RedSea Reefer 625XXL Build

[AZMSGT]

Just a few questions..your input is much appreciated.

1. How many AI 32 hydra lights would you recommend for this tank. I have three atm, but wondering if this would be enough for SPS. Tank is a redsea 625xxl

2. How big my weekly water changes be? I am planning on doing weekly 100L water changes. I can up this to 200L if necessary.

3. What do you think of my setting on the LED lighting.

1. on my 625 I am running 3 Radion XR30 G4s at 14” from the bottom my PAR is 340. However the three lights still leave me with to much shadowing. So my original goal was to add a 4th light but the G4s are no longer available. So I’ll be getting G5s at some point. If you plan to have SPS in your system adjusting your lights with a PAR meter would be an ideal. Reach out to local reefers or stores and see if you can borrow or rent a Par meter. Long term they are a great investment.

2. I do 10% to 20% water changes depending on my tests. If nitrates are a little high I’ll do 15% to 20%. If parameters are more stable I’ll do 10%. I always do at least 10%.

3. agree with others drop red and green to 5% or zero, whites at 10 and all other channels equal. But again to get this right you really should get a PAR meter so not to overpower your inhabitants.

Lastly, I find posting questions like the ones above in my build threads usually get very few answers. When you have questions like this you should create a dedicated thread in the appropriate section for maximum viewing. More people will respond and faster.

 

[Rain 625XXL]

1. on my 625 I am running 3 Radion XR30 G4s at 14” from the bottom my PAR is 340. However the three lights still leave me with to much shadowing. So my original goal was to add a 4th light but the G4s are no longer available. So I’ll be getting G5s at some point. If you plan to have SPS in your system adjusting your lights with a PAR meter would be an ideal. Reach out to local reefers or stores and see if you can borrow or rent a Par meter. Long term they are a great investment.

2. I do 10% to 20% water changes depending on my tests. If nitrates are a little high I’ll do 15% to 20%. If parameters are more stable I’ll do 10%. I always do at least 10%.

3. agree with others drop red and green to 5% or zero, whites at 10 and all other channels equal. But again to get this right you really should get a PAR meter so not to overpower your inhabitants.

Lastly, I find posting questions like the ones above in my build threads usually get very few answers. When you have questions like this you should create a dedicated thread in the appropriate section for maximum viewing. More people will respond and faster.

Thanks mate. Appreciate the comments. I will definitely keep that in mind for next time. I kinda had the same feeling but didn't want to create too many threads just so that all my build related issues, questions and problems are all in one thread. Hopefully it will be helpful to someone doing a similar build in the future.

With regards to the lights, I was feeling the same. Shadowing seems to be a bit of an issue with 3 lights hence why I thought I might ask others. I really like to add another light but getting equal gaps between the lights might be an issue due to the size of the overflow section. 5 lights might be an option and maybe I will turn the intensity down a bit.

Fortunately I have a seneye reef that I can use as a par meter. I am still at least a month or two away from adding corals so I'll keep planning and monitoring for now and get the lights just before putting the sps corals.

When you say 10% to 20% water changes, do you mean 10% to 20% calculated from manufacturers specs or do you take some water capacity off to compensate for all the rocks and sand etc and then calculate the 10% or 20% from the new water capacity calculated?

Mine is 625L as per redsea specs and I have got 70kgs of rocks and 30kgs of sand. Does this mean that my 20% water change is only a bit over100L?

 

[Rain 625XXL]

Tank update.

Yellow Tang Vs Saifin Tang

Added a Sailfin tang to the tank yesterday. I was little worried that it might backfire as I have already got a yellow tang in the tank. Was a little worried that the tank might not be big enough. Mine is only a 4.5ft tank.

Initially the yellow tang was a bit annoyed and was being very aggressive and an absolute jerk darting around the tank just to give the new tankmate a hard time. Yellow tang had been in the tank for just over a week when the sailfin was added so I reckon those actions were just normal behaviour.

However, the sailfin is almost the same size as the yellow tang and didn't seem to care too much about the yellow chasing him around. It always stood his ground. No physical damages on both of them. Just some very aggressive tail slapping.

By night time they had established there territories in each corner of t tank and the sailfin was being very cheeky paying his angry tank mate multiple visits. I loved how calm he was throughout the entire drama. Left the lights off completely last night just to let the new fish settle.

By morning they had become best mates. No territories or boundaries. They swim alongside each other and spend time very close to one another. I was amazed. Never thought they would spend that much to so close to one another.

Enjoy the pics.

 

[Familyman2010]

Thanks mate. Appreciate the comments. I will definitely keep that in mind for next time. I kinda had the same feeling but didn't want to create too many threads just so that all my build related issues, questions and problems are all in one thread. Hopefully it will be helpful to someone doing a similar build in the future.

With regards to the lights, I was feeling the same. Shadowing seems to be a bit of an issue with 3 lights hence why I thought I might ask others. I really like to add another light but getting equal gaps between the lights might be an issue due to the size of the overflow section. 5 lights might be an option and maybe I will turn the intensity down a bit.

Fortunately I have a seneye reef that I can use as a par meter. I am still at least a month or two away from adding corals so I'll keep planning and monitoring for now and get the lights just before putting the sps corals.

When you say 10% to 20% water changes, do you mean 10% to 20% calculated from manufacturers specs or do you take some water capacity off to compensate for all the rocks and sand etc and then calculate the 10% or 20% from the new water capacity calculated?

Mine is 625L as per redsea specs and I have got 70kgs of rocks and 30kgs of sand. Does this mean that my 20% water change is only a bit over100L?

i would do 10-20% of 625l for water changes

 

[AZMSGT]

When you say 10% to 20% water changes, do you mean 10% to 20% calculated from manufacturers specs or do you take some water capacity off to compensate for all the rocks and sand etc and then calculate the 10% or 20% from the new water capacity calculated?

Mine is 625L as per redsea specs and I have got 70kgs of rocks and 30kgs of sand. Does this mean that my 20% water change is only a bit over100L?

Don't over think it no need to get overly scientific. But for the record I go by system manufacture volume. So 62.5L = 10%. Since there is allot of rock displacement in the system so I am probably doing something more like a 15%. My point was that there is no need to change excess water as your just pouring it down the drain.

 

[Sley1]

Yup, just finished all the cable management last night. My wife was giving me a very hard time about the mess..lol

Sump design is ok, but I wish it had a little more space in the skimmer section. At the moment my Redsea 600 just fits in there with not even an inch of space left to move it around a bit. I am using the space behind the skimmer for bio filter media and I have a Marinepure block sitting in there. That section is massive and I wish they had incorporated a small separate section in there for the refugium.

Also had a few dramas with the return sucking up air every now and then and making all sorts of noises. It took me almost 4 weeks to dial it in. Now it is dead quiet. You really gotta adjust the return 1mm at a time get it dialled in. Bit of a pain and I have heard that a lot of people swap them over for proper gate valves just because of that reason.

I have the same tank and use the rear left chamber for my Skimmer and ceramic media and moved the removable gate forward and used the front left part for the refugium, works great.. Additionally I’ve had my 625 xxl over two years now and finally gave up on adjusting the Red Sea valve and replaced it with a spears gate valve and have not had to adjust it even once in the 5 months since I changed it and it’s dead silent now. There is a great post somewhere on a quick easy modification that even my poor plumbing skills were able to do no problem.