"Custom" Reefer 250 build questions/suggestions

[leroy_jenkinz]

I never had a reef tank but have read about them since highschool and always wanted one/ done my research. I am a total noob to the reefer hobby so will be looking for help frequently im sure. My base build will start with the Reefer 250 and the following :( if there is anything im missing or you think i should get instead please let me know)

I will start with roughly 50 lbs of live rock

Lights: 2 Kessil A160WEGoosenecks & Spectral Controller ( or do you think i need a different light/s?

Powerheads: 2 Jebao sw8’s ) I plan to put on the back wall but we will see how it goes)

Pump: Eheim pump that came with tank

Protein skimmer: nyos 120 or Reef Octopus Classic 110

Heater: 200watt hydor heater

 

[Tastee]

I have a Reefer 250 myself (1 yr old). I am sure you will get some good suggestions from those much more experienced than I am about your equipment, but I would suggest two heaters so you have one as a backup. In my case I have a 300W Aquael Gold 300 as my primary heater and a 200W Aqua One as my backup. The Aqua One is our budget brand in Australia, so not as good quality as the Aquael. In my FW tank I run a single Eheim Jager.

Good luck!

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

I have a Reefer 250 myself (1 yr old). I am sure you will get some good suggestions from those much more experienced than I am about your equipment, but I would suggest two heaters so you have one as a backup. In my case I have a 300W Aquael Gold 300 as my primary heater and a 200W Aqua One as my backup. The Aqua One is our budget brand in Australia, so not as good quality as the Aquael. In my FW tank I run a single Eheim Jager.

Good luck!

thanks for the tip man, as i browse on this forum i noticed people with Dos and apex controllers would you say these pieces of equipment greatly help or even needed to maintain the tank properly?

 

[Firemanreefkeeper]

Depending on what you plan to grow for coral the 160s might be underpowered for the tank. Reef octo is a solid skimmer. I had one on my 75 gallon and I like it better than the current one I have now. You will want an ATO. Ive heard a big mixed bag on apex these days as they are sourcing out cheaper components. It depends on what you plan to use DOS for. Water changes? I do mine by hand and it takes 10 minutes. Chemicals? I've got BRS dosing pumps that are way cheaper and do the same thing.

 

[Water Dog]

thanks for the tip man, as i browse on this forum i noticed people with Dos and apex controllers would you say these pieces of equipment greatly help or even needed to maintain the tank properly?

Necessary? No. But absolutely convenient and IMO the Apex makes reefing easier as you can automate and monitor your tank. Is the DOS necessary? Not necessarily, but I’d say as your tank matures and your alkalinity consumption increases, some sort of supplementation system for the big 3... Alk, Cal and Mag is be absolutely necessary, be it through Kalkwasser, 2 part dosing or a calcium reactor. That said, what type of coral do you plan on keeping in your Reefer 250?

 

[mitch91175]

If the equipment that you listed you already have I would say just start out with that to make things easier on you as you get more experience. There isn't a particular piece of equipment that's going to make or break you getting setup. You have a bunch of time to prepare for any upgrades to equipment (if even necessary). If the tank isn't setup yet and you feel comfortable with the equipment that you do have to setup the tank, go ahead and setup the tank, let it get cycled, then add a few fish. Give it a few weeks from there then add so zoas or some other type of softie that you may want to keep. Keep progressing adding things until you get to the result you want. It will take time for sure, but that's part of the hobby. Welcome and good luck.

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

If the equipment that you listed you already have I would say just start out with that to make things easier on you as you get more experience. There isn't a particular piece of equipment that's going to make or break you getting setup. You have a bunch of time to prepare for any upgrades to equipment (if even necessary). If the tank isn't setup yet and you feel comfortable with the equipment that you do have to setup the tank, go ahead and setup the tank, let it get cycled, then add a few fish. Give it a few weeks from there then add so zoas or some other type of softie that you may want to keep. Keep progressing adding things until you get to the result you want. It will take time for sure, but that's part of the hobby. Welcome and good luck.

No i dont have anything not even my tank. im just trying to piece together a good list( make sure i picked out decent eqipment to get me off the ground) as well as budget out everything im buying. I dont have a set price limit but i am trying to keep it reasonable and not break the bank.

Depending on what you plan to grow for coral the 160s might be underpowered for the tank. Reef octo is a solid skimmer. I had one on my 75 gallon and I like it better than the current one I have now. You will want an ATO. Ive heard a big mixed bag on apex these days as they are sourcing out cheaper components. It depends on what you plan to use DOS for. Water changes? I do mine by hand and it takes 10 minutes. Chemicals? I've got BRS dosing pumps that are way cheaper and do the same thing.

