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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Devoted Reefer 250


pelphrey

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I'll keep the intro as quick as possible. This is my 3rd tank in the last year so I've named it "Devoted Reefer 250". I started off with a 27 Gallon Cube ( http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/367381-27-gallon-cube/ ) then moved this tank into the BADFISH 20 Gallon AIO ( http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/374665-badfish-20-gallon-aio/ ). The cube was taken down and put into the 20 gallon AIO tank in an effort for me to offload the Cube and offset the costs of the new build. Originally I had planned to go with a euro braced 120 or 150, after a lot of research and with 2 very young children I decided it would be much better to go with a smaller tank. The only requirement from my wife is that the stand HAD to be white. At this point it was a toss up, the IM 50 lagoon AIO or the Red Sea Reefer 250.... As the title states the reefer won and the process has begun. The tank has been rightfully named Devoted Reefer 250 with the overall objective to finally setup a tank and allow it to mature. The scale of this tank will allow me to be devoted and not overwhelmed with a larger system.


The tank was bought from Bulk Reef Supply, I received the tank yesterday. Unfortunately the delivery company was unable to bring the tank to my house since I live in a Cul-de-sac so I met the driver a few minutes from my house to pickup the tank. When I approached the driver I jokingly asked him if he knew where I could find some reefer!! haha


After inspection we loaded the tank into the van -

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Finally after everyone went to bed it was time to put the stand together. Overall it took a little over an hour to put the stand together. I kind of laugh because I once built a stand for a 75 gallon and I now realize that stand was WAY overbuilt!


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First things first. Slickdeals had these magnetic cabinet locks for $3.99 shipped ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GHFJIJA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) . Before the stand gets moved into the house these have to be installed so that the kids can't get into the cabinet.


The attention to detail on the stand alone has me sold. Red Sea provides rubber end caps for all of he visible holes in the back of the stand.


I am still undecided on my return pump and pumps that will be used, I have a RIO17hf I may use at first. I have been looking at DC return pumps. The MP10WQD on the 20 gallon will be moved over. Still undecided if I want to go with a Gyre or another MP10 or MP40. Lighting the Devoted Reefer 250 will be by two Kessil A160WE's, I will be using 8020 to mount the lights similar to the setup on my 20 gallon currently. As far as rock, I have 30lbs of Reef Cleaners rock and will be ordering 30-50 more pounds. I may run the system bare bottom at first and add sand later.

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The stand has made it into the house. Now I need to get the tank on the stand and screw in all of the plumbing.


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I'll soon look at replacing the ATO container. This small container isn't going to cut it. I wish I had a closet close by so I could put the reservoir in it to conserve cabinet space. The reality is the cabinet is what I have to work with, and with two small kids I don't have any plans to put a container outside of the cabinet.

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The RIO17HF return pump fit in the return chamber just perfect. I was hoping I could have used the feet on the pump but they wouldn't fit in this chamber. I have a fear that this pump will create noise and vibrations. I had this pump laying around, I'll give it a shot. If in fact it does create any noises I'll look at replacing with a DC pump ASAP.

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I am still undecided on a manifold. I'll cross this bridge later on the build.

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Following, looking good so far, i love the reefer 250s, i plan to get one eventually.

 

Originally I looked at the SCA 120 and 150. When I ran across the Reefer series I was almost instantly sold. For me personally this tank size is a perfect fit and will allow me to enjoy the tank VS stress over the costs associated with a larger tank and the time spent maintaining it. With such a short window in the evenings to spend time with my family this tank also provides me the comfort of not having more or bigger equipment to maintain.

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The tank is still dry. I've got a lot of work to complete on the tank still and more importantly I need equipment! I do have a return pump that I could use for the time being but I would rather wait and get the return pump I want as well as the rest of the equipment. At first I had no plans to build a manifold, I think those plans have now changed!


Currently I have 30 lbs of Reef Clean rock in the tank, I have another 50 lbs of rock coming from John. I wanted to order just a little extra so I have more options when building my structures, plus I like to use rock rubble to mount my frags to and get them off the plugs. The tank won't be getting wet until I have the rock work the way I want it!


