800 gph on this guy. My plan is to set up the tank, get it wet and check for leaks, and then test out the return pump with a meter to see if I'm getting the flow I want. If not, we're going to see what we can do about the plumbing to get it as close to 800 as possible.

Gear:

* 2x Red Sea REEFLED 90s w/ arms
* 2x Red Sea Reef Wave 45 Gyre Pumps
* Red Sea PSK 600 Skimmer
* 2x 300W BRS Titanium Heaters w/ Inkbird Controller (one active, one set lower as backup) - I was really excited to try out the Cobalt Heaters because of how stable the temp was, but apparently those are exploding so went with these instead.
* APEX Controller

I'm also using hw-Marine REEFER Salt, and have a set of Hanna checkers on the way (although the Nitrate one is sold out, so will probably temporarily use something else). I would like to upgrade to the Trident at some point, but I'm going to start here.

There's some components I'm missing - I don't have a dosing system set up, I haven't actually picked out the two part setup I'm planning to use, and will need to hook up the ATO, but that can wait until I've solved the next piece of the puzzle which is rocks. I'm headed to the LFS tomorrow to get that sorted and get aquascaping.

 

[Bryn]

It looks like you have thought this process out, put a lot of time and effort in. Just remember to Hurry up and wait, this will be the best thing to learn. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Maybe you have seen the BulkReefSupply 5min series or videos, they have some great nuggets of advice.

I think hand dosing for the first month or two, keeps you connected to your tank, helps you see what is happening, before you hand it over to a dosing pump. Big proponent of ATO, along with a temp monitoring system that turns off the power at a certain temp, something link the InkBird plug which you mentioned, but you where thinking about an APEX, so the InkBird might be a moot point.

Welcome to Reef2Reef. Saw your post in the Meet & Greet.

 

[Morphix]

Rather than drive the temp using the 800 dollar apex was just planning to plug it in with the much cheaper inkbird and alert if something goes wrong with the Apex.

I've watched the entire 5 minute series, as well as the entire 52 week series... As well as some follow-ups with things that went poorly with the 52 weeks

Agreed on hand dosing to start, its always fun to do it the hard way before you completely hand it off to automation.

 

[Bryn]

Rather than drive the temp using the 800 dollar apex was just planning to plug it in with the much cheaper inkbird and alert if something goes wrong with the Apex.

I've watched the entire 5 minute series, as well as the entire 52 week series... As well as some follow-ups with things that went poorly with the 52 weeks

Agreed on hand dosing to start, its always fun to do it the hard way before you completely hand it off to automation.

I come from an automation background, and like the idea of allowing the heater to cycle on and off, wearing itself out, rather than a more expensive piece of equipment. So I use InkBirds set a little higher than the heater.

 

[Morphix]

Went shopping today, most critically for the rock.

For this tank I'm planning to build an aquascape from Marcos shelf rock. I've done a lot of scuba diving and the shelf appearance appeals to me. I'm planning to create one diagonal wall with some extrusions and an arch. The shop was a bit low on stock, so I bought everything they had and we'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow the tank comes, and once it has I'll make a template out of the bottom with cardboard and build the aquascape on top of that dry, cement it together, and lift it into the tank.

 

[Morphix]

It's here!

Tank looks okay from an inspection, this is a serious crate!

 

[Bryn]

It's here!

Tank looks okay from an inspection, this is a serious crate!

Pics or it never happened. ;Woot

Come on, you are a programmer, lets get a Python script up and running to pushes theses pictures out....

 

[Morphix]

 

[Morphix]

Pics or it never happened. ;Woot

Come on, you are a programmer, lets get a Python script up and running to pushes theses pictures out....

Haha, the image wouldn't add from my phone for some reason.

 

[Bryn]

Wow, you can write scripts fast... ;Woot

 

[Morphix]

Started putting the cabinet together today while I had a break at work. I really like the foam padding on the top, and the white exterior is slick, I'm glad I paid the extra $100 for it.

