BS463
New Member
Hello everyone,
I'm just starting my reef tank back up after taking a year off. I have a RedSea Max C 250 with Steve's LED light upgrade that I brought out of retirement. When I bought it new I did all the typical newbie stuff. Stocked it too fast, fed too much, didn't pay enough attention to parameters... I had all the typical problems too. I put a ton of money into fish and coral to watch it all die. It was pretty frustrating. I've been watching a ton of videos and reading articles and I'm trying not to make the same mistakes this time. I am still using the stock protein skimmer for this tank but changed pretty much everything else. I'm using Hydor Seltz DC 500gph pumps for circulation through the sump and filters. I have them set pretty low. About 30% each but i think that should give me enough turnover for the rear sump. I am running a reefwave 45 for four this time. First go around I had no power heads and tried depending on the circulating pumps for flow. I have about an inch of the special reef grade live sand on the bottom and about 40 pounds of rock in the tank. I have had water in the tank about two weeks now and just added two fancy clown fish tonight. Planning to keep my tank LEDs off until all my cycles are complete and the tank is stable. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any thoughts you might have on my setup or when to start adding more critters.
I'm just starting my reef tank back up after taking a year off. I have a RedSea Max C 250 with Steve's LED light upgrade that I brought out of retirement. When I bought it new I did all the typical newbie stuff. Stocked it too fast, fed too much, didn't pay enough attention to parameters... I had all the typical problems too. I put a ton of money into fish and coral to watch it all die. It was pretty frustrating. I've been watching a ton of videos and reading articles and I'm trying not to make the same mistakes this time. I am still using the stock protein skimmer for this tank but changed pretty much everything else. I'm using Hydor Seltz DC 500gph pumps for circulation through the sump and filters. I have them set pretty low. About 30% each but i think that should give me enough turnover for the rear sump. I am running a reefwave 45 for four this time. First go around I had no power heads and tried depending on the circulating pumps for flow. I have about an inch of the special reef grade live sand on the bottom and about 40 pounds of rock in the tank. I have had water in the tank about two weeks now and just added two fancy clown fish tonight. Planning to keep my tank LEDs off until all my cycles are complete and the tank is stable. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for any thoughts you might have on my setup or when to start adding more critters.
