Show Off and Discuss Your Red Sea Reefer Series

[tenurepro]

Added two gyres to two mp10s to enhance flow in my reefer 250

 

[OriginalUserName]

I'm strongly considering just adding an additional support piece inside the stand. a 2"x4" sized piece that connects the side panel to the internal divider and another from the divider to the other side panel should resolve this problem and make the stand stronger than ever. I would have to nix the ato container but it sounds like most people do that anyway.
The other option of taking the tank down, building a temporary stand or just building my own stand altogether is a ton of work so this may be worth a try. It doesn't take much force to push the panels back to straight so a few L-brackets with some small screws should do the trick just fine. If it still winds up feeling wonky I can go back to plan B of building my own dang stand, with black jack, and....

 

[Jackooze]

Selling little Ocean reefer 250 baffle kit. $80 shipped. PM me.

 

[PerplexyHexy]

I'm strongly considering just adding an additional support piece inside the stand. a 2"x4" sized piece that connects the side panel to the internal divider and another from the divider to the other side panel should resolve this problem and make the stand stronger than ever. I would have to nix the ato container but it sounds like most people do that anyway.
The other option of taking the tank down, building a temporary stand or just building my own stand altogether is a ton of work so this may be worth a try.

Dude, you paid alot of money for that thing... you shouldnt have to rig anything... it should have been golden out of the box... thats ridiculous... Shouldnt have to be making these types of decisions... Really bothers me that you have to seriously come up with ideas like these after dropping $2k... it’s ludicrous.... I had to silicone the plastic sump return piece because it was leaking everywhere... they couldnt ship me a new one because they were doing inventory... So I had to purchase the same piece off amazon... got it shipped in 3 days... red sea would not reimburse my money for the purchase and their replacement piece came almost 2 weeks later... unacceptable... I understand not everyones experience is like this, but for the few that it does happen to... it sucks... and you get compensated for nothing... I never actually got a formal appology or a phone call from anyone... Charging Porsche prices for Kia service... They should have service reps for certain areas who can come and diagnose the problem and make the situation better, instead of you freaking out wondering how your gonna save $3k in livestock... Like I said, after my experience I wont be buying another red sea...

 

[OriginalUserName]

Dude, you paid alot of money for that thing... you shouldnt have to rig anything... it should have been golden out of the box... thats ridiculous... Shouldnt have to be making these types of decisions... Really bothers me that you have to seriously come up with ideas like these after dropping $2k... it’s ludicrous.... I had to silicone the plastic sump return piece because it was leaking everywhere... they couldnt ship me a new one because they were doing inventory... So I had to purchase the same piece off amazon... got it shipped in 3 days... red sea would not reimburse my money for the purchase and their replacement piece came almost 2 weeks later... unacceptable... I understand not everyones experience is like this, but for the few that it does happen to... it sucks... and you get compensated for nothing... I never actually got a formal appology or a phone call from anyone... Charging Porsche prices for Kia service... They should have service reps for certain areas who can come and diagnose the problem and make the situation better, instead of you freaking out wondering how your gonna save $3k in livestock... Like I said, after my experience I wont be buying another red sea...

$3,300.

I do agree. On the handy scale of 0 = can't change a light bulb to 10 = can build and design a house from scratch I'd say I'm probably a 7. The instructions were pretty ****** for such an important piece of furniture but I'm positive I put it together correctly. I think it's a design issue with such a large tank on this stand. The panels bowing has nothing to do with my build IMO. If the build process is that finicky they should come pre-assembled rather than trusting the average joker to build them.

It would be really nice to have some guy come out and look at it and say "yeah that's fine don't worry" or "yeah, you got a bad batch of panels let's get those replaced". And aside from livestock a major failure of a 140gallon aquarium would mean ruining my floors and possibly hurting somebody.

Edit, just left my review on the BRS product page.

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

$3,300.

I do agree. On the handy scale of 0 = can't change a light bulb to 10 = can build and design a house from scratch I'd say I'm probably a 7. The instructions were pretty ****** for such an important piece of furniture but I'm positive I put it together correctly. I think it's a design issue with such a large tank on this stand. The panels bowing has nothing to do with my build IMO. If the build process is that finicky they should come pre-assembled rather than trusting the average joker to build them.

It would be really nice to have some guy come out and look at it and say "yeah that's fine don't worry" or "yeah, you got a bad batch of panels let's get those replaced". And aside from livestock a major failure of a 140gallon aquarium would mean ruining my floors and possibly hurting somebody.

Edit, just left my review on the BRS product page.

