Growing up in my younger years I always had a freshwater fish tank, but always wanted to have a saltwater tank. Fast forward many years till fall 2018 and we received a gift of two Betta fish for my two young sons. While caring for our new Betta fish my childhood dream came back to me. After around 4 months of research, I decided it was time for my first saltwater tank. I decided on a Red Sea Reefer 250 tank for my home office with the Triton method and auto water changes.
I purchased my Red Sea Reefer 250 from my LFS and 40 lbs of live Fiji pink sand. For rock, I went with dry 70lbs Reef saver rock from BRS. Ended up needing around 45-55lbs of it. I needed everything to fit in the sump due to the limited space in my office. With a large list of equipment, I knew this was going to be a tight fit. Special thanks to Aaron Gustafson for providing the idea to mount the power strips and cord management on the top of the stand. If not for that everything wouldn’t have fit. Here is my equipment list.
Here is the custom mounting board I created. Just used desk grommets route the cables through. I painted the wood with black spray paint.
Sump a bit of a mess while parts still arrived and I set up the tank. You can see the 3 RO lines coming from the wall. These are the drain, salt, and RODI lines to the tank. I installed a dedicated 20 amp circuit just for the tank with a GFI outlet for protection. I made sure to turn on my Apex heartbeat too, so if the GFI does trip I will be notified that my apex is offline.
view of the top of my stand. I have cable raceways that run in a U shape from left to right in the stand. It is all lit from an LED strip that runs along the top of the stand as well. Between the 16 outlets in these 2 Apex energy bar 832 there are only 3 free outlets after everything is plugged in. This shot is from early on in the wiring.
Sump and stand complete with all equipment. Marine pure blocks have been removed as my Al was extremely high.
Here is my 7 stage with water saver BRS RODI unit. Has worked like a champ for me. I was able to mount my RODI directly below my PEX water switch. It provides me direct access to a very strong pressure water supply. Originally I had Schedule 40 connector for my RODI feed line, however, it broke soon after install. Upgraded to Scheduled 80 shown here and haven't had any issues. My normal pressure is around 85-95 PSI when the flush valve is off. With the flush on I still get over 60 PSI. I have lucked out and my supply water is only between 30-35 TDS. Most of the time the RO is able to get me to 2 or 0 TDS. DI gets me to zero if I am not there already. I have made around 300-400 gallons of water and show little if any usage on my filters. Not sure how long they will last given the low TDS and I only make around 50g a month.
Here is the mixing station. I decided to go with Schedule 80 piping just because it looked cooler and matched the valves I used. I went with Cepex valves I got from BRS. The piping is all 3/4 inch. I just went with that as that is the same size used in my tank. So far the valves are very easy to turn, looking forward to it staying that way for a long time. If not with the double Union it is super easy to just purchase another valve without having to re-do any PVC. The RO lines connect at the top too long Acrylic Tubes that go close to the bottom of each barrel.
My mixing station would be in my basement and consists of 2 50G Norwesco containers and a pump. They sit on a homemade stand with drain. The drain for the stand flows into my sump pump for the house for added protection. Given that my office on the first floor I was able to run RO tubing around 30-40ft from my mixing station to my office for the tank. I have 3 lines run from the tank, drain, fresh RODI and saltwater. The drain line goes directly into the drain for the house. These lines allow for easy making of RODI and Saltwater without having to carry any buckets. The ability to make large amounts of water at once is really nice.
In June I purchased my first two clownfish after a 2-week cycle with Dr. Tims. Shortly after I purchase the beginnings of my cleanup crew. After around a month I spooked one of the clowns at night and he got sucked into the MP40 instant death. It sounded like someone cut a 2x4 and my heart instantly dropped. I have since purchased some guards for my MP40’s but have since removed as they get dirty quickly, cut down on the flow and are bulky. After restocking the clownfish to bring me back to two and around a month's time I lost the remaining first clown I purchase to suicide. They were attempting to bond and would frequently chase each other around the tank. The first time I left the tank in a long while and my wife comes home to find Nemo dead on the floor. The remaining clown seemingly very lonely and after a week or two, we decided to purchase another clown. After the death, I purchased a mesh lid for the aquarium to prevent any future jumpers. When I picked up the second clown I decided to pick up a yellow tang as well. It has been around 3 weeks since introducing the new clown and tanks with all seeming to do very well. Currently, I have a PAR meter on rent and will be purchasing my first corals very soon. I plan to start with some zoa’s and likely a hammer coral.
Salt mixing in the tank for the first time.
Slowly acclimating my new yellow tang here.
My sons enjoying the tank during feeding time.
Quarantine/hospital tank. I haven't had to use it yet but will be QT all new fish I get now for 2 weeks plus.
New tank and clowns in background. Yang (yellow tang) is being shy. Getting better about being shy as he gets more comfortable.
