Tikosyn's Red Sea Reefer 750XXL Deluxe Build

Tikosyn · Sep 8, 2017

Welcome all! So I have been lurking here for awhile, learning a lot, and it is finally time for my FIRST reef tank build! I have been keeping freshwater fish for a long time and this tank is my first foray into the saltwater side of the hobby. This tank will be going in my newly renovated basement, which won't be finished until likely the end of October but I had to start this thread because the tank just arrived today!

Many of you are probably wondering why I started with such a large system having never been in the hobby before. Well, through researching/asking questions the generally consensus seems to be start with the biggest tank you can afford, so here we are, decided to go big or go home! Also, I went with the Deluxe version because I have heard great things about the AI Hydra LEDS and just wanted a complete package. I am trying to make this tank as easy as possible, utilizing the new neptune APEX as well as the Genesis automatic water change/storm top off system. Anyways I'll kick things off with some pics of the tank, will be posting a full equipment list soon as well as asking a lot of questions. Thanks for checking out my build!

dylana407 · Sep 8, 2017

Congrats.

Tikosyn · Sep 16, 2017

Thanks! So my plan is to go with mostly dry rock, reefcleaners to be exact, and to seed it with some live rock from Atlantic reef conservation www.arcreef.com. I was planning on ordering 150lbs of dry rock and seeding with 25 lbs of live rock. Will this be enough rock for the tank? I was also going to run some marinepure media in the sump for some additional filtration.

Tikosyn · Sep 26, 2017

Equipment List:

Return pump--Reef Octopus Varios 8
Flow-- 2 or 3 tunze nanostream 6095 pumps + Maxspect battery backup
Heater-- Finnex titanium 800w
Controller-- Apex 2016
Doser-- Apex DOS + apex DDR
Water change--Genesis Renew
ATO- Genesis Storm
Sand- 120 lbs Tropic Eden dry miniflakes
Rock- 150 lbs reefcleaners dry rock + 25 lbs ARC reef live rock
Skimmer--reef octopus regal 200 int
Lighting-- 4 AI Hydra 26 HD LED's
Water-- BRS 4 stage RO/DI unit and instant ocean salt
Reactors/media-- Biotek marine bio series media reactor running BRS Rox .8 carbon, not going to run GFO to start
Refugium light-- Maxspect Celestial C35 Aquatic algae growing led

Can any veteran reefers let me know if I'm missing something? I still need a few odds and ends like water storage containers but I want to be sure I have everything before I start putting everything together.

satttheman · Sep 26, 2017

Congrats! Can’t wait to see pics

deedubz · Sep 26, 2017

Awesome man! Welcome to r2r. Looking forward to this build

Tikosyn · Nov 27, 2017

Small update, tank is down the stairs and on the stand! This took a small amount of planning and some suction cups. I purchased 6 suction cups rated for about 260lbs each and invited 5 guys over to get it into the house, which wasn’t bad at all. Getting it into the basement was a bit trickier. I had a piece of plywood cut at Lowe’s to the same width and a little bit longer than the length of the tank. I duct taped cardboard all along one side of the plywood to decrease friction going down the stairs. I also cut a 2x4 and drilled it into the bottom of the plywood so the tank couldn’t slide off. Basically, I built a sled for this thing.

We attached two suction cups to the far end of the tank, wrapped some rope through the suction cups and 4 guys slowly lowered the tank down the stairs, worked like a charm! It took 4 normal sized guys to lift it from the floor onto the stand. Now I have to figure out why I decided not to just go with red sea’s plumbing and try and do a custom hard plumbing set up on my first reef tank! If anyone has some tips let me know!

Tikosyn · Nov 28, 2017

A few more pics of the lights mounted, any with experience mounting LED’s let me know if my lights are mounted well/far enough apart? I spent way too long staring at them last night.

JAMSOURY · Dec 2, 2017

Awesome tank!! I would say the best way to tell if the lights are good is to check it with a par meter

lbacha · Dec 2, 2017

I would make sure they are evenly spaced unless you are going with a peninsula on either side of the tank and you want the par higher over them. It looks like in the picture that your middle two are farther apart than the outside lights

AJsReef · Dec 3, 2017

Following along!

Love the floors in that room, its going to look great! Curious on the Genesis too, I have a DOS doing AWC on mine.

Tikosyn · Dec 4, 2017

Thanks AJ! We just finished construction in the basement and I've been waiting patiently this whole time to get this project off the ground, needless to say it has been a long wait! I am planning on going for the 2 island setup with my rockwork, does that change anyone's opinion as far as current light spacing? Also I have been trying to work on a custom hard plumbing manifold but wow I am pretty lost. I am trying to emulate Eric's red sea reefer 525 build because it looks super clean and professional. Can anyone help as to how I get started and if my parts list needs anything? My main problem is I don't know how to hook up the return pump, and how to plumb the reactor to the gate valves that I have. Here are some pics, thanks for any assistance!!

dylana407 · Dec 4, 2017

Look so clean. Wish I can afford one of these.

Tikosyn · Dec 10, 2017

Aquascape update! What do you guys think? This will be a mixed reef, I plan I getting about 25 lbs of live rock to seed the dry rock also. Going for the two island approach, does the middle look too barren?

Eric Morissette · Dec 10, 2017

Following loved the new tank

vinny110 · Dec 10, 2017

where you order the plumbing if you don't mind I asking?

Tikosyn · Dec 10, 2017

vinny110 said:
where you order the plumbing if you don't mind I asking?

Got it all from bulk reef supply with the exception of the reactor which I got from Aquarium Specialty. I decided to return all the plumbing and go with 1.25 inch red pvc instead of 1 inch. Should have pics of the manifold Wednesday or Thursday. Any scape opinions?

vinny110 · Dec 10, 2017

Tikosyn said:
Got it all from bulk reef supply with the exception of the reactor which I got from Aquarium Specialty. I decided to return all the plumbing and go with 1.25 inch red pvc instead of 1 inch. Should have pics of the manifold Wednesday or Thursday. Any scape opinions?

Tikosyn, I like the name...do you prefer Dofetilide? just kidding

But yeah, I just broke down my reefer, planning a bare bottom tank with frags all over using egg crates.

Tikosyn · Dec 10, 2017

vinny110 said:
Tikosyn, I like the name...do you prefer Dofetilide? just kidding

But yeah, I just broke down my reefer, planning a bare bottom tank with frags all over using egg crates.

Haha do you know I’ve been using this name for roughly 7 years in various games/forums and you’re the first person to recognize it, I’m a pharmacist so I always use drug names for handles. Lol.