has anyone installed the reefmat 500 in an Infinia 125 3sump?
- Thread starter TimSt
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Answer to my question: with the refugium divider removed, an Akula UKS-160 skimmer and Reefmat 500 will fit in the main sump section of an Infinia 125.3. No other modifications necessary.
Received both of these items in the mail this week, and test-fitted last night. Installation will be this weekend. I'll post pictures of the sump after installation.
Received both of these items in the mail this week, and test-fitted last night. Installation will be this weekend. I'll post pictures of the sump after installation.
Well that was stressful! Reefmat installed, but not without (avoidable) issues.
As stated previously, I test-fitted the Reefmat and the skimmer install in the main section of the sump after pulling out the refugium baffle. Everything fit, but I could see that plumbing was going to be an issue, It looked like I had two choices:
1) cut most of the glass out from the left side of the sump (including sock holders) so I could pull out the glass that forms the chamber where the drainage pipes go. If I went this route, then I would have a minimal amount of the drain pipe to cut and put the Reefmat hose fitting on. Would also have the piece of mind that the drain pipe/hose fitting connection would be below the rim of the sump, in the event of connection failure.
or
2) I could pull out the bottom section of the main drain pipe, cut it almost at the valve, and then glue the fitting on for the hose. The issue with this is I couldn't tell if there would be enough room for the hose to flex with the glass in place.
I opted for #2, knowing that if after that drastic cut the hose couldn't clear the glass, I'd have to remove the glass anyway. Kept my fingers crossed it wouldn't go this way.
The Reefmat comes with a bunch of fittings for connecting the drain hose to the piping. There was one that fit snugly around the Waterbox piping, and reduced to fit inside of the hose. I opted to glue this fitting with Oatley all-purpose cement to the main drain pipe after cutting it to within an inch of the valve. Note: even after turning off the main pump and letting everything drain into the sump for a few minutes, there was still a trickle of water out of the drain after unscrewing it, splashing water behind the sump until I put a towel back there to catch the trickle and splashing.
After gluing the fitting on, I let it cure for 2 hours per the Oatley instructions. After the full 2 hours, I couldn't smell any solvent.
This is where it got dicey. As I went to screw the drain pipe back in to the fitting coming from the tank, it somewhat 'torqued' the fitting going into the tank, causing a spray of saltwater to come from the bottom of the tank. I immediately stopped trying to screw the piece back on and tightened what was an insufficiently-tight bulkhead fitting to the tank. Unfortunately, the spray hit my GFCI outlet, and tripped the GFCI. I thought I was really, really screwed. The GFCI outlet is behind the tank, with maybe 4" of clearance. If that outlet got soaked, not sure how I could repair or replace. Anyway, I dried off the surfaces of everything including the outlet and plugs, and let things sit a bit while I had a beer to calm things down a bit. After about an hour, I reset the GFCI, and it miraculously reset. You have no idea how much of a relief that was for me.
The piece I glued to the bottom of the main drain pipe at the gate valve had about a 2" section of pipe that goes into the Reefmat tubing. I opted to cut about 1" off, to see if I could get a better fit around the glass at the back of the sump.
When I went to screw the piping back together for the second time, I noticed I had rotated the zig-zag section of the piping about 90 degrees when I tightened the bulkhead fitting-this was perfect! Now the connection cleared the sump glass. If I had noticed this sooner, I wouldn't have cut that 1" off the pipe that goes into the Reefmat hose.
Now that everything was screwed back together (without leaks), I put some of the Red Sea sealant in the hose, per the instructions, slid it onto the fitting, and tightened with zip ties. The zip ties didn't seem to make a difference--the hose is too rigid, and it only stayed in place from the friction of the sealant inside of the hose. This is a bit of a concern to me.
The instructions say you can start things up before the sealant is set, so I went about putting the Reefmat assembly together, connecting to my home wifi network, and doing the initial programming.
Now it was time to fire everything up. I turned on the return pump, and as things started up, water started leaking from the Reefmat hose/drain pipe connection. The sealant and zip ties weren't doing their job. I shut off the pump, dried the hose, and add copious amount of sealant to the outside of the hose/pipe connection. I let that set a couple more hours before starting things up again.
Upon restarting the pump for the second time, there was a drop or two of water that came out, but once things started running, the drops stopped. I let the system run overnight like that, but I will likely apply more sealant today for some piece of mind.
