Natural Blue's Red Sea Reefer 250 Build

[Natural Blue]

Hi all, starting back in the hobby after a couple year break and only having about 6-7 months of experience prior due to kids and dogs making life extremely busy.

I just purchased a white Red Sea Reefer 250 on Sunday and it should be here tomorrow or Wednesday. I had a thread started in the sponsor forums but figured I'd start an official build thread.

I'm looking for a little advice in two areas, equipment and cycling specific to the live rock I purchased.

Equipment:
Return Pump - Waveline DC-6000

Skimmer - Leaning towards a Skims SM163 but curious about Bubble Magnus or Reef Octopus. Also, is there a Skims knock-off that's just as good? It seems a lot of the products out there have knock off competition for half the price and some just as good.

Powerhead - I just got a killer deal on a Jebao RW-8 so I'll have that and possibly purchase and MP40 to go along with it.

Lighting - This is the hardest to decide, I'm leaning now towards an Kessil AP700 or two 360a's.

RODI - What's a good unit for under $150. I see some people using a 4 stage amazon/ebay 100 GPD unit for $50-$60. We do have Chloramines in our water here in OK.

Cycling
I lucked out and purchased 55lbs of really nice live rock and 40lbs of Carib sea agri alive sand for $100. The guy I bought if from on craigslist just happened to be the same guy I sold my RODI unit to years ago when I stopped the hobby. Thought that was pretty a pretty crazy coincidence.

Anyway, he already cycled the live rock and sand for approximately 8 weeks and purchased everything new before quickly getting out of saltwater due to finding out they are having another kiddo. I currently have it all in a covered brute trash can with heater and powerhead until my tank is setup, which brings me to my questions.

1. Should I continue to ghost feed the rock or am I okay just topping of evaporation with RODI?

2. If I get new sand, does new sand need to be cycled? It's nice that my live rock is already cured and cycled so I'd like not to cycle again but it wouldn't be a big deal since I need to let the funds recover before stocking.

Oh, just for having pictures, I've already repainted an accent wall in the home office where the tank will reside.

Before:


After:


Thanks for the help and for following along!

[sixpackgarage]

the new paint looks much better.. very ocean like

[thejuggernaut]

Love the new color!

[KEREEF]

I put the Kessil AP700 on my Reefer 250 and I'm very very happy with it. I used the LeRusso Designs arms that mount to the back of the tank because Kessil hadn't delivered their version yet. Significantly better, but expensive. I'm interested in hearing hat you do with water movement pumps. I'm not happy with what I currently have (although the corals seem to be).

[Natural Blue]

Originally Posted by KEREEF

I put the Kessil AP700 on my Reefer 250 and I'm very very happy with it. I used the LeRusso Designs arms that mount to the back of the tank because Kessil hadn't delivered their version yet. Significantly better, but expensive. I'm interested in hearing hat you do with water movement pumps. I'm not happy with what I currently have (although the corals seem to be).

Did you get the double arm or the single arm LeRusso design? I'm pretty tempted to order the single arm.

What are you using now for water movement pumps?

[Natural Blue]

Just get a heck of deal on open box returned Kessil AP700 from www.saltwaterquarium.com so I'm pumped.

I have no affiliation at all with them but I'd recommend checking their sight out they have text feature and I had a question about the purchase and they responded immediately, plus free shipping, 5% cash back, and t-shirt!

[ruckuss]

Tagging along.. I'm also building a white Reefer 250. My equipment is as follows:

Skimmer - Bubble Magus Curve 5

Return - Sicce Silent 3.0

Flow - Maxspect Gyre 130 or 2 MP10wqd on the rear glass - going to try the mp10's first... Hope the flow is good on the back glass.. Don't like the look of mp's on the side.

I'm thinking of adding a 10 gallon or 16 gallon high in the chiller area for a fuge.. But not too sure yet..

Are you going to use the ATO that comes with the setup? Quite a few people ended up ditching it.

[Natural Blue]

Originally Posted by ruckuss

Tagging along.. I'm also building a white Reefer 250. My equipment is as follows:

Skimmer - Bubble Magus Curve 5

Return - Sicce Silent 3.0

Flow - Maxspect Gyre 130 or 2 MP10wqd on the rear glass - going to try the mp10's first... Hope the flow is good on the back glass.. Don't like the look of mp's on the side.

I'm thinking of adding a 10 gallon or 16 gallon high in the chiller area for a fuge.. But not too sure yet..

Are you going to use the ATO that comes with the setup? Quite a few people ended up ditching it.

