Kavo11's Red Sea Reefer 250 - My FIRST tank ever!

[Kavo11]

Welcome all! I've decided to jump into the fish world head first and go straight to SW. Yes, this is my first time ever keeping a tank with the exception of maybe a goldfish years ago? Anyways, My parents were kind enough to buy me a white RSR250 as a Christmas gift which I should hopefully be picking up tonight. I was hoping to pick it up last night, but the shop we bought it from didn't have the pallet unloaded yet.

Goals for this build: My dad and I are treating this build as a joint project and we plan to do it right. That means no trying to cut corners in the hopes to get the tank "fully" running ASAP. We've read enough by now to understand that patience goes a long way in this hobby. With that being said though, we're of course anxious to get it set up in a timely manner, so this will not be a super drawn out process. We'll go as quick as we can while still taking our time in proper decision making if that makes sense.

Shout out to Ryan and the rest of the BRS team! We've found their YouTube videos to be highly informative and we plan to continue building our knowledge arsenal by tapping into the R2R community.

So far, here is our tentative list of equipment with many more decisions to come of course:

Tank: white RSR 250
Sand: 40LB Caribsea Special Grade Arag-Alive! Live Reef Sand
Dry Live Rock: 55LB Walt Smith Project Reef Rock 2.1 Dry Rock
Return Pump: 1x Sicce Synchra Silent 4.0 (951GPH)
Lighting: 1x Kessil AP700
Heater: 2x Eheim Jager 150W

As stated, this is a tentative list (aside from the tank as its already been purchased), but were fairly set on the above choices so far. Please chime in with opinions on the tentative equipment list! We would also love to hear some recommendations for equipment not yet listed (i.e Protein Skimmer, etc, etc). Money is of course an object, but we also realize the value in doing things right the first time as cutting corners to save a buck or two tends to result in more money/issues down the road.

Pics of the tank to come as soon as we bring it home! (hopefully tonight)

 

[shred5]

Good luck.. The reefer 250 is a great place to start. I have one and the skimmer I recommend is the
Ultra Reef Akula 160 Protein skimmer. It fits sump perfectly and is super easy to use and very high quality.

 

[Kavo11]

@shred5 I appreciate the tip! I'm looking into them now.

 

[shred5]

There are two other skimmers people use on this tank and one is Deltec skimmer SCA 1351. The problem with this skimmer is they just yanked the line from Battle corals and gave the line to Marine Depot. Last time they did this Marine Depot dropped the line after a bit and parts were hard to get. I do not understand why they went back to Marine Depot.

The other skimmer is Nyos 120 and it seems to perform pretty well on this tank, a few people have reported issues with the skimmer pump but over all not a bad skimmer.

 

[Kavo11]

Ahhh so that explains why I couldn't find the Deltec on Battlecorals last night! I was reading a ton about it and it seemed very promising. Knowing this now, I think I'll steer clear. Definitely don't want issues getting parts down the road which I'm sure is inevitable with any skimmer. I've read good things about the Nyos 120 as well. I'm having trouble finding retailers for the Ultra Reef Akula 160, can you point me in a good direction @shred5?

 

[shred5]

Ahhh so that explains why I couldn't find the Deltec on Battlecorals last night! I was reading a ton about it and it seemed very promising. Knowing this now, I think I'll steer clear. Definitely don't want issues getting parts down the road which I'm sure is inevitable with any skimmer. I've read good things about the Nyos 120 as well. I'm having trouble finding retailers for the Ultra Reef Akula 160, can you point me in a good direction @shred5?

https://uniquecorals.com/products/ultra-reef-akula-160-protein-skimmer-110v?variant=53015900307

They are the only one selling them right now. It is a Italian skimmer.

It uses Sicce pump so super reliable.

 

[Kavo11]

Do you have any concerns with their parts being hard to come by in the future with only one retailer selling them @shred5?

 

[WWIII]

Welcome @Kavo11 to R2R! Awesome tank and equipment list so far!


