NXE's Red Sea Reefer-S 1000 G2

[PeterC99]

Hi everyone, apologies for the lack of updates on this thread! Our second child arrived in June and since then I have not been able to spend much time on R2R or on the tank, but it is up and running and doing well. Here is a very quick picture (it is night time so lights were off just before I took this):

I am still very happy with the tank. I have no issues at all and the stock plumbing has been reliable, so haven't felt the need to replace the stock main drain valve with a gate valve as I did on my Peninsula 500.

I will aim to catch up on my backlog of posts over the next few weeks and get this build thread back on track!

Looks great! Very nice!

 

[NXE]

Return Pumps

Plumbing
I am using two hard plumbed Vectra M1s for my return pumps. The stock return lines have what appear to be union couplers on them, but I could not find a union collar that would connect to them, so I ended up cutting them off and replacing with standard 25mm unions.

Stock return line:

Stock union removed:

The outlet thread on the Vectra M1 is 25mm, but not every 25mm union will fit directly on to it (the thread size does not seem to be standardised for metric unions). After much trial and error, the unions that I found work are manufactured by Comer: https://www.discountleisureproducts...25mm-grey-pvc-pressure-pipe-union-p2642/s3590

I used some red 25mm PVC pipe to make return lines for the pumps:

First pump connected:

Pump quick-disconnect cables
One thing that I found to be annoying on my last tank was that removing pumps for cleaning was more difficult than it needed to be because of cable management. In order to remove the pump from the sump I would have to pull out its cable from the various clips I had installed to keep it tidy. In order to avoid that issue on this build, I had the idea of putting a quick-disconnect connector at the pump end of the cable:

The connector sits above the waterline and is IP68 rates, so I was hopeful that it would be able withstand saltwater ingreess, but I only did this to one of the pumps as a test. It has been running for over six months now without issue, so I feel confident enough now to put a connector on the other pump. The connector that I used is an LD20 with 5 pins: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364224492839?hash=item54cd78b527:g:-e8AAOSwak1kP63h

The connector is installed by cutting the pump's cable and connecting the wires within the cable to the screw terminals on either side of the connector, making sure that the colours line up correctly when the two halves mate:

With these connectors, I will not have to remove the pump cables from the cable raceways I installed in the sump in order to take them out for cleaning, making the job much more straightforward:

 

[PeterC99]

Return Pumps

Plumbing
I am using two hard plumbed Vectra M1s for my return pumps. The stock return lines have what appear to be union couplers on them, but I could not find a union collar that would connect to them, so I ended up cutting them off and replacing with standard 25mm unions.

Stock return line:

Stock union removed:

The outlet thread on the Vectra M1 is 25mm, but not every 25mm union will fit directly on to it (the thread size does not seem to be standardised for metric unions). After much trial and error, the unions that I found work are manufactured by Comer: https://www.discountleisureproducts...25mm-grey-pvc-pressure-pipe-union-p2642/s3590

I used some red 25mm PVC pipe to make return lines for the pumps:

First pump connected:

Pump quick-disconnect cables
One thing that I found to be annoying on my last tank was that removing pumps for cleaning was more difficult than it needed to be because of cable management. In order to remove the pump from the sump I would have to pull out its cable from the various clips I had installed to keep it tidy. In order to avoid that issue on this build, I had the idea of putting a quick-disconnect connector at the pump end of the cable:

The connector sits above the waterline and is IP68 rates, so I was hopeful that it would be able withstand saltwater ingreess, but I only did this to one of the pumps as a test. It has been running for over six months now without issue, so I feel confident enough now to put a connector on the other pump. The connector that I used is an LD20 with 5 pins: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364224492839?hash=item54cd78b527:g:-e8AAOSwak1kP63h

The connector is installed by cutting the pump's cable and connecting the wires within the cable to the screw terminals on either side of the connector, making sure that the colours line up correctly when the two halves mate:

With these connectors, I will not have to remove the pump cables from the cable raceways I installed in the sump in order to take them out for cleaning, making the job much more straightforward:

Very nice work!!!

Love what you did with the quick connect for the M1 electrical cable. Wish all pumps came that way.

Are you available for hire?

 

[NXE]

Very nice work!!!

Thanks!

Are you available for hire?

Only if you want to fly me out from the UK

 

[PeterC99]

Thanks!

Only if you want to fly me out from the UK

Your quick connection for the M1 electrical cable is brilliant!

