Red Sea Reefer Peninsula 650 Deluxe

[Artillerydrill]

Just ordered the same aquarium in white

 

[bebaugh]

Well I'm getting closer to having all of the parts. Light rails are finally here, still waiting on the actual lights.

 

[Artillerydrill]

I'm a little confused as to why they wouldn't ship the lights with the rails

 

[bebaugh]

I'm a little confused as to why they wouldn't ship the lights with the rails

If you order the deluxe the lights should come inside of the crate with the tank, the rails are a separate box that should be strapped to the top of the crate. They shipped me the wrong tank, which means I didn't have lights or rails. I guess whoever at Red Sea that was trying to correct the issue assumed I was just missing the rails since it's a box that's added later and that the lights were in the crate. As soon as just the rails showed up at my lfs he knew there was still a problem and contacted Red Sea immediately and they are supposed to be shipping the lights out via UPS instead of as part of his normal shipment from them like they did with the rails.

 

[Artillerydrill]

Well at least they stayed on top of it

 

[bebaugh]

My lights did finally show up last Friday and installed last weekend.

I'm not completely happy with the lights. One kept shutting down due to overheating I realized the fan had a broken blade which was preventing the fan from turning. A different light seems to have a network issue where it struggles to communicate with the parent light.

With the lights hanging and the offer of beer, whiskey, and chicken wings I was able to get the tank moved into place on Monday and by Wednesday rock and sand were in place.

 

[bebaugh]

Now I just need to work on getting this sump organized and figure out how I'm going to plumb in my chiller.

 

[Tommy McDonald]

How tall is the cabinet? Any more updates?

 

[bebaugh]

How tall is the cabinet? Any more updates?

Red Sea specs list the cabinet as 1 meter tall and I say that’s right on. Final height will depend on the feet on the stand and how level your floor is. Mine varies from 101mm to 103mm.

 

[bebaugh]

First fish, some frags, and a cleanup crew were added to the tank last week. So far no real issues, just some algae growing on the glass which is expected.

Here’s some cellphone photos of some of the inhabitants.

Bonded pair of Picasso clowns

One Spot Foxface

Orange Montipora Digita

Purple Montipora Digita

View from the end of the tank

WWC Castells Banana Table and JF Toxic Aculeus at the top. Orange Monti Cap and a CC Purple and Green Acro toward the bottom of the photo.

 

[AquaART]

Awesome build! A friend of mine just got a 650 and it puts my 450 to shame. Very interested in filling this along. Do you happen to have more full tank shots with perhaps the sump?

The issues you're having with the Hydras is fairly common--in terms of the connection issues at least. I have a theory that EcoTech used the Hydras as a lab rat to test the WiFi capabilities and have yet to perfect it. I wish they would have included an Apex connectivity option. I do, however, like that the fan does not keep running 24/7.

 

[Tommy McDonald]

Dumb question if you had bought this tank again would you buy it with the lights or don't buy the light package and buy your own lights that you prefer?

 

[Cherub]

no vodka?? Love the rock work. looking really good

 

[kidtango]

How's the build quality of the tank? Do you think it will hold up well in the long run?

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Looks like you're getting it rolling. Looking forward to seeing it grow in!

 

[bebaugh]

Dumb question if you had bought this tank again would you buy it with the lights or don't buy the light package and buy your own lights that you prefer?

That's a tough question. If I could find a single fixture that has strong enough lights and looks good and can cover a 5ft long tank that needed just one power cord and the ac to dc transformer mounted in the fixture I would do that over buying it with lights. I really only have 2 issues with the lights, the one that struggles to connect to the network, which still works and is sync'd with the other lights it just can't do an immediate change to the programming, and the other issue I have is with cord clutter. There are 4 power bricks to mount in the stand and then an additional power strip that's needed to plug the 4 outlets into, I haven't figured out how to keep that clean in the stand yet. They are just sitting in a pile right now.

 

[bebaugh]

How's the build quality of the tank? Do you think it will hold up well in the long run?

The build quality is top notch. There's no excess silicone spilling out of the joints and there doesn't appear to be any air bubbles in the joints either. The beveled edges on the glass look fantastic, when the lights are on they can look like there is a light between the stand and the tank. 20years ago I worked in an aquarium shop and the build quality of the tanks we sold were no where near this nice.

 

[Tommy McDonald]

I'm on the fence thinking about buying the tank without the lights. Then buy the ceiling hanging mounts and go with the 52's I believe by AI. now if you have sketchy wifi would it be a issue? Our WiFi here is iffy like once a hour it will blink out for a minute then kick back on.

 

[bebaugh]

I'm on the fence thinking about buying the tank without the lights. Then buy the ceiling hanging mounts and go with the 52's I believe by AI. now if you have sketchy wifi would it be a issue? Our WiFi here is iffy like once a hour it will blink out for a minute then kick back on.

That sounds like you need to replace your router unless this only happens at the edge of the routers wireless range in which case I'd suggest moving your router or getting a repeater. All of my lights are within 7 feet of one of my routers which is why I know the issue is with the light and not my network. I was still able to setup the light and upgrade the firmware to it, it just took much longer than it should have. I've read other people have had the same issue with the lights but it hasn't bothered me enough to see if AI will replace it.

How many 52's are you considering putting over the tank and in what orientation? Two of the 52's would be the same amount of lighting, I'd be worried if you oriented them so they ran down the center of the tank and didn't have them high enough you may end up some major hot spots. Here's a pic from the end of the tank that shows how the 26's are oriented and spaced.

 

[Reefer1978]

I had an issue with AI's also, unfortunately wifi chips inside them are too weak and prone to interference. I started running them without home network connection as I had an old iPhone 4 lying around. Iphone 4 is now the dedicated AI controller. Control for all 3 lights is instant.