XLOR8T’s Red Sea Reefer 525XL

[XLOR8T]

Hi everyone,

New to R2R and and my only experience is a 60 gal FW tank I had about 15 years ago. Fell in love with corals and SW fish when I started scuba diving on our honeymoon 3 years ago. We have a 2 your old boy who’s obsessed with fish and sea life and a 2nd baby on the way May 8. So lots happening in our lives and I’m looking to add more to it. I live in Toronto Canada so having a piece of the sea at home will make the 9 months of crappy weather more bearable.

I started by looking at a BioCube, then fell in love with RSR system and said then let’s look at a 170, then I saw the 250 and it wasn’t big price difference (until I realized I need two lights and lighting prices) then by the time I was into the 250 the 350 was only a short hop over and would let my wife have a small tang without committing to a bigger tank in the near future.

Long story short I ordered a 425xl and when the shipping was delayed and now I have a 525xl lol yes that escalated quickly.

I am no big rush. I am a patient person most of the time. I want to cycle for 6-8weeks given that we have a baby coming in May and then add inverts then add some fish and And I’ll be happy with simpler LPS to start.

So I’m going to give you a breakdown of current and incoming equipment and take you through my setup adventures. Please chime in with you advice. I am here to learn!!

The gear and initial impressions

Tank: Red Sea 525xl in white
Really well built and well thought out. Love the extra couple of inches of depth. Really helped with allowing ample swimming space around the aquascape. Took about 2hours to assemble by myself. Tank will need help to place on stand.

Rock/sand: Carib Sea Life rock 40lb of shapes rock, 40lb of standard rock. 3 Marine Pure 8x8x4 blocks in sump. I must say the shapes rock is really great. Light and unique shapes great for minimalist aquascape combined with marine pure. 80lb of carib Sea Reef sand

Return pump: Neptune Cor15. I was looking at Jebao dcp6500 but one I decided on apex I couldn’t say no to Cor15. It will be dictated return pump. Reactors will run independent pumps.

Skimmer: Reef Octopus super Reef 2000 int. Looks well built. Instructions could be better presented for noobies like me but nothing I couldn’t find online. Also bought an adjustable reef Octo skimmer stand since sump level is 10” and skimmer is ideally supposed to be 6”. Will be Running a drain line to basement for future addition of Avast Skimmate locker XL. Might run it directly to drain with solenoid valves allowing short periods of drain 2-3 times a day through apex controller. (In case skimmer goes crazy so I don’t flush half the tank down the drain.

Lighting: 3x AI Prime HD. I will be adding the AquaticLife T5 hybrid when I add SPS down the road and Install primes in it.

Flow: 2 Ecotech MP40s. 1 currently here 2nd will come later. I building a DIY battery backup with. 35AH battery. Will do a post for that later once I’m building it.

Sump:

Refugium: I’m had @Elder1945 here locally build custom baffles and I have a Kessil H380 for light and plan on running the fuge mid cycle process with 1-2 hour light cycle at night and work up to 8-12hours over night.

Reactor: Phosban 150 (will be running Red Sea Carbon and possibly GFO depending on how well the fuge does.

Mechanical filtration: replacing Red Sea socks with cups to run filter floss and dispose. Ideally wish to run no socks pending fuge and skimmer performance

ATO: Neptune ATK, running down to basement below the tank Where my RODI system is filling a 44gal brute. The RODI is 200GPD from max Water. I will be using apex optical sensor to schedule RODI to run and make new water by way of a apex Solenoid. The tank also has float valve as 2nd Backup.

Heater: 2x Eheim Jager 250w. Will be setting up an apex alternating schedule and setup as redundant backup for each other.

Controller: 2016 Apex with: FMM, WXM, breakout box, 3Dos pumps and 2 Dos containers (coming in a few months 2 for dosing 1 for Auto water changes. Magnetic probe holder, Fire 7 Tablet for Display, breakout box for some more automations.

Auto Feeder: Neptune apex. Will update on performance down the road.

Glass Cleaner: Tunze Strong.

Cycling process: Red Sea system.

