MJSzos Red Sea Reefer 250 Build

[mjszos]

I have a build thread. Least I’m pretty sure I do.
ya there Orange storm cloud bulletholes. Storm clowns basically then have little dots (bullet holes) girlfriend picked them.
Corals I love hammers and torches lol. Only have 1 hammer so far. Plans is simple LPS/softie tank with monti caps

plan to have
Clown pair
Melenaris wrasse
Watchman goby
Hawk fish

after that I haven’t decided.
better pic of clowns

Ah I see. You don't have the badge so I assumed you didn't have it!


Another note; just ordered a single Radion XR15 G6 Pro - figure I'd start with the 1 and see how things look. Then if I need another I will pull the trigger in the future!

 

[mjszos]

Well today is a good day, and the last few days have been even better!

Was worried about my ammonia levels, so I did a pretty substantial water change (roughly 75%). Ammonia was at 1.0PPM 12 hours later. The following morning it was reading 0, with healthy Nitrite and Nitrate levels. Dosed 1PPM of ammonia which roughly 24 hours to clear out (putting us at Sunday night). Dosed another 1PPM of Ammonia on Sunday night, last night it was gone. I did another 10% water change today, and plan on doing another 10% daily this week to get my Nitrates down to ~10PPM. At this point I'm pretty confident the tank is cycled, and I no longer believe in stalled cycles. I did take the nuclear approach to this though; started with Dr Tims, added MB7, then when I was seeing ammonia organically clearing out 1PPM i also dropped in a 1/4 dose of Fritz 900. I plan on dosing the rest of the Fritz over the next 3 weeks in 1/4 doses.

The good news! My Radion XR15 G6 Pro arrived today. I am going to hold off on hanging it for now, what happens with it is determined by 2 factors:

1. I will go to my LFS on Friday to check out their Black Friday deals and pick up a pair of clowns. I may also end up buying corals, if I do.. Light is getting hung.
2. If #1 does not happen and I remain calm and only buy some fish, I will probably hold off on hanging the lights for a few more weeks, at which point I'll probably convince myself to buy another XR15.
2a. My issue at the moment is I want to hang them from the ceiling, if I hang 1 right now I'll end up having to make more holes in my ceiling that will need to be patched when I more than likely buy a second one. (or more likely remain unpatched for an undetermined amount of time, until the lady gets sick of it). I'm kicking myself for buying the hanging kit right off the bat instead of the arm then upgrading to the hanging when I'm ready to mount both...

More to come, thanks for popping by!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Hang em now. A 3/8" hole for an eye bolt fills and paints over easily.

What type of coral are you looking for? What's your vision for the tank?

 

[mjszos]

Hang em now. A 3/8" hole for an eye bolt fills and paints over easily.

What type of coral are you looking for? What's your vision for the tank?

Haha, yeah I'm really not too worried about it. I will likely hang them up tomorrow! The added benefit of not hanging them though is that I won't be tempted to turn them on and minimize some of the uglies ;)

Coral stocking will almost certainly be a euphyllia dominant tank with a couple mushroom gardens. As time goes on I'd like to get into Gonis, then probably around the 1-year mark check out some Acros :)

 

[mjszos]

Well, I went a bit overboard on Black Friday shopping for the new tank, will be keeping a close eye on my parameters and may move things around to other tanks if I see any spikes. I’ve also turned on the XR15 on the AB+ with a 30 day acclimation, it’s about 9” off the surface of the water. I’ve also decided I’m going to get a second XR15 - even if I get enough light penetration for aesthetic purposes I simply don’t like the look of the single fixture. On the fence with the RMS mount for two, I’m very disappointed with the sag from the power cable running the single on a ceiling mount…

2x Black Ice Clowns
1x Red Firefish (my lady wouldn’t let me leave without it!)
1x Cleaner Shrimp
1x Emerald Crab
A handful of Blue Leg Hermits
A handful of Nassarius Snails

Frags:

Mushrooms, Duncan’s, and Zoas.. I also got what I believed was a Clove Polyp of sorts, but now that it’s opened up fully it may be a goni?

Enjoy! Waiting on an orange filter and magnifier to get some better photos in the future, but it feels great seeing life in the tank.

 

[Gadbery]

Well, I went a bit overboard on Black Friday shopping for the new tank, will be keeping a close eye on my parameters and may move things around to other tanks if I see any spikes. I’ve also turned on the XR15 on the AB+ with a 30 day acclimation, it’s about 9” off the surface of the water. I’ve also decided I’m going to get a second XR15 - even if I get enough light penetration for aesthetic purposes I simply don’t like the look of the single fixture. On the fence with the RMS mount for two, I’m very disappointed with the sag from the power cable running the single on a ceiling mount…

2x Black Ice Clowns
1x Red Firefish (my lady wouldn’t let me leave without it!)
1x Cleaner Shrimp
1x Emerald Crab
A handful of Blue Leg Hermits
A handful of Nassarius Snails

Frags:

Mushrooms, Duncan’s, and Zoas.. I also got what I believed was a Clove Polyp of sorts, but now that it’s opened up fully it may be a goni?

