Seadoc's Reefer 350

[Seadoc]

Hi all,

Many, many years ago I had a freshwater tank (I believe 40g) that only had a gravel filter, a filter floss canister and a few air stones. It was rustic to say the least.

Back to present time, it is impressive the availability of equipment and knowledge in this hobby. So, after higher power concurrence, long weeks of reading and several months of collecting equipment, I finally pulled the trigger on a Reefer 350 and ordered through my LFS 3 weeks ago.

The system arrived three early this week and I eagerly started to build the cabinet. That thing is heavy!! (specially when compared with similar types of assembled furniture). Long story short, I went through the whole cabinet assembly process to find out that there were 2 plastic dowels and the return nozzle assembly missing..... LFS to the rescue!!! He requested a replacement nozzle and had a couple of extra dowels lying around.

Here is a list of equipment and plans. Feel free to comment and advise, as this is my first attempt in reefing:

Current Equipment:
Powerheads: Vortech MP40wES (2)
Return pump: Vectra M1
Skimmer: Nyos 120. (May need to upgrade. What do you think?)
Heather: Eheim 200W (2)
Controller: Apex Lite with the following modules: PM1, PM2, ALD, AWS and 2 EB8 units
Lights: AI Hydra 52 (non-HD) (2) on goose neck mounts.
Fans for temperature control in the summer (hopefully no chiller needed)

Equipment to be acquired:
Neptune DOS for AWC
ATK v2 (ATO)

Substrate:
70 lbs of Marco Rocks Reef Saver
50 lbs of Aragalive special grade sand

Salt:
Tropic Marine Pro

Mixing station:
BRS RODI 5 stage 75G with float valve
Brute trash can 30+G (2)
Mixing pump (recommendations?)
Assorted 1" PVC pipes, valves and bulkheads

Testing:
Red Sea Marine Care Test Kit
Milwaukee Digital Refractometer
Hanna Alk and Phos colorimeters

Quarantine: x2 (fish and coral)
20 g tanks
HOB media filter
Heater
Thermometer
Hydor Coralia pump
Air stones
AI Sol (for Coral QT)

Electric:
Independent 20A GFCI circuit x2 (DT and Water Mix/QT area)
Portable Generator (thinking about HF Predator series)
DIY Battery backup for Echotech Pumps (to be done)

While I wait for the missing pieces to arrive, I will start working on the mixing station in the basement and the plumbing of AWC and ATO lines to the main display. Let the fun begin!!!

Here are some pics of the boring cabinet assembly.

I wish those little feet were adjustable like in larger Reefers. Need to get some composite shims.

Lots and lots of screws

Almost there....

Level in place for decorative purposes only, have not leveled the system yet.

 

[Demonic]

Nice build!

I would consider two things that I see.


Heaters. Would probably need a 500 watt and maybe a 300 for a failsafe hooked up the apex. I like Finnex myself but plenty of good ones out there

MP40wes. These particular models are known to be a little loud, especially if they have high hours. Look at least replacing the QD drivers and wet sides at a minimum.

 

[Mario P.]

You might want to look into changing that horrible valve to a spears valve. I wish someone had told me before I finished setting up my 350.

 

[Seadoc]

Nice build!

I would consider two things that I see.


Heaters. Would probably need a 500 watt and maybe a 300 for a failsafe hooked up the apex. I like Finnex myself but plenty of good ones out there

MP40wes. These particular models are known to be a little loud, especially if they have high hours. Look at least replacing the QD drivers and wet sides at a minimum.

Thanks!!
I was following the recs at BRS website per tank volume (91G). I will look into the Finnex brand
Noise is going to be an issue. I will give those powerheads a try and see. As you said, I may have to change the drivers and wetsides

 

[Seadoc]

You might want to look into changing that horrible valve to a spears valve. I wish someone had told me before I finished setting up my 350.

Thank you Mario. I was reading about issues with the valve too.
I plan to eventually build a manifold for media reactors and will consider changing the valve at the time.

 

[Dub_G]

Nice tank. I have the Red Sea Max E-260. Also welcome to R2R and your new addiction.

 

[Seadoc]

Nice tank. I have the Red Sea Max E-260. Also welcome to R2R and your new addiction.

Thank you!

 

[Seadoc]

Sorry for the slow updates. It has been a busy week at work.
I picked up the missing plumbing part from the LFS a couple of days ago. With that taken care of, I leveled the stand with composite shims as recommended by multiple people in other threads.

Next step to move the DT to its rightful place. With the help of a friend we were able to do it quickly without much trouble

While inspecting the tank seams and glass noticed both a shallow and a deep scratch in the front glass panel....

The deepest part of the scratch is around an inch long and can easily caught a fingernail in its groove.

This is so aggravating. A Missing outflow pipe, missing dowels and a scratched glass in the same system!!. At this point I have placed a ticked with Red Sea and I am waiting for a response. I will update this post when I hear from them.