Salt: Red Sea Blue bucket as I will need to store salt water and it seems to hold up better as mixed salt water.

Cut behind the cabinet and drilled a hole to the basement:

 

[XLOR8T]

Setup and Assembly

Well they say it’s not fun with out a couple of curveballs. Tank was 3 weeks delayed so I’m had to get it built this weekend and our 2nd baby was born today so the clock was ticking. Add twist! Woke up Thursday with a bad case of vertigo. I couldn’t barely stand. Half of my work was on a ladder as I have my electrical and water mixing station in the basement right below the tank.

Got my bother in-laws to help out the tank on the stand and they helped get it level (it’s a pain in the b***) with all the little mini legs, hard to get even distribution.

Had my aquascape done, it was impossible to replicate in the tank as glass proved to be very unforgiving surface for balancing acts lol came up with new design and used Seachem Reef Glue. The smell filled the tank so working in the fumes wasn’t fun!

Went to make my first batch of salt water. I have a 1.5” valves from RODI tank to mixing brute. It filled up half way in seconds and I realized the brute has a massive leak. Water everywhere! Drove to Home Depot and exchange it. Came home only to find out it had a thinning spot in the same point. Probably got hit with a forklift in storage or transport at Home Depot. Drove to another Home Depot to get new brute. Problem solved.

I have a Jebao 12000 for mixing saltwater and pumping it to main floor. Worked like a charm with python hose that will work for manual/large water changes. The AWC by way of dos will be the regular water change plan.

Finally got it all together. Now I could run apex and start setting it up. Bit of a learning curved but wasn’t terrible. My Salinity probe is still way off even after calibration. Will have to revisit in a week or two it seems.

Vortech

Wire management:
Used some star tech wire raceways and 3m command stripes to mount them. eheim heaters have really short wires so they needed extensions. I drilled a separate hole for probe wires, ATO water line and needed a point of exit below skimmer cut to drain it to basement later.

All the power adapters are in basement and wires come up to Apex power bar. This left some more wiggle room in the cabinet. My display board is no Broadfield but it works. Had to take Vortech controller apart to get wires through the board, it was easy and worked well.

I hooked up ATK (FMM) module once I got water level and salinity sorted. Sensors were mislabeled so that took while to figure out and I didn’t realize it needs the 24v power supply so the pmup wasn’t working. All fixed and super happy with it. I have a apex solenoid controlling RODI tank with low level optical sensor backed up by float valve and will limit water making by time too. So super easy ATO solution. Just had to extend power and water line for pump and it worked like a charm. About 25 ft away and 6ft rise.

Cor15 running at 100% and dialled in the drain valve.

Also thinking of wiring the apex aux power supply into the same backup battery as Vortech so it can still run during power outage to monitor the tank.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Welcome to R2R! It's going to look sweet! Don't be afraid to ask tons of questions. There are some really cool people with a ton of experience ready and willing to help!

 

[pelphrey]

Nice setup! Congratulations on the 2nd child!

 

[XLOR8T]

Welcome to R2R! It's going to look sweet! Don't be afraid to ask tons of questions. There are some really cool people with a ton of experience ready and willing to help!

I have read tons here and got most of my ideas from the build threads here. You all have been so helpful!

Also like to give a shoutout to @pelphrey. Gave me the guts to attempt my own install and in the process I not only learned a lot but came out with a sense accomplishment and pride in a tank done the way I wanted and not a cookie cutter store install. )

 

[XLOR8T]

Nice setup! Congratulations on the 2nd child!

Thank you! You inspired me to do it myself!

 

[Dan Snyder]

Great job. Jelly basements are nice [emoji1360]. Now the fun starts. Congrats on the baby my second one is due June 12th so we have some great things in common . Keep the post and pictures comming.

 

[XLOR8T]

Great job. Jelly basements are nice [emoji1360]. Now the fun starts. Congrats on the baby my second one is due June 12th so we have some great things in common . Keep the post and pictures comming.

Thank you and congrats on the new one on the way! Our son’s interest in sea life was the tipping point to finally pull the trigger on a reef tank.

