Red sea max 250 build

Lol ya it sucked. I had to float bags of ice for like an hour and a half, to top it off i ha just added a new fish, a marine betta. I hope hes alright, he seemed to be ok.

OP, the marine betta is a good choice for the RSM 250

 

Wow! That looks snazzy. Adding it to my stocking list. it's official. I'm picking up the tank on Wednesday. I hope to add sand and water sometime this weekend, as well as a few pieces of live rock from my bio cube. I'll add turbo start too( bacteria that speeds up the cycle). I'm going to be on vacation from the 30th to July 28th, so that should be enough time to cycle... Then hopefully when I get back, I can get 50 lbs of dry rock from reef cleaners and start aqua scaping.

The guy was originally asking $1000 for the tank, but I cut him down to $800 without the chiller... I wish I had the extra $200. :/ looks like I'm gonna be screwed in terms of heat... Especially with Florida summers.

Also, around Christmas, I hope to do three things with the tank: 1. Get a 1/10 HP chiller for the right half of the stand. 2. Get a 14g bio cube to use as a sump (life reef sells an overflow box for RSM), and put it in the left half. and 3. Incorporate a reef keeper elite into the RSM. Has anyone done this? It seems troublesome with the whole power center unit..

 

Does anyone recommend replacing the stock protein skimmer? Ive read a lot about how loud it is, but no ones written about its preformance.

 

bump

 

Not sure on the skimmer (they don't even tell you what brand it is in the their specs), but just a heads up on the betta that it will eat any fish that fits in its mouth! I would think smaller perculas would fit that bill!

 

i have to run a chiller with my redsea too. They just run hot as hades. I live in Coastal GA. Even with the hvac at 75 the chiller is a must.

 

I replaced my protein skimmer with a deltec. It is quieter and it is easier to maintain, but it really wasn't worth the extra cost imho. I would recommend a chiller before replacing the skimmer.

 

Yeah.. I'm going to try making a side deal with the owner. If I can come up with the other $200 within a few weeks, and he still has it, I may be able to buy it off of him. It's a current 1/10 HP dual stage chiller.

 

Wow, thanks for the heads up! I'll either substitute clowns with something else, or substitute the beta with a dwarf angel (Similar body shape)

Here's what I'm thinking for stocking:
2 onyx perc. clowns OR 2 picasso clowns
1 dwarf angel (Flame or bicolor)
1 Yellow Watchman Goby
1 Starry Blenny
1 Cleaner Wrasse
2 Anthias (Don't know what kind yet)

Inverts:
2 Harlequin Serpent Starfish
2 Skunk cleaner shrimp
1 blood shrimp
1 Ritteri Anemone (In a few years. )
Light CUC from ReefCleaners.org
And maybe a Flying Sea Hare... I've always found those quite interesting.

What does everyone think?

 

My betta is small and the only thing that will fit in his mouth are neon gobys. The only size that could eat a clown is full grown, and it would have to be a small clown