Shaun's 2000 Litre (530 USG) Living Reef & Red Sea Max S 650 LED Design & Build

[SPR1968]

My Red Sea Mesh cover arrived yesterday so I started to put it together.

I don’t know who wrote and drew up the instructions but...... The only reference to a Max S Series is a small drawing picture of the completed item! So if you have an S Series don’t do the logical thing and follow the step by step instructions or you will do what I had to do and take it to pieces again whilst swearing a lot! The instructions seem to be mainly directed at Reefer Series as the kit fits different tanks.

Shaun’s top tip. Study the small picture of a Max S cover. Have a look at how to make it look like that by glancing at the instructions and then ignore the rest!

Anyway, I continued to put it together in daylight this morning and it’s finally finished and I have to say I am very pleased with it. I was worried it may spoil the clean and quality look of the tank and basically be an eye sore, but no it’s a very nice piece of equipment.

The only potential problem, is that in the pictures online there are 2 small fittings that rest the cover onto the left and right and sides of the tank. They are supposed to be spaced 1 each side of the lighting mount. Now that can be done, but as it’s a tight fit you have to manipulate the cover into place by pushing and bending the cover and light mounts, which is never going to work for me and would drive me insane. I even recut the rear plinth a few mm shorter than stated, but it’s still tight.

So my solution is to put the 2 small fittings on one side, which are shown in the pictures below, and then the cover just lifts in and out very easily without potentially damaging anything. It’s all in line and the back right hand side sits on top of the return nozzle so it’s all nice and level.

To feed dry food you can just drop it through the top, and today I fed Gamma frozen cubes and also Reef Energy by just lifting the front of the cover up. I may cut a small feeding hole somewhere in the mesh but I’ll see how I get along with it first as it’s easy to lift up.

Since putting it in place I feel much more relaxed now nothing can jump out, as my morning ritual involved looking on the floor for casualties!

Anyway pictures, I’ve done them from different angles so you can see. Looking up from my chair you can’t see anything of the cover, and you will see the upward shot from the right hand side as well.

 

[sricorals]

Hi and no problem.

MY, Regal Angel has never touched or nipped any of my corals. He just minds his own business picking at the rocks and is a very pleasant little fellow.

Obviously all fish are different but I wouldn’t hesitate to get another one if that helps you decide, and I have a full reef system.

Yes, your thoughts are very helpful. I have a regal angel in QT, I wasn't 100% sure if I was going to add because I have zoas, chalice, and scolly in my tank. After reading your comment, I'm going to give it a go. Wish we luck.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

 

[elisa h]

The screen top looks nice. Very clean! I just finished making one with screen, cardboard for the edges, and decorative packing tape to cover the cardboard. Doesn’t look very good but it’s just temporary. What kind of tang is that in the bottom left corner of the last picture? He’s so cute!

 

[GoVols]

The screen top looks nice. Very clean! I just finished making one with screen, cardboard for the edges, and decorative packing tape to cover the cardboard. Doesn’t look very good but it’s just temporary. What kind of tang is that in the bottom left corner of the last picture? He’s so cute!

+1

On the Red Sea screen tops and I like the Red Sea interlocks that are on Shaun's tank

 

[SPR1968]

The screen top looks nice. Very clean! I just finished making one with screen, cardboard for the edges, and decorative packing tape to cover the cardboard. Doesn’t look very good but it’s just temporary. What kind of tang is that in the bottom left corner of the last picture? He’s so cute!

He is very cute indeed and he is a Freckle Faced Tang.

If you look at the photos above you can see the little freckles on his face bless him!

He is near the bottom in the full side on tank shot above and there are some full face photos on previous recent pages.

He is one of the most active Tangs I have and eats loads and got on with everybody else as soon as I added him. He used to live in the same tank (elsewhere) as the Chevron Tang.

 

[GoVols]

He is very cute indeed and he is a Freckle Faced Tang.

If you look at the photos above you can see the little freckles on his face bless him!

He is near the bottom in the full side on tank shot above and there are some full face photos on previous recent pages.

He is one of the most active Tangs I have and eats loads and got on with everybody else as soon as I added him. He used to live in the same tank (elsewhere) as the Chevron Tang.

Shaun,
Your 650 is truly amazing and just just keeps getting better and better.

 

[SPR1968]

Shaun,
Your 650 is truly amazing and just just keeps getting better and better.

Thanks Freddie

It’s quiet amazing how you can create a full blown coral reef in your home.

I just find it fascinating with all the different forms of life, the strange things they can do, especially some corals.

And the more creatures I see, the more I need to have them to stare at ! Lol

 

[SPR1968]

Over the Christmas break I’ve done a few minor modifications to the return hose on the UVC system. Before the hose went under water so i couldn’t see the exit and water flowing out, i.e, that the pump was working and not blocked or something.

So I’ve moved the hose outlet into the return pump chamber. I can now easily see the water flow and it also helps to create ripples in the water surface to reduce the occasional bacterial slime caused by NoPox dosing.

I’m just awaiting a plug adapter and then the UVC and pump will be hooked into Apex so I can add flood/leak protection to it in case of any issues.

