RSM 250. Replace bulbs or retrofit hood?

SamMule

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Bought a used Red Sea Max 250. Bulbs are starting to turn black. No idea when they were replaced last.
Thinking I will replace with ati bulbs.
2x actinic
2x blue plus
2x coral plus

Or... Remove the T5 setup and mod the hood with some LEDs.
Not spending $800 on steves, but the boss says hood must stay intact.
What are my options for say 300-400?
Was considering CurrentUSA IC pro dual, but not sure about performance.

Another 3rd option would be to accent T5 setup with actinic LED strips that ramp up/down.

Opinions?
 

reef lover

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I'd replace the t5s with new bulbs and add some leds.
 
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SamMule

SamMule

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I'd replace the t5s with new bulbs and add some leds.

After doing some more research, I think I like this idea best.
Just ordered some ATI bulbs.
2x true actinic
2x blue plus
2x purple plus
1x coral plus

Current setup has a couple 10k coralife bulbs that look ok if I decide I want to play around with a warmer color.

I will plug a stand-alone actinic LED strip into the heater switch of the control panel since I am using an external heater controller.
Will be nice to have an actinic-only light that is independent.

Any recommendations on a good quality actinic LED strip?
 

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Reef brite makes some good ones.
 

Sparent25

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After doing some more research, I think I like this idea best.
Just ordered some ATI bulbs.
2x true actinic
2x blue plus
2x purple plus
1x coral plus

Current setup has a couple 10k coralife bulbs that look ok if I decide I want to play around with a warmer color.

I will plug a stand-alone actinic LED strip into the heater switch of the control panel since I am using an external heater controller.
Will be nice to have an actinic-only light that is independent.

Any recommendations on a good quality actinic LED strip?
Hi. I just purchased an RSM 250 and pick up Saturday. Where and which lights Did you get? I’ll ha e to check out the led strip too
Did you
Consider taking the whole hood off at all?
 
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SamMule

SamMule

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I am leaving the hood on. Taking it off is not an option for me. I actually like the look of it anyway.
Right now I am running only 5 bulbs + LED strip.
The 36" Reefbrite actinic strip BARELY fits.
Took a slight hood modification to get it installed, but I was pulling it apart to replace the fans anyway.(which I highly recommend... My temp dropped 2 degrees after replacing worn hood fans)
Strip fits just in front of screws for bulb hatch.
1589896645290129772176.jpg

I angled it back slightly to get better coverage.
15898963436021347740777.jpg

When closed, rests just barely between hinges.
1589896454917100132274.jpg

The LED is plenty bright! This is with only the LED strip on.
15898965050491448671481.jpg

For bulbs, I have:
2 blue plus
2 actinic
1 coral plus
I tried putting a purple plus in there, but it looked too purple for me. Another coral plus is on the way. I will try that when it gets here.
 

Sparent25

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I am leaving the hood on. Taking it off is not an option for me. I actually like the look of it anyway.
Right now I am running only 5 bulbs + LED strip.
The 36" Reefbrite actinic strip BARELY fits.
Took a slight hood modification to get it installed, but I was pulling it apart to replace the fans anyway.(which I highly recommend... My temp dropped 2 degrees after replacing worn hood fans)
Strip fits just in front of screws for bulb hatch.
1589896645290129772176.jpg

I angled it back slightly to get better coverage.
15898963436021347740777.jpg

When closed, rests just barely between hinges.
1589896454917100132274.jpg

The LED is plenty bright! This is with only the LED strip on.
15898965050491448671481.jpg

For bulbs, I have:
2 blue plus
2 actinic
1 coral plus
I tried putting a purple plus in there, but it looked too purple for me. Another coral plus is on the way. I will try that when it gets here.
Wow this looks great. I’ll research the reef brite!
For fans you make a great point, my RSM is coming with non working dual fan (looks from pic it is 1 unit with 2 fans). This fan from my searching is out of stock everywhere so that’s an issue I need to figure out and I will replace the other two Red Sea #1781s which look like I can get online for $10-15 each. This was really my question about the hood and heating if you took it off vs replace fans. Where do you get your parts and or media stuff? Any other things you recommend I swap out before I fill it with water and get it going? Thanks so much!!
 
