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Redsea Reefer 450 Build / Upgrade


mhart032

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You should be able to grow acros pretty well inside about a 12"x12" region centered below each of the lights.  Outside of that square it will increasingly become lower light than most acros require

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after really looking at the tank for a bit i think i have it figured out, the bad is i have to remove the emergency overflow completely which means draining the overflow its self. then add a 45 to the emergency overflow and modify the lid to the overflow with my trusty dremmel OR the grinder and a cutoff wheel depending on how fast i want to get this done, this will allow me the space i need to add the mount. 

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I'd highly recommend hanging fixtures from the ceiling before attempting to remove/refactor the overflow. Plus it'll look cleaner without any obstructions attached to the tank itself. It's really quite easy (and I also have very tall ceilings).

Edit: Just snapped a quick pic of my setup. Shout out to my new Longhorn Cowfish chillin in the center. Lol:

lights.JPG

Ceiling joists didn't line up so I got some thin plywood from Home Depot (painted to match ceiling). Plywood to joists, fixture to plywood. Find center and mark it with painters tape across top of your tank. Then use a plumb bob either home made or a cheap Home Depot one to find plumb center. Easy!

I used four  wires here, because the Orpheks are incredibly heavy. With those lights you have I'd only bother with 2. Even easier! And to make it consistent, I used 8020 extrusions to make sure the lights were all even. The extrusions also make it 10x easier to attach to wire.

 

8020 extrusions bought here:
https://www.tnutz.com/product/ex-1010-c-1-x-1-smooth-180-bi-slot-t-slotted-aluminum-extrusion-new/

gusset for attaching extrusions to wire:
https://www.tnutz.com/product/inside-corner-gusset/

 

 

Edited by eddius-maximus
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4 hours ago, eddius-maximus said:

I'd highly recommend hanging fixtures from the ceiling before attempting to remove/refactor the overflow. Plus it'll look cleaner without any obstructions attached to the tank itself. It's really quite easy (and I also have very tall ceilings).

Edit: Just snapped a quick pic of my setup. Shout out to my new Longhorn Cowfish chillin in the center. Lol:

lights.JPG

Ceiling joists didn't line up so I got some thin plywood from Home Depot (painted to match ceiling). Plywood to joists, fixture to plywood. Find center and mark it with painters tape across top of your tank. Then use a plumb bob either home made or a cheap Home Depot one to find plumb center. Easy!

I used four  wires here, because the Orpheks are incredibly heavy. With those lights you have I'd only bother with 2. Even easier! And to make it consistent, I used 8020 extrusions to make sure the lights were all even. The extrusions also make it 10x easier to attach to wire.

 

8020 extrusions bought here:
https://www.tnutz.com/product/ex-1010-c-1-x-1-smooth-180-bi-slot-t-slotted-aluminum-extrusion-new/

gusset for attaching extrusions to wire:
https://www.tnutz.com/product/inside-corner-gusset/

 

 

Man the tank is looking great! I thought about hanging them., i have the extrusion and hanging kits from the ones i bought for the kessil to hang it. it came in a 4 pack and i only used one. Ill look into it. the way the the ceiling is there is a AC vent pretty close to where the first hanger would need to go so i should be able to hit the studs pretty easily. 

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I think im going to send the RMS mounts back and get these to hang it. 

 

ITEM   QUANTITY PRICE SUBTOTAL DELETE
 
Multi-Light RMS Track 50.5" - EcoTech Marine

 

 
$73.50 $73.50 x
XR717 RMS Hanging Kit - EcoTech Marine

 

 
$40.95 $40.95 x
Multi-Light RMS Slide for XR15 - Ecotech Marine

 

 
$21.00 $63.00 x
  •  

 

Your Order

  • Subtotal$177.45
  • Estimated Shipping*FREE
  • Estimated Sales Tax$-.--
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6 hours ago, eddius-maximus said:

I'd highly recommend hanging fixtures from the ceiling before attempting to remove/refactor the overflow. Plus it'll look cleaner without any obstructions attached to the tank itself. It's really quite easy (and I also have very tall ceilings).