Battlecorals sells equipment?

 

[shred5]

Do you have any concerns with their parts being hard to come by in the future with only one retailer selling them @shred5?

It is possible with any overseas equipment. I think they have a standard Sicce pump so pump parts should be easy to get for the actual pump. Sicce has been sold along time.
It does not matter how many places really sell it, it has more to do with who is importing the product.
Deltec has had interruptions, ATB has had interruptions, GHL has had interruptions, etc. That is a problem with most stuff coming from overseas but that is where most of the good products come from.
With most companiest parts still can be had from the manufacturers directly too...
With skimmers pumps are what normally goes. Buying a skimmer with a Sicce pump which allot of skimmers use should be relatively safe.

All 3 skimmers I listed are from overseas. EcoTech brings in the Nyos skimmer.

 

[Kavo11]

Thanks for the knowledge drop @shred5!

 

[Kavo11]

Update: I picked the tank up last night and got the stand built and popped the tank on it! It’s nice to begin to visualize what the setup will look like. Not sure if I’ll keep the tank in the pictured position or turn it to where it’s flush against the wall. Thoughts?

 

[Kavo11]

As far as tank positioning goes: The benefit to keeping it in current position is that it allows the best viewing area due to foot traffic in our kitchen/living room. It also allows full easy access to the back of the tank. Downside: It takes up more space, there was a big cat scratching stand there before so its not like we aren't used to it.

Benefit of sliding it up against the wall is of course space savings. Downsides: No easy access to back of tank anymore. Also puts the left side of the tank up closer to the door we take the dogs outside through. Thus exposing the tank to more cold/hot air depending on the season.

My gut is telling me to keep it as currently positioned, but if anyone has some other thoughts or insight then please chime in!

*Note* Tank in the background is not mine, its one of my brother's FW tanks. I have no experience with fishkeeping and he has little to no SW experience, so this is truly going to be a new experience for me! My dad kept SW fish back in the 80s for a brief stint without great success. So basically what I'm getting at is this is a build through the eyes of someone brand new to the hobby. Ultimate goal is to minimize as many mistakes as possible for a noob.

 

[Kavo11]

Also curious, how do you guys/gals treat a tank if necessary when first setting up a new tank? Vacuum loose bits of packing materials out carefully I'm sure so as not to scratch the glass? Do you wipe it out with anything special? Just RODI? All help and insight is greatly appreciated.

 

[jp_75]

did you order online or lfs? good start!

 

[Kavo11]

did you order online or lfs? good start!

@jp_75 Thanks! I got it through a lfs. Paid $1219.99 plus 6% sales tax. Seemed to be a solid deal given they MSRP for $1399.99 for the white 250. Super quick turnaround time as well, ordered it this Tuesday, it came in Wednesday evening and I picked it up last night. They have a preferred shopper program too so I already accrued $40 bucks from this purchase.

 

[jp_75]

woow that’s fast! have you redone some plumbing? also, how do you like their ato?

 

[Reefer_Rob]

Following. Ill probably go a similar route.

 

[Kavo11]

woow that’s fast! have you redone some plumbing? also, how do you like their ato?

@jp_75 I was blown away at how fast I arrived. We just happened to order It the day my lfs places their orders. I literally just set this up last night and didn’t finish til after midnight. No plumbing has been run yet. As of now, I’m thinking I’ll stick fully stock as far as plumbing and sump go. I know lots of people tend to upgrade these and I may down the road, but I figure it can’t be too bad to get me up and running, right?

What are your thoughts as far as upgrading prior to starting the tank VS. waiting maybe a year or so?

 

[Clarke]

I noticed that you have the stand & tank next to a heater/AC vent may cause a problem, over heating or over cooling. May want to reconsider location.

 

[Xandernfs]

I’ll throw another option for a skimmer. I have the Reef Octopus 150sss and it works great. It’s a ‘little’ on the noisy side, but I am running a DC pump so there isn’t any noise other than the skimmer.