Clown fishstick’s Reefer 250

[clownfishsticks]

Hi y’all, hope you’re all doing well. I’m excited to have finally got a new tank in our new house and am going to use this space to document its growth as well as have some discussion or ask questions along the way. I’m currently 33 and have had a saltwater tank in someway or another since I’ve been 16 years old. I traveled through college, medical school and residency with a tank. Sometimes I would set up a nicer permanent tank, sometimes I would have a temporary 10-20 gallon cheapo Walmart tank to get us by. I honestly would have gotten out of the hobby with all of the moves by my wife fell in love with our clownfish (which have since passed) but it gave me motivation to keep up the tank. There have been highs and lows, where i was a busy medical resident working 100 hours a week and didn’t have time or energy for anything close to a water change. Finally, I am finished with all of my training and a year into my career. I am very fortunate to make a good living and can do this tank the right way instead of cutting corners for financial reasons like I always had to do in the past.

So I bought a reefer 250 g2 from my LFS. It was an … interesting story. The tank I bought was dry but already assembled in their store. I scheduled them to drop off the tank a few days after I purchased it. They did so, but unfortunately there was a significant chip in the corner of the tank on the rear left side so I did not want to accept it in that condition. Now is also a pretty good time to mention that I am living in a (very nice) rental home for the next 1-2 years, and this fish tank situation is going to be much more of an “ask for forgiveness“ situation than an “ask for permission” one.

So they reordered my tank, but left the stand and equipment in my home. About two weeks later the next tank showed up, and unfortunately the delivery company had accidentally, slightly, rank a fork truck directly through the glass. So we ordered a new tank. Anyway, a little after a month since my original purchase, we are fully up and running.

I’m not 100% convinced in the direction I want to take this tank. I have considered a species tank with a dozen Ocellaris clowns and a few anemones, but am not going to go in that direction. I will likely keep it simple and go for a mixed reef. Speaking of keeping it simple, the overarching goal for this tank was to keep it simple. I want maintenance to be simple, equipment to be connected to each other and just work. So I am largely keeping in the Red Sea family equipment wise, and have two Reef LED 90’s, their new skimmer and return pump, will be getting red sea to send me their new ATO (just missed the cutoff). Also going bare bottom for the first time.

And now I’m trying to decide between getting two MP40’s or getting two Reefwaves. I had an MP10 in the past, like way past, when they first came out. It was an incredible piece of technology back then and I loved it. I love minimal looks, and love not having cords in the tank. This is making me want to put an MP40 on the back part of my tank on each side of the overflow, but I have concerns with that as well.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Am looking forward to documenting the journey and seeing this thing grow. Right now I have about 6 pounds of live rock and my single clown in the tank. 40 pounds of rock is set to be delivered this upcoming Friday.

Hope y’all have a great week,

-CFS

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Nice looking tank!! Will be following along!