Greenhunter's RedSea 250 - Tank transfer and build

[thegreenhunterz]

Introduction

Hey Reef2Reef, my name is Vikthor and this is my first build thread. I have ADHD and will try to keep this thread alive for those who want to follow and help me on my journey. I have an old 50 Gallon AIO that I’m upgrading to a second hand Red Sea 250 this Friday. I wanted to make a build thread because it will hopefully also motivate me to keep even better care of my small piece of ocean. I'm also planning on being more active on the forums, instead of lurking...

Current tank
I’ll update this part with the latest equipment, inhabitants or other changes.

Habitat/Aquascape

• CaribSea Special Grade
• AquaForest synthetic rock (first time using)
• Some rock from the tank I'm breaking down.
• Tropic Marine Classic Salt

Parameters

• 1.026 Salinity
• 25.5 C Temperature
• 5.0 nitrate
• 0.05 Phosphate
• 8.2-8.3 PH
• DKh about 8
• Cal ~400
• Magnesium ~1300

Current Equipment

• 2x AI Prime 16HD, light schedule below.
• 1 Maxspect MJ-GF4k Gyre on 20%
• 1 Jebao/Jecod SLW5 on 100%
• 1 AuqaMedic Smart Drift 3.1 on 100%
• Eheim Thermo Control 250W Heater
• AquaMedic skimmer that came with my old tank.
• Jebao/Jecod DCP4000 Return pump

Future Equipment

• Proper skimmer?
• Controller with titanium heater?
• Auto top off
• Maybe look into refugium
• Reactors?

Inhabitants

• Yellow Coris Wrasse
• Pair of clowns
• Banded Goby
• Royal gramma
• 3 Tuxedo Urchins to deal with my massive GHA problem…
• 6-8 Nassarius Snails
• 6 Trochus/Astrea snails
• 2 Blue Hermit Crabs

Corals

• <TODO>

Light Schedule

Old tank

So currently it’s quite a mess, but it’s stable? Haven't had anything die for the past year, except for a Cleaner Shrimp that decided to jump into my gyre this weekend. Had a lot of issues in the past one and a half years. Shouldn’t have picked up my current tank in the first place. White coating is peeling off, last week I started to notice some slight rust as well. Glass has scratches all over. Silicone looks bad. AIO chamber is hard to clean. Wavemaker in the back of the AIO chamber has broken down.

I have had cyano and managed to get rid of it. Got GHA, had trouble getting it to go away. Got diatoms, then transitioned to Dino’s. Battled that for nearly 8 months. I currently hope I got rid of it, but I haven't seen it for the last 2 months. Currently I have lots of GHA, but hopefully my Tuxedo Urchins can take care of my mistakes. I’m also trying to feed less, but I’m also afraid to have dino’s again. Last thing I need to improve is my testing schedule, but my ADHD causes me to forget my schedule.

So lots of mistakes have been made the past one and a half year. Many lessons have been learned. So hopefully I will get better at keeping a reef tank.

Red Sea 250

So a few weeks ago I picked up an older model of the Red Sea 250 range. The tank looks pretty good and the silicone looks MUCH better than my current tank. I did have some doubts about the sump, as it had damage in one corner which was resealed with a larger patch of silicone. The previous owner had it running for about three years without issue. And I’ve had it filled with water for the past two weeks without any water leaking, so it all seems in good order.

I’m planning to add some new aquascape with more habitat for the fish to hide, and to reuse some of my old rocks. I wanted to use new sand and found a good deal for the CaribSea special grade sand. I picked up 3 bags of 9 kg for 25 euros each, instead of the usual 40-45 euros.

AquaForest Rock and Aquascaping
For my aquascape I was looking for something that might help to create more hiding spots for my fish. I ultimately decided to try AquaForest Rock, which contains base rock, shelves and arches. I bought two large boxes of 18 kg. I'll write some more about this later, if I don't forget.

<Aquascape pictures here maybe?>

Day of Transfer

I'll try to keep this thread updated this weekend!

Tips and suggestions are most welcome!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Take your time and have fun with the new build.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

Take your time and have fun with the new build.

