Red Sea REEFER 250 ALL Pre-Conditioned and most CAPTIVE-BRED Fish, SPS, Zoanthids. Slow Poke Reef. WE HAVE WATER!! start page 61.

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powers2001

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250 cabinet electronics cache. I’m getting so much fine sawdust everywhere I can’t stand it. Once I got some debris in a temperature probe receptacle. I had to call Neptune because I didn’t know what was going on, it took awhile for the technician to figure it out.
5E3A463D-E13F-40E2-A953-8E2D85903FDA.jpeg
 

canadianeh

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That's why I changed my mind from building cabinet from scratch using particle board and just went with IKEA. I also didn't use particle board for my false wall. I watched videos and read that drilling holes on particle board is very tricky too. Did you sand the putty to smooth it out before you paint it? Looking forward for the finish product.
 

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250 cabinet electronics cache. I’m getting so much fine sawdust everywhere I can’t stand it. Once I got some debris in a temperature probe receptacle. I had to call Neptune because I didn’t know what was going on, it took awhile for the technician to figure it out.
5E3A463D-E13F-40E2-A953-8E2D85903FDA.jpeg

I am in that spot right now too. All my equipment is covered in fine sawdust. It would make me crazier if I were farther along and already assembling like you are. Bummer that you had that blowout to repair. It is always something.
 
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powers2001

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That's why I changed my mind from building cabinet from scratch using particle board and just went with IKEA. I also didn't use particle board for my false wall. I watched videos and read that drilling holes on particle board is very tricky too. Did you sand the putty to smooth it out before you paint it? Looking forward for the finish product.
@canadianeh well I went with IKEA too on the shallow external cabinet I screwed into the end of the Reefer stand. I just use that one for the smallest of Apex modules, the approximate 3” x 5” ones. I have plenty of room in there for the 7 with optional eighth I put in there. All the modules in there use sensors and probes which all have 10 foot cords so distance to the sump is not one bit a problem. However that leaves the remaining electronics that I couldn’t put in the IKEA cabinet or the Reefer 170 water change cabinet because of the cord lengths. I was left with the only choice of partitioning an area next to the sump for the remaining electronics. This has all been a rewarding challenge to plan out, configure, and build. I’ve redone the electronics in my Reefer 170 water change station several times and I’m still working on it.

I didn’t think I would have any problem with the particle board. I was getting really sloppy with it and in a hurry. I didn’t know about those drill bit stops that @RL6723 turned me on to until it was too late. I did sand down the wood putty filler before I finished putting on the paint enamel but it still looks terrible. I think I might cover that whole back side with a sheet of ridged plastic.
 

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@canadianeh well I went with IKEA too on the shallow external cabinet I screwed into the end of the Reefer stand. I just use that one for the smallest of Apex modules, the approximate 3” x 5” ones. I have plenty of room in there for the 7 with optional eighth I put in there. All the modules in there use sensors and probes which all have 10 foot cords so distance to the sump is not one bit a problem. However that leaves the remaining electronics that I couldn’t put in the IKEA cabinet or the Reefer 170 water change cabinet because of the cord lengths. I was left with the only choice of partitioning an area next to the sump for the remaining electronics. This has all been a rewarding challenge to plan out, configure, and build. I’ve redone the electronics in my Reefer 170 water change station several times and I’m still working on it.

I didn’t think I would have any problem with the particle board. I was getting really sloppy with it and in a hurry. I didn’t know about those drill bit stops that @RL6723 turned me on to until it was too late. I did sand down the wood putty filler before I finished putting on the paint enamel but it still looks terrible. I think I might cover that whole back side with a sheet of ridged plastic.
Why not replace it with a sheet of ply? Would be much easier.
 
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I am in that spot right now too. All my equipment is covered in fine sawdust. It would make me crazier if I were farther along and already assembling like you are. Bummer that you had that blowout to repair. It is always something.
@thatsruff @samnaz there will be cords coming through the back side of the particle board through the grommets. So to kill two birds with one stone I can hide the repair to the particle board and cover the cords with a sheet of plastic like this.

BD750BE5-AFCB-4EE4-8F62-4F5E15694F47.png
 
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powers2001

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Gonna be a tight squeeze with all that equipment you got in there!! No wonder you had to build 2 more equipment cabinets!! Haha
Yeah @RL6723 and I have a cooling fan turned off and on by my Apex for all three cabinets. LOL
 
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im diggin that glass door cabinet. really cool!
@Nanojoeaquatic sorry it’s taken so long to reply to your post here in my build thread. My story about my glass door starts on page 8 of this build thread. There are several people on this forum with these Cronos brand doors. They’re all individually custom built but I had trouble with their customer service. Believe it or not they don’t use fax machines and it was a real pain with some paperwork. Other than the poor customer service I am very pleased with the door itself. They put in holes for hinges that fit the Red Sea stand holes but mine were a little off center. I thought that would be a big problem but I found a way to deal with it. No one else I know that got these doors had problems with the holes.

Mitch
 
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I really achieved a lot of success with my build in June and July of this year (2020). Now I can do some catching up on the ranch work. In between ranch projects I’ll do some admiring of my reef build, do some finishing touches on my electronics, and start planning the plumbing.
 
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I really achieved a lot of success with my build in June and July of this year (2020). Now I can do some catching up on the ranch work. In between ranch projects I’ll do some admiring of my reef build, do some finishing touches on my electronics, and start planning the plumbing.
With all this success on the electronics I decided to spill the success over onto the plumbing plans and construction. I realized I don’t have any set plans for the plumbing and moreover I have to find a place for 4 pumps:
  1. Apex COR-20
  2. Apex COR-15
  3. Apex DOS
  4. BRS 1.1mL/min dosing pump
The COR-20 and COR-15 are for the return plumbing and the manifold plumbing respectively. The manifold plumbing will support the chiller, carbon reactor, and UV Sterilizer.

The DOS peristaltic pumps are for manual auto water changes.
EF0B40FA-D057-4C1E-ABEF-D362280FADC7.jpeg

The two COR pumps barely fit in my sump’s return chamber. I also have to fit in the ATK bracket.
 

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You're stuffing a lot of stuff on that 250! This week I started changing the cabinets to add the new ones and did not finish so my tank is s mess of wires right now
 
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powers2001

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You're stuffing a lot of stuff on that 250! This week I started changing the cabinets to add the new ones and did not finish so my tank is s mess of wires right now
@Difrano you do use zip ties don’t you?
 

Difrano

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@Difrano you do use zip ties don’t you?
No I used push wire holders, but they had double sided tape and started to come off after a couple of months, for the reboot of the cabinet I am using Legrand raceways, lets see how it ends. But now I have a mess of wires and I am back working traveling so only have time to work on tank during weekends.
 
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powers2001

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No I used push wire holders, but they had double sided tape and started to come off after a couple of months, for the reboot of the cabinet I am using Legrand raceways, lets see how it ends. But now I have a mess of wires and I am back working traveling so only have time to work on tank during weekends.
@Difrano push wire holders? Do you have a link?
 
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I think I had a brain fart with that name this is what I used:
Screenshot_20200824-231833_Amazon Shopping.jpg


I had double and triple, sorry for the misspelling they were clips
@Difrano thanks for the heads up. I will keep those in mind.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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