IPv6Freely's Red Sea Max 250

[IPv6Freely]

So, back into the hobby!

I was looking for a Red Sea Max 130D, and Google brought me here, where one of your members, uxdesigner, had his RSM 250 up for sale. Included the tank, stand, and LED retrofit lighting. I snatched that up as soon as I could.

We got the tank in the house, got it cleaned up, rinsed through twice and was ready to go.

My wife and I hit Aquatica, since it's right near us. Dave helped us get set up. We got 65lbs of his fantastic cured liverock, 40lbs of substrate, and approx 50 gallons of pre-mixed saltwater. (Turns out, that was the EXACT amount of water we needed. Once the pumps went on, 10x 5g jugs of water filled the tank right up to the rim!) We had to make two trips for the water, and our second trip was right before they closed up for the night. We're very grateful he was so helpful, despite how late it was!

We haven't decided on livestock yet, but we have some cycle time to mull it over. So I guess without further adieu... PICS!

Tank once filled up, still too cloudy to aquascape:
http://i.imgur.com/MobxXl.png (http://i.imgur.com/MobxX.png)

FTS once aquascaped. We have a couple nice caves for livestock to hide :)
http://i.imgur.com/Nb22Yl.png (http://i.imgur.com/Nb22Y.png)

[fresh2120]

It looks good. It's a good system uxdesigner had some amazing things growing in there..

[slicktoppomp]

Welcome back to the addiction! You really scored on an awesome tank! Frankie kept that thing in tip top shape. That led light alone was worth getting that tank.

[specvjeff]

Looking good! Keep the pics coming!

[unbereefable]

Lookin' good! What are your plans for stocking?

[IPv6Freely]

A better shot now that the water has cleared and the lights are on:
http://i.imgur.com/kMhFIl.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/kMhFI.jpg)

I've been testing the water daily, and not surprising (since I bought fully cured liverock and pre-mixed saltwater from Aquatica), the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are all 0. The only concerning thing is the pH appears to be a bit low. Since everything else seems good, perhaps just some buffer and I'll be good to go.

I've been thinking hard about the cleanup crew. I've never had a tank this big so I'm a bit unsure of what to put in. This is my idea so far:

10x Blue Leg Hermits
10x Red Leg Hermits
1x Electric Blue Knuckle Hermit (for the heck of it)
15x Astrea Snails
3x Ninja Star Snails
5x Nassarius Snails
5x Tonga Nassarius Snail

I want a blood shrimp, but will probably wait until the cleanup crew has had time to settle.

Thoughts?

[50 cube]

Looks good but I would wait on the CUC until they have something to clean up. Don't worry to much about PH, ALK is what you should be looking at

[IPv6Freely]

Hmm, my test kit doesnt have a test for that. Maybe I should get the add-on "reef master" kit.

EDIT: lights just came on. Looks like theres a nice coating of brown algae covering pretty much all the rock and some of the substrate.. time for the CUC?

[IPv6Freely]

We're having some heat issues. Came home one day, and the thermometer read 87F. We opened the hood, and in only 3 hours it had dropped to 83F. I had thought the LEDs wouldn't cause so much heat, but seems they are. I guess the first step would be to buy a set of RSM stock fans that Frankie had removed (he said the LEDs made it so they weren't necessary). For those not familiar with the RSM, these are a set of exhaust fans on the back of the hood that blow hot air out.

I can't imagine we'd need a chiller, our main floor in our house is actually kind of chilly (in order to keep the upstairs at a reasonable temperature). But I guess we'll do what we have to do.

[50 cube]

Any lights you use in an enclosed hood will heat up the water.. A couple of fans certainly will help. Also propping the hood open a little will help.

