Westside Guy's Reefer 250

Westside Guy

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This is my first venture with a saltwater tank and after many months of lobbying my wife she finally gave me the green light.

After visiting a number of the LFS in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area I decided that I really liked dealing with the staff at Aquatic Jewels on Stirling Road in Ft. Lauderdale. One of my neighbors has her tank serviced there and gave them high marks in every department and based on her recommendation I went over there to discuss my needs. Their entire staff were wonderful and after several visits to their store and after doing some extensive reading on R2R I selected the Red Sea Reefer 250 Deluxe with the white cabinet.

Yesterday I had the tank delivered and I have the following either installed or on order.
Vectra S1 pump along with the Ecotech battery backup + their battery backup booster cable
Nero 5 pump
Red Sea RSK-300 skimmer (installed on 4/5/19)
50 pounds of Marco rock
40 pounds of CaribSea Arag-Alive sand
2 Ai Hydra 26 HD Led lights (part of the RS deluxe system)
 
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Westside Guy

Westside Guy

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Westside Guy

Westside Guy

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By the way, using the Vectra S1 pump what power level do most people recommend when first setting up a tank like the Reefer 250? Right now I have it on "constant speed mode" with 4-5 circles lit up. When i have it at 4 circles the tank is quiet as can be and the water is pretty calm. When I raise it to 5 circles on the controller there is a huge constant flow of bubbles like in the pictures below and fairly noisy. Either way the water in overflow is level with the drain tube after a slight adjustment to the valve.

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Looks like a great start, following along.

The return pump should not be spitting out bubbles, perhaps its sucking in air when turned up too high. I don't have a DC return, but most people look for 3x - 10x tank turnover so 50% would probably be a good start.
 
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Westside Guy

Westside Guy

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Looks like a great start, following along.

The return pump should not be spitting out bubbles, perhaps its sucking in air when turned up too high. I don't have a DC return, but most people look for 3x - 10x tank turnover so 50% would probably be a good start.

I discovered that the water level in the pump section of the sump was too low and was sucking in air causing the bubbles. Apparently the water flow from the ATO was way too slow. I opened up the valve to a much stronger flow and that issue was resolved.

I spoke to Red Sea and they recommended that I set the S1 pump which has a maximum flow of 1400 gph to about 45% which is approximately 5 lights on the controller.
 
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Westside Guy

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So yesterday I took some water over to my LFS for my second water test and I was told that all of the numbers were great and I could start to add fish, snails and to try one softie. I was shocked that they would tell me to proceed after only 2 weeks but they suggested a blue-green chromis, a Kupang damsel, a zoa frag and a few snails. I was concerned about the damsel as I have read that they can become really aggressive later on and be a real issue but was told that the Kupang damsel wouldn't be a problem.

The chromis and the damsel are inseparable and the chromis follows the damsel everywhere it goes. :)
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