New Red Sea Max 250

[steve]

After some careful consideration, i have decided to sell my 55 gallon FW system to make room for a larger SW system. I was unsure of the size and equipment to buy. My original thought was to go for a 90 predrilled system but after doing some measurements and deciding that my apartment was too small for a 90 gallon system, i have decided to purchase a Red Sea Max 250. This is a 65 Gallon system with everything built in for around 1500 to 1600 dollars. I have a showcase on my 10 gallon nano system with update videos on youtube (link here: YouTube - blessingsofdecember's Channel ).
I will be doing some unboxing of my recent bulkreefsupply.com order and also my RSM 250 along with the setup as well as regular updates of the system.
This will be my first large saltwater system and will definitely need some suggestions from those much more experienced than myself. I have done alot of studying, reading books, watching videos, hundreds of hours of studying. This tank will start off as a fish only system with MAYBE a FEW soft corals such as hammer coral or even an anemone.
Looking forward to starting this journey and will be doing a showcase on the RSM 250 once available.

 

[SeaBee]

Good Luck, we're here to help. Pictures are are only real food, so post a lot of them...

 

[steve]

Good Luck, we're here to help. Pictures are are only real food, so post a lot of them...

I will try to post pictures to go along with the progress of the build. Thanks

 

[little_fish]

Looks like its going to be a fun build!

But, anemones are some of the hardest animals to keep in this hobby requiring mature systems and high lighting conditions, so i would not suggest a nem until you have enough light (around 6 watts per gallon) and your system is stable.

Also, hammer corals are not soft corals, they have a hard calcium skeleton. But they are a great beginner LPS coral. Some other great starter soft corals are zoas, mushrooms, leathers, xenia, waving hand coral etc.

 

[steve]

Looks like its going to be a fun build!

But, anemones are some of the hardest animals to keep in this hobby requiring mature systems and high lighting conditions, so i would not suggest a nem until you have enough light (around 6 watts per gallon) and your system is stable.

Also, hammer corals are not soft corals, they have a hard calcium skeleton. But they are a great beginner LPS coral. Some other great starter soft corals are zoas, mushrooms, leathers, xenia, waving hand coral etc.

Corals are going to be much further down the road of course. I may add some lights to the system in the future. How long do you recommend i allow the system to mature before adding LPS?

 

[little_fish]

I would say if you have softies doing fine in your tank, such as zoas, then you will be fine adding some lps. You can try the softies pretty early, like maybe a week after you add your first fish?

And you have to have the good lights to do the corals. I would suggest getting the good light from the start, its more expensive to buy lights twice. But you can also run your tank for as a FOWLR until you buy the right lights, and then add corals.

 

[steve]

Ok sounds good, do you have a good brand name on lights? The RSM 250 uses 6 39 watt T5 linear lighting, 3 10,000k daylight, 3 actinic as well as 8 blue moon leds.

 

[little_fish]

i dont think you need to upgrade that lighting at all, sounds like its more than enough for corals.

 

[steve]

i dont think you need to upgrade that lighting at all, sounds like its more than enough for corals.

Thats what i was thinking, thanks for the input, always helps:bounce:

 

[little_fish]

sure thing! I was originally thinking that the RSM tanks didnt come with lights, i had them confused with something else.

 

[Bifferwine]

Many LPS corals are very easy to keep, and you should be able to add them when your tank is done cycling -- when your water parameters have been stable for a bit.

 

[phastroh]

I had 2 Anemones in my tank since the first month, actually January 29th they went in and they 22nd was when I put in my rock.

So actually my tank wasn't even totally cycled.

It is now 96 days later and one is at least if not more doubled in size and the other likes to sit in the powerheads line of fire and get beat up and looks beat up.

I haven't figured out why it doesn't move.

So while LF is probably right I went against all odds.

Actually if you think about it, I have 5 fish, an Eel and a bunch of corals(10) in the tank that is only 96 days from the cycle just starting to finish up. Sort of on target but not to everyone.

 

[NanoReefer]

i just got my rsm 130, in their lab tests the light was powerful for all soft and lps corals, and a few sps corals.