Kris's Red Sea REEFER 250

[mrkris]

Introduction:

about 6 months ago i had to shut down my nano. dont want to talk about it Now im counselled and emotionally ready to get cracking on a new build.

Im a renter soon to be home owner so i wanted something bigger than what i had previously but not massive. i wanted to be able to reuse as much stuff from my previous tank as possible to keep costs down (is there such a thing with marine??) and i can't justify something so big that i have to drop 3k on lights etc so i decided to keep it around 3 foot.

I finished designing one in sketchup and had gone into my LFS and talk about getting it built. Then i saw the Reefer that my LFS hadn't even finished unboxing for display. i sniffed around it for half an hour, it was pretty much what i had designed, minus a few things like external weir and sump design... i too'd and froed for a bit and i thought stuff it Red Sea REEFER 250 it is!

System Objectives: Im thinking of a minimal live rock (in display) SPS dominated mixed reef garden.

System Type: Mixed Reef

Display System:

Strike up Date: Currently just purchasing bits. not really in any hurry.

Display Tank: Display is 900w 550h 500d

Display Lighting: Radion xr30 pro Gen3 with on tank mount

Sump: Factory

Refugium: No room for one. ill look into an algae scrubber at some stage. if/when algae becomes an issue

Support systems:

System Water: NSW/ASW depending on how urgent a WC is.

Display Water circulation: Pair of Tunze 6095's and the 7096 Controller

Return Pump: Aqua Medic DC Runner 3.0

Skimmer: Deltec SC1455

Chiller: Hailea HC-150A (does not fit in the cabinet (!!!))

Heater: Aquamanta Titanium 300w

Heat / Cool Control: STC1000 with .3 deg hysteresis

Evaporation Top Up: osmolator

Biological filtration starting with clean base rock in the display and a 8X4 solid chunk of marine pure in the sump.

Chemical Support:

Cal/Alk/Mag: Kamoer dosing pump

[mrkris]

Cheers!

most of it was in stock, just waiting on the light and the LFS to deliver once it comes in. next week some time

i have a fresh water tank to break down and a bunch of other things to buy before i can start setting it up.

Kris.

[damienbuckley]

Welcome! I've got a 250 too. Still waiting on some structural (floor) & levelling advice but hoping to be up & running soon.

[mrkris]

ITS BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE XMAS!

The Reefer / Radion / Skimmer / Return pump have arrived. well they arrived about a week ago and ive been too busy playing with my new toys.

Im still waiting on my RODI from psi, marine pure block and a pair of Tunze 6095's and the 7096 to control them.

Looking to head out tomorrow to grab some 150L tubs and hunt down some decent base rock so i can start a scape. once thats done ill grab some sand, mix up some ASW and get my cycle started.

[green troll]

Wohooooo. Cant wait to see it with water in it.
Be sure to post those pics.....

[mrkris]

Today was sand and base rock day. Starting to come together nicely but so much more to get done.

i had a wall of rock last time around which was a bit of a precariously balanced nightmare. this time around im going for minimal rock, giving my fish room to swim and the SPS plenty of room to grow.

Thoughts?

[damienbuckley]

Looking good mate. I like the free-swimming area style you're going for there. Should make the tank look bigger - I have the 250 too so I'mjust going 1x each type of fish and smaller to keep the impression of space. Interested to see how the XR30 looks with water - I went two XR15's. Same same, but different

[Saltster]

Looking good there Kris. I'm also in the midst of a Reefer 250 build and like the idea of minimalist rockscaping and using marine pure to supplement for the biological filtration. We have the same skimmer which is going to be great but is relatively big. I'm working at slipping some Marine pure around the skimmer compartment and would be interested how you're going about it.

