Red Sea Peninsula 500

shrimpchips

Well-Known Member
BRS Member
Figured I’d start a build thread, although my tank is a little over 1 year since it’s been running. Tank is intended to become a SPS dominated reef, but we’ll see how that goes. This is my fourth system, so not exactly a new reefer

System: Red Sea Peninsula 500 (105g display volume)
Sump: stock sump (~20g water volume)
Refugium: 40g breeder tied into system

Lights: 2x G4 Radion XR30 (SPS AB+ @ 50%)
Flow: 2x MP-40 QDs
Return: RE RD3 100
Skimmer: RE Bubble King Mini 180
Top off: 2x 30g barell
Doser: GHL 4 channel standalone
Controller: GHL Profilux 3eX

Tank was purchased Thanksgiving 2018, but took a while to get going as I wanted to have the sump in the utility room in the basement. Fishing the plumbing through the ceiling was required since the basements already finished.
All the rock in the tank is Marco rock that was seeded with a small piece of LR from petco, and cooked for about 4 months in a barrel to get it seeded.

Tank was Finally filled in March of 2019, and sat as rock and substrate (seafloor special grade aragonite), for about three more months to get further stabilized before adding anything new. Picture is with temporary lighting - there’s two XR30s over the tank now.

631751A8-BB46-4CBE-AF42-13C2B0FE7993.jpeg


Started adding fish in June of 2019, starting with 3 small yellow tangs, and a diamond watchman goby, followed by a pair of clownfish and a potters angelfish. it’s had it’s normal blooms and ugly phases in the first few months.

In September of 2019, I picked up a few tester corals to see if the system was stable enough to start stocking corals - picked up a frogspawn, setosa, montipora cap and green slimer to test the waters. They seemed to do just fine, so in October I picked up a few corals from Dong, as well as a nice Sherman BTA. Also picked up a melanurus wrasse too.
In November, I got 8 Lyretail anthias, of which 7 made it out of quarantine into the main tank. Since then no new fish additions to the tank. I have an autofeeder feed pellets four times a day, plus supplemental feedings of pellets/flake/frozen whenever.

here’s a pic from January:

8AE29937-64C9-48CD-8EF1-8B305044EC76.jpeg
 
Figured I’d start a build thread, although my tank is a little over 1 year since it’s been running. Tank is intended to become a SPS dominated reef, but we’ll see how that goes. This is my fourth system, so not exactly a new reefer

System: Red Sea Peninsula 500 (105g display volume)
Sump: stock sump (~20g water volume)
Refugium: 40g breeder tied into system

Lights: 2x G4 Radion XR30 (SPS AB+ @ 50%)
Flow: 2x MP-40 QDs
Return: RE RD3 100
Skimmer: RE Bubble King Mini 180
Top off: 2x 30g barell
Doser: GHL 4 channel standalone
Controller: GHL Profilux 3eX

Tank was purchased Thanksgiving 2018, but took a while to get going as I wanted to have the sump in the utility room in the basement. Fishing the plumbing through the ceiling was required since the basements already finished.
All the rock in the tank is Marco rock that was seeded with a small piece of LR from petco, and cooked for about 4 months in a barrel to get it seeded.

Tank was Finally filled in March of 2019, and sat as rock and substrate (seafloor special grade aragonite), for about three more months to get further stabilized before adding anything new. Picture is with temporary lighting - there’s two XR30s over the tank now.

View attachment 140118

Started adding fish in June of 2019, starting with 3 small yellow tangs, and a diamond watchman goby, followed by a pair of clownfish and a potters angelfish. it’s had it’s normal blooms and ugly phases in the first few months.

In September of 2019, I picked up a few tester corals to see if the system was stable enough to start stocking corals - picked up a frogspawn, setosa, montipora cap and green slimer to test the waters. They seemed to do just fine, so in October I picked up a few corals from Dong, as well as a nice Sherman BTA. Also picked up a melanurus wrasse too.
In November, I got 8 Lyretail anthias, of which 7 made it out of quarantine into the main tank. Since then no new fish additions to the tank. I have an autofeeder feed pellets four times a day, plus supplemental feedings of pellets/flake/frozen whenever.

here’s a pic from January:

View attachment 140130
Nice rock scape and mounting arm.
 
Cool tank how much did it cost to do all that? ( I'm thinking of building a similar size setup)

Thanks! Not sure what the full cost would be since a fair bit of equipment was from my old tank (the BK180 is 10+ years old at this point...). But I’m guessing everything new would probably be north of $10K?

Nice rock scape and mounting arm.

I didn’t expect setting up a scape to be so tough with the peninsula form factor. Making it nice to look at from both long sides and from the front took a few nights of mocking it up, drilling the rock and having it kept stacked using acrylic rods.

The mounting arm design I stole from another P500 build thread - all the parts are from 8020.net. I didn’t want a canopy but I also didn’t want to hang lights from the ceiling so this seemed like a really nice option.

