Got the sump swapped out! Very easy process, always stresses me out to touch the RedSea plumbing. The emergency drain adapter did leak, had to take it apart a few times to reseat the o ring. Finally got that resolved! The Neptune cor20 Pump barely fits in the return chamber. After taking the inlet adapter off and the base plate the pump fit better and I was more comfortable with the fit! It goes without saying that @Crystal Reef Aquatics was very responsive to any questions I had... AND answering them on a Saturday afternoon! I removed approx 9 gallons of water from the RedSea sump to pull the sump out. I added fht water back into the new sump with an additional 8ish gallons. For reference on the sumps Reefer V1 Sump 19 3/8” left to right 17 1/8” front to back 14” tall Crystal Aquatics RSR 250 Sump 19 3/8” left to right 16 1/2” front to back 16” tall
Nice work! Man you have everything Shoehorned in there Hows the skimmer doing with the deeper water level, any need to elevate it ? BTW Sharp Sump!
I quickly fell in love with it! The refugium section looked pretty big before I got it wet, once I got water in it and started to fill it up I realized just how much room is added! I actually started looking at adjustable skimmer stands last night. I think I can get away with raising it 2" but I'd like to have the flexibility. I can actually adjust a baffle for the skimmer section and drop the water level in it to accommodate the Nyos skimmer. When I do that the water fall from the refugium into the skimmer section is kind of loud, so I'd rather raise the skimmer. Also raising the skimmer will make taking the cup off easier, these cups fit on pretty tight, so much so that I really need to hold onto the body to twist the cup on and off. My other thought is that if/when I add light to the refugium that is going to bleed into the ATO container, I think that is also a super easy fix. A thin piece of ABS plastic in between the sump and ATO container should fix that. I am running a small power head in the return chamber, only because I am experimenting with dropping food from the AFS into that chamber. I don't want the pellets to settle out. Had I not run into the hiccup with the RedSea emergency drain and getting my COR pump into the return chamber this swap would have been super simple. Dealing with the COR pump was much easier than the piping. I've said it numerous times, but the RedSea piping makes me nervous when I have to touch it.
Nice in a few months I would love to do the same looks like you got more space in the dump area which is always a plus how long did the process take you?
I probably spent 3-4 hours total, but I took some equipment out and cleaned it while I was at it. When it came to tuning the herbie drain setup on the Reefer tanks, that took about 20 minutes. I actually like to close the valve and open it slowly until it runs silent. Make an adjustment and let it sit for a few minutes to level out before making any other adjustments. Since I swapped the RedSea valve out for a true gate valve it was easy. I heated up 8-9 gallons the night before and mixed my salt the morning of the swap, I really didn't know how much water I was going to need. In the end I probably threw out a gallon, even after adding the water back into the new sump from the old sump plus the additional 8-9 gallons. I spent the most time on the plumbing, it is delicate. The last thing I wanted was issues with parts I can't source locally.
You have me thinking about my Upgrade. Im looking real hard at a RS 350 or 425, I may have to just re pipe from the git-go. I wonder what pipe WB uses?
The stock gate valve works, I used it for almost 2 years. It finally got to the point that I was adjusting it all the time, so I swapped it out. Now I don't have to touch the valve, unless of course I swap my sump out! haha A couple sites I've ran across that offer replacement parts VS buying directly from RedSea - https://www.aquariumpart.com/Replacement_Reefer_Return_Connector_16_mm_p/rrs42221.htm https://www.marineandreef.com/Red_Sea_Reefer_Replacement_Parts_s/1145.html I am not sure on the waterbox plumbing, I am sure others have swapped out that plumbing.
Thanks, I am thrilled with it! I need to get home so I can measure again the height I need for a skimmer stand. Always have the best idea's at work! haha
I too have a 250 reefer and totally agree with you on the RedSea pipes. I'm holding my breath and crossing fingers as I will be replacing the stock control valve with a gate.
I had good luck with the stock valve for probably 2 years, it isn't a bad idea to change it out immediately though. Tubing is so much easier!
Question pelphrey I've seen alot of your videos but I wanna ask you something I use minimal carbon and run a skimz algae reactor I see media at the bottom of your tank can you share what that is and do you feel it helps out I don't use gfo or chemi pure cause they bleached some of my acros
It is a mixture of pond matrix and siporax. It is biological media, all of that pond matrix was in the drain section of my reefer sump, I moved a large portion over from a previous tank to help "seed" the reefer when I set it up. I've just kept it in the tank, since I removed a large portion of my rocks awhile back in place of the marco pedestal rocks the thought process is the media in the sump will help carry the bioload of the tank and not cycle. All of this media could very well be the root cause to my low or no nitrate issues, I do plan to pull some out but this will be done over time to not shock the tank. Some of the media hasn't been cleaned in awhile, so it may not be doing anything for me. Essentially it is like the marine pure blocks, I had a terrible experience with one of those blocks. It was 100% my fault though, I decided to cut it to make it fit where I wanted it to go. Once cut those blocks break pretty easily and created a mess.
Moved a gyre 230 into the sump, I put some mp10’s in the display. Gyre is running a .6 second pulse at 20% Having a heck of a time getting the Nyos skimmer dialed in. It’s starting to mess with my salinity, Nyos reccomends 8” of water, it was at 7” in the reefer sump. I’ve not got it in 7.5” of water. Also using a filter sock to clean the water and knock down some of the waterfall noise into the skimmer section. It’s helped a lot! Adding a float switch to the skimmer section, it will shut the skimmer off if triggered. Hopefully prevent any mishaps with a raising water level and stop the cup from overflowing.
