Shaun's 2000 Litre (530 USG) Living Reef & Red Sea Max S 650 LED Design & Build

SPR

SPR

Well-Known Member
Pancho75 said:
I think chaeto needs darkness, I have mine with light during 18 hours a day and it is doing so so, slow grower. I would not cut the flow as the sea never rests. The settings you were using were the recommeded by the manufacturer?
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It’s going to be in ‘lagoon’ mode for a few hours Pancho! Lol

The flow settings were as recommended, I started midway between the recommended flow, then turned to the top end, neither made much difference, so I’m now trying the lower end of the flow scale to see what happens.

My nutrient levels have been static for ages at around 20ppm nitrate and 0.03 phosphate which are fine.

In reality I only purchased the ALR2 because I’ve always liked the idea of a refugium, but without the mess and of course I had nothing else to fiddle about with! Lol

But now I do, and my mind will be fully occupied for some considerable time very shortly......
 
SPR

SPR

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For the past few weeks I’ve been playing around with the Abyzz a200, well when I say that, I mean trying to figure out how to get the titanium very expensive impeller assembly out.

I’ve read the instructions but it just didn’t seem right sticking screw drivers into something that cost £1500 GBP! I just didn’t want to break it.

So, without wishing to sound like a ‘simpleton’ I got in touch with Abyzz in Germany and I have to say their customer service is first class. After a few emails, (which I couldn’t follow either! Lol) I asked if they could do me a quick video of how to take the thing to pieces, and within a few minutes Thomas at Abyzz kindly sent me video.

And here it is taken apart. It’s easy when you know how!

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SPR

SPR

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So I spent the first few hours of this morning pacing around, measuring the door, re measuring the door, measuring everything else I could find, and then the time came.

The tank ‘glided’ in through the door and went into place.

For some reason the last shot doesn’t make the tank look as big as it actually is, well in my eyes anyway! It’s OMG huge!

The build quality is simply excellent in terms of the tank, sump and the metal stand, Fit Filtration have made a first class job of this

Anyway here you go, I had a few extra bodies to help if needed, so I sort of supervised with a little lift were necessary!
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SPR

SPR

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Now that the tank has arrived it’s very easy to feel quiet overwhelmed by all the equipment and what to do first.

So I decided to breath life into the system by installing Neptune Apex Fusion, what’s to become the very heart of the system and monitoring. I’m still awaiting the FMM Module and possibly a few other things.

Not everything will be plugged into this, for example the Ecotech Radions and Vortechs will be controlled by it, but not plugged into the energy bar, as there is no need. There always supposed to be ‘on’ so that would be a waste of plug space in the energy bar.

And I’ve decided with this build that I’m going to be super neat and tidy on cable management from the very start, to the point of being obsessed! Lol

If your wondering why the wire coming out of the base unit is not tight and neat, it’s because the base unit tilts up for ease of access so the wire needs a bit more play

The Apex equipment is attached to a sheet of cabinet wood rather than directly to the tank frame and for the moment is just leaning at the back of the cabinet

So here’s a few pictures of today’s work, Neptune Apex is alive and breathing and ready for all the additional equipment to be connected.

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SPR

SPR

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emvanburen said:
Congrats! It’s immense. I love it. Have you considered plumbing the two tanks together so you only have “one” system to maintain?


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I know it’s huge!

My wife came into my ‘man cave’ now called ‘the deep’ last night and said ‘the tanks really don’t look to much in this room do they’.............

I’ve already been thinking about this

But I think I may just connect it up to the auto water change system which would be simple with Apex DOS
 
E

emvanburen

Well-Known Member
SPR said:
I know it’s huge!

My wife came into my ‘man cave’ now called ‘the deep’ last night and said ‘the tanks really don’t look to much in this room do they’.............

I’ve already been thinking about this

But I think I may just connect it up to the auto water change system which would be simple with Apex DOS
Click to expand...

Congrats on the Deep. I'm embarking on "Seaworld on Potomac" aka. Potomac Reef 2 slated for Jan2020 splashing.

At MACNA this year, (which my 14 yr old called Aquachella which made me laugh) Mark Callahan gave a good talk about 2nd tanks, and he made the point that you will always love one more. I feel it already- I don't want to do things for the current tank because a new tank is coming IN THE FUTURE. My takeaway from that, and my past experience with 2nd tanks, was that they get neglected and unless I wanted to have a separate quarantine system, I'll forever forward plumb them together. It would be easy to route the drains from the 650 to the new sump...then no more 2x water tests, 2x additives, 2x filter socks, etc. I wish I could keep my 650 but we (and by we I mean my wife) have a strict one tank rule... :-(
 
SPR

SPR

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Nobbygas said:
Marvellous stuff Shaun. Will you be putting some form of foil on the windows (French Doors) behind the tank?
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Originally I was going to fill the entire french doors gap with a plastic shed for the water containers etc.

But access with the door for the back of the system is very handy, so I’m going to move the shed over so the door remains in use. I will need to cover it with something, maybe reflective foil as you say as were south facing. Certainly the sump will be covered as the cabinet is about 40% open at the back which is very handy, but I don’t want to much light getting in
 
SPR

SPR

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And then there was light.....

I have to say the Ecotech Radions XR30 G4 Pro’s are absolutely stunning

I fitted them yesterday which was relatively easy, as was the integration with Neptune Apex.

Well I say it was easy. I’d spent weeks reading up on how to connect to Apex and I sat for an hour looking for the relevant programs in the Apex system but couldn’t find anything. Anyway I looked at the main control panel and Apex had connected them automatically, and that was it they worked straight away.

So lights done and I had them on last night including the cloud and lighting effects.

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SPR

SPR

Well-Known Member
chickenjohn said:
You're going to light it and send it into space?
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Lol!

Very amusing. If it doesn’t work it will be wrapped and sent to eBay!

If your wondering why there isn’t massive progress on the build, I’m just awaiting plumbing parts which are on a 5-10 day delivery as out of stock

You wouldn’t believe how many adapters, reducers, magic wands and things you need to fit equipment together.....
 
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