Enjoy! Waiting on an orange filter and magnifier to get some better photos in the future, but it feels great seeing life in the tank.

nice if your talking about the green polyps then that is GSP (green star polyps. careful what you do with it it can grow like a weed. I separate it on its own island.

 

[mjszos]

nice if your talking about the green polyps then that is GSP (green star polyps. careful what you do with it it can grow like a weed. I separate it on its own island.

I actually plan on letting it grow out on a plate then putting it on the back wall of the tank. I'm all too familiar with it growing like a weed and taking over a whole rock haha.

 

[Gadbery]

I actually plan on letting it grow out on a plate then putting it on the back wall of the tank. I'm all too familiar with it growing like a weed and taking over a whole rock haha.

ahhh i thought you were thinking they were a goni maybe i missed the pick of that coral lol.
But the green back drop wall will be cool for sure

 

[mjszos]

It's been a little while, I figured I would post an update to the tanks status... Everything is happy and healthy, I've been slowly adding more frags and have added a few fish in as well;

1x Swissguard Basslet
1x Biota Yellow Tang (this will be rehomed once it outgrows the tank)

Here is a quick look at the tank in a video on YouTube. Some grumpy corals as I had just glued things down an hor prior to shooting it.

The tang is an absolute gem in the tank and gets along with everyone. Prior to adding the Swissguard s/he would always hang out with the clowns, now they swim around with everyone. Absolutely 0 aggression from anyone has been seen. Everyone just wants to party together :)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bmGBylgwAJE?feature=share

 

[Gumbies R Us]

It's been a little while, I figured I would post an update to the tanks status... Everything is happy and healthy, I've been slowly adding more frags and have added a few fish in as well;

1x Swissguard Basslet
1x Biota Yellow Tang (this will be rehomed once it outgrows the tank)

Here is a quick look at the tank in a video on YouTube. Some grumpy corals as I had just glued things down an hor prior to shooting it.

The tang is an absolute gem in the tank and gets along with everyone. Prior to adding the Swissguard s/he would always hang out with the clowns, now they swim around with everyone. Absolutely 0 aggression from anyone has been seen. Everyone just wants to party together :)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bmGBylgwAJE?feature=share

Tank looks great!!!

 

[mjszos]

Tank looks great!!!

Thank you!

Still on the agenda for the tank:

1. Rent a PAR meter to determine if I will need a 2nd XR15 Pro
1a. This is TBD. Apparently the XR15 Pro has a 30"x30" spread which in theory should be fine for the foreseeable future. I can revisit this around the 1-year anniversary should I choose to get into SPS.
2. Continue with weekly water changes.
3. Test consumption for a week to see if any additional dosing will be necessary.
4. Work on a copepod/phyto culturing setup. I would like to get a mandarin at some point, raising my own pods seems like a necessity at this point as I didn't seed the tank and allow them to reproduce.

And most importantly...

5. Continue having my morning coffee in front of the tank, watching the lights come on and going through emails.

Cheers to all, and a very late happy new year :)

 

[Brian Berry]

Cheers! How has your 250 been treating you? Your build thread gave me a lot of inspiration as I've been planning this out - great job :)

The same, planning on Ref Sea 250. Currently I have a Red Sea Max Peninsula. Happy for you !!!

 

[Brian Berry]

I have a build thread. Least I’m pretty sure I do.
ya there Orange storm cloud bulletholes. Storm clowns basically then have little dots (bullet holes) girlfriend picked them.
Corals I love hammers and torches lol. Only have 1 hammer so far. Plans is simple LPS/softie tank with monti caps

plan to have
Clown pair
Melenaris wrasse
Watchman goby
Hawk fish

after that I haven’t decided.
better pic of clowns

Clowns I have a pair of semi naked. I like them a lot because of the front facial striping only.

 

[mjszos]

The same, planning on Ref Sea 250. Currently I have a Red Sea Max Peninsula. Happy for you !!!

Clowns I have a pair of semi naked. I like them a lot because of the front facial striping only.

Very nice! I would love to build a peninsula tank one day!

 

[mjszos]

Took my first crack at some reef photography after picking up some clip on lenses for my phone.

Shot on an iPhone 14 Pro Max. 0 editing done.

Would love some tips and tricks from others using their phones for photography, and some feedback on improving.

Cheers!