 

[Irongolem411]

How do you mount the apex controller to the 525 cabinet? Mount to separate board that is then screwed to the 525 stand?

 

[XLOR8T]

How do you mount the apex controller to the 525 cabinet? Mount to separate board that is then screwed to the 525 stand?

Sorry I didn’t see your reply earlier. It’s a Flat PVC board that @Elder1945 basically turned into a stand. So it’s free standing. I can pull it out, I have my power bar and other modules mounted behind it. The dosing reservoirs will go back there too when I put them in.

 

[XLOR8T]

So here’s an update:

I’m on day 12 of the Red Sea armature reef program. Had a lot of anxiety about it since it goes against most of what I had read. 10 hour lighting period and no ghost feeding. A little asking around and some positive feedback put my mind at ease.

Ammonia is pretty much gone. 0.1 Nitrites and 30-40 Nitrate.

The Reef Octo SRO2000 ended up being louder than what I was willing to live with. The hum wouldn’t let my wife sleep on the 2nd story and the tank is on main floor. So I’ve ordered the DC Varios pump for it and they would basically make it regal skimmer that’s silent.

Did my first water change with my hose system to drain to basement and pump NSW up. Worked like a charm. Took all of 5-10 mins. No mess no buckets!

Starting to figure out coral placement and make a plan so I don’t have to rip things out down the road. Proving to be more complicate than I though. So many corals grow so fast and some need to be contained on islands so the planning continues.

I went with BRS recommendation. I’ve addd my chaeto today. (Had my first run in with a Bristle worm) I know they are bound to be in the tank, but I removed it since it was 1.5” long) I was told I probably missed another 500 babies lol

No unfortunately we don’t have algae barn here in canada so i found a reputable retailer that said his chaeto has pods and bristle worms but no other Pest/diseases. I’ve set the H380 to 3 hour per night lighting and will acclimate and slowly increase to 12 hours

I’m now working on figuring out my battery backup plan.

So far plan is 65amp hour battery wired with eco tech fused cables to feed Vortech pumps. They can run for days on that battery.

1500va UPS for the Apex and apex power bar with programming to shut off non essentials and run the skimmer and cor15 pump. 2 dc pumps should get me enough time to get home and get the generator going. Eventually I’ll buy a 1link module and out its power supply on the Inverter for the cor15 and power apex head Unit for a longer buffer time.

Alternatively I’m trying to see if I can find anyone to help me use the 65AH battery with an inverter and some type of power switch to essentially build my own large UPS. Most 1500VA UPS run on 24v and I don’t really want to buy another 65AH battery if I don’t have to.

 

[XLOR8T]

Update and first fish

So the adventure continues. I seeded the tank with Copepods giving them a predator free environment to get established.

Was trying to get my cor15 pump to stall the water in the line at 1% for feed mode but it was still flowing so I re plumbed it with 1” PVC and added a valve to leave slightly open so at 1% it would flow through the valve instead of return line in display and prevent syphon. Well that didn’t work. I added a flow sensor to monitor flow loss to achieve this and it would mean valve had to be fully open and lose 80GPH from the already low 420GPH at true 100%. Been going back at forth with support. This is 30-40% below their head pressure charts. Their explanation so far is the 3/4” reduction in Red Sea return line to display which doesn’t make sense. Most pumps in this size are hard plumbed with 3/4 plumbing. No one is using 2” for 1500GPH rated pumped. Basement sump with big pump sure. Anyways trying to get to the bottom of it and see what I can do. I really do like the Cor pumps. Waiting to see what others are getting in measured flow by bucket method or flow sensor out of cor15 or 20.

Varios pump on the skimmer is now silent. I would highly recommend regal or elite skimmers with varios pumps.

I’m looking for a small Powerhead for fuge to crest some flow. I tried a hydro 300gph mini pump but the chaeto bits keep clogging it. Hoping to find a power head that isn’t hindered by small bits. The main section of chaeto can’t reach the powerhead since it would be tucked under filter sock chamber with no socks and marine pure blocks keeping cheato in the main compartment.


