MuffinMonster's Red Sea Reefer 250!

[canadianeh]

How do you plan to plum the Clarisea? Can you show the picture? Are you going to have a refugium in the sump? Any reactors? Are you going to go with Triton?

 

[MuffinMonster]

How do you plan to plum the Clarisea? Can you show the picture? Are you going to have a refugium in the sump? Any reactors? Are you going to go with Triton?

The Clarisea is hard plumbed to the main drain under the gate valve, i added a union to be able to remove the Clarisea easier. The 1" pvc that goes into the Clarisea is just dry fit- i did not glue it- otherwise it would be super hard to remove.

No refugium in the sump, not actually running a refugium on this tank. I will run a mini BRS reactor to just hold 1/2 cup of carbon, no GFO. And i'm not running triton, just automatic water changes and mechanical filtration!

 

[canadianeh]

The Clarisea is hard plumbed to the main drain under the gate valve, i added a union to be able to remove the Clarisea easier. The 1" pvc that goes into the Clarisea is just dry fit- i did not glue it- otherwise it would be super hard to remove.

No refugium in the sump, not actually running a refugium on this tank. I will run a mini BRS reactor to just hold 1/2 cup of carbon, no GFO. And i'm not running triton, just automatic water changes and mechanical filtration!

The 1” pvc fits directly to Clarisea without any modification?

 

[MuffinMonster]

The 1” pvc fits directly to Clarisea without any modification?

Yes sir, the description in the Clarisea details says its 32mm, but its definitely 1" inlet.

 

[MuffinMonster]

Busted open the Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid floating bracket mount last night, the build quality is fantastic. Setting it up was pretty straight forward and easy. The hold the lights around 4" off the wall, my tank sits 3" off the wall so the bulb and fixture placement is perfect. I was worried it would feel flimsy with the fixture on it, but it's actually really solid feeling. I definitely have more confidence in it after seeing it in action in-person than just pictures and descriptions on the internet. Totally worth it if you have a tank sitting close to the wall! Also I live in a very open concept New-York-Style loft, everything is brick and concrete, all the conduit and A/C heater vents are all open to view in plain sight. So i think this floating kit flows right in with the rest of the style of my loft as you can see all the hardware and wires out in the open. Love it!

Here are some pictures of the aftermath~

 

[canadianeh]

Are you able to take pictures of the left top and bottom corner inside the cabinet? I am curious to see your plumbing.

 

[MuffinMonster]

Are you able to take pictures of the left top and bottom corner inside the cabinet? I am curious to see your plumbing.

You have other pictures you want other than these? posted these on the first page of the thread a couple weeks ago. Those are the only other pictures i have currently.

 

[canadianeh]

You have other pictures you want other than these? posted these on the first page of the thread a couple weeks ago. Those are the only other pictures i have currently.

I saw those ones but I could not see behind the Clarisea

 

[Eight]

Looking good! I like the purple. I went with the more standard red.

I think you and I were exchanging notes before on the sump mod. I finally finished almost all my sump plumbing this weekend. There are a lot of things we did similarly, like the gate valve to union to clarisea. Did you end up keeping the stock refugium area?

 

[MuffinMonster]

Looking good! I like the purple. I went with the more standard red.

I think you and I were exchanging notes before on the sump mod. I finally finished almost all my sump plumbing this weekend. There are a lot of things we did similarly, like the gate valve to union to clarisea. Did you end up keeping the stock refugium area?

Thanks man! Dude, yours is looking amazing as well! Killer plumbing job bro. I Was really hesitant on actually building a manifold and adding reactors etc... the only thing i'm going to be running is a mini BRS reactor with a 1/2 cup carbon in it. Don't plan on running anything else so i opted out of hard plumbing a manifold. What return pump did you go with again? I am running a Simplicity 1000dc as it was recommended by my LFS, got it hooked up and it moves some water and is really quiet- save for this high pitch hum frequency noise that bugs me a bit. So i ordered a Reef Octopus Varios 2, everyone says these are dead silent. Haven't had a chance to swap it out yet though.

