Red Sea Reefer 250 Build

AV8R · Aug 25, 2019

Hey Guys!

This is my first post here on reef2reef. I’ve been in the hobby for about 10 years but have always been a member of a smaller local forum. I recently moved out of state so I wanted to find a larger forum to be a part of. Anyways since I moved, I’ve decided to start a new tank. I recently bought a Red Sea Reefer 250. I’m making this thread to keep track of my progress and hopefully get some advice from other reefers.

btmedic04 · Aug 25, 2019

Welcome! The reefer 250 is an awesome tank!

AV8R · Aug 29, 2019

Rock, water, and sand went in on 8/27/19. It’s slowly starting to clear up now. Apex probes were calibrated 8/28/19.

pelphrey · Aug 29, 2019

Welcome to R2R, awesome tank!!!!

Flameback Pair · Aug 30, 2019

@AV8R Welcome to R2R! You're off to a great start. Following. See my build thread link in my signature line.

AV8R · Sep 2, 2019

Cycling question. I started out with all dry rock and live sand. Should I add a bottle of Bio-Spira or Dr. Tim’s to help seed the rock? I thought I read somewhere that the bacteria will die if there’s not a fish in the tank.. Do I need to add a fish as well?

btmedic04 · Sep 2, 2019

AV8R said:
Cycling question. I started out with all dry rock and live sand. Should I add a bottle of Bio-Spira or Dr. Tim’s to help seed the rock? I thought I read somewhere that the bacteria will die if there’s not a fish in the tank.. Do I need to add a fish as well?

Ive added bio-spira and Dr Tims one and only in different tanks before. I then used Dr Tims ammonium chloride to provide an ammonia source for the bacteria to feed on and cycle the tank. You don't necessarily need to use that product as some people feed the tank or add a small table shrimp and take it out after a day or two. Just know that those two options aren't as clean as using Dr Tims ammonium chloride

AV8R · Sep 12, 2019

Got my lights up recently. 2 Kessil A360WE. Ordered from Premium Aquatics. Love those guys, they were shipped out super fast. Over all very impressed with the new lights. They are being controlled by the apex.

Flameback Pair · Sep 13, 2019

@AV8R do you have livestock or when will you add?

LVE · Sep 13, 2019

Looks really nice so far. What are your stocking plans?

AV8R · Sep 14, 2019

LVE said:
Looks really nice so far. What are your stocking plans?

Nothing is set in stone yet, but I’m wanting to do a mixed reef. Leaning more towards SPS. I’ve never had much luck with them but I’ll try again. As far as fish, I would like to have a yellow tang, 2 clowns, 3 blue chromis, 2 banggai cardinals, 1 hi-fin goby/pistol shrimp, 1 court jester goby, and a Firefish. I also really love Anthias. This may be too much but I’ll see as the tank progresses. Taking it very slow at the moment.

juanrmattos · Sep 14, 2019

Excellent!... This is the reef I wish to have soon!

Best of luck and thank you for the updates.

AV8R · Sep 14, 2019

powers2001 said:
@AV8R do you have livestock or when will you add?

I don't have anything in the tank yet. Im thinking I will start adding livestock after I get back from vacation in October.

Rjramos · Sep 14, 2019

Good idea on starting when you come back. I was thinking you could add 1 live rock, if available to what you have going. Very nice reef aquarium, following along.

Flameback Pair · Sep 14, 2019

@AV8R my mom had a cousin in Alexandria. I lived in Vienna for 5 years in the 70's and loved the mild weather. I'd love to go back there again and visit someday. There was a creek about 2 blocks from our house and I spent a lot of time there as a kid studying all kinds of aquatic life. I picked up on the FW aquarium hobby and had my first tank at 8 years old just before we left Virginia. Those were the days. ;-)

AV8R · Sep 15, 2019

Okay so I’m a little confused. It’s been ~20 days since I started cycling the tank and I still show 0 nitrites and nitrates. I introduced the ammonia to the tank by adding raw scallops to my filter socks. I’ve also added a bottle of bio-spira. I’m wondering if my API test kits are faulty?

Flameback Pair · Sep 15, 2019

@AV8R how much ammonia per gallon did you add?

AV8R · Sep 15, 2019

powers2001 said:
@AV8R how much ammonia per gallon did you add?

I only added a bit of frozen scallops. I didn’t add any liquid ammonia.

Butuz · Sep 15, 2019

Good luck! Fellow Reefer 250 here too. Build thread is below. Have fun!

GregDaKeg · Sep 15, 2019

AV8R said:
Hey Guys!

This is my first post here on reef2reef. I’ve been in the hobby for about 10 years but have always been a member of a smaller local forum. I recently moved out of state so I wanted to find a larger forum to be a part of. Anyways since I moved, I’ve decided to start a new tank. I recently bought a Red Sea Reefer 250. I’m making this thread to keep track of my progress and hopefully get some advice from other reefers.