[IPv6Freely]

I just bought a set of stock RSM 250 fans, and grabbed a JBJ auto topoff and pump to go with it. I'm not home 5 days a week usually, so whatever I can do to make things easier on my wife :)

[jessegarcia28]

tank looks good,
btw these tanks get hot no matter what lighting. Since they're AIO, stock return pumps def. get hot especially pump #1 (lefts side)skimmer,heater(if your running one)
i recently owned a rsm 250 and experimented with the lighting, i did the all 6 t5s, to 4 only, then purchased some aquarays 600s leds with controller
at the end left 2 t5s running with the 4 led modules
but i did get a chiller to keep the temp @ 78/79 degrees (jbj 1/4)

gl & have fun

hope u don't mind me posting pic(if u do pm me & ill delete)
RIP:(
http://i903.photobucket.com/albums/ac232/jessemarone/RSM%20250/DSC09706.jpg

[IPv6Freely]

Eek.. a 1/4hp JBJ chiller costs more than the entire RSM250 did! :shocked:

[scubasteve]

There is a 1/10th hp chiller for sale on equipment for $100 right now- i use a 1/10th on my 46gal- works great!

[IPv6Freely]

I'm going to see what the fans are able to do first. We're also finding the fine filter seems to clog up often and that messes with everything. I've read things on other forums of users lifting it up an inch to let water pass. Less effective, but safer.

[IPv6Freely]

Okay, I guess I'm due for a bit of an update here.

Tank has been up for a while, and water quality has been stable. Salinity has also been stable, thanks to the JBJ ATO I installed. Fantastic little device, that. I just wish I could find an extension for the float switches; those wires are really far too short.

No more heat issues. We ordered the RSM250 stock fans, installed them (the plug supposed to be used for them doesn't seem to work - I don't know what the former owner did with all the wiring in this thing for the lights, so I didn't investigate too much, so I just used a 2.5-12VDC universal power supply I had sitting around.) Water has been low 79F pretty much constantly ever since. I'm happy with that.

We started stocking, and have bought a couple new things every week.

Week 1:

- Keyhole Angelfish (kinda regretting this one... he just hides in the rocks, and being black, is very difficult to see. Kind of wish I had got a flame angel instead)
- Diamond goby (wow, do these guys ever do an amazing job of keeping the sand clean! He immediately set to work building himself a home.)
- Purple mushroom
- Pink and green zoanthids (not sure of the name of them)

Week 2:

- ORA certified Black Ice Ocellaris. There was only one of them, and knowing I was going to be getting more fish, I grabbed him. Gorgeous colors (even if it's an early generation that still has orange, he's beautiful!)
- Frogspawn. Dave actually said these were a different kind than the usual type, but I can't remember what he said it was.

Week 3:

- ORA certified Naked Ocellaris. Bit of a story behind this guy. I'd been eyeballing this pair of naked clowns in Dave's shop for weeks, and just couldn't justify the cost. Well, yesterday my wife and I went in, and found that some jackhole had split them up. I mean really, who splits up a pair of clowns like that? :( So it became a no-brainer. We HAD to pick him up so he'd have a friend :)
- Blue-tip Sebae anemone. Everyone has bubble anemones (and maybe I will too, eventually), but I just thought the white would look really good, especially if they end up hosting in it. He really pops under the purple lights!
- Some kind of LPS - Favites, maybe?

The best part was that as soon as I dropped the naked clown into the tank, the two of them immediately swam together, and started exploring the tank together. It couldn't have gone any better!! Here's a pic of them:
http://i.imgur.com/OQLOF.png

Here's a pic of the unknown LPS:
http://i.imgur.com/x6bYn.png

Frogspawn:
http://i.imgur.com/TP8HX.png

Purple and green zoos:
http://i.imgur.com/BY0m3.png

Sebae anemone (he kinda sucked himself up into a crevace in the rocks - hope that's ok...):
http://i.imgur.com/mOwHe.png

And finally.. last but not least... she sat here for a good hour:
http://i.imgur.com/bxhXx.png

[IPv6Freely]

A video!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2Sg678lc18