Red Sea Max 250 Build

My scape is glued, though like you say, not totally permanent. I'll say this for not gluing at all though... I'm a little jealous that some friends here can just yank a rock out to attach or frag a coral.

YES! That's what I loved about it, if something needed to come out, it didn't involve taking the entire scape out, I imagine it wouldn't be easy to remove 65 pounds of rock all in one piece, that's another reason why I'm not set on gluing everything together yet. I also never found my old scape to be unstable and I was never afraid that it would just collapse, but at the same time, without some type of epoxy or way to attach the rocks, you also have to work with how the rocks go together over how you want them to look, and that can be tough too.

 

I think I am going to be doing some work on the tank that's actually worth recording in here! Finally! I'm not 100% positive on this yet, but I'm thinking about adding a sump to the tank in addition to the built in sump. I've wanted a refugium since setting this tank up, but I have the entire back sump full, and the enclosed system prevents me from using any HOB fuges, so I came up with (also followed some others designs) a plan for a a canister fuge, and after looking around at canisters that would actually work for this idea, realized it would cost me $100-$200, so I figured for that price, why wouldn't I just build a sump. If anyone has modified AIO tanks to build another sump on, I'd love to hear any advice and see any pictures you have. For my tank, I actually discovered that the fans in the back of the tank (they don't work anyways) pop right off and I can cut a small piece of plastic to fit an overflow box perfectly, from there I can have the water go into a sump (10-20 gallons, probably 10 because I don't want to cut the stand). I was thinking of having a return pump be about 300gph, as I found a nice pump for a really good price that's about that size. The main questions I have are, can I cut the piece of wood in the middle of the stand to accommodate a 20 long sump? And just how would you design a sump/what is your sump like? I'd love a 20 long for the sump, but I'm just really unsure about cutting the stand, I don't think it takes away any support for the tank, but I'm not sure.

 

Can you post pic of where you wanna cut the stand?

 

Can you post pic of where you wanna cut the stand?

Sure. I'm not sure if it provides support, as the stand is extremely sturdy and doesn't move at all if I push against it, so I'm not sure how much support a small wooden board provides, I've heard of people reinforcing it with a steel beam, but if it involves that much, I'd prefer to just stick with a 10 gallon sump, as I only want a fuge, but some extra room would be nice. Let me go get those pictures.

 

Here is a picture of the stand. I would like to remove the middle piece and potentially leave the two shelves if it's possible (how, I don't know yet). I have no idea how the middle is attached because the stand was already assembled, but I'm guessing it's similar to something like a 4 cube storage unit. If it turns out to be a very complicated thing to remove and involves building alternate supports for the middle of the stand, I'm fine just having a small sump of around 10 gallons.

 

Probably better off leaving it. Looks like that might be a center support.

 

Probably better off leaving it. Looks like that might be a center support.

I've decided to just use a 10 gallon for a sump. All I really want is a refugium and a little extra space to use as needed. I've heard of people taking the center out and reinforcing with beams, but that would be difficult to do with a full, running tank that weighs nearly 1,000 pounds on top of it. Thanks!

 

5 gal fuge should be plenty, mabye not as big as you'd like but still plenty of nutrient export, you can put your other equipment in the other area.

 

5 gal fuge should be plenty, mabye not as big as you'd like but still plenty of nutrient export, you can put your other equipment in the other area.

I was probably going to actually make it more like 3 gallons, but I did find some HOB reactors, I'll have to check out some more reviews to see if they're any good, if not I found a used one that's in good shape, but these HOB ones would be really awesome to save some space for other things in a sump. Unfortunately a 10 gallon tank is like 1/4 inch (urgh) too long to go into my stand, but I'll only have to make a small cut in the stand to fit it, so it should work out fine. I was really hoping for a 20 long sump, but now I don't really see the point as I only need to add a few extras. I'm also considering an ATO, although I haven't really looked into it too much yet, because the levels in the back sump on my tank fluctuate far too much to add an ATO (it'd be constantly dumping water in even when it wasn't needed) so hopefully this sump will allow for an ATO finally, any recommendations for one? I've looked at the smart ATO systems, but found some crappy reviews on it.

