Sniperhank's Red Sea S-series 500

[Sniperhank]

Today the build begins. It arrived yesterday with minor complications. The truck couldn't get down my road. But, had it dropped off at a safe location. Thanks to Red Sea's amazing packing, all is well. I've opened it up and have everything with the exception of the tank and sump in my house ready for assembly.

[Brookster123]

That's the big boy toys right there!

[Sniperhank]

The DVD said it takes an hour to do. After the one bit not being the correct size causing a headache and missing a couple screws, I called it a night.

[Chris-Nicol]

How long had you been at it before you called it a night lol?

[Sniperhank]

The video claimed it only takes an hour to set up. I ran into the difficulty of the bit that came with the screws was a terrible fit and stripped out many of them. This led to a lot of words and needing to get some screws from the hardware store that were 1 size up due to this. This was easily fixed when I realized that there was another bit in another bag of the same screws. Once this happened it was smooth sailing. I'm currently 4 hours in.

[Chris-Nicol]

How's the build coming along? What size is the system going to be?

[Sniperhank]

The Red Sea S series 500 is 132 gallons in total. The display is just short of 120. The build is at a standstill currently due to my work week and being extremely ill, I currently barely have a voice. I'm hoping on getting back up and running Thursday after work. The stand is basically all together, just simply needs the floor and doors put on. Then the sump and the plumbing. I need to get it done so I can get the crew together to move the display since it is still sitting under a deck on the other side of town still in the shipping crate.

[Chris-Nicol]

Not good that you are ill. Bit of an inconvenience for you at the moment. I take it all the pieces come for all the plumbing and it's just a case of putting it together? I thought I would have had to build my stand but it came pre built which was a bonus. I just hat to level it, put the tank on top and do the plumbing. I was going to go for the s series but liked the colour of the DD pro. Tried to convince the girlfriend to go for the 5' version but I was pushing my luck. Hopefully when we get a bigger house I will be able to upgrade.

[Sniperhank]

Yeah, everything comes with the system. Plumbing, skimmer, lights...it's simply getting it all put together.

[54seaweed]

they say it goes together in a hour , what they fail to say how many times they put one together . now there hour for me would probably be the day , but how long it takes to get put together really don't matter , it's the reward once everything is done and you get to sit back and chill, I want a bigger tank just no room for one ,

[Sniperhank]

I forgot to take update pictures, but today the tank sits upon the stand. Again, no issues with anything not being level. Sump is in the system and I started putting some of the plumbing in place. Both have been vacuumed out as there was leftover styrofoam in both. Would have accomplished more, but also installed two lights, 7 outlets were switched from 2 prong to grounded, and sanded/wiped down my master bedroom in preparation to prime it tomorrow. I'll try to get some updated pictures...
As a side note, I am currently acclimating a 4.5 inch blue maxima clam that arrived today. It will be housed in the 55 until this is up and running. Getting much closer.

[Sniperhank]

Does it no justice with it almost being lights out.

[Sniperhank]

Morning shot.

[Sniperhank]

AANNDD build mode complete.

[Sniperhank]

Sand and leftover rock from the original 36 build.

[Sniperhank]

Been making water all day. Almost there!

[Fresh2o]

~135 gallons, right? That's a lot of water. Were you storing some RODI or can your system crank out that much? Not sure if the sump is factored into the reported volume.

[Sniperhank]

The sump is in the calculation. I spent all day churning out water. Now here I sit at almost 4 am unable to get the return pump to work as intended. Empties the whole return section. No valve to cut the flow back. Nothing online and the instructions are terrible, but don't even mention this adjustment. I've taken it apart twice, only change has been not filling the display with micro bubbles. Now it only does it on occasion. Really frustrating that I can't find any help online either.

[Delapool]

Yikes, 4am - good luck! It looks nice.

[Fresh2o]

Any chance of adding a T and valves to the return line for flow control?