I've also committed my first RODI error. I've been filling up a couple of Brute rubbermaid cans with RODI water in anticipation of needing a massive amount of it. I did not remember to buy a float valve and auto shut-off, but while those are in the mail I figured i would just run it during the day when I can keep an eye on it.... and then I forgot to shut the hose off before going to bed last night. Fortunately the flooding was relatively minor and in my garage, but I don't think I'll be running this again until I get the safety systems in place.

 

[learning2reef]

It happens to the best of us bud. Glad nothing got ruined.

 

[Morphix]

Saturday Update. Cabinet assembly finished. The main box comes with a kickplate in both black and white and I guess you're supposed to be smart enough to use the one that matches the color you bought. Haha....

I looked it up later, and the glass in the aquarium weighs around 180 lbs. Now, I can lift 180 lbs, but I can't lift 180 lbs with a greater than 4' wide grip, so I needed my wife to help, and let me tell you, getting that aquarium up was a struggle. Normally I would get one of my buddies to help out, but there's a pandemic going on so we just had to struggle through. SUPER Glad I bought a pair of glass suction cups, those were key to managing this ().

I'm waiting for a shipment on Wednesday which includes a number of things, but two of them are critical for the next step: Hooking up a return pump so we can test for leaks, and the cement I'm going to need for the aquascape. In the meantime, I've created a template of the bottom of the tank out of card stock, and can use that to play around with the rocks I bought a couple of weeks ago.

I'm a little unclear on the fittings on the return pipe. It looks like I've got a 3/4" barbed connection on the pipe - the COR-20 I ordered does not appear to have a matching version, so I probably am going to get to play Mr. Plumber next week. I'm on the fence about getting a flow sensor on that guy and trying to maximize the flow now, or to try to do it later once I'm actually preparing to switch to Triton.

 

[Morphix]

Aquascaping is complete. Here I've used Marcos shelf rocks, bonded together using E-Marco 400. After searching high and low for plumbing fittings I needed I've discovered that I needed to place a new order, so most other things are on hold until then.

I started mixing up the water, may as well. I have two Brute rubbermaid trash cans that I've filled with RODI water. I intend for the green one to be for salt and the grey one fresh, but for now I'm just trying to make the 112 gallons I'm going to need so I'll use both. The salt I'm using is hw-marine REEF, and it doesn't seem to care about the temp, but I have an extra heater for the salt tank for water changes.

The water looks like this for about 15 mins but the power head clears it up pretty fast. That being said I plan to always let to mix for 24 hours to make sure I minimize the precipitate.

I've also got the lights installed, 2 REEFLED 90s

I managed to drop one and smash my small island when I was mounting it. Fortunately the damage is minimal.

 

[Morphix]

Well crap.

The plumbing pieces I ordered came today, and I made two mistakes.

The plan is to downsize the COR-20 output union which is 1.25" down to 1", hook in a flow meter, and then end on a 1" barb which I can soft plumb to the barbed fitting on the tank.

The first mistake is that I didn't buy any 1.25" PVC. Dumb, but easy to fix at home depot (although white, yuck). The second is that unfortunately it turns out that you need a stupid number of fittings to accomplish this, and those fittings eat enough space that I can't fit the flow meter in the space I have under there.

The sequence is as follows. COR-20 OUT - 1.25" union - white 1.25" PVC, 1.25 to 1 inch restrictor - 1 inch orange PVC - 1 inch slip x female thread - 1 inch barbed x male thread.

 

[Morphix]

The parts if anyone is interested from above are:

SCHEDULE 80 REDUCING COUPLER 1 1/4” SLIP X 1” SLIP

1” SCHEDULE 80 STRAIGHT BARB X MALE THREAD

1” SCHEDULE 80 FEMALE PIPE ADAPTER

I am somewhat irritated that I need 12" of space to convert a male thread x union to a 1" barbed connector. Theoretically.... Theoretically, I could 3D print the other half of the union in PETG with a barbed connector in a single part. This would waste a lot less time screwing around with PVC ... but it doesn't get me to the flow sensor, and i'm not sure how well PVC cement will work trying to bond PETG.

