Red Sea Reefer 250 Tank Build

Sage Robinson · Oct 15, 2016

Hi thought i'd set up this build thread so I can document me foray into saltwater. I've keep fresh water for many years and have always loved the idea of having my own personal reef. So for my first marine aquarium went with the beautiful red sea reefer 250, it arrives in a few weeks, so excited. It's a bit difficult to get some things down in New Zealand but the internet is a wonderful place and I'll DIY a few components. Looking for some advice and opinions on setup etc and just discussions with the wider community. Aiming to take it slow and have been doing lots of research but bellow is a list of planned components as it stands at this stage, let me know what you think. I'll post some of the rattail behind those decisions soon along with some photos of some prep work I've been doing.

Tank: Red sea reefer 250 (54 gallons) -Arrives in 4 weeks or so
Sump: Reefer sump (11 gallons)
Tank Cover: DIY Tank cover homemade
Return pump: Ecotech Vortech M1
Refugium: Not currently planned
Flow: Possibly Gyre 130 thoughts???
Temp controller: ITC-308S Temperature Controller
Full Controller: Not yet probably apex at some point
Heater(s): Jager Heater 200 Watt
Skimmer: Skimz Monzter SM201 Internal Protein Skimmer –Overkill I know but the deal was too good to pass up, do you think it’ll be a problem???
Lights: 2x Kessil A360we and spectral controller
Reactor: 10“ Filter housing for Carbon and GFO
Dosing: Not sure yet
Uv system: Eheim 350UV –Already have one from previous Discus tank
Uv pump: plumbed off return
Auto TopUp: Red sea reefer to start with then TUNZE Osmolator / Top Up Unit
Salt: Dupla Martin premium reef salt 25 kg - $199
Refractometer: Red sea refractometer

Sage Robinson · Oct 15, 2016

Spent the night making a DIY tank cover.

Chrisfish · Oct 15, 2016

Welcome to R2R! You've come to a great place with a lot of people that are very knowledgeable and helpful. Congratulations on "your "plunge" into SW. Looking forward to following your thread.

helen ann · Oct 15, 2016

Hello! Following along ...

Scurvy · Oct 15, 2016

I too have the 250. A couple things to note. I went large on my skimmer too and am thinking of downsizing. Space in the 11g sump is tight. If you haven't already check out recommended h2o height for that skimmer. You have 8" in the skimmer compartment.

I started with a Gyre 130. It'll give you enough flow depending on how much rock you use. I have quite a bit of rock and wound up adding an MP10 to the opposite side.

Good call on the 360's for lighting. I went with the 160's out of the gate and wound up upgrading after a few months.

Red Sea makes a really nice tank. I'm very happy with mine as is the real decision maker in the house (wife).

Most importantly, this is a hobby... Have fun and keep on reading!

Sage Robinson · Oct 15, 2016

Had 30 kg of pukani dry rock arrive the other day. Decided to go dry as I want to avoid the pests as much as possible and was thinking of probably using some live sand or a bacterial additive to kick start the cycle when I get the tank up. Had a play around with some structures and came up with a couple I really like. Thinking of a two island scape with a taller major island and a smaller shorter one with some arches/caves/overhang.

The larger one with a central cave, not the best angle soz.

Again not the best angle, but its two major arches with an overhang on the front left.
For now tho I've set the rock to curing for a couple weeks.

Not sure what salt mix's you use but I really liked the Dupla Martin premium reef salt, was fully dissolved in a couple of hours and gave nice clear water. For 30 kg of rock I was surprised with how little water the pukani displaced it's obviously a very porous rock.

Sage Robinson · Oct 15, 2016

thatsnotbongwater said:
I too have the 250. A couple things to note. I went large on my skimmer too and am thinking of downsizing. Space in the 11g sump is tight. If you haven't already check out recommended h2o height for that skimmer. You have 8" in the skimmer compartment.

I started with a Gyre 130. It'll give you enough flow depending on how much rock you use. I have quite a bit of rock and wound up adding an MP10 to the opposite side.

Good call on the 360's for lighting. I went with the 160's out of the gate and wound up upgrading after a few months.

Red Sea makes a really nice tank. I'm very happy with mine as is the real decision maker in the house (wife).

Most importantly, this is a hobby... Have fun and keep on reading!

Thanks for the info, I checked the skimmer specs and its rated for 7-9.5" so hopefully should be fine. I also checked out it's footprint relative to the skimmer chamber and it leaves a little room, not to much but I'm not planning on running anything else in that chamber currently as I'll mount the reactor to the back wall and run them off the M1 return.

I really like the vortech pumps (rather expensive tho). Do you have an problem with the MP10 I've read there only rated for 10mm glass and the reefer 250 has 12mm except on the back?

Scurvy · Oct 15, 2016

Yeah, I got the Gyre initially for the same reason but after seeing numerous videos of people running the MP10's on 250's I pulled the trigger. It holds tight enough to run at full speed without issue. After a little build up of smootz it gets even tighter.

Xclusive Reef · Oct 15, 2016

You using rodi water and salt for the rock cure?

Sage Robinson · Oct 15, 2016

nycluis718 said:
You using rodi water and salt for the rock cure?

Yeah I am. Picked off most of what I could spot and gave them a scrub and now they'll just soak for a couple of weeks. Hopefull, I can avoid acid washing etc.

USMC 4 LIFE · Oct 15, 2016

I used seachem's Aquavitro seed and I cycled the tank in about two weeks.

jsker · Oct 15, 2016

Good job on the top

Ljaus · Oct 15, 2016

Watching along. Looking forward to the progress

Sage Robinson · Oct 17, 2016

Skimmer arrived today, looking forward to giving it a good clean in the weekend so it's ready for my system.

What are people's thoughts on hard vs soft plumbing of the return. I'm currently thinking soft plumbed but with a hard plumbed manifold section to feed the uv, carbon/gfo reactor and later a fuge

Xclusive Reef · Oct 17, 2016

Go to brs and Check out their 160 build, they have the manifold setup with all plumbing. I would soft from pump to your hard pipes or manifold, hard from pump might get some vibration.

Sage Robinson · Oct 17, 2016

Yeah that was my plan and cheers that videos where I got the original idea haha it's a fantastic series

Trey302 · Oct 19, 2016

Sage Robinson said:
I really like the vortech pumps (rather expensive tho). Do you have an problem with the MP10 I've read there only rated for 10mm glass and the reefer 250 has 12mm except on the back?

MP10's seem to work fine on the 250 because the side and back glass is not as thick as the front. I believe when I measured mine the front is 1/2" and the sides and back are 3/8". I've been using an mp10 for a few months now with no troubles so it should be fine if you decide to go that route.

Sage Robinson · Nov 2, 2016

Been busy ordering things in anticipation of the tanks arrival in a week or so.

Some of whats arrived

Rory's Reef · Nov 2, 2016

Nice. I love watching people customize their RSR tanks. I was thinking of going with the Gyre's as well but I got turned away because some people complained of noise. I'm interested to see what you think of them. I really like their design.

Sage Robinson · Nov 2, 2016

Yeah that's one thing I still haven't got yet and I'm glad I held of the recent release of there 230 range is intriguing I'm hoping for some reviews of the new model before I purchase tho