Reefer 250 Build

[jblasi]

I am a little late on posting this build my wife and I had started. We always wanted a 525XL but happened to just fall into a steal on a 250 that came with 2 XR15(G4) and 2 MP10’s plus Vertex Omega skimmer. We started it up back in October and it has just been cycling since. The first month I used the Red Sea Mature Reef pack which I have used to start my other tanks. It really works great.
In December we installed the Apex and added several crabs and snails. It has been a slow start since we already have to other full tanks and we are a really busy family.

Today I made some modifications to the cabinet and cleaned up some wiring.

 

[dbl]

Nicely done on the wire management clean up activities...that looks great. Congrats on the new/latest tank.

 

[jblasi]

Nicely done on the wire management clean up activities...that looks great. Congrats on the new/latest tank.

Thank you!

 

[powers2001]

I have a RSR 250 too!!

 

[jblasi]

As time has went on with the cycle of the 250, my APEX inventory has multiplied and I ran out of room. Adding a cabinet as well as relocating the tank to a bigger area to accommodate for the add. Here’s a few pictures of the addition with more to come as I progress with the build.

 

[Natedogg559]

Looking great!

 

[jblasi]

The build is almost completely finished. Just a little more hose and cable management and we are good to go!

 

[bcarl77]

Where did you find those cabinets from? Looks great!

 

[Kayzah]

Awesooooome. Great job.

Following

 

[najer]

Nice work.

 

[jblasi]

Where did you find those cabinets from? Looks great!

I ordered them off Walmart online. Pretty decent quality actually.

 

[powers2001]

Could you be specific on the cabinets you got from Walmart? There are 25 pages of cabinets on the website.

 

[Reefer Deez]

Looks awesome! You did an amazing job with those cabinets!

 

[jblasi]

Could you be specific on the cabinets you got from Walmart? There are 25 pages of cabinets on the website.

South shore Morgan 2 door cabinet. There are a few different ones depending on what you would like your dimensions to be.

 

[jblasi]

Been away on business for the last few months so I wasn’t able to totally complete the build. Getting ready to install the last few components today, calibrate and program the Two DOS pumps and finish up a little attention to detail cable management.

 

[jblasi]

Please excuse the mess. I haven’t been able to sit down and really organize and manage the cables and tubes yet. However, the COR and FS are installed and the Red Sea is hard plumbed. It was actually much easier then most people made it sound online!

The DOS’s are calibrated and working very well. Keeping the tank at 8 ALK and 430 CAL. Very impressed with with the accuracy of the pumps compared to the pumps on my other tank.

Finishing up the last cycle algae bloom then going to start transferring some of my higher end SPS over.

 

[powers2001]

Can we get a recent full tank shot?

 

[jblasi]

As requested, here is the most up to date shot of the build.

As you can see, almost completely finished with the clearing of the last algae bloom from cycling. Tank has been cycling for almost a year now with a few LPS and some Zoas. I added a couple SPS in about 6 months ago and everything has been happy.

Snapped a picture of my IM Lagoon 25 that pretty much turned into a grow out frag tank. Many pieces are about to make the journey across the room into their permanent locations.

 

[powers2001]

I see you have a lot of coral already. What fish do you have?

 

[jblasi]

I see you have a lot of coral already. What fish do you have?

Some of the coral in the smaller tank are over a year old. Right now there are only 2 clowns. I had a 6 line wrasse, leopard wrasse, 2 Red fire fish and a yellow tang.