Honestly didnt know about the apex and what not till browsing these forums. Guess i saw them on some well managed tanks, read what they do and figured it was a important piece/ helped with proper dosing/ water changes. ill Definitely look into the ATO and see what brands are recommended.

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

Necessary? No. But absolutely convenient and IMO the Apex makes reefing easier as you can automate and monitor your tank. Is the DOS necessary? Not necessarily, but I’d say as your tank matures and your alkalinity consumption increases, some sort of supplementation system for the big 3... Alk, Cal and Mag is be absolutely necessary, be it through Kalkwasser, 2 part dosing or a calcium reactor. That said, what type of coral do you plan on keeping in your Reefer 250?

Prolly stick to the easier corals as like i said im just starting the hobby, probally some zoas and what not

 

[mitch91175]

If you are going to keep coral down the road and want to get the lighting, I'd suggest the Aquatic Life Hybrid T5 fixture to start out with. Then you can decide which LED to go with from there. For the return pump, depends on if you want AC/DC. Lots of people in either camp. I have always been an AC type of guy. They just prove to be more reliable long term (at least from what I read about some of the issue with DC pumps longevity). @Water Dog recommended to me the Fluval SP6 and I haven't regretted buying it for my tank. They have smaller models as well. But you do have an eheim so that may not be necessary.

I'd say maybe think about an ATO of some sort. Tunze is in a class of its own. Outside of that I definitely say invest in an RO/DI unit. Will make your life much better down the road.

 

[Ly78]

The reefer250 comes with ATO. It works well enough and dont see why you need to get another

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R Leroy !!! Here you will learn a lot about reefing and how to setup your first saltwater fish tank. Here a link to the beginning of this beautiful hobby. You have an article page just design with a lot of information to build your tank.
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.84/

 

[Scurvy]

Welcome to the community! I just broke my 250 down after a couple of years. It was my first tank as well and i found it to be a great system to start with. I’ll touch on the things you’re using that I have some experience with.

Like you I went with (2) Kessil 160’s at the start. I wound up swapping them out for T5’s after about 8 months and then ditched the T5’s for an Orphek. I never found happiness with the Kessils personally but they’re proven to grow coral. I ultimately wanted more options for color tuning than i could get with the Kessils.

I started out with a Bubble Magus skimmer. Hated its guts so after about 6 months I grabbed a Nyos 120 and loved it. It broke in immediately and was super easy to tune in. I’m taking it over to my next build as well.

I haven’t had good luck with Jaebo power heads. They work well out of box but the two I tried both died within 6-8 months. I do own a couple of their dosing pumps that have held up okay for the most part.

The Apex is a great tool to have however it’s not a Must Have unless you travel a lot or are a tech junkie. I like tech so I got one used and eventually upgraded to the newest model.

As for the Reefer 250. I upgraded the ATO to a Tunze Osmolator and liked it a lot. I can also recommend the Smart Micro ATO I used on another setup. Neither one has given me any problems in 2-3 years.
The sump area is fairly small. It’s hard finding space to fit everything in down there but it can certainly be done. If you watch YouTube at all take a look at @pelphrey channel. Load of helpful stuff there on the 250.

Have fun!

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

If you are going to keep coral down the road and want to get the lighting, I'd suggest the Aquatic Life Hybrid T5 fixture to start out with. Then you can decide which LED to go with from there. For the return pump, depends on if you want AC/DC. Lots of people in either camp. I have always been an AC type of guy. They just prove to be more reliable long term (at least from what I read about some of the issue with DC pumps longevity). @Water Dog recommended to me the Fluval SP6 and I haven't regretted buying it for my tank. They have smaller models as well. But you do have an eheim so that may not be necessary.

I'd say maybe think about an ATO of some sort. Tunze is in a class of its own. Outside of that I definitely say invest in an RO/DI unit. Will make your life much better down the road.

so i actually found a 75 gallon tank and stand on craigslist for 300 that comes with a 300 eshops sump and 150 skimmer so i dont think i can pass that up. would wi be ok with the 48" light fixture?

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

Welcome to the community! I just broke my 250 down after a couple of years. It was my first tank as well and i found it to be a great system to start with. I’ll touch on the things you’re using that I have some experience with.

Like you I went with (2) Kessil 160’s at the start. I wound up swapping them out for T5’s after about 8 months and then ditched the T5’s for an Orphek. I never found happiness with the Kessils personally but they’re proven to grow coral. I ultimately wanted more options for color tuning than i could get with the Kessils.

I started out with a Bubble Magus skimmer. Hated its guts so after about 6 months I grabbed a Nyos 120 and loved it. It broke in immediately and was super easy to tune in. I’m taking it over to my next build as well.