First fish


Yesterday morning I tested my ammonia and nitrites and 0 and 0. Decided to pick up my two clowns that had gone through qt from a local fish supplier. Named them Marlin and Coral after Nemo’s parents lol

After drip acclimation I put them in the tank and they quickly found a cave to hand out in. By night time they had come out and found a high flow spot accords the tank from the mp40 and were swimming pretty hard into it. It’s only running at 70% Lagoon. I dropped it to 20% constant to give them some time to relax.

At the end of the night. I thought I’d retest the water and got 0.2 Ammonia and 0.2 Nitrites. So panic time. I started to make a large batch of Fresh salt water and added seachem stability to the tank. Woke up this morning. Ammonia is 0 and Nitrite is still 0.2-0.3 so I think it’s ok to wait till later today to retest before doing the big water change. I’d rather not stress the fish with a big water change if I don’t have to.

Some pictures:

 

[Dan Snyder]

Looks nice man!

 

[XLOR8T]

Looks nice man!

Thanks. Trying. I don’t know if I should be concerned with the 0.2 Nitrite or just wait and be patient.

 

[Dan Snyder]

Patients, Fish will tell you, watch closely

 

[XLOR8T]

Patients, Fish will tell you, watch closely

Thanks will do

They seem relaxed right now.

 

[XLOR8T]

Update 2 and over coming challenges

Been a very busy month with lots that have happened with the tank.

Flow Update:

To keep this short, I upgraded to a cor20 and still only getting 480GPH flow with hard plumbed 1” pvc. Simply put the end result of conversation with the engineers at Neptune was that their head pressure charts are done with vertical pipes and not elbows so unfortunately their charts don’t translate to actual flow in a tank.

Inverts:

6 Blue leg hermits
4 Nassarius Snails
2 emerald crabs
8 Trochus snails.

Quarantine

So every fish that was going in my tank was quarantined. My inverts come from a no fish system so in my mind I had my basis covered. Then I decided well I should put some extra shells in for my hermit crabs just in case. You can see where this story is going. Adds a dozen shells and two days later I look in and notice some anemone looking thing on one of the shells. Some told me it was Aptesia some told me bubble anemone. Panic mode in full force. My fish supplier suggested since there no corals or anemone in the system that we treat with Chloroquine Phosphate. Well we did and the hermits and emeralds crabs were just fine. The snails didn’t look well the next morning. I was digging through sand and found my nassarius. Found 5 of my 8 Trochus (most were up side down) out all in fresh saltwater bucket and flow pump and basically rescued them. Moved chaeto Into copper treated water with a light and air stone.

As a result I now have a coral and invert qt in the basement where the snails are hanging out till we run carbon to get rid of CP. been 2 weeks since meds and the sample hitchhiker I kept in cp treated container is still alive grrrr
(Pic is attached if anyone can shed some light) going to keep going for 30 days to see if it will die.

There’s 0 algae in the tank now and haven’t seen any of my $300 worth of copepods. So will have to wait and see if they are just hiding.

Red Sea mesh cover

I put one together with a bunch of custom cut outs for lights and auto feeder. A fair bit of work but turned out “ok” the zig zags actually make the frame weak so the stretch of the mesh pulled a couple of parts in a bit but ok for now as I will have a custom one made once my lights are upgraded to t5 led hybrid that is hung.

2nd MP40 came and now trying to find best placement and programming.

2 DOS and DDR arrived but haven’t had a chance to install but I have time till corals start coming in and consuming alk/cal

SENEYE

Love this thing. Really amazing to see ammonia levels are such low low levels (undetectable by usual test kits) but it let me see how things affect ammonia at minute levels. Really great redundancy for Apex for alerts regarding PH/Temp

Two little fishies mega seaweed clip
Happy with it so far. Pretty strong magnet. The regular one didn’t Hold well at all on front glass of 525xl

New fish!!!

So a bunch of juvenile fish added. My 500gal dream system will need a couple of years of planning and lead time so why not get the juveniles to grow in this tank and transfer to new system when ready.

