Show Off and Discuss Your Red Sea Reefer Series

[incloud design]

What we're you trying to build your canopy out of? Also you're going to either hang with wire cable from ceiling or mount directly to the wall. I mounted my flatting canopy directly into the wall and made it light enough that it would not need much. Screwing into a stud would he your best bet as well fixing up small screw holes if you ever take it down are very doable. I have an open top floating canopy and built wood bracket's that my light bar rests on.

I'm going to build essentially what you built. I looked around today at possible solutions and it's costly either way you go. So this afternoon I bought a nice compound miter saw and picked up some 12" PVC boards along with 2" and 4" to construct the canopy. I'm still not sure what I'll use on top if anything but am definitely not sure how I'll hang it. I looked for over an hour today at Lowe's and HD and just couldn't decide on a solution. I can't imagine it will weigh more than fifty pounds but my soffit above the tank isn't really built strong enough to support it. I've been trying to figure out a way to wall mount it but I have to come off the wall 7" for the canopy to look right. I know I'm way over thinking this but just want it right. The tanks right next to my couch in my living room so I'll be seeing it every night. Any ideas are welcome and nice job with your setup.

 

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Hi everyone! Never miss a chance to show off my Red Reefer! It’s an upgrade from a 60 cube that was about 4yrs old. So far it’s been great and is about 5 months old...

...

 

[incloud design]

What we're you trying to build your canopy out of? Also you're going to either hang with wire cable from ceiling or mount directly to the wall. I mounted my flatting canopy directly into the wall and made it light enough that it would not need much. Screwing into a stud would he your best bet as well fixing up small screw holes if you ever take it down are very doable. I have an open top floating canopy and built wood bracket's that my light bar rests on.

Do you happen to have any photos of how you mounted to the wall? I am building my canopy and only concern now is how to float it.

 

[Lbrod126]

Do you happen to have any photos of how you mounted to the wall? I am building my canopy and only concern now is how to float it.

Yeah I can take one for you when I get home but I did a straight line of locking hex screws into the stud on each side. So I have about 5 screws on each side. I initially had also did front supporting chains from the front of the canopy to the wall but ended up taking them out because it was sturdy enough without them and hated the way it looked. I attached a picture with the chains but those are gone now and here is a picture so you can kind of see the screws mounted to the wall. I didn't put anything behind, the canopy is flushed up to the wall and just screwed in that's about it pretty simple.

 

[incloud design]

Awesome, I'm hoping to not have to use any supports other than steel rods and extra reinforced frame. If yours holds fine I'd imagine mine will too. Not sure what yours weighs but they shouldn't weigh more than 50lb. I'm going to start tomorrow on the frame and will post progress

Thanks!

 

[Lbrod126]

Awesome, I'm hoping to not have to use any supports other than steel rods and extra reinforced frame. If yours holds fine I'd imagine mine will too. Not sure what yours weighs but they shouldn't weigh more than 50lb. I'm going to start tomorrow on the frame and will post progress

Thanks!

I mean I used light weight 1/4 inch pine no other supports and even made my bracket's to hold the light out of the wood. My goal was to make it as light as possible and I would say with the light bar in and both radion xr-30 it is maybe 30 lbs. I did not weight it but that would be my rough estimate. Later on down the road I might build another one out if black PVC board just because it's a cleaner look I think, but yours should weigh less than mine. I only used finisher nails and support steel hex screws to mount mine together along with wood glue. If you're using PVC board you can use PVC cement plus PVC screws along with corner aluminum L bracket's to make it as light as possible.

I don't think you will have any problem mounting it directly to the wall as mine has not had any issues. Good luck and can't wait to see some pictures!

 

[Aquageek450]

HELP!

Serious question...I know I can’t be the only one dealing with this on my reefer 250.

I can’t seem to get the water level in the overflow box to stay consistent. I’ve installed a Spears Gate Valve because I thought the stock valve was the issue. It still fluctuates. I replaced my sicce return pump with a Vectra because I thought maybe I was getting inconsistent flow. Still fluctuates.

The problem is when the level in the overflow box fluctuates it changes the water level in my return chamber therefore triggering my ATO when not needed. And someone’s this change happens so quickly that the ATO will timeout.

Is there a design flaw in these setups?

Do you guys have this problem?

 

[jwt1603]

HELP!

Serious question...I know I can’t be the only one dealing with this on my reefer 250.

I can’t seem to get the water level in the overflow box to stay consistent. I’ve installed a Spears Gate Valve because I thought the stock valve was the issue. It still fluctuates. I replaced my sicce return pump with a Vectra because I thought maybe I was getting inconsistent flow. Still fluctuates.

The problem is when the level in the overflow box fluctuates it changes the water level in my return chamber therefore triggering my ATO when not needed. And someone’s this change happens so quickly that the ATO will timeout.

Is there a design flaw in these setups?

Do you guys have this problem?

I’ve got a 525 I switched to a gate valve. Running a Vedra M1. Took a little trial and effort to get it dialed but no problems after that unless I change other things in the water flow pattern / volume. I would suggest you do very minor adjustments and give it some time to see what happens. You’ll get it dialed in eventually took me a couple of days playing around with it but it’s solid since.

 

[Aquageek450]

I’ve got a 525 I switched to a gate valve. Running a Vectra M1. Took a little trial and effort to get it dialed but no problems after that unless I change other things in the water flow pattern / volume. I would suggest you do very minor adjustments and give it some time to see what happens. You’ll get it dialed in eventually took me a couple of days playing around with it but it’s solid since.