My giant 3-4 inch emerald crab decided he wanted some seaweed.
WIll share some new photo's once I get some corals.
I purchased my Red Sea Reefer 250 from my LFS and 40 lbs of live Fiji pink sand. For rock, I went with dry 70lbs Reef saver rock from BRS. Ended up needing around 45-55lbs of it. I needed everything to fit in the sump due to the limited space in my office. With a large list of equipment, I knew this was going to be a tight fit. Special thanks to Aaron Gustafson for providing the idea to mount the power strips and cord management on the top of the stand. If not for that everything wouldn’t have fit. Here is my equipment list.
Here is the custom mounting board I created. Just used desk grommets route the cables through. I painted the wood with black spray paint.
Sump a bit of a mess while parts still arrived and I set up the tank. You can see the 3 RO lines coming from the wall. These are the drain, salt, and RODI lines to the tank. I installed a dedicated 20 amp circuit just for the tank with a GFI outlet for protection. I made sure to turn on my Apex heartbeat too, so if the GFI does trip I will be notified that my apex is offline.
view of the top of my stand. I have cable raceways that run in a U shape from left to right in the stand. It is all lit from an LED strip that runs along the top of the stand as well. Between the 16 outlets in these 2 Apex energy bar 832 there are only 3 free outlets after everything is plugged in. This shot is from early on in the wiring.
Sump and stand complete with all equipment. Marine pure blocks have been removed as my Al was extremely high.
Name | Quantity |
Reefer 250 | 1 |
Crystalreef aquatics Sump RSRN250 | 1 |
Varios-4 Pump | 2 |
Apex | 1 |
EB832 Energy Bar | 1 |
Neptune auto feeding | 1 |
Kessil A mounting arm | 2 |
neptune dos | 1 |
neptune breakout box | 1 |
MP40 | 2 |
A360W-E | 2 |
H380 | 1 |
Eheim Jager 125W | 2 |
Small BRS Carbon Reactor with Pump | 1 |
LED Refreacatomtor | 1 |
BRS ROX .8 carbon 3lbs | 1 |
Red sea blue 175G salt | 1 |
Nyos Quantium 120 Skimmer | 1 |
BRS dosing pump | 3 |
cabinet light | 1 |
WXM VORTECH | 1 |
Here is the mixing station. I decided to go with Schedule 80 piping just because it looked cooler and matched the valves I used. I went with Cepex valves I got from BRS. The piping is all 3/4 inch. I just went with that as that is the same size used in my tank. So far the valves are very easy to turn, looking forward to it staying that way for a long time. If not with the double Union it is super easy to just purchase another valve without having to re-do any PVC. The RO lines connect at the top too long Acrylic Tubes that go close to the bottom of each barrel.
My mixing station would be in my basement and consists of 2 50G Norwesco containers and a pump. They sit on a homemade stand with drain. The drain for the stand flows into my sump pump for the house for added protection. Given that my office on the first floor I was able to run RO tubing around 30-40ft from my mixing station to my office for the tank. I have 3 lines run from the tank, drain, fresh RODI and saltwater. The drain line goes directly into the drain for the house. These lines allow for easy making of RODI and Saltwater without having to carry any buckets. The ability to make large amounts of water at once is really nice.
In June I purchased my first two clownfish after a 2-week cycle with Dr. Tims. Shortly after I purchase the beginnings of my cleanup crew. After around a month I spooked one of the clowns at night and he got sucked into the MP40 instant death. It sounded like someone cut a 2x4 and my heart instantly dropped. I have since purchased some guards for my MP40’s but have since removed as they get dirty quickly, cut down on the flow and are bulky. After restocking the clownfish to bring me back to two and around a month's time I lost the remaining first clown I purchase to suicide. They were attempting to bond and would frequently chase each other around the tank. The first time I left the tank in a long while and my wife comes home to find Nemo dead on the floor. The remaining clown seemingly very lonely and after a week or two, we decided to purchase another clown. After the death, I purchased a mesh lid for the aquarium to prevent any future jumpers. When I picked up the second clown I decided to pick up a yellow tang as well. It has been around 3 weeks since introducing the new clown and tanks with all seeming to do very well. Currently, I have a PAR meter on rent and will be purchasing my first corals very soon. I plan to start with some zoa’s and likely a hammer coral.
Salt mixing in the tank for the first time.
Slowly acclimating my new yellow tang here.
My sons enjoying the tank during feeding time.
Quarantine/hospital tank. I haven't had to use it yet but will be QT all new fish I get now for 2 weeks plus.
New tank and clowns in background. Yang (yellow tang) is being shy. Getting better about being shy as he gets more comfortable.
My giant 3-4 inch emerald crab decided he wanted some seaweed.
WIll share some new photo's once I get some corals.
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