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Recently I picked up another Kessil A160, since I'm not using the light and I had the gooseneck laying around I figured I would put them on the tank. The Kessil I have over my 20 gallon is mounted to a light stand I made out of 8020. I wanted to go the 8020 route on this tank, but I don't want to mount the 8020 to the walls behind the tank and the 8020 isn't long enough to be mounted to the stand. As an alternative I think I may look into the new Kessil arm mount and attempt to hang both A160's the arm.


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That's a perfect nook for a tank. Your wife has great taste. White cabinet is the best.

Thanks! I agree with you, last year I had a 75 gallon tank in this location and with the 4' span it left a few feet of empty space on each side but not enough space to be useful. With this tank being 3' it gives us the extra room that my daughter uses to store her toys!

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The magnetic cabinet locks have been added to the stand and these are working out great!


Lock mounted to the door -

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Stopper mounted inside the cabinet -

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Magnetic key is used to open the cabinet. Here you can see the latch is in the "locked" position -

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Touching the cabinet door with the magnetic key released the lock and allows the door to open -

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Checking to make sure that the dry tank is level -

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Plumbing is installed -

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You could do a vase style top off container, I have a white reefer nano and use a large vase as a container and it works well. A pic of it is on page 3 of my build thread

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How do you have that setup exactly? I see you have decorations in the vase as well.

The decorations were there before I actually got it set up, I plan to cut the bamboo in half and insert it into a NERF type ball and place it back, but right now the bamboo is too long and I don't want to put it in the water. I'll post some pics of the whole setup on my page in a bit

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In an effort to build this right the first time I have done a TON of research. I'm not wanting to drill into the stand so I've added some white shelves from home depot to the stand.
To the left of the stand this is a 36x12 shelf. I cut the shelf down to 29" and added some double sided tape to the top part of the shelf to secure it. This will be used to possible mount any reactors I add in the future.
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This shelf is actually mounted to the wall behind the stand. I've come to really like and appreciate the chiller compartment that is supplied. It allows each of us to be much more creative and gives us just a little extra real estate!
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The piece with the label was cut the same length as the board mounted to the wall. This one is 4" wide and will allow me to close off the gap between the stand and the wall to hide this section. I'm going to use either velco or some sort of some of snap on hinge so that I can remove this piece.
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Outside right of the stand. I need to paint the top piece where I cut and sanded. The "wall" pieces were also purposely mounted above the molding. Primary power will be ran from the outlet to the right.
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The two wall pieces will eventually be hinged/mounted together. There is a slight gap between the 4" piece and the stand, I'm going to use some foam to finish this off.
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Another shot inside the stand
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I have another piece that I am going to use to cover up the "equipment area". My rare earth magnets should be here today.
You may have noticed the C clamp and the 2x6. Again in an effort to not drill into the tank I am trying to be creative. I am using 8020 on my other tank as my Kessil mount. I am going to attempt to implement this onto the reefer. The other option is to get the A series kessil mount, I am not a huge fan of the Kessil common gooseneck.
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ooo where did you get the return nozzle? I want one =P

 

Google "broadfield nozzle mod" I got the idea and part list from him. It will be the first search result that pops up!

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Correct! I haven't tested the nozzle out yet. I still haven't got the tank wet yet. I am hoping to get my rock work started and completed this weekend. It's a slow process, I don't mind. This is my third tank and I am trying my best to get this one setup "correct" while it is all dry!

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Let the fun begin!

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This is my first time using E Marco, so I wasn't sure how much to order. I ordered the 15lb kit. So far I've only used 5 lbs!5C7586EF-C0B9-4729-A033-E1EB00C27928_zps


My goal is to create as much coral "real estate" as possible with the intent to keep it is "natural" as possible!

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There is a slight learning curve with the E Marco. Of course the last patch I mixed up had the best consistency. I also had a few thick mortar lines. I super glued rock rubble over some of the lines.

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Zip ties are temporary

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