Sandy Eggo Red Sea Reefer 425 XL Build (Upgrade)

RyanHoan

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Hello Everyone!

I'm going to try my best to document my build for this upgrade. I'm upgrading from my Red Sea Reefer 250, which was my first reef tank in a decade. I purchased it second hand and pre-plumbed, with all equipment included. This time I'm buying everything brand new and will try my luck as an amateur plumber! My 250 is almost 3 years old and has crashed a few times lol. I'm learning here!

My plan is to keep my same aquascape. Basically just building a new home for my fish and corals. More to come!

For now, here's a quick video of my RSR250:

 
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RyanHoan

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Tank is here! Waiting on just about everything else.
5A916969-A821-4DC1-AAB4-D153294F5B13.jpeg
 
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RyanHoan

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Stand and sump arrives on the 21st, so then I can really get the party started!

Equipment List:

Power/Control:
3x Kasa Smart Plug Power Strips. 3 years into the hobby and I'm still avoiding a proper controller. This works fine for now. I'm curious to see if Red Sea will make a user-friendly aquarium control.

Sump: Trigger Platinum Cube 20 Roller Filter Sump. It's a bit small but I'm going to turn my current 5 gal ATO container (5"x15"X15") into a refugium, which should fit nicely into the 29" Cabinet sump space. It will be fed by a manifold and overflow into the refugium section of the sump. I'm going to fill this sump refugium section with bio spheres. I usually keep powerbeads in each section of a sump to keep detritus from settling. I run them for 30 minutes a day.

Return: VarioS-8 Controllable DC Pump (2700 GPH) - Reef Octopus. Overkill, but I like the idea of running it at a constant low speed.

Manifold Pump: VarioS-4 Controllable DC Pump. I HATE adjusting the flow on Red Sea tanks. It's so finicky! I figured a separate manifold pump will be a less stressful option.

Skimmer: Curve 7 Elite Protein Skimmer - Bubble Magus. Again, Maybe overkill. Sense a trend here?

Lighting: 3x Ecotech Gen 5 XR30 Pros. Prolly overkill lol.

Flow: 2x MP40s. I also have 2 spare Nero 5s handy if I'm not satisfied with the flow. I plan on hooking at least one MP40 to a battery backup.

UV: 25 watt Aqua Ultraviolet fed by manifold.

Dosing: Red Sea Reef Dose (4 head), w ESV 2 part, NOPOX, and an extra head, perhaps for Kalk at some point.

Media Reactor: Aqua Maxx Med 12" reactor. I'll use this for Carbon and mix in GFO if I run into phosphate issues.

ATO: Tunze OS, for life.

Heater: 300w BRS

That's it! I know I'm going heavy on the filtration. I'll reevaluate and adjust as needed.


Following BRS' XR30 placement recommendations:

Screen Shot 2021-06-16 at 3.04.45 PM.png
 
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RyanHoan

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Bubble mag just barely fits.

the fleece for the trigger sump looks insanely thin and porous. I’m not too impressed. Hopefully they’ll offer a thicker/more dense fleece in the future.

2C555EAF-5737-4853-A48E-0231010CC398.jpeg
 
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RyanHoan

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Made a lot of progress today! The stand came in and I was able to knock it out.

A tip for Red Sea Cabinet Assembly: do not screw in the bottom platforms until you are finished with leveling the cabinet. otherwise there will be no way to level the center feet of the cabinet.

Unfortunately Red Sea did not send the the all-important return pump connectors (#42221), so I had to order them on amazon today. Hopefully they will be here by next week and I can finish up the plumbing.

Some other road blocks:

I don't think I'll have room for my aquamaxx media reactor. This kinda sucks, but the trigger sump has a great spot for media bags, so I might just go that route.

The Adaptive Reef Controller Cabinet is just a little too deep and I won't be able to mount either the Ecotech or the Red Sea dose pumps on it, so I'll need to take it to the table saw tomorrow and trim it back 2 inches.


372031E1-3A26-4AA5-9E94-53396F54F21F.jpeg


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Tomorrow I'm going to plumb the trigger ATO into a refugium, trim down the controller cabinet, and see how far I can get with plumbing without the #42221's.
 
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RyanHoan

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I shouldn’t be buying new corals during a build but I couldn’t help myself . I’ve been wanting a frag of SBB’s Oh La La for a while so I’m quite excited about it!

F69E913F-3C92-42AE-92C8-C3C35FAC3354.jpeg
 
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RyanHoan

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Welp, nothing is fitting the way I wanted it to. Plumbing really is the worst. I wish I could pay someone to do it! Still waiting on the Red Sea plumbing parts, but dry fitting for now. Planning on mounting the manifold to the ceiling of the cabinet, but worried about the weight.

D162AEF2-E29C-4B56-A088-79CD98F6B58C.jpeg
 
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RyanHoan

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Lawdy lawdy lawdy, that was rough. Nothing fit the way I wanted it to, but at least everything is online and isn’t leaking.

BD5C62E0-22CB-43F0-8F3E-4A25FD6AD134.jpeg
 
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RyanHoan

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Stocking ideas. Any comments on the blue throat? Bad idea?
 

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RyanHoan

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Great advice!
The copperband and blue throat are big maybes depending on availability
 
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RyanHoan

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Tank is finally fully installed today.

A few notes:

- the Red Sea Reef Dose was super easy to install and is quite quiet. I wouldn't say silent, but less noisy than my bubble magus doser.

- My bubble magus curve 7 is insanely loud and makes the entire tank vibrate. I hate it. I contacted @Bulk Reef Supply to see if I can return it or if they can help me make it less noisy.

- I am very pleased with the Trigger filter roller sump. working flawlessly

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

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