My new Red Sea Reefer build/mistake thread

[oldbenkenobi]

First off hello all. This is going to be my thread/mistake record for this build. This is what I have so far, for the record please chime in and give me feedback especially the bad. I bought a Red Sea Max 250 and bought the sump kit for it from my LFS. I had a tank 7 years ago, and I want to be totally honest with you - mistakes were made. It originally a 40 gal FW tank that i drained bought some rocks of Craigslist waited 4 weeks tested the water and dumped fish in. Now I know that sounds like a half cocked thing to do and you would be correct. I managed to keep fish in it for 18 months or so with just water changes. This was considered a miracle since i didn't test water parameters with frequency or ability. During this 18 months I grew to hate my LFS because all i did was go get water from them weekly, take that water home and add it to my tank. I never just shopped for fish and god forbid corals. There are some objectives for my new tank. 1. WATER QUALITY IS KEY 2. I am not super lazy, but life does happen - so automation where I can. The APEX controller will be a key component for my setup. 3. I want a quiet tank and all that that entails. I want to look at it, not hear it(for the most part). This is where I will solicit information please and thank you. 4. I want a mixed reef tank with LPS some SPS and reef friendly fish. In order to do this I intend to look at this tank from a water perspective at all times. Like most reefers money is always a concern, but I have no wife to stop me from doing stupid things - ever. Which sometimes is bad, but in this case great. I am going to go for now, I am going to figure out how to take pics and post them followed up by my equipment list. Thanks in advance for any help along the way. This seems like a great community.

 

[Ron Reefman]

It sounds like you learned a few valuable lessons from the first saltwater trial.

Now you need to really pick up your game if you are going to keep corals, especially any sps corals. Water quality AND water stability are extremely important if sps corals are to survive long term.

I would suggest you read as many stickies here as you can. Maybe even look over as many starter articles as you can. Here's one to start with:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/checklist-before-you-start-your-first-saltwater-aquarium.676/

You mentioned not being lazy but wanting Apex type automation. Keeping a mixed reef is a big time commitment and sooner or later you will have issues that will really require your time. And it can even be 'emergency' time time. Like when a primary return pump fails and you are getting ready to leave for work (or on vacation)! The other point I'll make here is that a full blown Apex system doesn't automate your system very much. Most new pumps, lights, skimmers, dosers and other hardware all come with computer/electronic controls that allow for running the system. The Apex is good for monitoring the system for failures. Like a heater that turns on and doesn't turn off. You would catch it when stuff started to die. The Apex will catch it far earlier, shut off the heater and send you a warning. It's great for monitoring, it really doesn't do much real automation.