Yes I certainly will!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Ron Reefman]

If you have any questions, over the last 25 years, I've done 10+ tank transfers. Both going bigger... 30g - 75g - 180g - 250g - 120g - 90g - 40g along with doing several other side tanks.

If you intend to put corals that are mounted on frag plugs directly into your tank (i.e. still mounted on the plug), then consider drilling some holes in the rocks where frag plugs could fit. Don't worry about what empty holes will look like in the tank. Over the course of 6 months these just blend into the overall look.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

If you have any questions, over the last 25 years, I've done 10+ tank transfers. Both going bigger... 30g - 75g - 180g - 250g - 120g - 90g - 40g along with doing several other side tanks.

If you intend to put corals that are mounted on frag plugs directly into your tank (i.e. still mounted on the plug), then consider drilling some holes in the rocks where frag plugs could fit. Don't worry about what empty holes will look like in the tank. Over the course of 6 months these just blend into the overall look.

That's actually a great tip! I personally do not really like the look of frag plugs, so I glued the few corals that I bought to the rock work, which comes to bite me because I have to redo some of the aquascape. I will think about drilling some holes and moving some frags back onto a plug. That would also allow me to move them if necessary. The only other thing I'm worried about is stressing the fish.

Once my Red Sea 250 is running, would you recommend lowering the light intensity and let everything acclimate again? I'm planning on running two AI Prime 16HD. I can imagine a tank move also stresses out the corals.

 

[Ron Reefman]

That's actually a great tip! I personally do not really like the look of frag plugs, so I glued the few corals that I bought to the rock work, which comes to bite me because I have to redo some of the aquascape. I will think about drilling some holes and moving some frags back onto a plug. That would also allow me to move them if necessary. The only other thing I'm worried about is stressing the fish.

Once my Red Sea 250 is running, would you recommend lowering the light intensity and let everything acclimate again? I'm planning on running two AI Prime 16HD. I can imagine a tank move also stresses out the corals.

If you have the water parameters really close to what the old tank water is/was, it shouldn't be a big deal. Fish can be a bit stressed in a new environment, but they adapt pretty quickly. Corals should be able to be moved almost without issue except that changes in light and flow can have an effect. So running the lights and pumps a bit lower and bump them up over the next week or two.

I collect soft corals, gorgonians and anemones (among other critters) when I go snorkeling in the Florida Keys. Zoas I collect (each person is allowed only 5 polyps per day) move in a collecting jar (an old peanut butter jar with holes) while I'm snorkeling. Then move to a 5g cooler with reef water in our Zodiac. When they get back to the motel they get moved to another 7g bucket with more freshly collected natural seawater. They go through a 50% to 100% water change twice a day until we drive home. Then they do 5 hours with a bubbler getting sloshed around while we drive. Once we get home I sort critters out into different containers with 50% seawater and 50% aquarium water. They get inspected by me and after an hour or two, they get moved to a 5g, 10g or 20g tank of 50% aquarium water and 50% new saltwater. Then, over time, everybody gets moves to one of the aquariums. Some as soon as a day and some take a week or more.

If all the critters I collect can all survive that OK, moving from your old tank to the new one shouldn't be too stressful. BTW, I very rarely lose any animals when I collect. And when I do, it's usually something that is too fragile, like a spaghetti worm.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

If you have the water parameters really close to what the old tank water is/was, it shouldn't be a big deal. Fish can be a bit stressed in a new environment, but they adapt pretty quickly. Corals should be able to be moved almost without issue except that changes in light and flow can have an effect. So running the lights and pumps a bit lower and bump them up over the next week or two.

I collect soft corals, gorgonians and anemones (among other critters) when I go snorkeling in the Florida Keys. Zoas I collect (each person is allowed only 5 polyps per day) move in a collecting jar (an old peanut butter jar with holes) while I'm snorkeling. Then move to a 5g cooler with reef water in our Zodiac. When they get back to the motel they get moved to another 7g bucket with more freshly collected natural seawater. They go through a 50% to 100% water change twice a day until we drive home. Then they do 5 hours with a bubbler getting sloshed around while we drive. Once we get home I sort critters out into different containers with 50% seawater and 50% aquarium water. They get inspected by me and after an hour or two, they get moved to a 5g, 10g or 20g tank of 50% aquarium water and 50% new saltwater. Then, over time, everybody gets moves to one of the aquariums. Some as soon as a day and some take a week or more.

