Jason's Reefer 250: Fish added! Sump Mod, Clarisea, custom plumbing, aquascape w/E-Marco, IKEA cabinet mod. (Pic heavy!)

[Eight]

I've been procrastinating posting a tank update because I've been struggling with taking good photos of the aquarium under blue light. (Which really isn't a good reason to not do a tank update!) I need more time to fiddle with my phone/new SLR/filters/software... in the meantime here are some daylight photos. Which actually are kind of refreshing in their own way.

Overall the tank has been doing really well. Growth could be better, but between the new baby, lots of changes at work, etc. I let maintenance slip for a period which set me back a bit. Now, however, things are hitting a nice rhythm. There's also been a few changes to the tank since I last posted an update.

1) I upgraded to the newer gen Apex. TBH, there really isn't that much difference between the pre-2016 one and this new one EXCEPT that you can use a Trident.

2) I really like the Trident; more than I thought I would. I sort of made an 'all in decision' one day to do the Apex update and get the Trident. I am happy I did. The Trident has been really reliable and I underestimated how much I would appreciate the automated testing 3x/day. It has helped me stay on top of Alk/Ca/Mg in a way that I never did when I was manually testing. Given my crazy schedule, this has proven valuable to me. It did require me to make space in my already space constricted cabinet, but I managed to fit it in behind the cabinet door on the dry side. My one complaint is that it is a bit noisy when it runs... the default schedule has it running at lunch, so I always hear it when I eat. Sort of a soft whine. I'll have to figure out how to change the schedule to have it run sometime early afternoon when I'm not in the kitchen.

3) I swapped the Kessil A360s for the AP9x. Honestly, not much of a difference here, but I like the streamlined look of the AP9x. It's plenty bright, I don't run it at full strength. Build quality, design, noise level are all really nice.

4) One of the Tunze stream pumps has just been a piece of s**t. Flaked out on me, I tried to clean it and it just won't start. The other one works just fine though. Gave up and went with an IceCap gyre 2k which I am very happy with. It's a little big, but positioned on the left side of the tank, the profile is very very small since it's a cylinder. It moves a lot of water in a distributed flow. My sand doesn't move around the tank anymore. For awhile, I was going in with the scraper and playing bulldozer with the sand dunes.

If there are two things that I really did right with this setup it's the sump/plumbing and the aquascaping. Rockscape has been super solid. The Marco cement has been a miracle. Having built many tanks in the past, from stacking rocks to drilling holes and using pvc/acrylic rods... I will never go back to aquascaping without Marco. I am confident I could just grab one of those rock structures and lift it right out of the tank without anything breaking apart. Amazing stuff.

The sump/plumbing/clarisea/reactors have also been fantastic. Overflow mod is super quiet and easy to adjust. Reactors are accessible and haven't given me problems and the Clarisea is also a gamechanger. I have gone through two rolls since I have owned it and it's been flawless. One bonus I realized... if I do tank maintenance and pluck any hair algae, I can just throw it down the overflow. It's like a built in disposal. Happy with the Nyos 120 skimmer as well. Once you figure out how to do big water level changes by twisting the whole pipe, it becomes much easier to manage the foam level.

My last note: If you aren't using Vibrant and are struggling with hair algae at all, you should try it. I have been doubtful of any sort of "snake oil" additives to tanks over the years, but this just works. I had a bit of a hair algae problem, nothing horrible, but enough to smother some zoas and I had a hard time tweezing them out. I bought an overkill amount of snails/hermits and they didn't get to them. Added Vibrant and in one week all the hair algae is gone. The stuff is voodoo. I wouldn't maintain another tank without it.

I'll try to post some better full tank shots, sump shots and stuff in the next week or so.

 

[ReefRondo]

This is amazing. Thank you so much for such an amazing write up and taking all that time to document your progress. Well done!

 

[Reefer_NYC]

i swapped to AP9X as well! what's your schedule/settings look like

 

[Eight]

Hasty full tank shot from the front.

 

[BostonReefer300]

Thanks for your detailed build thread. I just happened upon it and it's very informative and I've only read a bit so far. Question: you have a refugium with chaeto but you also use Vibrant? Sorry if I missed it in the thread somewhere, but how do you do that since Vibrant isn't good for chaeto? Do you remove the chaeto for a while when you dose Vibrant? Many thanks!

 

[Eight]

Thanks for your detailed build thread. I just happened upon it and it's very informative and I've only read a bit so far. Question: you have a refugium with chaeto but you also use Vibrant? Sorry if I missed it in the thread somewhere, but how do you do that since Vibrant isn't good for chaeto? Do you remove the chaeto for a while when you dose Vibrant? Many thanks!