Royal Gramma (she’s shy but really cool when she comes out at feeding time)

Blond naso added (love this fish so energetic and curious)

Blue tang (tiny little one. But fearless lol)

Magnificent foxface (just stunning. And gave me a heart attach trying to put her I. The tank. Trying to be careful not to get pricked using a thick aquarium glove but she could really splash when she got in)

The rest of the fish are in Qt and will come out over the next 3-4 weeks.

Been very impressed how sold the cycle has held with the fish and my feedings. Didn’t budge the ammonia reading one bit. And as of a week ago Nitrites went to 0 as well nitrates at 3-4 and Phosphate was at 0.001 before CP. I will run carbon before testing that again.

Attached are some pics. I’m going to try better pics of the fish soon. Mostly been taking videos. Thanks for reading and please please comment and discuss as I’m learning lots from everyone.

 

[XLOR8T]

The adventure continues

There’s lots of corals in QT waiting to go In the display. Needless to say the QT closed 3 times and was reopened as I saw corals I couldn’t resist. Added another light and raised rack for sps in QT. Got a few more inverts too.

The phosphates in the main system we’re through the roof after CP. over 6ppm

Once carbon was running CP was out of the system and the algae started to grow rapidly. I moved the chaeto back to the fuge as it was starting to bleach in coppersafe water. Added some Kent Marine macro algae supplements and boom the chaeto came back in 2 days and so did all the other algae. Didn’t think that part through. 2 big 40% water changes and Rowaphos and I’m was down to 0.77 and nitrates are at 0.25. A few more days of Rowaphos and now down to 0.08

Added more fish (all very small juveniles under 2-3”


Whitecheek Tang
Tomini Tang
Yellow Tang
Purple Tang
Desjardini Sailfin Tang
Powder Blue Tang


Melafix treatment

The yellow was sitting in Copper for a few extra weeks since it had been in hypo and Copper at LFS before my fish guy put him in qt. I realized after I put him the display and my lights that one of his eyes was cloudy. But eating like a pig and swimming happy and with lots of energy. Didn’t want to stress everyone and try to catch him in the display so decided to treat display with Melafix and took Skimmer/Carbon offline and added big air put to increase oxygen in lieu of skimmer.

The purple had a mild case of lateral line but with 3 days of solid seaweed, vitamins and lots of frozen food the lines are barely noticeable now.

So I have to wait a week with Melafix treat to start running carbon and Gfo again to get the water to my target levels.

QT upgrades

So I started with a simple QT but I’m so dependent on my apex for feed modes and monitoring. I couldn’t just let it be

So I got a PM1 module to monitor temp and put the heater and filtration on Apex for control and power monitoring for failure. The stability of apex temp control is unmatched. My tanks are always between 76.9-77.1. I’m finding everyone is very happy at those temperatures.

Topping off RO is a bit of a pain. About 0.5 -0.75Gal per day. The display is completely automated with making RO to topping off. I don’t think there’s a reliable ATO for a breeder style tank with surface agitation.

There a few more fish in QT and I will update as they are added to the Display.

Been working more on the design and planning of the basement tank. 450-500 display with 180gal fuge and 40 gal sump for skimmer and return. Probably a 2-3 year project but something to look forward to.

Between the day I started typing the update and now, I had a mini crash in the QT and lost 2 Acro colonies overnight to RTN. And over 48 hours after lost all the sps. They were polyps out and super happy 7pm and 7am basically half dead and by 7pm full death all white. Parameters were bang on and no swings. We suspect chemical warfare. 50% and then 2 20% water changes and things basically back to normal. Just a bit heartbroken, but glad it happened in QT and not display. Reassured me that this is the right way of going about things.

In the process of dealing with the crash also found a mystery population of isopods, not 100% super if they are the aggressive species. Will be acclimating a molly to a Isolation tank and putting the isopods in to see if they go for the fish. If they do then I’ll remove them and take the fish back and if they don’t I’ll take fish back and continue manual removal to keep population in check. Also found 2 Stomella Snails and bunch of copepods. So not all bad




Below are some pics.