Chefs Official Red Sea 750 XXL Build Finally!!!

[Reefchef]

So not much done today!!! I took a trip to Premier Aquatics and picked up a bottle of Vibrant to help with my little uglies. I also finally connected my DOS and calibrated it for my awc. Im making some water and heating my other tank of water to mix my salt to start my awc. Hopefully I'll have it up and going tomorrow. I also installed my new support brace from Red Sea.

 

[Reefchef]

I haven't done too much lately as I've been dealing with high nitrates. Today I did go out to Nemos in Duluth and picked up the following melanurus wrasse, a small six line wrasse, and a female blue throat trigger. While I was there I also went ahead and picked up a marine pure block to throw into my sump, hopefully my ats will be here within the next week or so, and Im still waiting for my lid from Octo Aquatics.

 

[Reefchef]

So a big piece came in that ive been waiting desperately on, my lid!!! It looks amazing I love the cleanliness of it. I do have one question though, should I be worried at all about this small gap between the lid and the front? I don't think it should be a problem but I didn't think egg crate would be either! @sharis100 how snug is your lid, my sides are perfect. Thanks

 

[sharis100]

Looks great! My lid is exact to what I had requested from Octolids- I left a tiny gap, but my tank is eurobraced with drop down which means that there is no way out for any critters. I would not be too concerned about the gap in the front if your fish are bigger than the gap . I included pics of my lid so you can compare.

 

[civics14]

bro... that couch pattern design... i can't see anything else lol

 

[Reefchef]

Today was my day off, so I was a bit lazy! I washed out and filled my frag tank. I only have a temporary return pump and heater running. I have to get another small return pump, I found a replacement jebao ow25 power head on r2r, I have to get a media basket, and I plan to get a noopsyche light within the next couple weeks so I can start getting some frags. I only plan to run the noopsyche led for now I may add the new reef brite xho later for t5. I may be in search of a nice starter pack soon!

 

[Reefchef]

Big shot out to @scottw at corals by design, I got to conne home to my brand new ice cap ats! As you guys know ive been dealing with nitrate issues and now gha! Im hoping to get it hooked up this weekend, I also have the great Justin @jcook54 coming over to help me with my par readings. Shiuld be a great weekend for reefing, as long as the wife allows me!

On another note, I have to do some sort of shelf to put the ats in my sump. I was thinking about having @tonytran509 do some sort of shelf 12 inches left to right by 19 inches front to back and about 13 inches high. Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated. I plan to use the same shelf to place my reactors when in use.

On a side note, vacuming my sand also helped lower my nitrates!!!

 

[Reefchef]

Today was a very fun day for me, I actually got a few things done on the tank. First I started by cleaning the glass and vacuuming the sand! Please disregard my socks, as I had just vacuumed the sand. Their getting ready to go into the washer I finish writing this.

@jcook54 was nice enough to come to my home and take par readings for me, for anyone that doesn't already know it Justin is a great guy. He has helped me out a lot even during my initial planning stages. Thank you for everything including the red monti cap! So now on to the lights, I have them set on Radion AB+ @ 60% max and Im running the lps/sps program from 9-6 on my hybrids. I did have them at 10 inches off the water but wanted just a bit more par so we lowered them to 8 inches above the tank. I'm running a total of 6 xr15 g4's along with 2-36inch noopsyche hybrids.Here are the following pars, most of them were pretty consistent!!!

Sand Bed - 250
Top Right 280-290
Top Middle 280-290
Top Left 330-340
Tip Top Left 370

After Justin Left I finally went to Lowes and picked up a few things to build a stand and put together my ATS. I actually did one of @Doberman13 moves and made it a diy project! It isn't the prettiest but its operable, so that's all that matters right now. I may change it later but its ok for now. Next I do Need to go ahead and do a real manifold so I can get ready to add my carbon reactor and a UV soon. I need to get another eb 832 first and a programmable power strip. But as of right now I'm looking pretty good. Please let me know what you think so far. Thanks

 

[jcook54]

Man, your system is jam up. It looks really, really good and I'm glad that you're finally at the fun part of this hobby. You've done a ton of research and taken everything with a ton of patience that it was good to see the fish, a few zoas and an actual piece of coral in your system.

 

[civics14]

Just my 2 cents but I use to run a manifold in my last tank and I didn’t care for it cause I couldn’t get a consistent flow. My recommendation is to get a small sicce 1.0 and use that as your reactor feed pump. I use a 1.0 to feed my carbon reactor and low flow reactor. Works great and very consistent.

 

[Reefchef]

Just my 2 cents but I use to run a manifold in my last tank and I didn’t care for it cause I couldn’t get a consistent flow. My recommendation is to get a small sicce 1.0 and use that as your reactor feed pump. I use a 1.0 to feed my carbon reactor and low flow reactor. Works great and very consistent.

Thank you for the 2 cents!!! Im actually using a sicce 2.0 fir my ats now, I wasn't sure if multiple pumps would create too much heat or anything. I plan to ruin a carbon reactor, uv, and maybe a calcium reactor one day.

 

[civics14]

Thank you for the 2 cents!!! Im actually using a sicce 2.0 fir my ats now, I wasn't sure if multiple pumps would create too much heat or anything. I plan to ruin a carbon reactor, uv, and maybe a calcium reactor one day.

That sicce is probably plenty to feed into your carbon reactor and UV too. How much flow is required for an ATS?

Calcium reactor will be external and I recommend to pull the water through than push, again, for consistent flow.

 

[Reefchef]

That sicce is probably plenty to feed into your carbon reactor and UV too. How much flow is required for an ATS?

Calcium reactor will be external and I recommend to pull the water through than push, again, for consistent flow.

The ats requires 500 gallons per hour, the 2.0 is estimated at 568 gph.

 

[civics14]

The ats requires 500 gallons per hour, the 2.0 is estimated at 568 gph.

Oh dang, didn’t know it uses that much flow. Bigger pump?

 

[Reefchef]

Big shout out to Tony @tonytran509, my frag rack turned out perfect. It fit like a glove. I can't wait to get this set up for frags! Thank you @ZapataInc for for picking this up for me, since I wasn't able to make the meeting.

 

[tonytran509]

oh man that looks sweetttt cant wait to see all this racked filled up

 

[boosting99]

Nice build

 

[civics14]

yup @tonytran509 hooking me up with some custom racks also.

 

[chuck]

Very beautiful build. You spent alot of money on that equipment. Im impressed when people like you buy the real equipment. The cheaper stuff really fails great job

 

[Reefchef]

Very beautiful build. You spent alot of money on that equipment. Im impressed when people like you buy the real equipment. The cheaper stuff really fails great job

Thank you, I greatly appreciate it. Thats one of the reasons why I have been so patient on this build, it has been a pricey one. But I have learned so much along the way, I pretty much have a better understanding of luxury items vs needed items now! Plus I have gotten a lot of help and inspiration from you guys and ladies on here. I love seeing some of you guys corals, that motivates me to get ready for the next step hopefully soon.