I know this post would be more useful with pictures, but as things already were high-stress as it is, I didn't take the time to take photos. I will post a picture of the sump here in a few minutes.
If anyone wants to install the Reefmat 500 on a Waterbox Infinia 125.3 sump, I'd be more than happy to discuss any of this process with you. Hopefully to save you the issues I ran into.
As stated previously, I test-fitted the Reefmat and the skimmer install in the main section of the sump after pulling out the refugium baffle. Everything fit, but I could see that plumbing was going to be an issue, It looked like I had two choices:
1) cut most of the glass out from the left side of the sump (including sock holders) so I could pull out the glass that forms the chamber where the drainage pipes go. If I went this route, then I would have a minimal amount of the drain pipe to cut and put the Reefmat hose fitting on. Would also have the piece of mind that the drain pipe/hose fitting connection would be below the rim of the sump, in the event of connection failure.
or
2) I could pull out the bottom section of the main drain pipe, cut it almost at the valve, and then glue the fitting on for the hose. The issue with this is I couldn't tell if there would be enough room for the hose to flex with the glass in place.
I opted for #2, knowing that if after that drastic cut the hose couldn't clear the glass, I'd have to remove the glass anyway. Kept my fingers crossed it wouldn't go this way.
The Reefmat comes with a bunch of fittings for connecting the drain hose to the piping. There was one that fit snugly around the Waterbox piping, and reduced to fit inside of the hose. I opted to glue this fitting with Oatley all-purpose cement to the main drain pipe after cutting it to within an inch of the valve. Note: even after turning off the main pump and letting everything drain into the sump for a few minutes, there was still a trickle of water out of the drain after unscrewing it, splashing water behind the sump until I put a towel back there to catch the trickle and splashing.
After gluing the fitting on, I let it cure for 2 hours per the Oatley instructions. After the full 2 hours, I couldn't smell any solvent.
This is where it got dicey. As I went to screw the drain pipe back in to the fitting coming from the tank, it somewhat 'torqued' the fitting going into the tank, causing a spray of saltwater to come from the bottom of the tank. I immediately stopped trying to screw the piece back on and tightened what was an insufficiently-tight bulkhead fitting to the tank. Unfortunately, the spray hit my GFCI outlet, and tripped the GFCI. I thought I was really, really screwed. The GFCI outlet is behind the tank, with maybe 4" of clearance. If that outlet got soaked, not sure how I could repair or replace. Anyway, I dried off the surfaces of everything including the outlet and plugs, and let things sit a bit while I had a beer to calm things down a bit. After about an hour, I reset the GFCI, and it miraculously reset. You have no idea how much of a relief that was for me.
The piece I glued to the bottom of the main drain pipe at the gate valve had about a 2" section of pipe that goes into the Reefmat tubing. I opted to cut about 1" off, to see if I could get a better fit around the glass at the back of the sump.
When I went to screw the piping back together for the second time, I noticed I had rotated the zig-zag section of the piping about 90 degrees when I tightened the bulkhead fitting-this was perfect! Now the connection cleared the sump glass. If I had noticed this sooner, I wouldn't have cut that 1" off the pipe that goes into the Reefmat hose.
Now that everything was screwed back together (without leaks), I put some of the Red Sea sealant in the hose, per the instructions, slid it onto the fitting, and tightened with zip ties. The zip ties didn't seem to make a difference--the hose is too rigid, and it only stayed in place from the friction of the sealant inside of the hose. This is a bit of a concern to me.
The instructions say you can start things up before the sealant is set, so I went about putting the Reefmat assembly together, connecting to my home wifi network, and doing the initial programming.
Now it was time to fire everything up. I turned on the return pump, and as things started up, water started leaking from the Reefmat hose/drain pipe connection. The sealant and zip ties weren't doing their job. I shut off the pump, dried the hose, and add copious amount of sealant to the outside of the hose/pipe connection. I let that set a couple more hours before starting things up again.
Upon restarting the pump for the second time, there was a drop or two of water that came out, but once things started running, the drops stopped. I let the system run overnight like that, but I will likely apply more sealant today for some piece of mind.
I know this post would be more useful with pictures, but as things already were high-stress as it is, I didn't take the time to take photos. I will post a picture of the sump here in a few minutes.
If anyone wants to install the Reefmat 500 on a Waterbox Infinia 125.3 sump, I'd be more than happy to discuss any of this process with you. Hopefully to save you the issues I ran into.
Similar threads