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SamMule

SamMule

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There are 4 hood fans and 2 water cooling fans. The hood fans are 60x20mm and still available from several vendors. I could not find the water cooling fans anywhere. They are 60x15mm fans soldered into a little holder. So, I tried some cheap Amazon ones.
20200422_150538.jpg

That was a bad idea. Sounded like a jet engine trying to take off in my living room! They had poor flow and were super noisy. What I ended up doing, was ordering a set of cooling fans for the next generation of the RSM 250 with hopes that I can swap them into the old module. Should be here this week.
In the meantime, I took the 2 best old hood fans and set them in the holes in the back of the tank and wired them to the power plug. Its not pretty, but will get me by until the new ones show up.
1589901560074271285330.jpg

InTank was great to deal with. I ordered several parts from them as well as their media basket. Last I checked, they had hood fans in stock.
Also, I removed all of the black foam from the back of the tank, except for the large piece that goes into pump #1 chamber.
Without it, I couldn't get the microbubbles to go away when running the skimmer.
It is after the filtration, so detritus collection has not been an issue. Yet...
I did use new foam. The old stuff was nasty!
Oh yeah, before you put it together, take apart all 3 pumps and clean/inspect. I had 2 bad impellers and a dead skimmer pump when I got it. You will want the sicce skimmer pump if you don't have it.
Good luck! I will keep you posted on my project. I should probably do a restoration build thread haha. Should 've taken more pics!

It has been quite the project, but I have learned a lot!
 
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SamMule

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That's the idea behind ordering the water cooling fans from the next generation RSM250. According to my research, the fans in it are the same size. The hood fans are 5mm too wide to fit into the water cooling fan "module".
 

Sparent25

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There are 4 hood fans and 2 water cooling fans. The hood fans are 60x20mm and still available from several vendors. I could not find the water cooling fans anywhere. They are 60x15mm fans soldered into a little holder. So, I tried some cheap Amazon ones.
20200422_150538.jpg

That was a bad idea. Sounded like a jet engine trying to take off in my living room! They had poor flow and were super noisy. What I ended up doing, was ordering a set of cooling fans for the next generation of the RSM 250 with hopes that I can swap them into the old module. Should be here this week.
In the meantime, I took the 2 best old hood fans and set them in the holes in the back of the tank and wired them to the power plug. Its not pretty, but will get me by until the new ones show up.
1589901560074271285330.jpg

InTank was great to deal with. I ordered several parts from them as well as their media basket. Last I checked, they had hood fans in stock.
Also, I removed all of the black foam from the back of the tank, except for the large piece that goes into pump #1 chamber.
Without it, I couldn't get the microbubbles to go away when running the skimmer.
It is after the filtration, so detritus collection has not been an issue. Yet...
I did use new foam. The old stuff was nasty!
Oh yeah, before you put it together, take apart all 3 pumps and clean/inspect. I had 2 bad impellers and a dead skimmer pump when I got it. You will want the sicce skimmer pump if you don't have it.
Good luck! I will keep you posted on my project. I should probably do a restoration build thread haha. Should 've taken more pics!

It has been quite the project, but I have learned a lot!
Great great info!! Really appreciate you sharing - thank you! I’m getting my mind wrapped around this prior to RSM 250 pick up day this weekend!
 

Sparent25

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I’d just desolder that water cooling fan connection and resolder new fans into it. Soldering is really easy.
Which fans did you use for the water cooling part, did you retro for the larger fans into that section or purchase alternative smaller fans that fit the space?
 
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SamMule

SamMule

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Ok. I got the fan assembly for the RSM 250 C. It is a different housing than the original RSM 250, but the fans are the same. Swapped them over to the old housing and working fine so far.

I should note, the 60x15mm water cooling fans are slightly louder than the 60x20mm hood fans I had wired in there temporarily.
Not much though.
 

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May I ask what did you guys pay for your Max250? Someone is offering one to me, and I would like a reference of how much I should pay. Thanks!
 
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SamMule

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I paid $600, but with the work it needed, in hindsight, I feel that I paid a little too much. Mine is the original model though, with the rounded corners.
 

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