I did not keep the refugium area, i actually cut out that additional glass piece between the clarisea and refugium area, and cut out the two plastic baffle slots between the refugium and the skimmer area. Im going to run one of my 8x8x4 Marine pure blocks below the clarisea, and one right in front of it for water to pass through. Only other things ill be running in the sump is the Skimmer and MiniBRS reactor, and heater of course.

 

[MuffinMonster]

I saw those ones but I could not see behind the Clarisea

Here is what it looks like behind the Clarisea, i went 1" pvc to 1" barb adapter. Then running a 1" barb on my return pump with black silicone tubing in between!

 

[rishma]

Thanks man! Dude, yours is looking amazing as well! Killer plumbing job bro. I Was really hesitant on actually building a manifold and adding reactors etc... the only thing i'm going to be running is a mini BRS reactor with a 1/2 cup carbon in it. Don't plan on running anything else so i opted out of hard plumbing a manifold. What return pump did you go with again? I am running a Simplicity 1000dc as it was recommended by my LFS, got it hooked up and it moves some water and is really quiet- save for this high pitch hum frequency noise that bugs me a bit. So i ordered a Reef Octopus Varios 2, everyone says these are dead silent. Haven't had a chance to swap it out yet though.

I did not keep the refugium area, i actually cut out that additional glass piece between the clarisea and refugium area, and cut out the two plastic baffle slots between the refugium and the skimmer area. Im going to run one of my 8x8x4 Marine pure blocks below the clarisea, and one right in front of it for water to pass through. Only other things ill be running in the sump is the Skimmer and MiniBRS reactor, and heater of course.

I run a varios 2 on my reefer 170 and it is silent. I tried several other pumps first. I am unreasonable about equipment noise and the varios works for me.
Great setup. I am re-setting up my reefer 170 after a move and I wish I had a roller mat

 

[MuffinMonster]

I run a varios 2 on my reefer 170 and it is silent. I tried several other pumps first. I am unreasonable about equipment noise and the varios works for me.
Great setup. I am re-setting up my reefer 170 after a move and I wish I had a roller mat

Awesome! Glad to hear man, i was hoping this varios 2 is silent. Its a fairly small pump, and will provide me with (i'm assuming) 300-400gph turn over. Which is what i'm going for. Hoping its super silent, the room my tank is in is a 900 square foot room, 13 foot ceiling, concrete floor and ceiling, brick/plaster walls, so it is by no means a very acoustic dampening room. So the frequency hum i was getting from the Simplicity was driving me nuts. Thanks for the feedback, i'm excited to get it running!

I was looking at setting up a reefer 170 initially, there were a few good deals for used ones in my area but figured i would regret not at least getting the 250. The 170 looks like a solid tank for the size though, i like the ones i've seen. And definitely go save the penny's for a rollermat! These things are life-savers.

 

[MuffinMonster]

This past Sunday i got the rocks taken out of the brute container and transferred to the tank- they had been in a brute container with a bottle of Microbacter7 and fed a raw shrimp every two weeks since November 14th (which would put it at around 11.5 weeks cycle in the brute). I will be doing another 4 weeks for them to finish their "3 month" pre-fish cycle per the BRS/WWC method. I did add 1 more bottle of Microbacter7 when i put the rocks in the tank (there are also 2x MurinePure 8x8x4 blocks in the sump that were in the brute container the whole time too).

February 29th will be the day i transfer all my fish from the innovative marine 30L to the reefer 250 and turn on the lights! After i transfer my fish out of the IM30L i will be buying a very small Tomini Tang, will throw it in the IM30L by himself to quarantine it for 4 weeks before transferring it to the reefer 250 with the other fish. After adding the Tomini Tang to the reefer 250 i will be adding no additional fish, i will just keep those 5 (2x Clowns, 1x Royal Gramma, 1x Coral Beauty, 1x Tomini Tang)

Then by the end of March my rocks will have had roughly 20 weeks of pre-coral cycle, per BRS/WWC they say 3 months no fish, 1 month with fish and lights, then you are free to add some test corals and go from there! We will have gone a few extra weeks over the 4 they recommend. So this tank will be ready for some sticks soon enough!