Nice reef! Got a fish room?

Yup, it’s just big enough to be a proper room:

6F3DDBD8-B4D4-4CA4-B37A-EDA15778A658.jpeg



The rack is from Costco (72”), and holds more than enough weight on each shelf. The 40 breeder and the stock sump sit on aluminum rails (also from 8020) that span the 24” of the industrial racking. Bottom shelf holds two RODI barrels and one sw mixing barrel. Looks like a proper rats nest right now since I haven’t cleaned up the cables and tubing.
 
Really nice setup! I got one of these myself this past weekend during their sale and can't wait for it to arrive on Tuesday!

Do you find that the two radions are enough coverage or have you thought about adding a third one and run them the other way? I have two myself and thought of maybe a third radion
 
Congrats! It's a very nice ready-made system. I never set it up with the sump in the stand so I can't comment on operating it in the stock configuration, but if you need any tips for converting the plumbing from the stock metric plumbing I can share what I did.

As for the Radions, they're definitely enough light for now since I don't have much in there, and I don't think I need full coverage of the tank now (or anytime soon...). I have a PAR meter so I can always check how much light I'm actually throwing off, but I don't have enough in there to actually break it out and take measurements. I'm intending on getting a third to increase coverage when it becomes necessary. I didn't get it though as I figured it wasn't necessary to buy a third fixture and pay for operating costs for light I don't need over the tank.
 
Thanks! I'll definitely reach out if I need help with converting the plumbing.

Any chance you have a list of all the parts you ordered for your lights mount from 8020? I like that look and I'm thinking of doing the exact setup for that.
 
Thanks! I'll definitely reach out if I need help with converting the plumbing.

Any chance you have a list of all the parts you ordered for your lights mount from 8020? I like that look and I'm thinking of doing the exact setup for that.
I think this is the full list:
Name/descriptionSKUPriceQtySubtotal
72" smooth rail1530-S
69.41​
1​
69.41​
42" Ultra light smooth rail w/single counterbore1530-ULS
35.71​
1​
35.71​
15 series 12 hole - 90 degree angled flat plate
4328​
12.9​
2​
25.8​
15 series - tall gusseted inside corner bracket
4336​
6.25​
1​
6.25​
15 series 5/16-18 standard anchor fastener assembly
3360​
3.15​
1​
3.15​
15 series 8 hole inside corner bracket
4304​
6.55​
4​
26.2​
5/16"-18 flanged hex nut (clear)
3758​
0.31​
18​
5.58​
5/16"-18 button head 1.5" screw (clear)
3944​
0.37​
18​
6.66​
5/16"-18x0.687" FBHSCS (black)
3330​
0.36​
30​
5/16 slide in economy T-nut centered thread
3789​
0.25​
30​
15 series 10-32 standard slide in -T-nut
3201​
0.79​
3​
2.37​
15 series push-in fastener3274GRA
0.12​
2​
0.24​
15 series end cap with push in fastener 2045GRA
1.6​
1​
1.6​
"T" handle ball end hex wrench - 5/16"
6000​
5.25​
1​
5.25​
15 series standard T-slot cover (72.5")
2111​
3.45​
2​
6.9​
 
Lots of changes since the last update. Went through a nasty Dino outbreak, which took all summer to clear. After a full course of dinoX, adding an Aqua Ultraviolet UV sterilizer, collecting detritus/microbiological diversity from a number of members and vendors tanks, and good old fashioned water changes and time, the tank finally came around in August. Lost almost all of my SPS frags in the process too. LPS survived, but not much more.

I started slowly adding a few frags from September onwards, and things (knock on wood) are looking pretty good. Good growth and color on SPS, polyp extension looks good. Starting collecting choice pieces again, life is good.

84357410-44FD-42AC-9AEE-1AB3C5800827.jpeg


7938AF4C-0A21-48CC-B507-D78A4B56AC7D.jpeg

415B7735-B991-46CA-AF6A-32F9E871A6CD.jpeg
 
Wow, been a while since I posted in this thread. That old tank looks so neat. I should really get rid of a lot of the crap I have on the sand bed.

06398704-66C9-4F17-A522-453F060219C9.jpeg

The two pictured torches are a lot bigger now though. Pictured with two recent torch acquisitions. I must say the ASD HG/TCK Master are very bright and beautiful, but the TCK Long tentacle dragon soul absolutely holds it own next to them.
 
Since you posted your reply I’ve been cleaning up the tank…only to realize it’s been months in the works. After several substrate cleanings, water changes, several rounds of aggressively removing bubble algae, the tank is finally looking pretty decent. It’s recovering from high nutrients, so a few corals have really lost their color, but they’re back on the mend now. Bought a few new frags recently so looking forward to them getting established. Otherwise, not much new.
1574B0DE-FE2D-4A6D-87E2-5D6A963B296E.jpeg
1A997738-3B05-4AB0-85A1-4512F423138A.jpeg
 
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