Horse Country RSR 625 XXL Build

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Howdy y'all, from just north of DFW, TX. Here's my journey towards a (mostly) SPS reef tank in my home office.

I had a reef over a decade ago. My wife has listened to me go on about it since we met. This past Christmas, she finally got tired of the tall tales, and told me to set one up. It was going to be a 225 gallon tank. Several delays (and my impatience) saw me cancelling the order on that tank, and ordering a RSR 625 XXL.

It's finally setup. I thought I'd share the equipment I purchased, how I set it up, and some of the mistakes I made. It's my hope that some of my thoughts might help someone else who wants to setup a similar tank.

The main tank:

• RSR 625 XXL purchased from Rift 2 Reef Aquatics.
• 4 Kessil A360X lights.
• 61" Aquatic Life T5HO hybrid fixture.
• Kessil H380 refuge light.
• Reef Octopus Varios-8 return pump.
• Reef Octopus Regal 150-INT Skimmer.
• Reef Octopus SST2 skimmer stand.
• 2 Maxspect Gyre XF280 pumps.
• 2 300W Cobalt heaters.
• Red Sea DIY net top.
• AutoAqua Smart AWC.
• eKoral Pro controller.
• CaribSea Arag-Alive Oolitic sand (enough for 4").
• Approx 150 pounds dry rock from reefcleaners.org.
• BRS C02 scrubber.
• 2 BRS media reactors.
• Generic led strip lights from Amazon.

Fish "room":

• BRS 7-stage RODI.
• 3 22-gallon Rubbermaid trash cans.
• Generic 20-gallon long tank & stand.
• Generic LED lights.
• Fluval C2 HOB filter.
• Hydor wavemaker.
• 2 MJ400 powerheads.
• Pretty much every Hanna colorimeter.
• Milwaukee optical salinity meter.
• Hanna pHep meter.

Well, that's the major stuff we have for the tank. Next up, some pictures, and a description of the setup process...

 

[ngoodermuth]

Following! Cant wait to see pictures of it all set up

 

[mch1984]

Looking forward to following along with a Texas build.

 

[RamsReef]

Dang son, nice wife you got there, get that all in one shot

 

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I guess I should explain the post title, before I go on...

We live in a small town just north of Dallas, TX. The signs around here advertise this as horse country. There are a ton of ranches that raise a variety of breeds. My guess is the majority are American Quarter Horses who see a lot of duty in barrel racing, cutting, and other ranch-related duties.

Anyway, I'm lucky enough to work from home. We converted a front facing bedroom into an office my wife and I share. I decide that I wanted the tank in our office, so it could be viewed all day. That left with the problem of where to put all the support equipment. The result, I converted the closet into a makeshift fish room. Most of the electric in the house is 15 amp. The first thing I needed to do was run a dedicated 20 amp circuit.



And the corner where the fish tank would set.



As you can see below, the fish room is pretty tightly packed. The LED strips are some el-cheapo Amazon ones. The 3 Rubbermaid containers hold all my water. All water lines are marked: blue is RO/DI, yellow is salt, red is waste.



The containers are plumbed in to the Smart AWC, so I can do push-button water changes. There is enough storage to do about a week's worth (2.5 gals per change). The outlets are wired such that each one has an independant GFCI.

And, there's this nifty, little contraption which gives me a quick view of how much power the whole circuit is drawing...



And, finally, a way to hide it all away...



Next up, piles o' stuff...

 

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We started ordering stuff in Dec and January. The UPS driver was really loving us. Here's one day's shipment:



Then, some of the stuff moved into the house. Sadly, it sat there for some time waiting for the tank to arrive. :|

 

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I ordered the rock from Reef Cleaners. When I ordered, I asked for things that weren't very symmetrical, and not a lot of rubble. I got exactly what I wanted. Here's the approximately 200 pounds of rock I ordered spread out on the ground.

 

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On to the tank. But first, a rant...

We'd originally planned a 210 gallon tank. I went to one of our (reputable) LFSs in the area, ordered a tank and stand, and dropped a deposit. This is when I got a real dose of reality. I get it. We're fortunate today in that we can hop online, order something from practically anywhere, and get it promptly. Amazon will get it to you in a couple days. Most other places will (at the very least) keep you updated on the status of your order.

A few weeks pass. Each time, I have to call to find out what's going on. The first delivery date passes, then the next, and the next. Each time I interact with the person at this LFS, I get a story. I finally drive down (it's an hour away from) to the LFS to see what's what. Sure enough, the day before the individual had, um, misstated facts. I cancelled the order.

Our next experience was better, but not by much. We decided to change gears a little. We thought going with a commodity tank would be better. That led to my ordering a RSR 625 from another LFS. Sure enough, there was another delay. And, the delivery happened very late in the evening with little notice. I won't say we were thrilled with the experience. But, at least we got the tank. I'd also note that it seemed clear the stand had been a rush assembly. So, for any RSR purchasers out there... Don't let the LFS put it together if you can avoid it. They're just not going to take the care you are.

With that said, the tank was finally in its place...

 

[AZMSGT]

more more more

 

[Billfromtr]

Good luck with the tank! Any wait to see It filled.

 

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Sorry I'm doing this so slowly, folks. Busy doing life and taking care of my tank.

First, a couple shots of the sump. I really like this RSR. But the sump? With that, I have a love/hate relationship. The skimmer and main pump in the back are a bit of a pain. The skimmer is a Reef Octopus Regal 150INT. Since the pictures in this post, I've put it on a skimmer stand to raise it a bit. The BRS reactors have since been removed. I'll show updated pics of the sump and stuff later.

 

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Regarding the sump... The mount for the H380 turned out to be too low. I changed it out for one of Kessil's a-series mounting arms. That one works much better. The LED strip in the stand is a basic one from Amazon which works quite well.

This, I guess, brings me to the tank. Here it is will an initial attempt at rock work...

 

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Hmm. It's been a while since I've done an update on this. There's been a lot of changes over the past few months. The biggest is the isolation tank. I think the reef keeper brochures should mention that larger tanks seem to require nanos, lol. It's an isolation tank, because only frags/inverts go in here. I quarantine fish in a very different way.

My isolation is a simple 20g tall. It's lit by a black box LED sitting atop a DIY canopy(ish). Circulation is handled by 2 MJ600s on a wave maker (of sorts). Primary filtration started as a simple HOB filter. It's now being handled by a CPR medium HOB refuge. The refuge takes up the entire back of the tank. The refuge has sand and chaeto. Last, but not least, is an el-cheapo UV sterilizer.

The sterilizer is probably the most awesome part. The tank was constantly cloudy. No amount of filtration, bacteria additions, or anything else would solve it. The pictures below show the progression of the cloudiness after adding the sterilizer on the 15th of this month.

15 Jan 2020...

17 Jan 2020...

21 Jan 2020...

And, finally, 25 Jan 2020...

All the dead frags were lost, because I couldn't beat the cloudiness. Anyway, things are turning around. I'll post more about tank changes later. Including, going skimmerless.