 

[Seadoc]

Yesterday I contacted Red Sea about the scratch issue. After a couple of emails and some pictures of the scratches, they decided to send a replacement tank. I have to say that I am extremely impressed with their customer service. The responses were prompt, to the point, professional and cordial. Despite the issues I experienced with the system, I will definitely continue doing business with them.

Time to build the mixing station while waiting for the replacement.

 

[Seadoc]

It has been almost a month since the last post!! Work and a busy schedule have prevented me from updating more frequently. Here is what has been going so far:

1. The replacement tank from Red Sea arrived fast without a scratch!!! I have to say that Red Sea's costumer service was excellent. Currently the tank is not yet wet but planning to test for leaks this weekend and then aquascape and start cycling.

2. Decided to change the plans to use original Hydra 52s and splurged on 2 ReefLed 90s. I might need to add a 3rd one in the near future, but we'll see how it goes.

3. Finally almost done with the mixing stand and station build. Need to glue those pipes!!! I went with two 35G storage tanks, using an Eheim 1260 as the mixing pump. It has enough head pressure that it can reach the tank in the floor above if needed. As of now, I plan to do AWCs using the Apex DOS and ATO with the new ATK also from Apex.

Here are some pics from the mixing station as it stands today:

 

[Seadoc]

After testing for leaks earlier this week, I finally settled into this aquascape configuration with 75lbs of Marco Rocks.

I spent today to work on the electrical components and made a temporary controller board with two Ikea doors (15"X14 7/8"). I was surprised to see that they were $2 each. Hard to pass at that price. They fit nicely in the chiller section of the reefer 350. Once I have everything cycled, the plan is to build an insert into this section with ultralight MDF boards.

After setting up the MP40s, I am not that happy with the "tank with headphones" look. I have been thinking about the Nero 5s instead. Any thoughts on them?

Sand and water going in tomorrow!!

 

[Peach02]

After testing for leaks earlier this week, I finally settled into this aquascape configuration with 75lbs of Marco Rocks.

I spent today to work on the electrical components and made a temporary controller board with two Ikea doors (15"X14 7/8"). I was surprised to see that they were $2 each. Hard to pass at that price. They fit nicely in the chiller section of the reefer 350. Once I have everything cycled, the plan is to build an insert into this section with ultralight MDF boards.

After setting up the MP40s, I am not that happy with the "tank with headphones" look. I have been thinking about the Nero 5s instead. Any thoughts on them?

Sand and water going in tomorrow!!

Looks great!
what fish are you thinking of getting?
can I see a photo of the sump layout?

 

[Seadoc]

Looks great!
what fish are you thinking of getting?
can I see a photo of the sump layout?

Sump is pretty standard and needs some cable/tubing routing. Right now having some troubles with the Nyos 120. Can not properly calibrate it without overflowing the cup. I am letting it settle without the cup, but may run it in a water/vinegar mix for a few hours later this afternoon.

 

[Peach02]

Sump is pretty standard and needs some cable/tubing routing. Right now having some troubles with the Nyos 120. Can not properly calibrate it without overflowing the cup. I am letting it settle without the cup, but may run it in a water/vinegar mix for a few hours later this afternoon.

Looks good, how long do you find the ato resovwar lasts

 

[Seadoc]

Looks good, how long do you find the ato resovwar lasts

I don't use the reservoir for ATO. I have an Apex PMUP (ATK v2) that pumps water from an RO reservoir in the basement. The pump works for 20 seconds every hour or so. It has been flawless so far.

 

[Seadoc]

After filling the 350 with water last weekend I spend this week doing a few things after work.

First, I turned on the heaters. I am using 2 300w Finnex with their own termostats to provide redundancy between both of them and with the apex temp probe. One is set to turn on if the temp is under 78 and turn off if it is above 79. The second one is set to turn on below 77 and send an alert. I plan to replace heater number one with number 2 and get a new one to replace number 2every year. BTW, I discovered that the temperature of the Finnex does not match with the Apex temp sensor or with my other thermometers. The Finnexs read close to 4 degrees below the mark. Just had to overshoot on the individual heater thermostats

Once the water was at 78F I started the fishless cycling process with Dr. Tim's One and Only using ammonium chloride. The label in the ammonia bottle had some conflicting instructions. It said to add 4 drops per gallon, but at the same time it gives the conversion to milliliters using their prior dosing of 1 drop per gallon. I have been doing ammonia and nitrite measurements, with ammonia going down and nitrites doubling every day. Tomorrow I have to dose more ammonia. I am curious to see when nitrates are gonna start showing.

For ATO I am using the Apex ATK v2. It pulls RO water directly from the top 35g tank in the basement and does this flawlessly. I went with the ATK and not the Tunze just for this reason (the ability to pump from the basement). At the current temps (77F in the house), the PMUP turns on for around 20 secs every hour.

I also installed the pH probe. I have calibrated this thing now twice following the instructions and also advice in R2R. The values still differ significantly from the Red Sea test kit, with the probe measuring 0.4 lower than the kit. Tomorrow I am going to re-route the cable in case there is interference somewhere in the control panel that is affecting the probe readings. I also need to get my hands on some standard solution for testing and additional calibration if needed.

