I have been wanting to post a thread for a long time but never took the time to do it. I run a mixed reef Red Sea Max 250 (66 gallons). It has been running for just over 2 years. Over the next few weeks I will try to post pictures of the tanks progress from the beginning until now.
I will start from the beginning. First of all let me say that this tank is very heavy and well made. I am very happy with the quality of the product. Having said that, you defiantly need several people to lift this thing, it weighs roughly 440 pounds empty. Half the battle was getting it up the stairs.
I decided to go with a deep sand bed and used 100% aragonite sand. I used 115 pounds of sand in total which with the tank dimensions works out to be roughly a 4" sand bed. I also used pukani dry rock, this is the best in my opinion because its so porous. I upgraded the skimmer to the reef dynamic's skimmer and I added an mp40 for extra flow in addition to the two stock return pumps.
In the beginning I was using the filter sponges that come with the tank but after several months I ended up removing them all together and letting the live rock do most of the filtration for the tank. I also used to use fine filter pads to keep the water quality up and change them every so often. Well those of you who have a red sea max 250 know that when using the fine filter pads it messes with the water level in the adjacent chamber and screws around with the skimmers efficiency. I don't use fine filter pads anymore, Instead I buy sheets of white felt from a stationary store and cut them into thirds. I use this in place of the fine filter pad and it doesn't restrict the water flow as much but still helps catch detritus and improve the water quality. Also the felt is much more cost effective to buy. This is now the only form of mechanical filtration I use on this tank.
I also converted an aqua clear 50 into a refugium with cheato and feather duster colonies. I do not have a light on it so it only gets what spills from the tank and what is in the room. I have seen a considerable difference after adding this.
I seeded the tank with the live rock that came out of my 26 gallon when i broke it down.
I changed the bulbs to ati bulbs blue+ and purple+. I added a reef brite xho actinic strip for night lighting because the moonlight led's that come stock on this tank are not strong enough at all and barely look like they are on.
This tank is on the second floor and is right next to a window that the blinds are open all the time. I do not run a chiller and run a 300w heater that i keep set on 78. I use a jbj ato with an aqua lifter pump and a 3 gallon container that i keep in the right side of the cabinet.
Bioload: as far as the bioload goes for this tank, I currently have 12 fish and a ton of coral. 4 clowns, 3 chromis, yellow tang, sailfin tang, sixline, neon goby, tailspot blenny. 6 anemones (2 rainbow, 1 rose, 1 pink, 1 green, 1 sand anemone), 1 pepermint shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 4 porcelin crabs, 2 emerald crabs.
I will start from the beginning. First of all let me say that this tank is very heavy and well made. I am very happy with the quality of the product. Having said that, you defiantly need several people to lift this thing, it weighs roughly 440 pounds empty. Half the battle was getting it up the stairs.
I decided to go with a deep sand bed and used 100% aragonite sand. I used 115 pounds of sand in total which with the tank dimensions works out to be roughly a 4" sand bed. I also used pukani dry rock, this is the best in my opinion because its so porous. I upgraded the skimmer to the reef dynamic's skimmer and I added an mp40 for extra flow in addition to the two stock return pumps.
In the beginning I was using the filter sponges that come with the tank but after several months I ended up removing them all together and letting the live rock do most of the filtration for the tank. I also used to use fine filter pads to keep the water quality up and change them every so often. Well those of you who have a red sea max 250 know that when using the fine filter pads it messes with the water level in the adjacent chamber and screws around with the skimmers efficiency. I don't use fine filter pads anymore, Instead I buy sheets of white felt from a stationary store and cut them into thirds. I use this in place of the fine filter pad and it doesn't restrict the water flow as much but still helps catch detritus and improve the water quality. Also the felt is much more cost effective to buy. This is now the only form of mechanical filtration I use on this tank.
I also converted an aqua clear 50 into a refugium with cheato and feather duster colonies. I do not have a light on it so it only gets what spills from the tank and what is in the room. I have seen a considerable difference after adding this.
I seeded the tank with the live rock that came out of my 26 gallon when i broke it down.
I changed the bulbs to ati bulbs blue+ and purple+. I added a reef brite xho actinic strip for night lighting because the moonlight led's that come stock on this tank are not strong enough at all and barely look like they are on.
This tank is on the second floor and is right next to a window that the blinds are open all the time. I do not run a chiller and run a 300w heater that i keep set on 78. I use a jbj ato with an aqua lifter pump and a 3 gallon container that i keep in the right side of the cabinet.
Bioload: as far as the bioload goes for this tank, I currently have 12 fish and a ton of coral. 4 clowns, 3 chromis, yellow tang, sailfin tang, sixline, neon goby, tailspot blenny. 6 anemones (2 rainbow, 1 rose, 1 pink, 1 green, 1 sand anemone), 1 pepermint shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 4 porcelin crabs, 2 emerald crabs.