 

[Brian Berry]

Took my first crack at some reef photography after picking up some clip on lenses for my phone.

Shot on an iPhone 14 Pro Max. 0 editing done.

Would love some tips and tricks from others using their phones for photography, and some feedback on improving.

Cheers!

I can’t give any advice because I do not have any experience with that but your pics are excellent I think.

 

[mjszos]

I can’t give any advice because I do not have any experience with that but your pics are excellent I think.

Thank you! There’s certainly room to improve but I think for a first crack they came out pretty neat!

 

[mjszos]

Some more pics from today.

2 bonuses… a Duncan pooping and a snail needing a haircut!!

 

[mjszos]

Well, it has been quite some time since I've posted here but the tank is overall in pretty great shape. There haven't been too many additions, I'll likely be adding a sand sifting goby sometime this winter but otherwise I'm pretty happy with the stocking of the tank.

Corals have been growing out, though I've been dealing with alkalinity fluctuations that I've only just been diligent enough to deal with and stabilize. Hoping to pick up a dosing pump in the next few weeks and auto dose All For Reef.

The Tang is still growing, and likely will need to be rehomed sometime in the next year but I'm not quite ready for that - everything gets along great, absolutely 0 fighting and 0 concerns about space. Active little community and they're a blast to watch.

Like many others, now that we're shifting into the cooler months the tank budget is back and I'm looking forward to it! Additionally, I tore down the nano tank in my office a few months ago and that one is going to be getting setup before the end of the year as well. I learned a lot from my previous experience and I hope to do it much better.

Edit: I should add the equipment I'm hoping to pick up over the course of this winter:

1. New Skimmer (Probably the Red Sea 300 DC skimmer)
2. Another Radion Light + Mount
3. Dosing Pump (Not sure on which one.. Might go Red Sea for the integration, might go cheap and pick up a Jebao or something)
4. Potentially an Apex EL + Trident... I'd love to automate the testing, that's the biggest hurdle for me - I hate doing it, which means I do it less than I should.

Cheers to all! :)

 

[mjszos]

Well it's been over a year since my last update, but as I've been dealing with some minor crisis I figure now is the best time to update the build log... Now some story time;

From October 2023 through early August 2024 the tank was doing great - I added some of my favorite corals; lots of euphylia, some torches, an RBTA, more mushrooms, etc. These frags grew out beautifully. The livestock has remained the same, and I don't foresee any changes. to that.

Now comes the reckoning; in mid August I started seeing some die off... I couldn't pinpoint it to anything as parameters were doing great... Then I saw my emerald crab going after a hammer colony. I moved it back into the sump and thought everything was great. Well, travel for work really took off and the tank was pretty heavily neglected from August through early October; I would do water changes when I was able to, but I was seeing pretty heavy alk swings. Nothing that couldn't have been recovered from, but I lost a few of the hammers, my entire duncan (15+ heads), and 2 of my torches.

Then October rolled around... I got married and went on my honeymoon. Which was amazing, I'll drop some pics when I'm able to. We got married in northern Italy in the Dolomites at Lago di Braies. Beautiful place, highly recommend it. Followed by a honeymoon through Modena, Florence, and Rome. Amazing trip and I'd be happy to share some pics if there's any interest.

Now that brings us to the return home.. In my absence I had someone house sitting for which I am very grateful, but they broke basically all of the rules of the tank I discussed them. They overfed pellets (I mean nearly an entire container of NLS pellets and 2 full packages of frozen mysis... I was gone 2.5 weeks, and there's only 5 fish in the tank (2 clowns, a yellow tang, a swissguard, and a goby). They also admitted to putting their hands into the tank with scented lotion hands. The skimmer overflowed and was draining into the tank for an unknown period of time. Just a whole combination of things... I lost most of the corals, all that is remaining is 3 or 4 of a heads of an 8 head hammer colony, a branching GSP that is (hopefully) going to pull through, a couple of mushrooms, some of the zoas, and a coral that looks like asparagus but I can't recall the name. All of the fish survived, but I did lose my cleaner shrimp.

Alkalinity plummeted to the floor, nitrates were through the roof, etc. The silver lining is that it solved my Xenia problem.

Now comes time for the rebuild. I am working on getting parameters back to stable and don't intend on adding anything new to the tank for the foreseeable future. I'd like to see everything get back to health, grow out a bit again, then revisit the tank goals.

Nothing but a set back, while I'm sad by the corals the fish are the ones that really mean the world to me. Knowing that they're healthy (and seem VERY happy) is what makes me happy. The coral can be replaced, but their personalities are what make this whole investment worth it.

If you made it this far, stay tuned. I'll be using this as my journal for the next few months as things get back to a better place. Cheers to all!