Max's Red Sea Reefer 170. (A Grand Journey of Discovery, Aggravation, and General Buffoonery).

[MaxDamage984]

Chapter 1: "She made me do it..."

Here is how it went down (the short version)

I make a budget.
Carefully plan a list of equipment to fit this budget.
Go to LFS with grand plans to stick within this budget.
Instantly f#ck that whole plan up by spending 3 times the budget as soon as I arrive.

The long version is:
I was trying to decide between doing a 35 gallon rimless cube build or a Fluval M90 and had even asked people's opinions on our club meeting. I was leaning toward the Fluval m90 and was about to place that order at the store (Ocean's Gallery) when my fiancé stumbled upon the Red Sea setup on display and proclaimed that she is in love with it and it would look the best in our family room. No self respecting hobbyist would refuse an official permission to spend the mortgage money on a reef tank. And I of course, am a self respecting hobbyist, so without further delay...

Chapter 2: "It Begins"

The grand arrival.

Packed quite well actually. I'm impressed. Will be more impressed if it's in one piece...

And it's in one piece! I'm now genuinely impressed.

The place where the tank will live.

 

[MaxDamage984]

Chapter 3: "What are all these extra parts honey?"

The stand build in progress.

Actually came together quite well. Way above ikea in ease of assembly. Hats off to Red Sea. Still need to attach door.

Of note:

The stand comes with foam self leveling mats installed on top and inside the cabinet where the sump goes. Nice attention to detail and nothing less expected. I had the Red Sea Max 250 before and was very impressed with that system.

More to follow soon!

 

[kschweer]

Awesome man!!! Congrats on the new tank. The reefer tanks are very very nice, I think you're going to love it. Best of luck with it!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Looking great! Love the new builds. I can understand the whiskey....practicing on yourself for when you start carbon dosing, but where do you use a reciprocating saw for assembling a stand?

 

[art13]

Looking great! Love the new builds. I can understand the whiskey....practicing on yourself for when you start carbon dosing, but where do you use a reciprocating saw for assembling a stand?

I don't care if i'm building a stand from scratch or assembling princess barbie's castle, it's always good to keep a power saw handy, especially when you've had too much whiskey and things aren't "fitting" right...

 

[Trio91]

Chapter 1: "She made me do it..."

Here is how it went down (the short version)

I make a budget.
Carefully plan a list of equipment to fit this budget.
Go to LFS with grand plans to stick within this budget.
Instantly f#ck that whole plan up by spending 3 times the budget as soon as I arrive.

The long version is:
I was trying to decide between doing a 35 gallon rimless cube build or a Fluval M90 and had even asked people's opinions on our club meeting. I was leaning toward the Fluval m90 and was about to place that order at the store (Ocean's Gallery) when my fiancé stumbled upon the Red Sea setup on display and proclaimed that she is in love with it and it would look the best in our family room. No self respecting hobbyist would refuse an official permission to spend the mortgage money on a reef tank. And I of course, am a self respecting hobbyist, so without further delay...

Chapter 2: "It Begins"

The grand arrival.

Packed quite well actually. I'm impressed. Will be more impressed if it's in one piece...

And it's in one piece! I'm now genuinely impressed.

The place where the tank will live.

Chapter 3: "What are all these extra parts honey?"

The stand build in progress.

Actually came together quite well. Way above ikea in ease of assembly. Hats off to Red Sea. Still need to attach door.

Of note:

The stand comes with foam self leveling mats installed on top and inside the cabinet where the sump goes. Nice attention to detail and nothing less expected. I had the Red Sea Max 250 before and was very impressed with that system.

More to follow soon!

I'm sure the Jim beam made the build a lot easier

 

[redfishbluefish]

I don't care if i'm building a stand from scratch or assembling princess barbie's castle, it's always good to keep a power saw handy, especially when you've had too much whiskey and things aren't "fitting" right...

Oh, I understand now. My tool of choice is a sledge hammer. If it doesn't go together with that, then you continue beating until your frustration level begins to drop. This method will also require a broom and dust pan to pick up the splinters of wood.

 

[MaxDamage984]

The saw was for if the hammer is not enough hehe.

On a serious note:

Is this acceptable level? The stand stands flat and sturdy like this, and if I try to shim it, it gets all wobbly because Red Sea stands have plastic feet under. It's my floor that is a bit uneven but nothing i can do about that. What you guys think?

 

[Trio91]

Chapter 1: "She made me do it..."

Here is how it went down (the short version)

I make a budget.
Carefully plan a list of equipment to fit this budget.
Go to LFS with grand plans to stick within this budget.
Instantly f#ck that whole plan up by spending 3 times the budget as soon as I arrive.

The long version is:
I was trying to decide between doing a 35 gallon rimless cube build or a Fluval M90 and had even asked people's opinions on our club meeting. I was leaning toward the Fluval m90 and was about to place that order at the store (Ocean's Gallery) when my fiancé stumbled upon the Red Sea setup on display and proclaimed that she is in love with it and it would look the best in our family room. No self respecting hobbyist would refuse an official permission to spend the mortgage money on a reef tank. And I of course, am a self respecting hobbyist, so without further delay...

Chapter 2: "It Begins"

The grand arrival.

Packed quite well actually. I'm impressed. Will be more impressed if it's in one piece...

And it's in one piece! I'm now genuinely impressed.

The place where the tank will live.

i'd put a GFI on that outlet, just to be on the safe side

 

[Trio91]

put the tank on it and level....see if the added weight will bring it down on that mat

 

[art13]

It's a rimless so you might see a slight difference up top, but it won't hurt anything being slightly tilted. If the stand has and twist or two legs wobble back and forth like a chair does sometimes, you would have an issue. There is also the possibility of using feet under the stand, they would be 4 adjustable legs, bolts with a large nut to adjust up and down and a large circular bottom, usually with a cushion to rest on the floor.

 

[MaxDamage984]

That outlet is dedicated on its own breaker
Also will have a strip plugged in with surge protection.

 

[Trio91]

it doesn't seem like you do, but if you need an extra pair of hands let me know

 

[MaxDamage984]

The stand if I don't shim it stands like a monolith with no wobble or motion at all. So I will leave it be then and see if the water heavy tank will self level with the mat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MaxDamage984]

it doesn't seem like you do, but if you need an extra pair of hands let me know

A pair of hands is always welcome. I have more booze where that came from too haha.

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

Looking good man. I totally agree with "

No self respecting hobbyist would refuse an official permission to spend the mortgage money on a reef tank. And I of course, am a self respecting hobbyist, so without further delay...

That is how I ended up with my 54 corner tank. I was in hunt for a new stand (I had my 36g tank sitting on a stand made for a 20g tank) when I saw the corner tank. I liked it but keep focus on task at hand. My wife wouldn't stop talking about it and how it would look perfect in our living room where the current tank was (corner wall between a chair and our couch). After about a week of both us saying "that tank would look great there" I pulled the trigger and picked it up lol.


Just like @trio91 said if you need a extra hand or need anything I'm game.

 

[NyteGTI]

Looks great man, that Red Sea reefer series looks awesome!

 

[mnat]

Congrats on the tank. Realize with the tank on it will shift and then when you fill it with water it might shift again. I would wait until you have water in it to do any shimming unless you saw something that was WAY off and wanted to shim early.

 

[MaxDamage984]

Finally got the tank and the stand assembled. Next step will be the plumbing portion.

obligatory FTS.

Very nice glass 9 gallon sump. Plenty of room for any kind of skimmer, pumps and whatever media you choose to run.

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

Looking good man