Yesterday I turned on the Nyos 120. I can not calibrate that thing yet. I bought it used, but I doubt that it is defective. It is currently running without the collection cup to avoid making a mess. I will take it out of the sump and run it in a 50/50 solution of vinegar/water as recommended elsewhere and see what happens. Can you have "new skimmer syndrome" with a used one that has been out of the water for a while?

Finally, here are a couple of pics. One of the tank cycling with the lights on (just for the pic) and a second one of the temporary-non-permanent-I-swear control board. I just need to get some ultralight MDF board.

 

[Peach02]

After filling the 350 with water last weekend I spend this week doing a few things after work.

First, I turned on the heaters. I am using 2 300w Finnex with their own termostats to provide redundancy between both of them and with the apex temp probe. One is set to turn on if the temp is under 78 and turn off if it is above 79. The second one is set to turn on below 77 and send an alert. I plan to replace heater number one with number 2 and get a new one to replace number 2every year. BTW, I discovered that the temperature of the Finnex does not match with the Apex temp sensor or with my other thermometers. The Finnexs read close to 4 degrees below the mark. Just had to overshoot on the individual heater thermostats

Once the water was at 78F I started the fishless cycling process with Dr. Tim's One and Only using ammonium chloride. The label in the ammonia bottle had some conflicting instructions. It said to add 4 drops per gallon, but at the same time it gives the conversion to milliliters using their prior dosing of 1 drop per gallon. I have been doing ammonia and nitrite measurements, with ammonia going down and nitrites doubling every day. Tomorrow I have to dose more ammonia. I am curious to see when nitrates are gonna start showing.

For ATO I am using the Apex ATK v2. It pulls RO water directly from the top 35g tank in the basement and does this flawlessly. I went with the ATK and not the Tunze just for this reason (the ability to pump from the basement). At the current temps (77F in the house), the PMUP turns on for around 20 secs every hour.

I also installed the pH probe. I have calibrated this thing now twice following the instructions and also advice in R2R. The values still differ significantly from the Red Sea test kit, with the probe measuring 0.4 lower than the kit. Tomorrow I am going to re-route the cable in case there is interference somewhere in the control panel that is affecting the probe readings. I also need to get my hands on some standard solution for testing and additional calibration if needed.

Yesterday I turned on the Nyos 120. I can not calibrate that thing yet. I bought it used, but I doubt that it is defective. It is currently running without the collection cup to avoid making a mess. I will take it out of the sump and run it in a 50/50 solution of vinegar/water as recommended elsewhere and see what happens. Can you have "new skimmer syndrome" with a used one that has been out of the water for a while?

Finally, here are a couple of pics. One of the tank cycling with the lights on (just for the pic) and a second one of the temporary-non-permanent-I-swear control board. I just need to get some ultralight MDF board.

Looks great

 

[motortrendz]

Looking good man. Clean work on the electrical cabinet.

 

[Seadoc]

Short update.

Installed a Nyos 120 that I obtained used. The thing is quiet but produces a significant amount of bubbles. Tried the vinegar/water bath (50/50) as recommended elsewhere in this site without improvement. I have since yesterday added a bag of carbon to the filter cup. We'll see if it does something.

Installed all the tubing for a DOS AWC. Have not configured it yet as there is no need for WCs at the time and I don't want stagnant SW in the lines.

The pH probe is a little finicky. I have now calibrated it twice (last time 2 days ago). It read the calibration solution right on point immediately after calibration, however now it reads +0.04 with a brand new package. Wonder what is the margin of error of this probe.

Cycle is sill going on using Dr. Tim's fish-less program. I have skipped the second dose of Ammonia, as the levels in the tank were above 2ppm at the time. Right now they are between 1.2 and 2 depending who you believe (Red Sea or API). I am waiting for them to drop below 1ppm to re-dose and see the time of response from the nitrifying bacteria. At this time Nitrites are still rising with a low presence of Nitrates. "Patient waiting" is the name of the game.

 

[Seadoc]

This is long overdue for an update.

I have been working on a QT for corals that I keep in the basement. It is a 20g long I got from the Petco sale. I attached an oversized HOB filter, some media and an AI Prime for lighting. Used IO bio-spira for cycling bacteria and Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride as an ammonia source. It worked like a charm.

This week I finally added my first frags to the QT: A duncan, a favite and an acan. Needless to say they were really stressed after dipping them in revive and changing the plugs.

After a period of lights out and some good wishes the duncan started to look happier.

The acan and the favite are still thinking about it....

Two days later (I know, its hard to control) I added another acan, a green slimer and a monti (you can not see it in the pic (behind the duncan). So, this is it for now.

In terms of care, I am using reef roids for feeding 2x week, and Seachem's fuel. Alk is being maintained at 8.5 dKh with ESV 2-part. Other parameters are as follows: Amm=0, NO2=0, NO3=10, Ca=420, Mg=1300.

--------

Meanwhile in the DT, snails (turbo, margarita and astrea) and hermit crabs are having algae (diatom??) feasts.

I have noticed however, this collection of "spots" under the sand bed. Any idea what they could be?