Did you start breaking down the tank? I keep looking at the pictures you posted and it really doesn't look bowed to me. It looks like the door hinges need to be adjusted. Have you put a straight edge on the side panel vertically? Any gaps where it meets the back panel? When I put my stand together I went back after all the panels were assembled and gave the cam locks a once over. Even though they are mdf panels, mdf is pretty stable dimensionally.

 

[OriginalUserName]

Did you start breaking down the tank? I keep looking at the pictures you posted and it really doesn't look bowed to me. It looks like the door hinges need to be adjusted. Have you put a straight edge on the side panel vertically? Any gaps were it meets the back panel? When I put my stand together I went back after all the panels were assembled and gave the cam locks a once over. Even though they are mdf panels, mdf is pretty stable dimensionally.

Not yet. When I hold a straight edge against it there is definitely some curve visible in the panel. I'll see if I can post a pic.

Right now I'm dealing with my brand new Cor 20 pump failing. Sigh.

 

[mygsris2slo4u]

Not yet. When I hold a straight edge against it there is definitely some curve visible in the panel. I'll see if I can post a pic.

Right now I'm dealing with my brand new Cor 20 pump failing. Sigh.

Honestly I would just check your cam locks and monitor it to see if it changes. I suspect you'll never have an issue. It looks like they recently switched to the full inlay door vs an overlay because the pictures on BRS show an overlay door which wouldn't show a gap. Also, if you look at their "peninsula sump" video on youtube it appears to be the same where it's tight at the hinges and a bit wider in the middle.

 

[nyknicks2544]

Frustrated with my plumbing hoping for some advice. I am in the process of hard plumbing. I am having difficulties getting it aligned "perfectly". I am going for a similar approach as many on here with a manifold / hanging reactors with hard plumbing all the way from the bulkhead of the return pump. My issues is that on either end (pump of connection to the bulkhead) the angle is off / spacing is off so when I go to screw together the union it results in the pump having to lift off the bottom of the tank slightly, which seems to put weight on the pvc / connection to the tank.

I am concerned that being off just slightly in height / angle and the resulting weight this places on the bulkhead supporting this will result in significant issues in the long run. I have tried numerous times now but each time I am off slightly. How are people getting it perfect so there is no weight being placed on the pvc going from the pump / bulkhead?

 

[BrianReefer]

Frustrated with my plumbing hoping for some advice. I am in the process of hard plumbing. I am having difficulties getting it aligned "perfectly". I am going for a similar approach as many on here with a manifold / hanging reactors with hard plumbing all the way from the bulkhead of the return pump. My issues is that on either end (pump of connection to the bulkhead) the angle is off / spacing is off so when I go to screw together the union it results in the pump having to lift off the bottom of the tank slightly, which seems to put weight on the pvc / connection to the tank.

I am concerned that being off just slightly in height / angle and the resulting weight this places on the bulkhead supporting this will result in significant issues in the long run. I have tried numerous times now but each time I am off slightly. How are people getting it perfect so there is no weight being placed on the pvc going from the pump / bulkhead?

If that’s the problem buy a silicone pad to put under the pump to raise it to the right level, plus it’ll help silence it a bit too

 

[nyknicks2544]

If that’s the problem buy a silicone pad to put under the pump to raise it to the right level, plus it’ll help silence it a bit too

Thanks I may do that but I am going to give this one more go...

I have been using unions to allow me to change the angle on 90s to avoid having to get everything perfect the the first time around. Problem is the unions require significant clearance compared to other PVC components. For this reason I haven't been using them on the span of pvc that runs across the top of the inside of the stand. This is where my issue with the angle is coming into play.

My plan is to use clamps to have the stand support the pvc instead of just hanging it.

Clamps I am planning to use are these:
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/sm-clamp-for-pvc-pipe.html

Has anyone used these before? Do these leave enough clearance where you can use a union on the same span that is clamped to the stand?

As always thanks for the help! Hopefully I can contribute something to the community in the future lol

I am confident I can get the height correct, use the clamps to support so there is no weight issue but getting the angle perfect so when I go to make the final connection between the manifold and the pump is where I would really like to have all the unions in place to tweak the angle slightly and get it correct.

 

[smtwinn]

Hello everyone, here is my 425xl setup Feb 18, I down graded from a 300g deep dimension to focus on new house with 8-900g system built in.