Over the last week I ‘happened’ upon my LFS on two different occasions.

Now I’ve installed the mesh cover I added a Blue Cleaner Wrasse. This fish is fascinating to watch as he cleans the other fish. The Yellow Tang loves it and just hovers in the water as the Wrasse cleans him. Some of the other fish are a little weary but they are all gradually getting used to him. It’s quiet beautiful to watch actually.

And the other new addition is a Neon/Arabian Dottyback. Now the LFS said this is ok, and all my shrimps are large and most of the other tank mates are much bigger. But don’t read what’s on the internet about them! I ‘think’ he will be fine Lol!

Anyway he is a stunning fish so....

 

[najer]

The dottyback is a very pretty fish.

 

[GoVols]

Shaun,
How's your cleaner wrasse doing?

Freddie

 

[SPR1968]

Shaun,
How's your cleaner wrasse doing?

Freddie

Hi Freddie

He is doing very well and is very active. In addition to the Yellow Tang, the other fish are starting to get used to his cleaning and it’s fascinating to watch them just hover in the water whilst he picks at them.

He sometimes maybe picks a bit hard as the Yellow Tang ‘jumped’ and chased him yesterday so maybe he is learning his skills lol!

 

[SPR1968]

I went to the fish shop yesterday, and found the most stunning coral I have ever seen. I will let you be the judge of this, and I can’t remember what it’s called and may have to go back to ask them, (good excuse or what ! Lol), but when I spotted it, I new I had to have it, and it wasn’t cheap either.

I think it’s beautiful and just need to know what it’s called now.

It has tubules that come up out of it from time to time. Very unusual

 

[GoVols]

Shaun,
It's an LPS and the name is "Spiny Pectinia"

 

[GoVols]

Shaun,

Happy New Year!!!

 

[SPR1968]

Shaun,
It's an LPS and the name is "Spiny Pectinia"

Ah the relief of the name. It was driving me mad! Lol

Thanks for that Freddie and Happy New Year to you, and everyone else here on R2R! Have a great year!

 

[Lninwa]

Love me a pair of blue throats. Want them for my dream tank

 

[Lninwa]

How did you accidentally purchase an Elegance? Sounds like something I would do. Way back in the day I had a beautiful Elegance in a 40 gal which ran on tap water. Had not even heard of rodi

 

[SPR1968]

Love me a pair of blue throats. Want them for my dream tank

They are truly a part of fabulous fish to watch and are very active. Infact there is a video of them spawning on a previous page or so if you haven’t seen it.

 

[SPR1968]

Over the last few weeks I’ve been busy doing a few upgrades with my system.

I decided it was time to connect the JBL UV-C ‘Rocket Launcher of death’ into Apex. So I plugged it all in only to find that it wasn’t working anymore. It had been working, so maybe I blew something like the bulb. I took it to pieces and it wasn’t looking that clean and had lots of salt creep.

Typically it was the only piece of equipment I had purchased from my LFS rather than online, and I’d lost the receipt so the 2 year warranty is not much use. Online I have it stored on computer.

In view of the state of it and the cost of a new bulb I thought I might as well just get a new one, and after doing a lot of research I went for the DD 20w UVC. This not only fits in the sump rather than outside, you can also see when it’s working from the glowing lights. I would have got the 39w but it was just to big and the 20w is rated for 500-1000 litre tanks in any case.

This picture shows the hose output of the UVC so I can see that the pump is working

I have the water flowing through at a rate of about 350-400 lph. Having read the DD recommendations and actual power, and with a view to killing such things as ich, bacteria etc., I need to achieve a power of around 72000 microwatts/sec.

At 1000 lph flow it generates 30000 microwatts. 72000 dividend by 30000 = 2.4. So to get the correct power i divide 1000 by 2.4 = 416 lph.

So my flow is just under this but within a margin of error as it was measured using a 1 litre jug and stopwatch but I’ve gone for a bit slower just to be sure. It’s not the ideal 1 x turnover of water per hour but...

So with the new UVC installed I’ve hooked it up to Apex and installed a Leak Protection program as below. This is just in case a hose comes out or something. The skimmer has the same protection program mainly for the outlet drain hose.

I’m currently dosing NoPox at 18ml per day to control Nitrate levels and may go a bit higher. My Nitrates are around 12-16ppm and although the corals are ‘glowing’ with life, I like to keep things under my control.

The increased dose has caused a few bacterial blooms in the sump, mainly in the return chamber, so I’ve installed a small circulation pump to disturb the water surface and it works a treat. No more slime.

The main reason for my concern with the slime build up was if it started to affect the Tunze ATO optical sensor which is in the same location

One of my main concerns with the U.K. Apex was that it doesn’t have the new power bar, so you can tell, for example, if you have main pump power failure.

Well I now can. I’ve installed a float switch into the left hand side of the sump. For non Max S Series users, if the main pump is off, the sump fills up, and will then trigger the float and send me an alarm to tell me

 

[GoVols]

Shaun,
That's a great update and thanks for sharing.

I have not ran a UV unit since the mid 1990's. Back then you replaced the UV bulb about every 90 days ;Oldman

How often are you supposed to change out a UV bulb now?