Somewhat unexpected Redsea 3XL 900 build!

jake royston · Apr 3, 2022

***05/09/22 *** FTS

What's up reefers!

So here's the sparknotes version. I was planning on upgrading my Reefer 350 (built as a temporary from my budget saltwater tank) to a reefer S-1000 sometime towards the end of 2022. Well, browsing BRS and SaltwaterAquarium, I discovered a "flash sale" on RedSea tanks. To no surprise, the S-1000 was not included. I did some comparing and deep thinking, and for the price i would be paying for the 3xl 900 on sale (10% off), id be spending about 2k less than the S-1000. To me, i could not pass up the opportunity to save $2000. The extra 3" of length, 18 gallons of display volume, aluminum frame, and perimeter bracing (i prefer rimless) was such a marginal difference to me, and did not justify (to me) passing up this "flash sale", as well as being able to reallocate the savings to other home upgrades. Needless to say, WAY ahead of my plans, the order was placed this week (3-29-22) for my RedSea Reefer 3XL-900!

On to the plans!

I plan on a mixed reef, mostly SPS dominant, with some LPS (gonis, hammers, and some torches, maybe some others down the road). I have a love for tangs so this will be a nice home for them!

I won"t bore you with the details, but my first two tanks have been quite the learning curve, they've had their ups and downs, (mostly downs LOL), but i digress...

Equipment:
-RedSea Reefer 3XL-900
-Caribsea Fiji Pink sand
-KP Aquatics live rock (the best thing ive done for my current tank by far) with some dry rock mixed in
-Ecotech Radion XR-30 G5 Pro (x4) (2x owned)
-Ecotech RMS multi light kit with 80.5" rail
-Ecotech Vortech MP40 (x4) (2x owned)
-Ecotech Vectra L2 return pump
-Inkbird heater controller with 2x 600 watt heating elements
-Reef Octopus Elite 200SS INT super cone protein skimmer
-Neptune apex EL (owned)
-Additional Neptune EB832 energy bar
-Neptune trident (owned)
-Neptune DOS (x2) (owned)
-Tunze ATO (owned)
-Bashsea ATO 10 (owned)
-Clarisea SK-5000 roller filter (owned)

I will be transferring my current lights (XR30 Pro's x2) and 2x MP40s, apex, trident, dos pumps, 30lbs of KP Aquatics live rock, and about 40lbs of dry rock from my 350 over to the new build once livestock is transferred. All other equipment (aside from the heater, which is out of stock) is already ordered!

Fish stocking list (still a work in progress)
-Blue hippo tang (owned)
-Yellow Tang (owned)
-Powder Brown Tang (owned)
-Scopas Tang
-Achilles Tang
-Moorish Idol (dream fish)
-Clown fish pair (owned)
-Royal Grama (owned)
-Anthias (not decided on type yet, i like the purple/yellow color of the bartlett anthias)
CUC will be transferred from current tank, mostly snails, hermits, and a hitchhiker florida fighting conch.

Here's the current setup, not exactly a showstopper or even grown out yet, it's mostly fresh frags, but hey, i did say the current tank has been a learning curve! LOL.

heres where the new beast will be placed!

swallace · Apr 3, 2022

Looking forward to the build. I was in a similar boat with the xxl 750 and the s-850 but I ended up going with the s-850.

Devaji · Apr 3, 2022

nice man! I though the same the other day but for a FOWLR kinda hard to pass up a large PNP system for under 5K. I have the 650P reef and a small WB 2420 for my 1st FW aquascape but man I really want a large fish only...sadly the other half was not as excited about the idea as I was....lol

I would replace the heater controller with a ranco.
Moorish Idol- one of my dream fish too! hope you get one to eat and it lives a long healthy life.

here is a crazy idea... ( because we encourage each other that way )
you could tear down that little wall take off the black vynal and run the like a peninsula!
scape it in the middle so the fish and swing around and through the rocks. IDK just a crazy idea from a peninsula lover.

jake royston · Apr 3, 2022

Devaji said:
nice man! I though the same the other day but for a FOWLR kinda hard to pass up a large PNP system for under 5K. I have the 650P reef and a small WB 2420 for my 1st FW aquascape but man I really want a large fish only...sadly the other half was not as excited about the idea as I was....lol

I would replace the heater controller with a ranco.
Moorish Idol- one of my dream fish too! hope you get one to eat and it lives a long healthy life.

here is a crazy idea... ( because we encourage each other that way )
you could tear down that little wall take off the black vynal and run the like a peninsula!
scape it in the middle so the fish and swing around and through the rocks. IDK just a crazy idea from a peninsula lover.