That's the thing, I have done minor adjustments and it will hold for hours or a day and then it will change. and then I adjust and the same thing happens. It just seems to never end. I have my Vortech on a constant speed for now, whats the tank going to do when I put it in crest mode where it changes flow throughout the day? I'm sure the water level is going to go crazy...

Its just frustrating to have to deal with, I've spent more time messing with the valve on the tank than anything else. Every time I so much as put my hand in the tank it throws the water level off in the overflow and then I have to adjust again...

Am I doing something wrong, how can my tank be the only one with this issue?

 

[incloud design]

I mean I used light weight 1/4 inch pine no other supports and even made my bracket's to hold the light out of the wood. My goal was to make it as light as possible and I would say with the light bar in and both radion xr-30 it is maybe 30 lbs. I did not weight it but that would be my rough estimate. Later on down the road I might build another one out if black PVC board just because it's a cleaner look I think, but yours should weigh less than mine. I only used finisher nails and support steel hex screws to mount mine together along with wood glue. If you're using PVC board you can use PVC cement plus PVC screws along with corner aluminum L bracket's to make it as light as possible.

I don't think you will have any problem mounting it directly to the wall as mine has not had any issues. Good luck and can't wait to see some pictures!

Hey Lbrod126, I got a start today and so far the canopy and my plans are going well. I took your basic layout and added a bit more support due to the PVC being so thin. It is going to be extremely lightweight and I can't foresee any issues floating the canopy. My intentions are to lag bolt a white painted 6" board to my wall and use a 4x4 also painted white with threaded rods coming out of it. Then drill holes in the canopy and use hollow rods or conduit for the rods to slide into. If it works the way I presume it should be plenty strong enough and easily taken down for any reason (maintenance) that comes along. Just wanted to post progress and say I'm psyched and Thanks for the help!

 

[nyknicks2544]

Tank has been cycled and 2 clowns add this past weekend. Took a while but finally feel like its all falling into place.

Question on flow: I have a 425xl and was going to go with 2 MP40s on each side of the glass. Rock structure results in a few spots of the tank that are relatively dead. I had added on WAV to the back glass and am debating adding another. Not planning on running these full power but do you think this is too much flow for bare bottom SPS tank? Is there ever too much flow?

 

[Lbrod126]

Hey Lbrod126, I got a start today and so far the canopy and my plans are going well. I took your basic layout and added a bit more support due to the PVC being so thin. It is going to be extremely lightweight and I can't foresee any issues floating the canopy. My intentions are to lag bolt a white painted 6" board to my wall and use a 4x4 also painted white with threaded rods coming out of it. Then drill holes in the canopy and use hollow rods or conduit for the rods to slide into. If it works the way I presume it should be plenty strong enough and easily taken down for any reason (maintenance) that comes along. Just wanted to post progress and say I'm psyched and Thanks for the help!

Looks awesome dude! That looks like it will definitely be a lot lighter than anticipated. I love PVC board just couldn't find any in black, but I think I want to re make mine and just order some black PVC board offline. Sounds like you have a solid plan and can't wait to see it over the tank, always here to help!

 

[incloud design]

To all of you that have taken part in my progress I wanted to show an update to my plumbing. I got my drain set up and going to my basement sump now out the back of the stand so now the Reefer runs as normal with better control than the factory gate and the basement sump is also integrated. I am working on getting the return finished up now and will post back soon!

 

[Dolelo96]

Tank has been cycled and 2 clowns add this past weekend. Took a while but finally feel like its all falling into place.

Question on flow: I have a 425xl and was going to go with 2 MP40s on each side of the glass. Rock structure results in a few spots of the tank that are relatively dead. I had added on WAV to the back glass and am debating adding another. Not planning on running these full power but do you think this is too much flow for bare bottom SPS tank? Is there ever too much flow?

I have a 425xl, mixed reef setup. I put an Mp40 on each end, off center of each other and a IceCap 1k Gyre on the back center (it fits perfectly on the overflow). The 1k has an “alternating gyre mode”. The pump pushes water forward than reverses and pulls it back. It’s also capable of being set up vertically and with the optional cage, you can have flow going to the right and then to left of the tank. Right now the Mp40s are both set to nutrient transport @ 40% and the gyre is on the alternating gyre, 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% then the same but in reverse. Here’s a link to a video CoralVue did on the alternating gyre mode. This setup works great for me!

 

[Lbrod126]

To all of you that have taken part in my progress I wanted to show an update to my plumbing. I got my drain set up and going to my basement sump now out the back of the stand so now the Reefer runs as normal with better control than the factory gate and the basement sump is also integrated. I am working on getting the return finished up now and will post back soon!

Looks awesome man! I. Drawing up the plans to hard plumb my 625xl. Can't wait to be done with the stick plumbing!

 

[Dolelo96]

Looks amazing!!!

 

[Stpatrick]

I am about to pull the trigger on a 425xl with a white stand. Can anyone confirm the color of the inside of the cabinet? Black or white?

 

[incloud design]

I have the 450 and it is all white inside and out. Can't imagine the XL would be different.

 

[Crabby48]

I thought new ones had black inside. But I may be wrong.

 

[nyknicks2544]

I have a 425XL with black inside white outside but it’s not the V3 sump so perhaps newest version is all white