Time for an upgrade! Seeing as I will be working from home until the end of the year at the least, I decided I could afford the time to handle a larger system and pulled the trigger on a Reefer 250. I started reefkeeping in January 2018 with an IM fusion 20, which was the perfect size for my apartment at the time. I only kept LPS and softies in the tank, so it wasn't a fancy system. I had some good success keeping the majority of the corals I bought, but made a handful of mistakes along the way. This forum has been tremendously helpful in teaching me about the hobby, and I'm super excited to continue this journey in a bigger tank and document it here in a build thread! This is my first system this large and with a below cabinet sump, so would love some advice along the way.
I plan to keep a mixed reef for this tank, with mostly LPS plus some easy SPS and softies. I've been told it's hard to keep everybody happy in a mixed reef, but hopefully I can dial it in to find the sweet spot for all the corals. Here are some initial system specs. Still working through the rest of the equipment I would want and how to organize the cabinet neatly (everyone makes it looks so clean in their builds!).
Equipment
Tank: Reefer 250 with V3 sump
Lighting: 2x ReefLED 90 with mounts3 AI Prime 16HDs (just bought 2 new primes for my 20G, so trying to reuse as much as possible). Would have opted for Hydras or ReefLEDs if it was a fresh start)
Return: Varios 2 DC pump
Heater: BRS 200W titanium heater with controller200W AutoAqua titanium heater with digital controller
ATO: 10G Trigger ATO with AutoAqua Smart ATO system
Salt: Reef crystals
Refractometer: Milwaukee digital
Par meter: Seneye
Test kits: Hanna Phosphate, KH, and copper. Salifert Nitrate, Calcium, Magnesium. API for the rest.
Powerheads: 2x Nero 5
Skimmer: RSK 300
Stocking-wise, I'm thinking about getting some more euphyllia, pocillopora, seriatopora, stylophora, montipora, and scolys for corals at the moment. A clam would also be super cool! On the fence about an anemone for my two clownfish, but going to wait to decide when the tank is wet and has had 6+ months to mature. For fish, I'm thinking of getting a baby blue tang, baby yellow tang, anthias, and wrasses for now. Fully understand the tangs will outgrow eventually and would definitely rehome when it happens.
Will follow up with some photos in the next post.
I plan to keep a mixed reef for this tank, with mostly LPS plus some easy SPS and softies. I've been told it's hard to keep everybody happy in a mixed reef, but hopefully I can dial it in to find the sweet spot for all the corals. Here are some initial system specs. Still working through the rest of the equipment I would want and how to organize the cabinet neatly (everyone makes it looks so clean in their builds!).
Equipment
Tank: Reefer 250 with V3 sump
Lighting: 2x ReefLED 90 with mounts
Return: Varios 2 DC pump
Heater: BRS 200W titanium heater with controller
ATO: 10G Trigger ATO with AutoAqua Smart ATO system
Salt: Reef crystals
Refractometer: Milwaukee digital
Par meter: Seneye
Test kits: Hanna Phosphate, KH, and copper. Salifert Nitrate, Calcium, Magnesium. API for the rest.
Powerheads: 2x Nero 5
Skimmer: RSK 300
Stocking-wise, I'm thinking about getting some more euphyllia, pocillopora, seriatopora, stylophora, montipora, and scolys for corals at the moment. A clam would also be super cool! On the fence about an anemone for my two clownfish, but going to wait to decide when the tank is wet and has had 6+ months to mature. For fish, I'm thinking of getting a baby blue tang, baby yellow tang, anthias, and wrasses for now. Fully understand the tangs will outgrow eventually and would definitely rehome when it happens.
Will follow up with some photos in the next post.
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