Ah yes, I should clarify. The Vibrant mostly crushed my chaeto in the sump. But honestly, that was a fair trade for me. I'd much rather have zero hair algae in the display and weak chaeto in the sump than fight hair algae smothering corals in the display with robust chaeto under the tank.

I might reintroduce chaeto at a later time one or two months down the road. For now, I just have some bio balls, crappy looking chaeto and rubble in the sump.

 

[BostonReefer300]

Ah yes, I should clarify. The Vibrant mostly crushed my chaeto in the sump. But honestly, that was a fair trade for me. I'd much rather have zero hair algae in the display and weak chaeto in the sump than fight hair algae smothering corals in the display with robust chaeto under the tank.

I might reintroduce chaeto at a later time one or two months down the road. For now, I just have some bio balls, crappy looking chaeto and rubble in the sump.

Great thank you for clarifying and thanks again for a great build thread!

 

[misserica22]

i LOVE this aquascape! So pretty

 

[Eight]

i swapped to AP9X as well! what's your schedule/settings look like

I'm not sure if I have the perfect AP9X schedule to be honest, I've been running basically noon to midnight. Ramping up to 60 intensity and varying from 10 color to 40 color then back down. (The kessil app doesn't line the plot points properly against time so it looks off, but this will give you an idea of my ramp.)

 

[Eight]

Picked up a really nice Scolymia this week.

Unfortunately it came with hydroids and baby aptasia all around the edges so I had to "epoxy smother" the pests. I have zero aptasia in the tank so I'm not taking any chances.

I especially like the orange striping on this guy.

 

[Pakman2]

Ok, here is the complete parts list for what is built above. I have not listed the few parts you'll need to connect your return pump since that will depend on your pump and whether you hard or soft plumb it. I think it's easiest to categorize the parts by each main assembly.

For the manifold including the gate valves:
1 x Redsea Part 4221
1 x 3/4 thread to 1" slip adapter (Wrap this with tape and it attaches to the above)
4 x 1 inch 90 degree elbows
1 x 1 inch corner tee (This is the angled tee in the back left corner)
2 x 1 inch tees (These point down to feed your reactors)
3 x 1 inch to 1/2 inch reducer bushings (These reduce two of your 1 inch tees and one of the down pointing 90s to 1/2")
3 x 1/2" gate valves (slip/slip)
1 x 1 inch slip by slip union (This will lead to your return pump)

For each reactor... so double this if you are doing two of them:
2 x 1/2" thread by 1/2" slip adapter
2 x 1/2" 90 degree elbows
2 x O rings (3/4" ID x 15/16 OD x 3/32 Section)

For the emergency drain:
1 x Redsea Part 4221
1 x 3/4 thread to 1" inch slip adapter

For the main drain:
1 x Redsea Part 4221
1 x 3/4 thread to 1" inch slip adapter
3 x 1 inch 90 degree elbows
1 x 1 inch gate valve (slip/slip)
1 x 1 inch union (slip/slip)

In addition, I used:
10 feet of red 1" PVC
5 feet of red 1/2" PVC

@Eight Can I ask where you found the corner tee? I’m having difficulties finding a vendor online that carries that specific corner tee.

 

[ctopherl]

Thanks! Not dosing any thing yet since I don't even have corraline seeded in the tank. Clarisea is not running at the moment. Want to give bacteria starters the best shot at seeding first. Please excuse the wiring mess, I have some shorter USB cables on order that I will use to neatly run everything.

Here are photos of the door panel. It's actually very simple. Just two small hinges. What makes the door panel difficult is you can't mount a door perfectly flush because it needs room to pivot open. On top of that, you have to avoid the main cabinet hinges on the Redsea reefer stand. I actually needed to use tiny O-rings between the stand and top hinge to space out the hinge and give it some clearance.

This is why cabinet door hinges have all those fancy screws to straighten and adjust them. (See my prior post on this.)

Did you do anything special to mount decides to pegboard, or run cables to the energy bar behind the stand?

 

[Eight]

Did you do anything special to mount decides to pegboard, or run cables to the energy bar behind the stand?

I actually ended up ditching the pegborn and just mounted everything to the back of the stand. I found it much more secure and still out of the way. For cable routing, I used removable zip ties and strapped them to the PVC on the non visible sides.

 

[Grumblez]

How do you have the kessil mounted? It's the light I think I'm gonna get for mine but seems like the overflow interferes with center mounting it using the Kessil mounting kit?

3) I swapped the Kessil A360s for the AP9x. Honestly, not much of a difference here, but I like

the streamlined look of the AP9x. It's plenty bright, I don't run it at full strength. Build quality, design, noise level are all really nice.

 

[Grumblez]

How do you have the kessil mounted? It's the light I think I'm gonna get for mine but seems like the overflow interferes with center mounting it using the Kessil mounting kit?

Well answered my own question, RedSea was thoughtful enough to add a removable part from the overflow lid specifically to have a place to mount things. Unfortunately my tank is to close to the wall to fit the mount. I bought some drywall plugs I think I can mount the light straight to the wall and it will look look still though.

 

[WallysWorld]

I'm just getting started on a 300 XL build. Your thread is very useful, nice job. I'm putting in a Clarisea SK-3000 so will be making sump modifications and plumbing. Although I don't think I'm as ambitious, so I may be only modifying the drain plumbing.

Curious about your use of egg crate to cover the base of the display. I think I saw a post where you decided to do something different? Just curious as to your thinking and the pluses and minuses.

 

[Machpoint89]

I'm just getting started on a 300 XL build. Your thread is very useful, nice job. I'm putting in a Clarisea SK-3000 so will be making sump modifications and plumbing. Although I don't think I'm as ambitious, so I may be only modifying the drain plumbing.

Curious about your use of egg crate to cover the base of the display. I think I saw a post where you decided to do something different? Just curious as to your thinking and the pluses and minuses.

Can't answer for Jason, but I stopped using them as I find they're detritus "traps" enjoy the process. I think the ClariSea has been my most valued piece of equipment.

 

[WallysWorld]

Can't answer for Jason, but I stopped using them as I find they're detritus "traps" enjoy the process. I think the ClariSea has been my most valued piece of equipment.

Yeah, that's been my concern in the past. I'm intrigued with eggcrate for two reasons: 1) protection of the glass bottom; 2) possibly less drifting of sand or maybe more sand stability

 

[WallysWorld]

I just finished modding the Reefer 250 v3 sump by removing the filter sock holder and baffles. This was one of the steps I was most apprehensive of because I didn't like the idea of messing with the stock sump. I debated keeping the filter sock area and just tee-ing a separate drain line to the Clarisea, but in the end, I think it'll be better if I just open up that whole area. Although lots of people have done this mod, I haven't found clear step by step instructions... at least not ones that made me feel confident about what I was doing. Here's my write up for others who may want to do this to their own sumps.

The whole process took me about 90 minutes. My goals were to remove the sock holder and glass baffle without breaking anything just in case I ever wanted to replace them. (I highly doubt I will ever replace them though.) I also wanted to make sure I didn't damage any of the other silicone areas. To start, I put down the sump on some cardboard to make sure I had a nice surface to work on.

Although this isn't rocket science, it's not the easiest mod. It takes a good deal of patience, time and strength to cut through all of the black silicone. That said, it's definitely something I would do again.

I heard many people suggest various techniques to cutting out the silicone: fishing line, razor blades, box cutter, guitar string, etc. I tried various fishing leaders, but they kept breaking and were very rough on my hands. In the end, the easiest way for me to cut everything was with a simple flat razor and the flat end of a box cutter to use as a tool to push the razor into the silicone.

There's basically two steps to this mod. The first step is to remove the plastic sock holder as one piece. To do this, you just need to cut between the plastic and glass. I found it best to start by cutting as much 'surface silicone' out from the sump as possible by making straight 90 degree cuts to the glass. The silicone will come off in a big strip. This will allow you more space/visibility to get in between the pieces you are trying to separate.

Next you want to work the flat razor right in between the plastic and the glass. It take a good deal of force to do this.

While you can try pulling the razor along the silicone, the technique that worked best for me was to lay the razor flush to where I wanted to cut and then use the end of the box cutter to force it into the gap.

By repeatedly pushing the razor into the gap with the tool, removing it, shifting it over and then repeating, you can cut the silicone in 'razor length segments'. Eventually, you will get enough silicone removed that you can gently begin pulling up on the filter sock holder. The plastic is somewhat brittle, so don't force it if you want to keep the piece whole.

Here is the filter sock holder completely free.

After you remove the plastic filter sock holder, the next step is to remove the baffle that divides the drain area and the filter sock area. Use the same techniques as before... remove as much surface silicone as you can and then use the flat razor and a tool to force it in between the panels. Be patient.

After you get both sides loose, you'll need to finish by cutting out the bottom.

I only removed two pieces, the plastic filter sock holder and the single panel. I know some other people cut out the little glass bridge piece at the bottom or the rail with the dots, but I chose to remove as little as possible.

This is what the sump looks like with both pieces out.

Those little silicone black bits are a real PITA. They are tiny and stick to everything, but you can remove them by carefully scraping them out with the razor blade and using a wet paper towel to get the stragglers. This is what the fully modified sump looks like when it's done.

Hope this helps!

Just finished modifying my XL300 sump, which is nearly identical to yours, slightly different dimensions. I used you razor blade method. Was much easier than I was expecting. Thanks for the method!

 

[mcc21]

Hey awesome build. I am trying to do the same thing as your Red Sea Reefer 250.
How hard was it to mod the sump to fit the Clarisea? Thanks!