Russell's First Reefer 250

rtoris288 · Aug 11, 2019

After months of research, setup, and cycling, our first Reefer 250 is up and running! We added our first frags and some cleanup crew until we are sure everything is stable, but fish should be coming shortly. Excited to share our build with everyone as well!

I tried to cram everything into a tight space and wasn't able to get everything in the stand but I'll work on some better tube and cord management later. We plan on building a cabinet unit around the left-side accessories. Setup listed below with links to the products if interested with photos at the end.

Tech & Hardware

Category	Item	Notes
Tank	Red Sea REEFER 250 (latest edition)	White stand Standard sump Additional back wall put in 2x Red Sea Filter Media Cup with Aquatic Experts Classic Bonded Aquarium Filter Pads
Controller	Apex (2016 Edition)	Standard temperature, pH, ORP, and salinity probes Apex Energy Bar 8 (EB8) expansion
Battery Backup	CybePower Intelligent LCD CP1500AVRLCD	Directly connected to Apex energy bars
Return Pump	Apex COR-15	Custom hard plumbing to REEFER return Apex FS-100 flow sensor
ATO	Apex ATK (v1)	Trigger Systems Aquamarine Triton ATO Reservoir (5 gallon) 2x Apex Optical Sensors (min/max ATO reservoir monitoring) Reservoir automatically filled with a IceCap RODI Smart Water Filtration System Apex Solenoid Valve (SV-1) auto-fill shutoff
Feeder	Apex Automatic Feeding System (AFS)	Currently using very small doses of Crossover Diet (CD) during cycling
Display Lighting	2x Kessil A360WE Tuna Blue	Attached with Kessil Mounting Arms Apex connectivity via Kessil Control Cable - Type 1
Refugium Lighting	Kessil H80 Tuna Floral	Attached with Kessil A-Series Gooseneck Apex connectivity via Kessil Control Cable - Type 1
Additional Lighting	Apex Lunar Simulator Module (LSM)	2 LEDs mounted between main display lights
Light Monitoring	Apex PAR Monitoring Kit (PMK)	Placed at bottom of tank.
Powerheads	2x EcoTech VorTech MP10wQD	Apex connectivity via VorTech Wireless Module (WXM)
Skimmer	Reef Octopus Regal 150-S	Apex connectivity via Apex VDM and IceCap Y Cable Intake air comes through a Bulk Reef Supply Universal CO2 Scrubber with Bulk Reef Supply Color Changing CO2 Absorbent Media
Heaters	2x Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 150w Heater	Setup on separate outlets in case of failure
Automatic Water Change	Apex Dosing and Fluid Metering System (DŌS)	Trigger Systems Aquamarine Triton ATO Reservoir (10 gallon) Red Sea Coral Pro Salt Fluval A767 Tronic Heater Cobalt Aquatics MJ900 MJ900Multi-Purpose Powerhead/Pump for mixing Apex Temperature Probe 2x Apex Optical Sensors (min/mid reservoir monitoring) 2x Apex FS-35 flow sensors (waste out, saltwater in) Dedicated waste line to under-sink pipe
Element Dosing	2x Apex Dosing and Fluid Metering System (DŌS)	Red Sea Reef Foundation Elements (ABC) Red Sea NO3/PO4-X 2x Apex DŌS Dual Reservoir (DDR)
Element Monitoring	Apex Trident	Used to control element dosing
Leak Detection	Apex Leak Detection Kit (LDK)	One probe inside the stand next to the refugium One probe outside between stand and reservoirs
Display	Apex Display Module	Used for sound Apex sound alarms

Refugium

Category	Item
Substrate	Nature's Ocean Natural White Live Sand
Macro Algae	Clean Chaeto
Media	MarinePure 1½" Spheres and Gems with Real Reef Solutions Real Reef Rubble Rock

Display

Category	Item
Substrate	Crushed Coral
Rocks	Real Reef Solutions Real Reef Rock
Cleanup Crew	2x Cerith Snails (Renan and Conrad), 1x Emerald Crab (Frank), 1x Turbo Snail (to be named)

Coming Soon

Category	Item	Notes
Reactor	Bulk Reef Supply GFO & Carbon Reactor - Deluxe	Cobalt Aquatics MJ1200 MJ900Multi-Purpose Powerhead/Pump Red Sea REEF-SPEC Carbon Bulk Reef Supply Granular Ferric Oxide (GFO)

Bhor217 · Aug 12, 2019

Tank looks great!looking forward to seeing the progression.

Blitheran · Aug 12, 2019

Wow! It's crazy the amount of gear we put on our tanks for perfect water quality! Looks great!

Flameback Pair · Aug 18, 2019

@rtoris288 Great start !!! I did't know you could make grid tables like that in R2R. I have a REEFER 250 also, see my build thread link in my signature.