Show me your Red Sea 250!

Coming into some C@SH, and want to upgrade. Either to a Red sea Max 250, or a 120G. I think it may be cheaper to just buy a complete red sea, rather than to piece together a 120. $2500 budget including livestock.
Thanks!!

 

shop wisely and just get the 120g and a 60g sump. not sure on how much LR you have but depending on what you already have you can do wonders with 25 benjamins!

 

The red sea max is a great tank, but you may want to be able to upgrade and customize your equipment as necessary (like lights and skimmer). That is very difficult with an all in one system. I would go with the 120g. If you shop carefully you could probably get it the same or cheaper than the red sea. Your paying for convenience and style with the red sea.

 

You should watch on Craigslist for a aqueon 180 or 210 and get 125 for a sump. DIY stand, sump and overflow will save money for live rock, skimmer and lights. You could DIY a skimmer if your brave. Getting a good deal on a tank will help tons. Just be patient.

 

I did the Red Sea 250 and I would not do it again. 1. You are going to need a chiller just to keep the temps low. 2. The skimmer is a pain and will never get dialed in due to the water level constantly changing. 3. Both of my pumps were dead within 3 months.

I ended up modding mine by adding an overflow where the cooling fans were and put a sump with an reef Octo skimmer in it since the stock skimmer was such a pain.

On the plus side, everything grows in that tank.

The quick math is the price of the tank and a minimum of a 1/6 Hp chiller to even make the tank useful.....unless you keep you home temp in the 60s.

 

Here is a recent picture of my tank. I went with the all in one tank because I was intimidated with doing a tank build. If you are only considering the RSM for financial reasons, you would be better off doing a build. I have dropped almost $1k on a chiller and new skimmer since last December. I still like it, but it is not the cheapest alternative. Now that I have some knowledge, I will build my own set up if I upgrade.

 

i had the smaller red sea max when they first came out---as usual everything was great for about 4 months and then everything was a mess from then on, pumps, lights. fans...everything that could break ..did and the skimmer was a pos!--cant say if the new larger 250 has improved but i would stay clear unless you just was a VERY simple reef tank with VERY hardy livestock...just my 2 cents!

 

I should probably also mention that I have had no issues with pumps, fans, etc. Everything has been running well for 10+ months. The original skimmer worked okay, but it was just too tough to keep it dialed in consistently. I don't want to scare anyone away from the Red Sea 250 because it is great for certain people and it looks great in my living room. I just want to make sure you know it will not be an inexpensive alternative to a tank build.

 

I can imagine filling that with live rock will be expensive,maybe go 25% live rock and the rest your base rock,price wise I think that might be a good way to go

 

I can tell you from all the different forums that i read and youtube subscriptions that if you get a redsea max 250 plan on modding the skimmer and lights. Yes they do have some heat issues just like any other all in one systems. But they look awesome when all said and done. But plan on a chiller and controller