Pulled The Trigger - Peninsula 650 Build

[Adalius]

So, I still haven't gotten the OK from the engineer for my Red Sea Peninsula 650 to verify that the floor can take it where I want it to go.

But BRS is having their 10% off sale and I figure if he tells me it's a no-go, I can go to my original plan of putting a different yet equally large tank in the basement and building it into the wall of my bar/theater area. I only moved away from that idea because the peninsula would work great at separating my dining room/living room areas.

So that said, the order started today with (in no particular order):
(1) DOS Pump
(1) AFS Autofeeder
(1) FMK Flow Monitor
(1) Apex Controller System
(2) COR-20 Return Pumps
(1) Reef Octopus 200INT
(1) RODI System
(2) Vortech MP40s
(150 lbs) Reefsaver dry rock in assorted sizes.

Figured I better get this build thread going so I'm ready for more as the stuff comes in and the tank gets ordered...

 

[GTPoker]

I wonder where people get there money to afford these purchases lol wish I had that cash

 

[Adalius]

Heheh. Well in my case, to be an open book, I had a lot of family members die in the last 10 years which led to me using their generosity to invest and buy some of my family out of our businesses, so now I own two businesses, am VP of another, and treasurer of a 4th. So the trade off for being able to afford these purchases is having almost no time to enjoy them But, I'd give it all back for a couple more years with a few of them.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Nice tank plan! Welcome to R2R!

 

[GTPoker]

Would you really honestly...

 

[Adalius]

Would you really honestly...

Yes. Note that I said a few of them, not all of them.

 

[Adalius]

Dannnnng Bulk Reef ships crazy fast. Ordered Sunday night *late*, like right before I started this thread, and this all came today, plus 2 of 3 big boxes of dry rock.

The tape outline is the proposed area where the Red Sea Peninsula 650 will eventually go if the engineer ever gets back to me. Can't complain since he's doing it for free as a favor but I don't think he realizes how antsy I am right now...

I plan on putting a dedicated circuit in the wall behind the tank and running some plumbing through some wall boxes as well to handle getting water to/from the tank.

 

[Adalius]

Well crap. The engineer finally got back to me, and tells me the floor is good for the weight at the location I want... but then I start looking around online and it appears the Red Sea Peninsula 650 Deluxe is discontinued. I can still get the plain one but to add the (4) 26HD lights to the plain package is almost $400 more than the deluxe package would have cost from the get go.

I reached out to Red Sea to see if it was discontinued because they're rolling out a newer better version or what, but I haven't heard back yet.

If I have to go with the basic, it's cheaper for me to move to the 52HD lights, but I'm not sure if I'll get enough spread from (2) 52's mounted parallel down the centerline of the tank as I would with the (4) 26's mounted across the tank...

 

[Adalius]

Red Sea got back to me today, said they canceled the Deluxe because they're coming out with their own lights for a new package in April. Guess I need to shop separate for lighting.

 

[Adalius]

Had some Paypal issues with BRS but got the tank ordered today. Also ordered a net kit for the top, two Kessil AP700s with hanging kits, an H380 fuge light, and a titanium heater. Hopefully everything will be here in the next 2 weeks.

 

[Adalius]

Got some more goodies from the awesome guys over at @Bulk Reef Supply delivered today. Two Kessil AP700s and hanging kits, one Kessil H380 (with gooseneck) for the fuge, a titanium heater, magnetic probe holder, booster pump, and a bunch of tubing for running my RO unit as well as extra long tubes for the Dos pump since I haven't decided if I'm going to mount it in the basement or upstairs.

Tank is supposed to *fingers cross* ship Friday so hopefully next week I can get the stand in position, rough in the electrical and plumbing, and maybe even get the tank on and water in by the following weekend.

Still need to pick up something to hold my RO and mix my saltwater in (which led to the discussion at https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/rodi-mixed-saltwater-storage.562452/).

Starting to get giddy. Doesn't hurt that I've been watching the BRSTv videos with the wife during dinner (her ex-husband was in the hobby and hodge-podge so she didn't have a good experience with it, so now she's willing to learn with me and join me on this crazy build), and listening to both the BRS and Reef News Network podcasts during my commute.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Had some Paypal issues with BRS but got the tank ordered today. Also ordered a net kit for the top, two Kessil AP700s with hanging kits, an H380 fuge light, and a titanium heater. Hopefully everything will be here in the next 2 weeks.

Very nice! Congratulations!

 

[Adalius]

Got the call from the trucking firm today, tank is scheduled for a Thursday afternoon delivery. Spent the weekend running a new pex line over to my water making area and plumbing in the 7 stage RODI and booster pump. Waiting on delivery of my holding tanks and some fittings to give it a test run. Pictures will be posted when its done.

 

[Adalius]

Ordered the wrong fitting. Grumble. Waiting now until Thursday for it to show up, which is the same day the tank and stand arrive. My water holding tanks should be here Friday so this weekend is going to be plumbing and hopefully filling those to mix some salt.
Also called BRS today. They ran a sale on the COR-20 pumps starting last week and I just bought two. They were kind enough to give me the difference in price in store credit which I think is dang nice of them. Can't say enough good stuff about those guys.

 

[Adalius]

Good news! Tank is here and it appears undamaged (crate looks virgin even!). Started pulling the stand parts out and doing inventory and that's when I got the bad news...

Bill of lading shows 2 pallets. They only delivered one. Customer service is no longer in today so I have to wait until tomorrow for them to do a dock check, which means I probably won't see it until Monday unless I take a drive and pick it up tomorrow. I'm missing the cross bracing and the top so, fairly important pieces.

 

[Adalius]

Tank still in the crate:

And the first half of my water mixing setup (still waiting on holding tanks, so I just used a spare piece of feed tube to run to a bucket to test the system for leaks and to make sure the booster pump switch worked).

So far so good, well water at 467 tds, RO at 16 tds (96.5% removal), flickering between 0-1 tds after the DI cartridges.

 

[ReefSlice]

Nice setup! What direction do you plan on taking with it in terms of coral and fish?
I'm jealous of your Ro/di setup... I really need to buy myself a booster pump and an extra DI canister.

 

[Dave Cureton]

That’s interesting. Mine all came in 1 crate. Hopefully everything is in good shape. Congratulations on the new tank!

 

[Adalius]

Nice setup! What direction do you plan on taking with it in terms of coral and fish?
I'm jealous of your Ro/di setup... I really need to buy myself a booster pump and an extra DI canister.

I haven't fully committed to any livestock decisions yet. I kind of want to see how the aquascape lays out and how much free swimming room I actually end up with before I start laying solid plans. I'm planning on an extended 4 month cycle (for a couple reasons) before adding fish so I have some time to plan.

That’s interesting. Mine all came in 1 crate. Hopefully everything is in good shape. Congratulations on the new tank!

Where was the top of the stand? I have one crate with the tank (and the sump inside a box in the tank), and one box was on top of the crate with the cabinet doors and sides, but I don't have the top or the bottom framing, which is all long enough that it wouldn't have fit in the cabinet box so I double checked the tank crate and found just the black interior full-height pieces but none of the smaller strips or the top (they didn't do something stupid like put some of the stand under the tank in the crate did they??).

 

[408Dartfish]

Yes they put the stand pieces under tank for my smaller Redsea E-260. Dustin