[mrkris]

Looking good mate. I like the free-swimming area style you're going for there. Should make the tank look bigger - I have the 250 too so I'mjust going 1x each type of fish and smaller to keep the impression of space. Interested to see how the XR30 looks with water - I went two XR15's. Same same, but different

i'm not really sure what fish i want to get yet. i had a pair of wild caught clownies and i really enjoyed them, they were quite interactive... fish are a fair while away yet so ill have plenty of time to decide.

i went with the XR30 for a few reasons. first one which im sure you can appreciate was because im hemorrhaging money and it was a bit cheaper than two xr15's. second one was because i figured id either end up having three xr15's or one xr30 and one xr15 because a single xr30 doesn't quite cover the whole width.

[mrkris]

Looking good there Kris. I'm also in the midst of a Reefer 250 build and like the idea of minimalist rockscaping and using marine pure to supplement for the biological filtration. We have the same skimmer which is going to be great but is relatively big. I'm working at slipping some Marine pure around the skimmer compartment and would be interested how you're going about it.

i laughed when i saw the size of the skimmer in the sump

my marine pure slab hasn't arrived yet so i haven't had much of a chance to figure out where i can put it. im trying to keep it as clean as possible so i was thinking about putting it in the top right chamber where the display drains into. ill probably have to cut it up a bit so it fits and stand it up on a few bits so i can get flow underneath but i figure it doesn't get much more high flow area than that!

[Saltster]

Looking good there Kris. I'm also in the midst of a Reefer 250 build and like the idea of minimalist rockscaping and using marine pure to supplement for the biological filtration. We have the same skimmer which is going to be great but is relatively big. I'm working at slipping some Marine pure around the skimmer compartment and would be interested how you're going about it.

i laughed when i saw the size of the skimmer in the sump

my marine pure slab hasn't arrived yet so i haven't had much of a chance to figure out where i can put it. im trying to keep it as clean as possible so i was thinking about putting it in the top right chamber where the display drains into. ill probably have to cut it up a bit so it fits and stand it up on a few bits so i can get flow underneath but i figure it doesn't get much more high flow area than that!

It sounds as though we're both in for some "sump tetris"

[mrkris]

Today my RO/DI unit and Tunze 6095's arrived.

i showed my missus the RO/DI unit and she was less than impressed with the size of it all is good in the hood but its in my best interest that i make sure i can hide it under the sink when we buy a place.

i put the tunze's together and put them in the tank for a test fit. i was a bit worried about the size of them when i was buying them. being a reasonably high flow pump i thought they would be huge. not so!

ill upload photos when ive finished playing with the ro/di unit and ive had a chance to tidy everything up.

[mrkris]

It sounds as though we're both in for some "sump tetris"

challenge accepted!

[damienbuckley]

Today my RO/DI unit and Tunze 6095's arrived.

i showed my missus the RO/DI unit and she was less than impressed with the size of it all is good in the hood but its in my best interest that i make sure i can hide it under the sink when we buy a place.

i put the tunze's together and put them in the tank for a test fit. i was a bit worried about the size of them when i was buying them. being a reasonably high flow pump i thought they would be huge. not so!

ill upload photos when ive finished playing with the ro/di unit and ive had a chance to tidy everything up.

Not sure if it's any help with the Mrs but we had a water pipe running through our garage so I got our plumber to drop me a tap off it & wall-mounted my RO unit - proper tidy, plenty of room for storage drums & no real worries about spills. Only cost $50.

[Roy]

We mounted our RODI in the laundry, out of sight

[mrkris]

i wish i could! theres just no spot in our odd laundry

[Sherb3rts]

mines popped on top of our front loader washing machine hasnt fallen over yet!

[green troll]

Ur washing machine must be balanced unlike mine.....lol

[mrkris]

Quick update.