 

[Waynerock]

Awesome! Glad to hear man, i was hoping this varios 2 is silent. Its a fairly small pump, and will provide me with (i'm assuming) 300-400gph turn over. Which is what i'm going for. Hoping its super silent, the room my tank is in is a 900 square foot room, 13 foot ceiling, concrete floor and ceiling, brick/plaster walls, so it is by no means a very acoustic dampening room. So the frequency hum i was getting from the Simplicity was driving me nuts. Thanks for the feedback, i'm excited to get it running!

I was looking at setting up a reefer 170 initially, there were a few good deals for used ones in my area but figured i would regret not at least getting the 250. The 170 looks like a solid tank for the size though, i like the ones i've seen. And definitely go save the penny's for a rollermat! These things are life-savers.

Varios 2 on my reefer 250! I run it at 75% and you can’t hear anything. Using a VCA RFG on my outlet and it works perfectly and have 2 Nero 5’s for flow and they move some serious water. Awesome work so far cant wait to see it full of corals. Mine is too small already. Definitely not showing inside my cabinet! Compared to your set up I am embarrassed.haha

 

[MuffinMonster]

Varios 2 on my reefer 250! I run it at 75% and you can’t hear anything. Using a VCA RFG on my outlet and it works perfectly and have 2 Nero 5’s for flow and they move some serious water. Awesome work so far cant wait to see it full of corals. Mine is too small already. Definitely not showing inside my cabinet! Compared to your set up I am embarrassed.haha

Your tank looks great mate! Them corals are going to be looking awesome when they grow out. I was debating about getting some nero 5's instead of going vortechs, i hear they are great little pumps. I like how sleek and slim they are.

I got my plumbing adapters in and will be getting the varios2 swapped into the tank this weekend, ready for some silence in this place! haha, this hum from my current pump is a bit annoying. I got a lot of work to do this weekend even outside of the varios swap, i need to install my Neptune ATK on the tank to get rid of this stock auto top off from red sea. Need to drill my brute container and get the bulkheads installed and finish my water mixing station. Its a never ending story with the reefing hobby!

 

[MuffinMonster]

This past weekend i got the booster pump installed on my RODI system, and man.... This thing produces and moves some water now. I moved into my loft back in September and noticed it had low water pressure so i have been meaning to upgrade since i have been chewing through DI resin. I was getting maybe 100 gallons of product water before needing to switch out my DI resin, which wasn't to bad considering i have been running a nano IM30L. I got all new filters, cartridges and DI resin coming in today from BRS. Im hoping to see a vast improvement in the life of my filters and DI resin now. But this thing fills up my 25 gallon brute container in half the time it took before.

 

[rishma]

I am a little nervous of RO systems over 75 psi but they do produce. I turned mine down to 70.

 

[MuffinMonster]

I am a little nervous of RO systems over 75 psi but they do produce. I turned mine down to 70.

Yea, I’m going to probably run mine at 80psi, I see a lot of videos and people saying that’s what they aim to run there’s at when running a booster pump? I also don’t run mine while I’m not at home or asleep. Usually I run it once everyone couple weeks while I’m cleaning around the house and relaxing for the day- so if something were to blow or go wrong I’m right there to catch it, so I’m not too worried about it. It is weird running those plastic lines and everything at a higher pressure lol.

 

[MuffinMonster]

February 29th!!! The day i transferred my fish over to the Reefer 250 build! The rocks have cycled 15.5 weeks (107 days to be exact), the tank has been running wet for 4 weeks now with the rock, and today the fish went in. My two clowns, royal gramma and a coral beauty.

After transferring them this morning i went to my LFS and picked up a juvenile Tomini Tang i had the LFS order a few days back in prep for this weekend. I now have the baby Tomini in my old established nano while i monitor her for 4-5 weeks before she gets transferred to the reefer 250.

Couple more months till coral get introduced, i want to see some coraline growing before i throw a few frags in. I Dosed the coraline pink and purple HELIX from algaebarn/arc reef. Well see if it does what it says!