Southeast Asia stocked Red Sea Reefer 750XXL Build Thread

DrewFish

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I am a long time freshwater cichlid keeper, and very active SCUBA diver/underwater photographer. (www.drewwilsonphotography.com) I have long toyed with the idea of setting up a Southeast Asia tank. I particularly wanted to duplicate the photo I took of some clownfish and Cardinals in Lembeh. Thanks to this lockdown I have have had nothing better to do than watch 40+ hours of BRS how to videos.

After as many hours of searching on the internet, I happened across an incredible deal on a never used Red Sea Reefer 750 XXL. It was less than half of retail.

So here goes nothing!
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I
 
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revhtree

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Welcome to R2R and to the addiction! :)

Killer photos too!
 

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Welcome
will be amazing tank
Last chance to take a hard look at carpet or keep for ever.
At least can be cut out under tank for now
 
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DrewFish

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Gear List (most of it is still on its way). I have a buddy who owns a Reef Aquarium maintenance company who is helping to kit it all out:
  • Current USA 1900 GPH pump
  • 4x Reef 90 LED
  • ApexEl Controller
  • Neptune WAV power head System with 2x power heads.
  • Neptune DOS for auto water changes
  • Neptune DOS + Containers for dosing two part
  • Finnex Titanium 500 watt heater
  • Skimmer that my buddy likes that I can never remember the name of, but that he has used with his company for 10+ years.
Given the auto water changes, I am going bare bottom for now. I love the look of sand and would love to have a jawfish/watchman goby, but I want to keep it low maintenance and have the ability to do higher flows.

The take is about 3 feet from my washer/dryer closet. I stacked the washer and dryer in the closet, and will setup a mixing station with two 100 gallon holding tanks. One for RO and one for saltwater. I purchased a 7 stage RODI filter from BRS, and am waiting for the pump and second tank to arrive to finish up the mixing station.
 
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Devaji

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Welcome
will be amazing tank
Last chance to take a hard look at carpet or keep for ever.
At least can be cut out under tank for now

I 2nd this. I know how heavy this tank is so moving it is not gonna be fun.
but if you are a home owner I would suggest thinking about it.

great pic too this tank is going to be sweet. welcome to R2R!
lot of great and helpful people around.
 

Devaji

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Gear List (most of it is still on its way). I have a buddy who owns a Reef Aquarium maintenance company who is helping to kit it all out:
  • Current USA 1900 GPH pump
  • 4x Reef 90 LED
  • ApexEl Controller
  • Neptune WAV power head System with 2x power heads.
  • Neptune DOS for auto water changes
  • Neptune DOS + Containers for dosing two part
  • Finnex Titanium 500 watt heater
  • Skimmer that my buddy likes that I can never remember the name of, but that he has used with his company for 10+ years.
Given the auto water changes, I am going bare bottom for now. I love the look of sand and would love to have a jawfish/watchman goby, but I want to keep it low maintenance and have the ability to do higher flows.

The take is about 3 feet from my washer/dryer closet. I stacked the washer and dryer in the closet, and will setup a mixing station with two 100 gallon holding tanks. One for RO and one for saltwater. I purchased a 7 stage RODI filter from BRS, and am waiting for the pump and second tank to arrive to finish up the mixing station.

off to a great start. that is some killer gear there!
what rock are you going to use?
I really like real reef rock.
 
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DrewFish

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off to a great start. that is some killer gear there!
what rock are you going to use?
I really like real reef rock.
Exactly that, real reef rock. At least two boxes worth. I am going to put down some ABS plastic so it does not scratch the heck out of the bottom of my tank.
 

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Looking good! Muck diving lembeh is top of our list for our next dive trip!
 
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DrewFish

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Looking good! Muck diving lembeh is top of our list for our next dive trip!
110% worth it. They even have mandarin fish that you can see DURING THE DAY. I highly recommend Lembeh Resort or NAD. I stayed at Lembeh, and have heard wonderful things about NAD from friends. Pain in the rear to get to.
 
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DrewFish

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Parts are starting to arrive. I should get the pumps and Apex today. The RO/DI arrived a few days ago but was damaged in shipping. BRS is sending me replacement parts.

I note the way they have the TDS meter setup is dumb. Right now the fist probe is just after the RO stage, second probe is after anion and third after the DI stage.

I am going to re plumb it so the first probe is before the whole RO system, second probe at the RO output, third probe at the DI output, that way you know if your RO membrane is starting to exhaust itself...

I also bought a solenoid to act as a backup to the float valve that will shut off the RO if the water gets too high.
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DrewFish

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Ok I got the replacement parts for the RO/DI that UPS broke. It is setup and doing it's initial flushing. So far 250 TDS source water. 10 TDS after the RO, and zero after the DI. My two 100 gallon storage tanks are ready for pickup, so the mixing station might be a chore for this weekend...

I also received some sheets of ABS that I will put in the bottom of the tank to keep it from getting scratched to hell when I get the rocks for the tank.

My 3 Current USA pumps arrived as well so now I just need the rocks before I can start cycling.
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DrewFish

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Ok the ABS is in to protect the bottom of the tank. In retrospect 1/8" would have been plenty, but 1/4" is extra strong. The Neptune Apex is mounted, as is the Finnex 500 watt titanium heater and one of the Current USA pumps.

I am also in the process of building the mesh screen.

Progress...
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DrewFish

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Alright the mixing station is done and filling with water! At 75 GPD the 200 gallons of holding tanks should take a solid three days... The station is run by a Current USA pump that is the same model as runs my tank and is connected by unions. so essentially I have a live spare running.

The RO tank has a float valve and a backup solenoid with optical sensor in case the valve fails.
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DrewFish

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Summoning my deepest Gandalf the Grey voice "YOU SHALL NOT PASS"

Custom mesh top is done...

Apparently according to my fish fit the Real Reef Rock is out of stock at his supplier, so I have not yet had a chance to begin cycling. I bought some Microbacter 7 and am ready to roll.
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