I haven’t had good luck with Jaebo power heads. They work well out of box but the two I tried both died within 6-8 months. I do own a couple of their dosing pumps that have held up okay for the most part.

The Apex is a great tool to have however it’s not a Must Have unless you travel a lot or are a tech junkie. I like tech so I got one used and eventually upgraded to the newest model.

As for the Reefer 250. I upgraded the ATO to a Tunze Osmolator and liked it a lot. I can also recommend the Smart Micro ATO I used on another setup. Neither one has given me any problems in 2-3 years.
The sump area is fairly small. It’s hard finding space to fit everything in down there but it can certainly be done. If you watch YouTube at all take a look at @pelphrey channel. Load of helpful stuff there on the 250.

Have fun!

thanks for the tips on the power heads and ATO. i actually came across a really good local deal "see above ^^" Do you have another recommendation on power heads for a 75 gallon tank?

 

[Scurvy]

The Gyre style pumps will crank on that system. Assuming its a standard 48”x18”x21” 75g I would go with two Gyre 230’s or Icecap 1K pumps. The Gyre’s will be a little more expensive but you can run both off of one controller syncing them to do whatever you want. The Icecap is basically the same pump but I dont beleive you can sync them together on one controller (Never looked into it). Ive used both and found the Icecap to be quieter but loved the Gyres working together.

 

[Firemanreefkeeper]

The Gyre style pumps will crank on that system. Assuming its a standard 48”x18”x21” 75g I would go with two Gyre 230’s or Icecap 1K pumps. The Gyre’s will be a little more expensive but you can run both off of one controller syncing them to do whatever you want. The Icecap is basically the same pump but I dont beleive you can sync them together on one controller (Never looked into it). Ive used both and found the Icecap to be quieter but loved the Gyres working together.

I agree. I have 2 gyre pumps (230s) and they move some water. I messed around with other powerheads and couldn't move the same amount of water.
As far as the apex, I'm not knocking it. I thought about adding one to my system after it had been running for several months but decided against it based on one thing. I'd have to buy everything to go with it. My pump isn't compatible, my lights aren't, my ATO, my dosing pumps, my gyre pumps ECT. The only thing I would be able to do is see if anything that was plugged into the energy bar was drawing power. It wasn't worth it for me. If you do decide on apex, make sure everything you build around it is compatible.

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

The Gyre style pumps will crank on that system. Assuming its a standard 48”x18”x21” 75g I would go with two Gyre 230’s or Icecap 1K pumps. The Gyre’s will be a little more expensive but you can run both off of one controller syncing them to do whatever you want. The Icecap is basically the same pump but I dont beleive you can sync them together on one controller (Never looked into it). Ive used both and found the Icecap to be quieter but loved the Gyres working together.

yes i do believe its the standard dimensions of a normal 75g tank and even after googling it they look the same as those dimensions. Well i definitely like the price better on the Icecap but for 100$ more sounds like im getting more bang for my buck with the Gyre 230's. Would i need two? or would 1 be ok in the beginning as it will only have the live rock/ cleaner crew and 1-2 fish for the beginning.

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

I agree. I have 2 gyre pumps (230s) and they move some water. I messed around with other powerheads and couldn't move the same amount of water.
As far as the apex, I'm not knocking it. I thought about adding one to my system after it had been running for several months but decided against it based on one thing. I'd have to buy everything to go with it. My pump isn't compatible, my lights aren't, my ATO, my dosing pumps, my gyre pumps ECT. The only thing I would be able to do is see if anything that was plugged into the energy bar was drawing power. It wasn't worth it for me. If you do decide on apex, make sure everything you build around it is compatible.

Ok thanks for the tip and heads up.

 

[Scurvy]

yes i do believe its the standard dimensions of a normal 75g tank and even after googling it they look the same as those dimensions. Well i definitely like the price better on the Icecap but for 100$ more sounds like im getting more bang for my buck with the Gyre 230's. Would i need two? or would 1 be ok in the beginning as it will only have the live rock/ cleaner crew and 1-2 fish for the beginning.

Sure, I think one will be okay for a while. The good thing is you buy one with the controller first and add only a 2nd pump when you’re ready. Keep an eye on the marketplace feed here. You may score a deal on the combo. I let mine go here just last week

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

Sure, I think one will be okay for a while. The good thing is you buy one with the controller first and add only a 2nd pump when you’re ready. Keep an eye on the marketplace feed here. You may score a deal on the combo. I let mine go here just last week

dude you just blew my mind i just found this website like 2 daysd ago . HAD NO idea about the marketplace so thank you