I'm going to start with the stock ATO but have a feeling I'll ditch it for a 5+ gallon tank and Tunze Osmolator. I was just looking and I think I can put a container in the office closet and run the top off line behind the wall under my stairs for a clean look.

I looked at the Bubble Magnus Curve 5 but it said water height was 9.5-11" and Red Sea says the sump water level is 8" so didn't know if it would be a good fit or not.

[Brieninsac]

I have a Curve 5 in my Reefer 350 and it works fine. I will say it took WEEKS to breakin. But I think that's normal for skimmers.

[Natural Blue]

Originally Posted by Brieninsac

I have a Curve 5 in my Reefer 350 and it works fine. I will say it took WEEKS to breakin. But I think that's normal for skimmers.

I just can't decide. I'm leaning now towards the Skimz 143 due to saving some space, I think the 163 is overkill, but I've heard reviews that the collection cup is hard to get on and off. Skimz seems to have great reviews on BRS.

[ruckuss]

Originally Posted by Natural Blue

I'm going to start with the stock ATO but have a feeling I'll ditch it for a 5+ gallon tank and Tunze Osmolator. I was just looking and I think I can put a container in the office closet and run the top off line behind the wall under my stairs for a clean look.

I looked at the Bubble Magnus Curve 5 but it said water height was 9.5-11" and Red Sea says the sump water level is 8" so didn't know if it would be a good fit or not.

Yeah, they say 9.5-11, but from my research, optimal height is 8, perfect for this sump. Check it out.

[Natural Blue]

Decided on the Skimz SM143 and ordered it!

I will probably run a two little fishies reactor, possibly two of them one with carbon and one to remove phosphates. If I run these off the return pump by putting in a T how much will that reduce my flow? I'm getting the waveline dc-6000 so I should have plenty of flow, right?

[ruckuss]

I think the Waveline DC6000 will be more than enough.

[Natural Blue]

Got the Kessil AP700 tonight and I may have to return it. When I first opened it and plugged it in it worked great, but I couldn't play with it long since we had to get dinner ready for the kiddos. I came back in the office after bedtime to show the wife and the buttons on AP700 seem unresponsive now. I plugged it into the computer to check firmware and it's updated to the latest and I did get the iPad app going. I can turn the light off and on with the app but not with the physical buttons on the light.

[ruckuss]

That sucks. I'm still undecided on lighting. I was thinking about the AP700.. But decided on AI, not sure if I should go with two Hydra 26HD or three primes.... 1st world problems

[mr9iron]

Tagging along for the build.

[rburch203]

Following

[Natural Blue]

Anyone using a Maxspect XF130 Gyre? I'm starting to lean towards one of those instead of Vortech.

[Natural Blue]

Also, any input on fish stocking...here is what we are leaning towards..

Clown Pair (hopefully snowflake)
Lawnmower/Algae Blenny
Yellow Watchman Goby and Pistol Shrimp
Six Line Wrasse or Carpenter Flasher Wrasse (can't decide)
Small mimic yellow tang or juvenile yellow tang.
2 Cleaner Shrimp
Clean up crew with handful of snails
Maybe an Emerald Crab

[ruckuss]

Had a pistol and goby pair before, while they are cool to watch, that little pistol made a mess... Constantly blowing sand off my rock and corals after he would go on a tear digging all over the tank... Sand stoms almost every other day. My six line was also a grump.. Picked on everyone in the tank.

[Natural Blue]

Originally Posted by ruckuss

Had a pistol and goby pair before, while they are cool to watch, that little pistol made a mess... Constantly blowing sand off my rock and corals after he would go on a tear digging all over the tank... Sand stoms almost every other day. My six line was also a grump.. Picked on everyone in the tank.

Good to know, definitely don't want a sand storm all the time. Were you using really fine grain sand like oolite? I plan on using CaribSea Pink Fiji sand.

[ruckuss]

Same sand I was using

[Natural Blue]

Originally Posted by ruckuss

Same sand I was using

LOL, okay guess that might be a problem. The watchman goby and pistol shrimp is the wife's pick so I may loose that battle and pray for no sand storms!

[ruckuss]

Lol.. I had a tiger pistol.. And the Randall's one... The Randall never came out much.. I thought he was a goner and eventually saw him.. He was hanging out with the tiger and goby... He didn't cause any sandstorms... But, I only seen him a couple times

[Brieninsac]

It's "nice" to have a wish list of fish but you're still quite a ways from populating your tank. My tank is 4 months old and all I have are a pair of Clowns, a Firefish and Royal Gramma. I've had a Green Chromis in quarantine for about six weeks. The point being it is a very slow process if you want to do it right.