 

Ive heard some good stuff about the Innovative marine hydrofill tI auto top up system. I'm thinking about getting one of them or a TMC v2 auto top up. Good luck on your sump build!! Ill be following along!

 

Ive heard some good stuff about the Innovative marine hydrofill tI auto top up system. I'm thinking about getting one of them or a TMC v2 auto top up. Good luck on your sump build!! Ill be following along!

I checked out the IM one, seems to have pretty good reviews, thanks for the recommendation! It's a bit pricey, but that is okay for something that will be reliable, right now I have a budget of about $700 for the sump, ATO, and some extra things, but I'd like to keep it around $400-$500, so I have a decent coral budget, so I may wait on the ATO if reactors become too pricey.

 

In the Sump,you can put a float, hooked to your RO/DI. When the water gets low, it’ll automatically top off. That one of the features I liked about the eshoppes sump I bought.

 

In the Sump,you can put a float, hooked to your RO/DI. When the water gets low, it’ll automatically top off. That one of the features I liked about the eshoppes sump I bought.

Do you mean hooked to the RODI unit? I've heard of that before, but unfortunately my unit is in the garage, and my tank is on the second story of my house, if things were more conveniently placed, I would probably do something like that though. It's an idea I can keep in mind for the way future. Thanks!

 

Soooo it looks like I will be making a 10 gallon sump to add to this tank. This allows me to have a refugium and install my chiller a little less sloppily. My main concern is just going to be moving the tank from the wall a bit, it weighs about 1,000 pounds, and needs to be moved from the wall about an inch. I'll drain as much water as I can, but I think it should slide pretty easily, its on carpet. Any thoughts?

 

Nice! I think you should be able to easily move it as it is on carpet and you aren't really moving it too much. I'm thinking of adding a refugium to the AIO part of my tank should be fun! Good luck!

 

Eeek! You won't be moving the tank by yourself will you?

 

Nice! I think you should be able to easily move it as it is on carpet and you aren't really moving it too much. I'm thinking of adding a refugium to the AIO part of my tank should be fun! Good luck!

Good news!!! I found two Amiracle sumps for $40!!!! So between the two, I'll get about 20 gallons of water volume! Makes plumbing a bit difficult to have two sumps, but I'll make it work. I have to clean them out, but I'll post some pictures once they're cleaned up.

 

Eeek! You won't be moving the tank by yourself will you?

There's a chance I may not have to move it, but no, if I do move it, I'll have one or two other people to help out, it's only gonna have to slide about an inch though, so it shouldn't be too bad.

 

Both sumps are outside soaking in vinegar and water, can't find any info on them online, but based off of dimensions, they hold about 17.5 gallons together, so that brings me to a system that's about 83 gallons of total water volume, not bad! These will allow for a nice sized fuge and some extra room for equipment in the future.

Edit: anyone with a refugium, what light do you use for it? I have a lfs that has LEDs for 50% off (I will figure out the specifics of the lights) and if one of those could work, I'd be pretty happy, but if anyone can recommend a light please do!

 

I think the Innovative marine refugium lights are pretty good and for a good price. They are a bit small though so not sure if they can work for a sump and they are magnetic but ill let you decide -
Edit: this was a larger one and I don't think its magnetic so should be quite good. Ive watched a few reviews and people seem to be quite happy with it.

 

Myself and a few others here are happy with this over our fuges.

 

I haven't set my refugium up yet however when I do I plan on using the Kessil H80. It can be controlled by my Apex and I like that idea.

H80 Tuna Flora Refugium LED Light - Kessil

 

Myself and a few others here are happy with this over our fuges.

oh man, I use that, and that stuff grows like crazy when the lights are on...love that thing

 

Thanks for all the recommendations guys! I'll look to see if I can find any used lights, but I love that the plant LED is only $20 and available on amazon, thanks stella1979 ! But if I can find the kessil or IM lights used, I may look into those too. I've also heard of people using a cfl bulb or fluorescent light from Home Depot, anyone else heard of that?

 

Couldn't find much info on them, sorry but I found this -

- looks like they are quite good although ill let you decide

 

Cool! Maybe if I can find something like that for cheap and use one of the spare lamp fixtures with all my reptile stuff to hold the bulb. I just don't want to do anything that could become a fire hazard haha.