Edit: Just snapped a quick pic of my setup. Shout out to my new Longhorn Cowfish chillin in the center. Lol:

lights.JPG

Ceiling joists didn't line up so I got some thin plywood from Home Depot (painted to match ceiling). Plywood to joists, fixture to plywood. Find center and mark it with painters tape across top of your tank. Then use a plumb bob either home made or a cheap Home Depot one to find plumb center. Easy!

I used four  wires here, because the Orpheks are incredibly heavy. With those lights you have I'd only bother with 2. Even easier! And to make it consistent, I used 8020 extrusions to make sure the lights were all even. The extrusions also make it 10x easier to attach to wire.

 

8020 extrusions bought here:
https://www.tnutz.com/product/ex-1010-c-1-x-1-smooth-180-bi-slot-t-slotted-aluminum-extrusion-new/

gusset for attaching extrusions to wire:
https://www.tnutz.com/product/inside-corner-gusset/

 

 

(Your tank looks amazing btw!) Another vote for hanging the lights if you can. It looks so much cleaner and you don't have anything in the way on the tank.

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I used that same rms hanging kit for both my tanks and am really pleased with them.  If you can't directly hit the joists in the attic it's really easy to nail  a 2x4 across the joists exactly where you need it.  I ended up having to do that on both mine.  There are only tiny holes in my ceiling where the wire passes up into the attic.  I used a jury-rigged plumb-bob taped to the ceiling to get the holes exactly where I wanted them.

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I decided I'm going to hang them, saltwater.com won't take the rms mounts back cause I opened them, but oh well. I'm still figuring out what exactly I want to do, but I'll post pics when it's finished. The tank is cycled, the fuge is setup and still ghost feeding to feed the fuge. 

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Agreed on hanging the lights from the ceiling. I have always thought it’s the cleanest look.

Also I run 2 xr15s and 4 T5s over my similar sized 80g (you can check my build thread for Par values) and Jolt is right on the with what he said earlier.


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Nothing to really update, things are the same, running the H380 over the fuge ghost feeding every day. the Sea lettuce is really growing, the Chaeto  not so much really. it is very dark green and looks healthy. I dumped 3 of the of algae barns 5280 16oz pods into the fuge last week and adding the phyto every day when i feed to get them established in the fuge. no lights over the display till i see more action in the fuge with growth. but most everything is right in line. the Triton came today, i ordered 2 sets of the core 7 10L kits so if they run out again i shouldn't see that issue. read to many horror stories about that. Triton says shelf life is forever, so we will see. I order the parts i needed from 80/20 inc for the pendent along with some other goodies for it. just waiting for them to ship ( so slow), but i really dont need the lights for another few weeks. Ill move the clowns over this weekend, there is enough ambient light to keep them happy and grow a little coraline while i wait. 

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Just a quick update, tank is doing well still waiting for the anodize shop to finish the parts for the pendent then I can get started on the lights. I tested everything I could today, I was very shocked at the results I figured nitrates would be off the chart high from the ghost feedings, but starting the fuge during the cycle was the best idea ever. No phosphates no ammonia, no nitrites and pH is steady at 8.1 alk is at 9 nitrates we're in between .0 and .2 on the redsea test kit. The Cheatos not growing a bunch but the sea lettuce has exploded it's doubled in size and keeps growing. I've been running the fuge light  9 hours a day the tank has no algae of any kind growing yet which I don't expect it to giving the fuge. I'm feeding 2 cube is mysis frozen, brine and rods to feed the fuge everyother day.  I'll continue another month down this path dosing 1ppm ammonia every 3 days to keep the nitrites fed untill I start to see a rise in nitrates to keep building the bacteria population. Then I'll turn the lights on on see how it goes. 

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I'm looking to start putting fish in my tank, I've added 2ppm of ammonia 2 days ago and it was processed and gone roughly a days time. I have a pair of clowns that I'll be adding from the 20gal but I want more fish I think I want roughly 10-12 fish in this system to start see how they process and go from there. I've never really been a big fish guy always had a pair of clowns and a goby or a 6 line wrasse and a couple of chromis but that was about it in most my past tanks. What would be good fish to start with besides the clowns? 