I could not resist for the price! Thanks, I’ll definitely look into that heater. Always welcome feedback and ideas for switching up some of the gear. I have the InkBird on my 350, it does well, swings about 1°, hopefully I can find something with less swing.

The idols are such beauties, hopefully one day we have some captive bred options so they are as hardy as they are in nature.

when I was remodeling the whole house before I moved in, that idea to remove that wall surfaced multiple times, but unfortunately it’s a small house, and my kitchen is behind that wall lol. The cost to move the water lines, electrical, and drain to the sink was not worth it to me. Plus the loss of most of my limited cabinet space. I did most just about all of the renovations myself since I was on a tight budget, and managed to save some serious $$$!
I’ve still got some work to do, including windows and blinds that actually match, but here’s some pics from after the renovation

Jeffcb · Apr 10, 2022

jake royston said:
What's up reefers!

So here's the sparknotes version. I was planning on upgrading my Reefer 350 (built as a temporary from my budget saltwater tank) to a reefer S-1000 sometime towards the end of 2022. Well, browsing BRS and SaltwaterAquarium, I discovered a "flash sale" on RedSea tanks. To no surprise, the S-1000 was not included. I did some comparing and deep thinking, and for the price i would be paying for the 3xl 900 on sale (10% off), id be spending about 2k less than the S-1000. To me, i could not pass up the opportunity to save $2000. The extra 3" of length, 18 gallons of display volume, aluminum frame, and perimeter bracing (i prefer rimless) was such a marginal difference to me, and did not justify (to me) passing up this "flash sale", as well as being able to reallocate the savings to other home upgrades. Needless to say, WAY ahead of my plans, the order was placed this week (3-29-22) for my RedSea Reefer 3XL-900!

On to the plans!

I plan on a mixed reef, mostly SPS dominant, with some LPS (gonis, hammers, and some torches, maybe some others down the road). I have a love for tangs so this will be a nice home for them!

I won"t bore you with the details, but my first two tanks have been quite the learning curve, they've had their ups and downs, (mostly downs LOL), but i digress...

Equipment:
-RedSea Reefer 3XL-900
-Caribsea Fiji Pink sand
-KP Aquatics live rock (the best thing ive done for my current tank by far) with some dry rock mixed in
-Ecotech Radion XR-30 G5 Pro (x4) (2x owned)
-Ecotech RMS multi light kit with 80.5" rail
-Ecotech Vortech MP40 (x4) (2x owned)
-Ecotech Vectra L2 return pump
-Inkbird heater controller with 2x 600 watt heating elements
-Reef Octopus Elite 200SS INT super cone protein skimmer
-Neptune apex EL (owned)
-Additional Neptune EB832 energy bar
-Neptune trident (owned)
-Neptune DOS (x2) (owned)
-Tunze ATO (owned)
-Bashsea ATO 10 (owned)
-Clarisea SK-5000 roller filter (owned)

I will be transferring my current lights (XR30 Pro's x2) and 2x MP40s, apex, trident, dos pumps, 30lbs of KP Aquatics live rock, and about 40lbs of dry rock from my 350 over to the new build once livestock is transferred. All other equipment (aside from the heater, which is out of stock) is already ordered!

Fish stocking list (still a work in progress)
-Blue hippo tang (owned)
-Yellow Tang (owned)
-Powder Brown Tang (owned)
-Scopas Tang
-Achilles Tang
-Moorish Idol (dream fish)
-Clown fish pair (owned)
-Royal Grama (owned)
-Anthias (not decided on type yet, i like the purple/yellow color of the bartlett anthias)
CUC will be transferred from current tank, mostly snails, hermits, and a hitchhiker florida fighting conch.

Here's the current setup, not exactly a showstopper or even grown out yet, it's mostly fresh frags, but hey, i did say the current tank has been a learning curve! LOL.

heres where the new beast will be placed!

Congratulations on you 3XL900. I have enjoyed mine. Following.

jake royston · Apr 12, 2022

Tank was delivered today. And keeping with the “unexpected” part of the build, I Woke up this morning to a text saying the tank was out for delivery. Luckily I was home!

unpacked everything I’m able to and everything looks great! Unpacked the sump and I’m playing around with fitment of my equipment. The skimmer is a touch too big to fit where I wanted it, so it may be going in the extension portion of the sump. I’m planning on cutting out the filter cup/sock portion to fit my clarisea sk5000. I noticed this tank didn’t come with the solid wier covers for the divider like the S-1000 does.