If all the critters I collect can all survive that OK, moving from your old tank to the new one shouldn't be too stressful. BTW, I very rarely lose any animals when I collect. And when I do, it's usually something that is too fragile, like a spaghetti worm.

Yea i'm keeping parameters as close as possible! Sounds like a lot of work to move all those fish and corals.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

I just managed to empty my aqua medic tank with support of my girlfriend. Everything was removed safely and I caught the fish pretty quickly. We're taking a short break, and then we will move the old tank outside and put the red sea in place.

This is the current state, just have to add some temporary heaters for the tubs. Also our dog is wondering what the heck is happening.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Yea i'm keeping parameters as close as possible! Sounds like a lot of work to move all those fish and corals.

Almost never any fish (too hard to catch) and only a few corals. I mostly do CUC and anemones.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

Almost never any fish (too hard to catch) and only a few corals. I mostly do CUC and anemones.

Oh yes I can imagine that wild fish are even harder to catch. I had lots of trouble catching my clowns yesterday.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

A small update:

Yesterday after filling the aquarium the plumbing sadly started leaking.

I asked for help in another thread, and it looks like the previous owner did some DIY on the plumbing that isn't a standard. I decided to order some parts, and hopefully replace the connection. Today I will check to see if I can safely remove the silicone from ring without breaking everything.

I decided to move the fish into their new home, so they're in the red sea 250 right now with rock and a few corals all over the place. I didn't want them to linger inside a tub any longer. They're doing great and don't look to stressed. All the inverts and corals also seem to have made it. I will add extra bacteria and prepare a few water changes until I'm able to properly restores the return pipe.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

Hey all, another update. I got some parts for repair this Tuesday. Managed to replace the overflow pipe and the return connection. Also removed the silicone from the return pipe part that was leaking. However, I wasn't able to find a new bulkhead ring, so I was afraid to actually break the thing. Instead of removing the piping I decided to reseal the job of the previous owner.

I leak tested it yesterday and it finally holds water properly. The last thing to do is to replace the overflow pipe with the valve, as that one also seems to leak water. I ordered a new one yesterday, and it will arrive by the end of the week.

Bonus picture of my current fish! They've been eating well and are enjoying their larger home.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

Hey all,

Had a few busy weeks and weekends, so haven't been able to post on here. Hope people are still following along! After my last post I managed to contact the previous owner about the silicone leak. Asked him some questions and I thought about removing all the plumbing, but I was afraid to break all of it during the process. Instead, I made sure to reseal the leaking silicone and replaced the return line connection, overflow pipe and the pipe with the valve.

The plumbing is leak free and the sump is running. It's time to let everything stabilise for the next few weeks. My few pieces of coral have survived the move, and all of them are currently happily swaying in the currents.

Water parameters got a bit out of whack after moving everything over. I did a ~30% water change this Friday.

Measurements before the water change:

Temp 25.7
Salinity 1.027
Nitrate 2.5
phosphate 0.24
DKh 7.7
Ca 360
Mag 1260
PH 8.2

I'm testing everything again this evening, and will prepare another water change if necessary.

My fish are all exploring their new home, except for my banded goby which I hardly see at the moment. He used to move all around the tank, so I hope to see him a bit more soon. He sometimes comes out eating, so he's still alive.

The tank is also turning brown from a diatom bloom. l will do small water changes once a week and remove some of it when cleaning the sand bed.

My old skimmer isn't really pulling out much waste, so I might start looking into a replacement skimmer in the coming weeks.

Are there some skimmer brands that people recommend?

I've been looking at the Nyos Quantum 120, Red Sea 300 and some reef octopus skimmers, but I’m not really knowledgeable when it comes to skimmers. They all look the same to me.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

Hey all, back with another update.

