Savo's Red Sea Reefer 250 Build

[Savo]

This will be my first saltwater aquarium. I have wanted to get into this hobby for well over a decade. I have been watching a ton of YouTube video's and been doing a lot of research on keeping a saltwater aquarium. I still feel like i have no idea what i am doing. Please feel free to give me constructive feedback.

Equipment:
Tank: Red Sea Reefer 250
Rock: 50 Pounds of BRS Reef Saver Live Dry Rock
Sand: 40 Pound of CaribSea Seaflor Aragonite Dry Sands Fiji Pink
RO/DI: 4 STAGE 75GPD VALUE RO/DI SYSTEM
Bulk Reef Supply Refractometer
Pump: Vectra M1 DC
Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 150SSS
Powerhead: 2 Vortech MP10WQD
Heater: Aqueon Pro 250
Controller: Apex Classic
Lights: 2 Radion XR15 Pro

Updated picture of the reef 7-21-18

Coral Update

Jason Fox Corals

• Captain Jerk Paly
• Cry Babies
• Fruity Pebbles Monti
• PPE Favia
• Rainbow Stylo
• Special Portes
• Fake O Lantern Leptoseris
• Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris
• WWC Sunkist Bounce Mushroom from JF
• Acan
• Homewrecker

WWC

• Purple Tip Hammer
• Maui Gold Cyphastrea
• Cotton Candy Chalice
• Honeycomb Leptastrea
• Kaleidoscopre Favites
• Mr Freeze Acropora
• Nuclear Grapes Acro
• Tricolor Favites
• Pink Passion
• Christmas Mirabilis

CherryCorals

• CC Purple Avenger
• Rasta Zoa's
• CC Raspberry Limes Zoa's
• Sweet Ricordea
• Red Robin Stag
• Twizzlers Zoa's
• JF Slow Burn Monti
• JF Starry Night Unknown Acro. JF doesn't have a Starry Night acro.
• CC Burnt Toast Favia
• Bioreef Acropora
• Utter Chaos
• OG Nirvana Paly
• CC Killer Flamingo Paly
• CC Chemical Romance
• CC Dragon Fur

Acanlord

• Gullwraith Acro x2
• ORA Yellow Fuzzy Acro
• Purple Stylo
• Montipora Setosa
• Red Scoly
• Lobo
• Lavender Blasto Welsoni
• Ghost Buster Favia

BoomCorals

• Miyagi Tort
• Boom's Tierra Del Fuego
• Boom's Blueberry Stag
• ORA Frogskin
• Cliff's Acro
• Boom's Yet to be named Millie
• Boom's Unicorn Snot Millie
• ORA Scripps Stag

Reefer Direct Coral

• Orange Oxides

Top Shelf Aquatics

• Everlasting Gobstopper Zoas
• Fruity Pebbles Acro
• PC Rainbow Acro
• Smurfettes Zoas
• Green Bay Packers Zoas

 

[AcanthurusRex]

A well-planned mixing station will be worth its weight in gold.

 

[Fudsey]

Following along

 

[Savo]

Do i need more rock?

 

[Fudsey]

Are you putting anything in your sump? Rock or Brightwell balls/blocks? Looks like enough to me. You got a decent sandbed so you should be good to go.

 

[Savo]

@Fudsey i was not planning to put anything in the sump besides the skimmer. Should i add brightwell balls/blocks? I also added another 7 pound rock to the aquarium.

 

[Fudsey]

I added 2 of the Brightwell plates to my sump just to add additional places for bacteria to grow. They will be transferred to my new build once I set that up as well. If you have enough rock, you don't really need them but I figured it couldn't really hurt. Except maybe leaching something. I have heard of the Marine Pure ones leaching aluminum into the tank, but it hasn't really been an issue for most from what I have read. I haven't heard anything about the Brightwell ones doing it though.

You could just add rock to the sump if you want as well.

 

[Fudsey]

This is not my pic but it is someone on R2R's I think. This is something I am going to do with my new setup. Minimalist. Less is more type of setup.

 

[Savo]

Do i need to buy another addon for my apex classic to connect and program my MP10WQD?

 

[Savo]

Is this enough bubbles for the skimmer?

 

[Fudsey]

I have mine a little higher same skimmer. Mine is set on ~3.25

 

[Savo]

Okay, thank you

I have mine a little higher same skimmer. Mine is set on ~3.25

 

[Savo]

Bought my last mp10wqd yesterday from reef2reef.

 

[Savo]

Updated picture of the tank

 

[Savo]

Little update.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 5.0 - I'm hoping this will hit 0 by Friday. It has shown a lot of improvements since yesterday. I was doing half r/o and saltwater and it was still off the charts. Today when i did that it was 1.0 ppm.

I ended up buying a Radion xr15 g4. I love the looks of them and from what i see they produce some amazing corals. I am still looking for one more then i will be selling the two a360we i bought.

 

[pelphrey]

Nice setup!! I’ve never seen radions in person but everyone speaks highly of them! Check out @tenurepro he is running 3 gen3 xr15’s and just did a video on par in his reefer 250!

 

[Savo]

Nice setup!! I’ve never seen radions in person but everyone speaks highly of them! Check out @tenurepro he is running 3 gen3 xr15’s and just did a video on par in his reefer 250!

That’s funny, because I just finished part 1 of his par video

 

[DarthSimon]

Good luck and enjoy your tank!

I have 3 Radion XR15's Gen4 on my Reefer 250 and get good par levels at 60% power for the SPS that are at high points of tank... I have more SPS at top of tank, and am experiences growth in the 220 to 260 range...

This is actually the sump for my Reefer 250. I have about 145-150 gallons of water running through my system. Only thing I have under my display is an EB8 and WXM Module for radion lights..... All other gear is in basement 6-8 feet below...



And here is tank today... Coming up on my 1 year anni of tank setup...

 

[tenurepro]

That’s funny, because I just finished part 1 of his par video

Hahaha nice build! Following Along. Is that s bubble king skimmer I see above ?

I really like seeing other people’s reefer 250s ; nice little tank and the possibilities are endless!

 

[siggy]

Nice use of space. I seen the build on your apex board/shelf and that's a very creative solution. Now I have to ask , What do the neighbors say when they see you crawling under the house