Love the setup, wish I could make it work for mine, but I think you're right and I will have to look into pump options for my setup.The tanks are in a closet next to my aquarium. I circled where I have the line running thru a 1/4 bulkhead fitting. That then runs along my baseboard to my sumps float valve. With one valve open it tops off with 15 gallons and then I can open the other valve and top off the with the other 15 gallons. I'm lazy though so I usually just leave both valves open and let it top off with 30 gallons.
Looks like you ou are going to have to use a pump with your holding tanks in the basement. I would just add electric float switches in your sump so it can turn off and on by itself for topoff.
Each valve seems to be a little bit different than the next...On my 250 that I had set up, spent about an hour playing around with it on initial set up, and I swear, probably didnt have to touch the thing but a handful of time over 2 years. On my 525XL I just set up, valve is harder to turn and the water level flucuates a lot more in the overflow. I am attempting to keep mine just a few mm below the emergency drain in the 525XL and have gotten the best results in terms of quietness.
Now that the Red Sea Reefer series tanks are getting more common in hobbyist's homes, I thought it would be nice to have a one-stop place to share and discuss them. I love mine and I think it's one of the nicest setups for the money. It's far less expensive than an Elos and even cheaper than Innovative Marine SR series. I love setups that allow for user customization and I like checking out what others are doing with theirs. I think Red Sea really hit big with this one and the # of sales proves that. So please post up pics of your setups and feel free to discuss mods, tips, equipment etc.
I'll start out with a sump pic of my 450:
Sump by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr
IMG_6030 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr
Current state of my Reefer 450:
FTS by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr
IMG_5293 by Toby Broadfield, on Flickr
I'm also going to leave this here so it's easy to find... my very cheap solution to splitting the return:
PART LIST:
1/2" NPT Connector for 1/2" Loc-Line
Y Fitting for 1/2" Loc-Line Modular Hose
1/2" Loc-Line Modular Hose - 6 segments (you can split this in half or buy two of them if you want really long arms)
(2) Round Nozzles for 1/2" Loc-Line Modular Hose (you may choose to do the flare or straight-flow nozzles, but I like these the best)
- First remove the Red Sea fitting out of the end of the return nozzle... it's just pressure fit with Teflon tape.
- Then simply wrap the threaded section of the NPS fitting with about 10 wraps of Teflon tape.
- Next twist/slide into the Red Sea nozzle... it should go in somewhat snug.
- Then pull it back out and wrap it again with about 10 wraps of Teflon tape.
- Go ahead and twist/slide it back in... done.
- Lastly, snap on the Y fitting and your selection of Loc-Line segments and nozzles.
Our very own @pelphrey recently put together a nice instructional video on this also.
Here’s some recent pictures of my Red Sea 650 Peninsula [emoji4]
This is normal, my white came with a front black and white. They used to ship everything color coded back in the day, but I'm guessing to save some money, they made a universal cabinet kit and then your side panel and door come color coded.My Reefer XL 425 finally arrived. Question for those of you with black cabinet reefers: Is it normal to have one white piece and all the rest are black? I'm hoping it's just the rear base board and it won't show.