I also noticed the main drain might sit a touch taller than the emergency drain. Anyone have any insight on this? The main drain tube doesn’t seem to have the slots and clear plastic top that my reefer 350 does. Looks to be solid

swallace · Apr 12, 2022

Beautiful Dane and beautiful tank.

jake royston · Apr 13, 2022

swallace said:
Beautiful Dane and beautiful tank.

Thank you! She’s quite the handful lol.

jake royston · Apr 21, 2022

Got the filter sock compartments removed from the sump. Much easier to do when the sump is empty. Stand is being built and tank will be moved in tomorrow with the help of a mover (I recently had knee surgery, otherwise I’d be doing it myself with some help). I enjoy the assembly phase so it’s a bit hard for me to let someone else do it, but I’ll still be able to do everything else other than the heavy lifting.
I also removed the small piece of glass that holds the float valve in the return chamber. Not sure why this is included if there is no gravity fed ATO reservoir included .

swallace · Apr 21, 2022

Nice - doing that to mine as well - cant wait to play with the ReefMat

swallace · Apr 21, 2022

jake royston said:
Thank you! She’s quite the handful lol.

definitely miss my danes - lost our two last year but they lived to 12 so cant really complain.

jake royston · Apr 26, 2022

Tank was assembled by a LFS this weekend, and is officially up and running! Livestock was transferred last night and everything is doing well!

i need more rock lol.

swallace · Apr 26, 2022

jake royston said:
Tank was assembled by a LFS this weekend, and is officially up and running! Livestock was transferred last night and everything is doing well!

i need more rock lol.

You must be a machine - Its taken me a day and a half just to plumb in my UV

Daniel@R2R · Apr 27, 2022

Nice! Following!

jake royston · May 5, 2022

One week update:

Everything is running smoothly! Given it was a tank transfer, no casualties. Had to slowly peel my RFA off the bottom glass so that was a bit scary. All I can say is wow, I love this thing. The vectra L2 is silent, the reef octopus elite skimmer, DEAD silent! Took about 1-2 hours to start pulling skimmate. I’m definitely a believer in these products now. It hurt to pay for them but dang, I’m glad I did. The loudest thing on the tank is the fans on the lights. Let the tank ride for a week without touching it and I’ve noticed some new nubs and lots of encrusting on my acro frags, some have dulled out a little, one was tipped over in the sand for about 5 days and lost most of its color but is bouncing back. Also good growth in all other corals.

I have one pending order from Dr reefs quarantined fish, which was just updated to “livestock Acquired and currently in QT”. Been waiting for this fish since March, so you’ll have to wait and see what it is!

I did spend a little time organizing wires and installing my dosers. This is as good as it will get until I can build a controller board.

jake royston · May 10, 2022

Found a great deal on a healthy purple tang, and he made his way to the DT this evening. I have a small naso tang and white tail bristletooth tang currently in the QT tank for observation also awaiting the DT. Oh, and no, this is not the fish that’s coming from dr reef qtd fish, so stay tuned!

Current livestock
-Blue hippo tang
-Yellow Tang
-Powder Brown Tang
-Purple Tang
-Clown fish pair
-Royal Grama

I also scored this huge acro colony. Not sure what it is, maybe someone can ID it?

jake royston · Aug 28, 2022

I feel like I’m due for an update. It’s been about 3 months since I last updated this thread. The naso was placed in the DT a few weeks after my last update and somehow had ich and some sort of bacterial infection that showed no symptoms for weeks before being added to the DT. The rock work was completely taken out and all fish caught and put into QT. The naso tang, my powder brown tang, and royal grama all passed. My blue hippo, purple, bristletooth, and yellow tangs all suffered from ich, some sort of bacterial infection and some minor HLLE over the past few months and I had been trying different meds with no luck. They’ve been through copper power, Prazi pro, rally pro, general cure, and metroplex was the one that seemed to work. I’m not sure if they had brook, lympho, or what, but they’re finally showing signs of health again after about two weeks of dosing metroplex every other day. Hoping they stay clear for the next two weeks, and can be placed back in the DT.

The tank sat fallow for months, and is now home to a pre QTd moorish idol, and my QTd Achilles tang. I have a powder blue that has finished qt that should be getting into the DT in the next week. (Photos too large, I had to upload screenshots of the images from my phone… ughhhh)