Might be worth it for me to pay for your trip here to US?

 

[NXE]

Your quick connection for the M1 electrical cable is brilliant!

Might be worth it for me to pay for your trip here to US?

I have ordered a bunch of them now. Going to put one on every wavemaker and pump on the tank. Only problem is that I will no longer have any excuse for not cleaning the pumps frequently…!

 

[NXE]

Mechanical Filtration

I am using a ReefMat 1200 for mechanical filtration. It is a big improvement on the Clairsea SK-5000 I had on my previous tank. Much easier to change rolls and the notifications when the end of the rolls is near are very helpful.

Connecting the ReefMat to the stock main drain line is easy using the supplied hose:

However, I wanted to connect the secondary drain to the ReefMat as well. I am aware that this introduces some theoretical risk if the ReefMat becomes blocked, but I cannot see how that would arise in practice given its design with emergency overflows on both sides.

The ReefMat has a second inlet connector, but does not include the accessories necessary to connect it to the stock plumbing. Rather than purchase a whole additional flexible tube assembly from RedSea, I was able to create one using the leftover tubing from the main connection and some bits and pieces:

All hooked up:

 

[PeterC99]

Mechanical Filtration

I am using a ReefMat 1200 for mechanical filtration. It is a big improvement on the Clairsea SK-5000 I had on my previous tank. Much easier to change rolls and the notifications when the end of the rolls is near are very helpful.

Connecting the ReefMat to the stock main drain line is easy using the supplied hose:

However, I wanted to connect the secondary drain to the ReefMat as well. I am aware that this introduces some theoretical risk if the ReefMat becomes blocked, but I cannot see how that would arise in practice given its design with emergency overflows on both sides.

The ReefMat has a second inlet connector, but does not include the accessories necessary to connect it to the stock plumbing. Rather than purchase a whole additional flexible tube assembly from RedSea, I was able to create one using the leftover tubing from the main connection and some bits and pieces:

All hooked up:

All these great upgrades that you are installing are really tempting me to upgrade my Red Sea Reefer!!!

Keep the info coming - I’m taking detailed notes!

 

[NXE]

All these great upgrades that you are installing are really tempting me to upgrade my Red Sea Reefer!!!

Keep the info coming - I’m taking detailed notes!

Your tank looks fantastic! I have a lot to learn on the coral-growing side of things. Will look through your build thread for some tips!

 

[NXE]

Filling the Tank and Moving Livestock

The tank was filled for the first time last August. It took the best part of a day to fill with RODI:

Once filled I added the salt and left to mix for 24 hours:

The next day was the most stressful part of the whole build process, catching the fish in my existing tank and transporting them and the coral + rock roughly 1.5 hours by car. The fish were transported in buckets with aerated water and the rock was moved in two large boxes with some water at the bottom to try to keep them from drying out:

Thankfully everything made the journey without issue, but it was a long day. Most of my corals went into the sump for a few days while I sorted out the aquascape:

 

[NXE]

Frag/QT Tank

My frag/QT tank arrived last week! It's a Waterbox AIO 25 Peninsula:

The tank came very well packaged and includes all necessary basic accessories:

I picked the AIO25 because it has the exact same footprint as a stand that I already had available:

As soon as the tank was filled, I headed to my local LFS to pick up some new additions to go through a 45 day quarantine:

For lighting, I am running a Nicrew HyperReef 100W. It is a basic light, but I am impressed by the colours it produces and the wattage is more than enough for this tank. I am running the blue channel only, at 50%, and the fan never comes on. The light does not have a built in time-controller, but I purchased the separate Nicrew 0-10V controller which allows you to program the different channels:

The stock AC return pump was too noisy for my tastes, so I picked up an Aqua Medic DC Runner 1.3, which fits in the return pump chamber of the AIO25 without modification:

I used a barb connector I had lying around to connect the pump to the silicon return line:

The new return pump is silent. Now the only thing that I can hear is the wavemaker...

The other pieces of equipment running on the tank are all things I had lying around. I am using my old Tunze Osmolator and 12V caravan pump for ATO, an Inkbird ITC-1000 heater controller with an Eheim Jager 50w for heating and a Jebao SLW-10 for flow. The lack of 'smart' features has actually been very refreshing – no need to install muliple apps from different venors or struggling to get devices connected to the WiFI!

Everything fits neatly into the cabinet along with my fish meds and other QT supplies: