Louie's Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 500

Broadfield · Jul 9, 2017

Thanks for the shot! Personally, I think an AP700 is only good for 36". I know Kessil says it will do 48", at a ridiculous 18" above the water, but I'm curious what the PAR is at that height. So I think you are making the right decision going with two of them. Although supplementing one of them with T5s would be nice too... but with the challenge of getting the T5 retrofit to physically look appealing hanging over the tank. As far as shimmer, you may lose a little, but two T5 bulbs can't out compete the shimmer of the Ap700.

LV3 · Jul 9, 2017

Broadfield said:
Thanks for the shot! Personally, I think an AP700 is only good for 36". I know Kessil says it will do 48", at a ridiculous 18" above the water, but I'm curious what the PAR is at that height. So I think you are making the right decision going with two of them. Although supplementing one of them with T5s would be nice too... but with the challenge of getting the T5 retrofit to physically look appealing hanging over the tank. As far as shimmer, you may lose a little, but two T5 bulbs can't out compete the shimmer of the Ap700.

I couldn't agree more. But also nice to hear the same thoughts.

LV3 · Jul 9, 2017

I never thought I'd see the day I'd be excited about a new mag cleaner. But this thing is slick. Works like a champ!

Greybeard · Jul 9, 2017

I bought a 'Flipper' some time back. Wrote an online review extolling it's virtues. Great piece of equipment... until... I won a Tunze clean magnet at a reef swap event. Man, I love that Tunze. The Flipper is still a good piece of equipment, but... for my new 3/4" glass tank, I'm ordering a new Tunze 0220.025 Strong+. Give one a shot, if you get the chance. Yes, they're expensive. And IMHO, worth it.

LV3 · Jul 9, 2017

Greybeard said:
I bought a 'Flipper' some time back. Wrote an online review extolling it's virtues. Great piece of equipment... until... I won a Tunze clean magnet at a reef swap event. Man, I love that Tunze. The Flipper is still a good piece of equipment, but... for my new 3/4" glass tank, I'm ordering a new Tunze 0220.025 Strong+. Give one a shot, if you get the chance. Yes, they're expensive. And IMHO, worth it.

Haha, now I'm afraid to try the Tunze. I think I'll go on believing I have best mag cleaner known to man.

LV3 · Jul 13, 2017

Look what came in the mail today. This is really going to kill productivity today.

Greybeard · Jul 13, 2017

Had a friend that was running a fish store get one of those in. Awesome light. You get the tank mounts for it, or are you hanging it?

Lighting my 60x30" tank would cost a bloody fortune if I were to buy something like that, but it sure would look nice

My big, old fashioned T5 light will just have to be sufficient for me... for a while, at least. Price was right, I bought it used for a c-note. Replaced the ballasts, new bulbs... should be solid for a while.

LV3 · Jul 13, 2017

I have 1 AP700 now on the Kessil A arms but will be assembling an 8020 extruded aluminum frame tomorrow to hang both lights over the tank.

LV3 · Jul 18, 2017

The rack came in today. I have a small adjustment to make but I'm liking it so far. PAR levels are outstanding and the look is clean. Couldn't be happier.

flowflezy · Aug 13, 2017

Thinking about getting this tank or a 350. I am done with upgrading LOL. I will be checking out the setups at MACNA. What size return pump did you go with L1? And what size pump is on the back wall do you think you will need two? Anything you would have done different?

LV3 · Aug 13, 2017

I'm running the M1 Vectra. I run the pump at 80%. I have 2 MP40s on the overflow side. They provide good flow but with my aquascape I have some dead spots that I'm working through. I've thought about a gyre pump but my concern is that debris wouldn't make it down the overflow effectively so I'm not sold on it yet.

The sump is a little tight but I think Red Sea did a good job utilizing the available space. As a result, my dosing pumps are in the dry area and I'm not sure that a calcium reactor would fit underneath.

The only couple things I would have done differently is purchasing an apex instead of a reefkeeper. It works fine and was cheap but there are some quirks I'm working through with digital aquatics. I'd also use all special grade versus half Fiji pink sand. The Fiji pink kicked up a little bit, nothing bad, but the special grade stays put when the pumps are rocking.

It's a great tank and I'm incredibly happy with the build quality. It looks great in the living room and has a polished modern look. I thought once whether I should have bought the bigger model, but it was a foot longer and for my room didn't make that much of a difference because it's the same width as the 500. Maybe if it was also wider at the 650 model it would have been appealing for me. Size is great with good options for different aquascapes.

Daniel@R2R · Aug 14, 2017

Good-looking tank!

LV3 · Aug 26, 2017

Here's some updates shots of the tank. I changed up the rocks because I wasn't getting good flow at the end of the tank.

Clayton Jessup · Aug 27, 2017

It really looks good [emoji4]

Jimbo662 · Aug 27, 2017

Great looking set up. I use 8020 on both of my current tanks but the horizontal bars are only 15". Do you see any sagging on yours since it's so long? I've been looking at the 650 peninsula and live in an apartment and didn't want to try to attach a light to the ceiling.

LV3 · Aug 27, 2017

Jimbo662 said:
Great looking set up. I use 8020 on both of my current tanks but the horizontal bars are only 15". Do you see any sagging on yours since it's so long? I've been looking at the 650 peninsula and live in an apartment and didn't want to try to attach a light to the ceiling.

No, I can't see any noticeable sagging on that long run. It's not bolted to the cabinet or the wall. It fits snugly between the cabinet and the wall on a vertical board. So far so good.

Jimbo662 · Aug 27, 2017

LV3 said:
No, I can't see any noticeable sagging on that long run. It's not bolted to the cabinet or the wall. It fits snugly between the cabinet and the wall on a vertical board. So far so good.

Thanks!

LV3 · Oct 19, 2017

An update to my system; I was using magnetic frag racks inside the display and wanted a frag tank. The thought of maintaining another system with more equipment caused me to evaluate a different solution where I could plumb in a frag tank into this main system. I came up with a frag tank in the cabinet above the sump. I later saw that others with earlier reefer systems were doing the same and added a refugium in the same method. This is what I came up with.

- Drilled a 10g Aqueon tank from Petco
- Full siphon overflow with a valve and an emergency drain
- 3/4 return powered by a pump I already had
- Added a Kessil A80 to the frag tank on a reverse cycle along with the Kessil H350 refugium light
- Added another 8x8x4 MarinePure Block and moved them to a more passive location in the sump for denitrification
- Dedicated the main refugium to macros

I moved the ATO reservoir outside the cabinet but am working on getting a trigger systems reservoir inside the controls area of the cabinet. I’m quickly running out of space. I guess I need a fish room. An update on my wire management is also needed.