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1 minute ago, jolt said:

I really like my leopard wrasses, and I feel all tanks need an algae eater of some sort.  I'm thinking your tank may be too small for a tang though?

I was thinking about tangs, I love them they are very pretty fish. If I were to get them, I'd have to get it small and pass it along after it got bigger which is not an issue I've never really had a sentiment attachment to fish tbh. Do that get me wrong they are beautiful to watch and all and they need good homes and cared for. 

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I really like my leopard wrasses, and I feel all tanks need an algae eater of some sort.  I'm thinking your tank may be too small for a tang though?
I agree with this. What about a foxface if it's too small for a tang?

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

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Everything is doing well, I kicked the skimmer on today for the first time, no issues there it's already building a pretty good head after just 15 mins. I got the ATO connected with a 20gal reservoir in the closet right being the tank (thank God thats done, this tanks used about 3/4 a gal a day with the vent) the ddrs and the dos will be wired up and hooked up in that closet with the alkatronic just to save some space under the stand, I am having a slight issue with temp, the tank is running cold with the vent rite over the tank blowing down, I might have to modify that vent to no directly blow on the top of the water. I still need lights hooked up and I don't ever want to talk about the bird'snest of wires I have to tackle but hopefully this weekend I'll be done with most of it. The new fish are doing great. The clowns are liking the open space, they won't stop swimming end to end on the tank, I think it's pissing off the royal gramma cause he doesn't come out of his hole much yet. The reef chromis are schooling no fighting that I can see but I haven't spent much time watching but they all swim togeather. The sea lettuce is still out of control I've cut it back once already to 1/2 and it's grown out a bunch already the cheato eh not so much. That being said, the fuge is doing exactly what I wanted it to from the start, growing algae to out compete the display I still have no algae in the display but plenty on the fuge glass. 

15553878556256450063122359591782.jpg

Sea lettuce for days this started out as a baseball size, I've cut it back once already. 

15553877651746935904280859969117.jpg

15553878090179087998913602831007.jpg

 

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this ATB skimmer is awesome, ive had a few skimmers in the past, but this one out performs most ive had. i have been stocking the fish side of the tank, I have to say ive been really enjoying the fish side, its been keeping my need for corals at bay for the time being. the parts for the lights will finally be here tomorrow, i can set them up but still too soon to kick them on, when i start seeing coraline on the rocks then ill kick them on. it should grow no problems with just the ambient lights, the fish all seem happy and are eating well, like pigs really. which is good because i need to feed heavy to start the Triton system. ill send my fist test off in a couple weeks. ammonia is 0, nitrates .02 and nitrites are 0, phosphates are at .02 the fuge is doing its job really well, PH has been stable at 7.98. haven't really measured dkh or calcium or mag for the time being, not to big of a concern with a coraless system, very little is using it, but last week it was in check. Ill hook the alkatronic up today never the less. 

so far here is my fish stock (mind you everything is Small - Meds)

2 clowns snowflake and ocellaris 

3 red cardinals

3 blue reef chromis 

1 red nose fairy wrasse 

1 fire fish 

1 royal gramma 

1 coral beauty angel

1 pear scale butterfly 

Everyone seems to be getting along just fine with no issues. the Angel did bully the pearl scale at first but quickly that stopped now they have no issues. the firefish is still skittish but comes out to eat and swim a little, then goes back to its tiny hole in the rocks.  

 

 

Edited by mhart032
correction .02 on the nitrates
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The Butterfly and the Pear scale lose there minds over the sea lettuce when little pieces make it into the display.  I have been keeping sea veggies on a clip for them to graze on due to no algae in the display. 

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Just a couple of pics, still no diatoms, or algae of any kind in the display. the fuge is growing like crazy. The chaeto has started to take off and the sea lettuce still grows like a weed. i do have some other algae growing on the fuge glass but im not going to clean it off just yet. ill clean out the fuge is a few weeks after the tank is more established.

 20190421_112649.jpg20190421_112720.jpg20190421_112705.jpg

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