Having a hard time figuring out what kind of algae is covering my sand bed at the moment. The rusty color on the sand bed has turned into a slightly darker, mat-like algae which makes me doubt between cyano, dino’s, diatoms or some combination. I’ve tried taking pictures via a microscope, but I’m debating whether to get a more expensive one for a proper ID. I'm using a very cheap one that I've had for a while.

Most of it goes away after the lights go out, but some of the darker stuff seems to stay on the sand bed. This darker stuff is also the algae that looks like a mat.

Planning to reinstall my UV-light if the problem persists. Also going to try and balance out my nitrate/phosphate. My test results of yesterday are the following. Shows that phosphate is still a little high and nitrates are slightly to low. Also might have to improve the DKh a bit, but I've never tried to do that before. So I have some research to do this weekend.

Temperature	Salinity	Nitrate	Phosphaste	DKh	Calcium	Magnesium	PH
25.7	1.026	~2	0.12	8.0	400	1290	8.2

If anyone is able to help with an ID that would be greatly appreciated. Have been looking at other posts but I can’t make a proper ID myself. Will try to get better pictures by daylight if needed, which I can probably do this Friday.

 

[klavmaister]

Got a red sea reefer 250g2 an am at the excat same situvation.had cyano, killed it with medicine. a week later, the sand turned brown. then my whole aquarium crashed.

 

[klavmaister]

Hey all,

Had a few busy weeks and weekends, so haven't been able to post on here. Hope people are still following along! After my last post I managed to contact the previous owner about the silicone leak. Asked him some questions and I thought about removing all the plumbing, but I was afraid to break all of it during the process. Instead, I made sure to reseal the leaking silicone and replaced the return line connection, overflow pipe and the pipe with the valve.

The plumbing is leak free and the sump is running. It's time to let everything stabilise for the next few weeks. My few pieces of coral have survived the move, and all of them are currently happily swaying in the currents.

Water parameters got a bit out of whack after moving everything over. I did a ~30% water change this Friday.

Measurements before the water change:

Temp 25.7
Salinity 1.027
Nitrate 2.5
phosphate 0.24
DKh 7.7
Ca 360
Mag 1260
PH 8.2

I'm testing everything again this evening, and will prepare another water change if necessary.

My fish are all exploring their new home, except for my banded goby which I hardly see at the moment. He used to move all around the tank, so I hope to see him a bit more soon. He sometimes comes out eating, so he's still alive.

The tank is also turning brown from a diatom bloom. l will do small water changes once a week and remove some of it when cleaning the sand bed.

My old skimmer isn't really pulling out much waste, so I might start looking into a replacement skimmer in the coming weeks.

Are there some skimmer brands that people recommend?

I've been looking at the Nyos Quantum 120, Red Sea 300 and some reef octopus skimmers, but I’m not really knowledgeable when it comes to skimmers. They all look the same to me.

Deltec 400i

 

[thegreenhunterz]

Got a red sea reefer 250g2 an am at the excat same situvation.had cyano, killed it with medicine. a week later, the sand turned brown. then my whole aquarium crashed.

An Aquarium crashing must've been a heartbreaking experience, I know I'd be heartbroken if it would happen. I had red cyano in my old tank, had to get rid of it using Cyano RX (or something like that). It did get rid of the cyano, but it also made way for dinoflagellates in my old system.

I had some contact with my LFS to see if they could find anything in my bacteria culture. They told me it was a good mix of things and to wait it out for a bit. The brown slime has cleared up about two weeks ago, had a bit of white sand for a few days, currently have brown sand due to diatoms. So it seems I'm in luck that it isn't dino's this time.

 

[thegreenhunterz]

Deltec 400i

Heard good things about this one. I eventually went with the Nyos Quantum 120 that was on discount. Was a bit loud at the start, but it has a run in period of a few days. It's a lot more quiet right now, but I can still hear it buzzing quite clearly if my TV isn't turned on. I don't have experience with other skimmers, so I can't really tell how quiet it should be.

 

[klavmaister]

Nyos is great but its AC, so it will never be as quiet as a dc. I got a Deltec 600i, but its to good when I have a fleaceroller ( get 0-0)