425xl Red Sea Reefer (white)
Haven't really done any of the mods most folks are/have done (looking to do the drain mod for sure)

Mainly Sps dominant with some scattered zoas, montis, and goni garden

fish include:
blonde naso tang
chocolate tang
baby vlamingii tang
naked clown
frost bite clown
mocha clown
bonded pair pencil wrasse
yellow bellow velvet wrasse
yellow coris wrasse
green coris wrasse
flame hawk
meyori wrasse
lawnmower blenny

Equipment:
2 Radion Gen 4 pros
Mp40QD
Vectra S1 return
Neptune apex with a ton of goodies (trying to figure out new mounting system for the 2016 apex and eb832)
2 Neptune Wav (probably going to replace with another MP40QD)
ATK
ALD
PM1
PM2
1Link
2 x DOS
AFS
PMK
WXM
I turned the RS Ato bin into a refugium

FMM

Ice cap skimmer (probably going to replace, don't like it)
TLF reactor

 

[nycfishy]

I started out with two Ai hydra 26hd and it honestly did not have enough spread i ended up going with 2 xr30 pro’s and love it! Ample spread and par.. mine are currently running 40@ ab+.. I imagine once your sps grow out some 3 xr15’s are not going to be enough for your tank.. if I were you I would probably go with either 4 xr15’s or 2 xr30’s

Do u think adding a third 26XD would have given you enough spread? I'm looking at a 425 deluxe with plan to add a 3rd 26hd if I decide I want to do more than "easy" SPS

 

[XLOR8T]

Do u think adding a third 26XD would have given you enough spread? I'm looking at a 425 deluxe with plan to add a 3rd 26hd if I decide I want to do more than "easy" SPS

2 26s will have a lot of shadowing on 425. You will probably get better coverage with 2 xr15 pros with diffuser kit and add a 3rd or 4th as your light demand goes up.

 

[nycfishy]

2 26s will have a lot of shadowing on 425. You will probably get better coverage with 2 xr15 pros with diffuser kit and add a 3rd or 4th as your light demand goes up.

just did some back of envelope math. 3 xr15's w/ brackets= ~$1500 will be about $300 more than 3 AI Hyra 26hd's=~$1200 (2 coming with deluxe version). $450 if I add diffusers to all of them.
I'm willing to spend the extra money if the value is there. So questions I like some help with 1) are the xr15's 35% better than the 26hd's? 2) What can I do with the xr's that I cant do with the 26's?
I'd need another $100 for the Apex control module for radions but will put that aside for now.

 

[nycfishy]

For return line manifold do you guys think this prebuilt one would work?
https://flexpvc.com/cart/agora.cgi?p=BulkheadModularSystem&p_id=301-010-4&xm=on&ppinc=detail

if it works thinking it would save space, time and parts and be less restrictive than one make with T's and nipples

 

[XLOR8T]

just did some back of envelope math. 3 xr15's w/ brackets= ~$1500 will be about $300 more than 3 AI Hyra 26hd's=~$1200 (2 coming with deluxe version). $450 if I add diffusers to all of them.
I'm willing to spend the extra money if the value is there. So questions I like some help with 1) are the xr15's 35% better than the 26hd's? 2) What can I do with the xr's that I cant do with the 26's?
I'd need another $100 for the Apex control module for radions but will put that aside for now.

They have better spread and coverage with diffusers. I’ve gone hybrid for that reason. T5 coverage is hard to math with LED without breaking bank. But then you can add led for the pop

 

[nycfishy]

They have better spread and coverage with diffusers. I’ve gone hybrid for that reason. T5 coverage is hard to math with LED without breaking bank. But then you can add led for the pop

I'd like to avoid T-5 fixture as I don't want the bulk of it over tank. But understand thats the better solution.
Choosing between 3 26's and 3 xr15's are there any types of corals the 26's will prevent me from being successful with that the xr15's would allow?
Any pros/cons with apex integration with either that would make a material difference?

 

[XLOR8T]

I'd like to avoid T-5 fixture as I don't want the bulk of it over tank. But understand thats the better solution.
Choosing between 3 26's and 3 xr15's are there any types of corals the 26's will prevent me from being successful with that the xr15's would allow?
Any pros/cons with apex integration with either that would make a material difference?

Xr15 will penetrate better. So you can keep more demanding sps at more depth so a little more flexibility. I’ll let the more senior guys comment on specific corals

 

[Curtisw]

Hi guys I have a Red Sea Reefer 250 which I bought off someone else last month. It came with a bubble magus curve 5 which when he used it would have quite a full cup by the end of the week. Since using it I barely have any skimwaste inside the cup but also the bubbles are popping down very low in the tube and not popping within the cup column. Ive seen others that use this skimmer within their Red Sea tank even in 250s so not sure what im doing wrong, I want to believe its due to the water depth as with the 250 can only get about 7.5inches deep water. In the image you can see where the bubbles are forming at, its just above where the dirt line. Any help would be appreciated, thanks. Sorry if this doesnt make full sense.