Will have to think about this.

 

[2BeAlive]

Started putting the cabinet together today while I had a break at work. I really like the foam padding on the top, and the white exterior is slick, I'm glad I paid the extra $100 for it.

I've also committed my first RODI error. I've been filling up a couple of Brute rubbermaid cans with RODI water in anticipation of needing a massive amount of it. I did not remember to buy a float valve and auto shut-off, but while those are in the mail I figured i would just run it during the day when I can keep an eye on it.... and then I forgot to shut the hose off before going to bed last night. Fortunately the flooding was relatively minor and in my garage, but I don't think I'll be running this again until I get the safety systems in place.

You only in the hobby if you have flooded the house two or three times

 

[2BeAlive]

bought a pair of glass suction cups, those were key to managing this ()

Thanks for this advice, I need to get my tank up four stories, this would be much easier than the crate I was planning to build.

 

[Morphix]

Alright, so another Month or so has gone by since I updated.

I decided to just not put the flow sensor in, it will be whatever it is. In the intervening month I've put water in and have been cycling the tank. I'll add pics in a subsequent post, but here's the big list of what I currently have in this tank:

Electromechanical:
Controller: Neptune Apex
Tank, Sump, Cabinet and ATO Resevoir: Red Sea REEFER 425XL
ATO: Have replaced the gravity feed/float pump system that comes with the Red Sea with a Neptune ATK.
Lights: Red Sea 90 (x2)
Return Pump: Neptune COR-20
Powerheads: Red Sea REEFWAVE 45 (x2)
Skimmer: Red Sea PSK-600
Refugium Light: Kessil A360X Refugium Light
Heat: BRS Titanium 300W Heaters (2x) w/ BRS Heater Controller

Biochemical:
Substrate: Carribsea Fiji Pink Arag-Alive!
Rock: Marco Shelf Rock
Refugium: Algae Barn Clean Chaeto
Ammonia Source: Brightwell Microbacter QuikCycl
Bacteria Starter: Brightwell Microbacter 7
Salt Mix: hw-MarineMix REEF
Calcium, Phosphate, and Alk Testers: Hanna
Nitrate and Ammonia Testers: Giessman
Dosing Program: Triton Core7 (Pre Mixed)

 

[Morphix]

So, one issue I had when getting water in the tank was dialing in the gate valve and having the correct amount of water in the system: I put way, way too much water in early on, and one of the consequences of this was that I couldn't run my skimmer without it immediately overflowing the cup in under a minute. Turns out there's a little piece of tape I didn't pay attention to that shows where the water level should be. The time during the tank cycle has been a good opportunity to play around with where the gate valve is supposed to be and positioning the sensors for the ATK correctly. The ATO system has, to be frank been a bit of a pain in the butt. It wasn't clear to me early on how the ATO system that comes with the tank is supposed to work (there's a little drain hole in the bottom of the reservoir - if you don't plug this hole / hook it up, your entire ATO reservoir will drain into the sump). I like the ATK from the standpoint of actually knowing when / how often it's pumping the water in, but if I had just hooked up the ATO as it comes I probably would have done a great deal less fiddling.

I have been cycling my tank for the last 3 weeks or so by testing ammonia levels every day or two, and if it gets down into the 0.2 ppm range I will bring it back up to around 2ppm. I occasionally throw in another batch of Microbacter7 as well. I had a camping trip planned for this past weekend, and now that I have no other clear distractions for the foreseeable future, I'm looking at actually getting something visibly alive in it soon. Of not I have NOT had the lights on yet (other than the fuge light), and thus far I have not seen signs of algae or anything else growing in there.