MrJay’s Reefer 250 build

[MrJay]

Haven’t ever done a build thread. Figured I’d document the progression from day one and have a place to come back and see how everything goes.

Black Friday 2018

Red Sea Reefer 250
Eshopps x120 Axiom skimmer
Sicce silent 4.0
Ehiem Jager 150w heater
Screen top diy kit
Special grade reef floor sand
Somatic uf-1 media reactor

Downsizing home from 4 bedroom to 3 bedroom and aquarium from 150 gallon to reefer.

Planning on getting the new tank up and running at the new house before any furniture gets moved. Tank gets priority spot in the house.

Cherry pick live rock and coral from the 150 and move over to new tank when temperature and flow is stable. Use 2 existing kessil a360 w tuna blues. Clearwater 200 algae scrubber. Reef keeper aquarium controller. (Love it and can’t really justify jumping to Apex because this thing does everything I need it to). Jebao wavemaker. Don’t remember which model. Pp something. I’ll probably swap return pump for Current DC pump on 150 with the sicce I ordered unless I really like the sicce.

More than likely I’ll set up the 150 in the garage man cave. I’d like to do FOWLR with fish that I can’t keep in a reef.


Super excited to begin a new chapter in my life. New home, new tank!

Shipping notification was sent to me yesterday for the tank.

 

[SPR1968]

Well that all sounds like a great plan and thanks for sharing the pictures so far.

And welcome to R2R!

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Waiting to see the progress....Following>>>

 

[MrJay]

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[MrJay]

So the Reefer has been sitting at the shipping company since 12-6. Found out today that it is getting transferred to another freight company hopefully tomorrow morning for final delivery. I’m getting anxious here.

Here’s a few of the corals that I plan on keeping

 

[powers2001]

Nice to see another Reefer 250. I've got one too !!! B-)#

 

[MrJay]

Nice to see another Reefer 250. I've got one too !!! B-)#

I took about 3 months of putting different tanks, sizes, brands into online shopping carts before I finally made up my mind. I’m so excited to get this tank started!!

 

[MrJay]

Delivery scheduled for Friday morning!!!

Then I have to get it over to the new house and begin set up. I have movers coming Saturday so that day for set up is out. Maybe Sunday but that will probably be filled with house set up and unpacking. Shoot... I’ll probably go get a large coffee with a few espresso shots and work late into the night on Saturday. Seems the only viable option

 

[MrJay]

It’s here!!! It’s here!!!!

 

[MrJay]

Unboxing revealed an absolutely flawless tank! I’m so excited about getting this set up in my new home!

Just got back to the old place with a U-Haul truck. Movers coming tomorrow morning. My plans to get the tank up and running before the house move didn’t pan out. But it’s ok. I have 2 more weeks to set up and transfer tanks.... Oh wait. Isn’t there some kinda holiday thrown in the middle of this?

 

[MrJay]

Literally exhausted from this house move!

Got the Red Sea put together and placed the other day. Equipment in sump! Ready to get some water in it!

Current stock.
1 Cat fish

I still have the 150 running on auto pilot at the old house. Makes me nervous the ato might run dry. Filled it Sunday night and plan on shooting out there after work today and do a refill, quickie maintenance, feed and some more house cleaning.

Hopefully Red Sea will be online this coming week

 

[MrJay]

Coming from a Trigger Sapphire 34 with tons of room I wasn’t quite realize the limited amount of available sump space in the Reefer. I have a ton of marine pure spheres that I’m not quite sure where to place. Maybe in the drain pipe section of the sump.

But here’s the layout so far. I have a 10 gallon aquarium as a ATO Reservoir that will sit next to

 

[powers2001]

@MrJay what other equipment do you plan to get?

 

[MrJay]

@MrJay what other equipment do you plan to get?

I got the Clearwater scrubber online. It’s gigantic in the sump space so I built a small shelf to hold it. Planning on a small control panel under the scrubber on left and right section will hold a few dry goods I use regularly. I am moving the DJ control strip to be located in the rear of the cabinet. Switches will be accessible from the side of the stand

I think equipment wise I’m pretty much filled in unless I put some type of exterior cabinet.

I am definitely going to swap the sicce silent return pump for my current eflux DC pump. Sicce has the annoying wine to it that is driving me crazy. I have to build a manifold off of my secondary pump that currently only runs the scrubber to also run the reactor

 

[MrJay]

I need to get some of the filters you guys use to take pics.

 

[powers2001]

@MrJay how many GPH is that scrubber rated for?

 

[MrJay]

@MrJay how many GPH is that scrubber rated for?

Max flow 450 gph

Way overkill for this tank. I had it running my 150. I’ll probably have to cut back the light schedule to compensate for the aquarium size. But this way I won’t be so concerned with overstocking and over feeding

 

[powers2001]

Max flow 450 gph

Way overkill for this tank. I had it running my 150. I’ll probably have to cut back the light schedule to compensate for the aquarium size. But this way I won’t be so concerned with overstocking and over feeding

@MrJay what does this Clearwater have your nutrients (N&P) running at? Also what do you have for a wavemaker?

 

[MrJay]

@MrJay what does this Clearwater have your nutrients (N&P) running at? Also what do you have for a wavemaker?

I honestly haven’t checked my N & P levels for the last year. It’s always been near non detectable.

I did pull all my test kits out and realized everything was way out of date. Just received the Big 3 test kit. And I’m going to order the nutrient kit this week coming up just to have on hand. I’ll test and post results when everything is in.

Jabao wavemaker. Pp-8 I believe. Controller took a crap so I’m researching something to replace it. Probably going to go with the current wavemakers. Can’t justify the cost for ecotech

Added some fish this last week.

Current stock
1 small Blue tang (don’t kill me )
1 Solan Fairy Wrasse
1 Zebra dartfish (new)
1 Midas Blenny (new)
1 Ornate Leopard Wrasse (new)
2 mocha clownfish (new)

Stocking a few new frags also
Acan
Forest fire digi
Some random no name zoas

 

[powers2001]

@MrJay updates !!!