Im still waiting for my marine pure and the 7096 controller which at the end of the day isn't all that crucial to get things moving

Yesterday i got my john guest to normal tap connector and 10m of 1/4" tubing for my RO/DI unit. Since then ive been slowly filling up my tank which finally finished this evening. ive added my salt and got it up to 1.021 ish. ive added a bit more salt but ill wait until tomorrow to make any adjustments just to give the tank a chance to come up a few degrees.

at some stage ill look at grabbing some sand and a chunk of rock from a mate to get the ball rolling

[mrkris]

another quick update. last one for a bit while i wait out the cycle and for everything to do its thing and break in.

i bought a nice flat and clean bit of live rock with plenty of nice coraline on it. some really deep burgundy, a hint of orange and some nice purple. ive broken it all up and put it on my base rock for seeding.

now we just wait the mandatory "let it sit and fester" 30 days, then ill buy some test kits, do some testing and go from there.

this should give me plenty of time to sort out all my shelving and arranging of my cabinet, sort out my micro bubble issue amongst a few other things.

see you on the flip side!

[Sherb3rts]

sort out my micro bubble issue amongst a few other things.

are the micro bubbles in the display? my skimmer shoots out pleanty of bubbles but they all go down the bubble trap and pop...no bubbles in the display tank at all.

[mrkris]

stacks in the display but they are getting less and less.

its kind of a crap design. with the 250 there are two baffles. the second baffle is not connected to the bottom so the water flows over the top of the first one and then under the second one. there is no trap.

they give you a sponge to put in between the baffles but im not using that.

[Sherb3rts]

Probably why there's so many bubbles mate. I'm using the sponge and there's zero bubbles. It's a pretty standard single baffle design, only a double weir will cut out bubbles without using sponge

[mrkris]

yeah i know, i dont like the idea of it because good and bad stuff will get trapped and its going to be another thing that i have to clean. im going for as simple as possible.

i need to get some new baffles cut and glued in.

[mrkris]

Update!

Ive grabbed a few crap bits of rock/dead coral and a cup of sand from a fellow reefer.

Diatom fairy has been and is nearly gone. Now im going through a reasonably impressive green algae outbreak. Nitrates and phosphates are no longer detectable using salifert tests. Hopefully should be gone in a few weeks. Added a few turbos to help clean up a bit.



Still waiting on my 7096 Tunze controller and marine pure, which is getting boring but such is life.

[mrkris]

Quick update.

Algae outbreak now completely gone. i have bought myself 4 green chromis to dirty up the water some and continue building up the bio load. i did have one in the beginning which was not going too well so i added another three. since then they have been great and eating well. assuming they like to be around their own or they freak out.

Not game enough to start adding anything expensive yet.

ive been doing 60L water changes every few weeks which seems like its keeping things stable. going through a lot more RO with this tanks evaporation. will have to look into upping my top off water from 10 to a 20 L gerry can. just need to find one with a big enough opening so i can fit my osmolator pump in it.

Still waiting on my 7096 controller and marine pure block. i think theres been a mixup and someone forgot that it was on back order. everyones allowed one freebie so i wont get too upset this time around

[mrkris]

i never even opened up the ato reservoir box, mine comes with an 8L one which is just too small.

when do i start with corals... to be honest ive been avoiding even thinking about that. ive even been avoiding my LFS on thursday (new coral) nights. i havent got around to buying a reeflink yet or even dug out my dosing pump gear.

once i have my reeflink and more importantly marine pure and my controller for my 6095's setup and running for a while ill have a wander down to my LFS and pick up a frag or two.

[damienbuckley]

i never even opened up the ato reservoir box, mine comes with an 8L one which is just too small.

when do i start with corals... to be honest ive been avoiding even thinking about that. ive even been avoiding my LFS on thursday (new coral) nights. i havent got around to buying a reeflink yet or even dug out my dosing pump gear.

once i have my reeflink and more importantly marine pure and my controller for my 6095's setup and running for a while ill have a wander down to my LFS and pick up a frag or two.

Having done the power-down tests I think the ATO is designed to be only if enough that if it drains into the sump & you have power-down it doesn't overflow. Not much help I know & drains fast

[Mal]

yep agreed. Even i nmy 350, its only 10.5L which i went through in 3 days. Good thing i remember to top up my top up this morning, was nothing left in it...i think i'll be upgrading the reservoir soon.

[mrkris]

Ahh ok. I'm not using the standard float valve. My osmolator has two level sensors. One electronic eye and an old style float which "should" be fool proof.