"Custom" Reefer 250 build questions/suggestions

[Scurvy]

Haha!

 

[PiscesPower]

I have had my RSR250 up for about 13 months. My thoughts are to get the best you can afford with regard to lights. You may want just 'easy' corals now, you will find yourself wanting SPS later on and you will not recoup your costs on the 160s to replace them.
I run one Icecap 3K on one end of my tank and a Reefbreeders Reef Power RP-M on the other. I keep SPS so I like a LOT of flow. I do run an Apex, with DOS & DDR. I like the monitoring ability, but its definitely not essential. Early on I would make sure I had a quality digital refractometer, and quality test kits (API is fine when cycling and testing ammonia and nitrite, but not very good for on going use)Red Sea, Hanna, Saifert are all I have had good results with. I use Hanna checkers for what I can, and Saifert for the rest.

If I was going to buy one 'extra' thing to start with it would be an ATO. The Red Sea built in one sucks. Its too small and depends on the manual float. The Tunze Osmolator 3155 is what I have, but there are others. Optical sensor is great.

BulkReefSupply.com has a great video series call 52 Weeks of Reefing and I can't recommend it enough. Stability is the key to success. Patience of course, and being proactive rather than reactive. I love my Red Sea Tank, tuning the downflow can be a bit challenging at times, but other than that I wouldn't trade it for anything. Good luck and welcome to the hobby. Make sure to start a build thread and take LOTS of pictures. (I have more pics of my tank than my kids).

 

[Tastee]

thanks for the tip man, as i browse on this forum i noticed people with Dos and apex controllers would you say these pieces of equipment greatly help or even needed to maintain the tank properly?

I am very happy I made the investment in the Apex. As others have said it is by no means necessary, but I love being able to keep an eye on my tank whenever I want, and all the alerting and failsafes you can use. I use the ATK to keep the stock RSR ATO full from my nearby RODI reservoir. I also like the stepping motors in the DOS and the ability to spread the dosing throughout the day to maintain stability. The RSR sump isn’t huge but I have made it work for me and dose NoPoX for nutrient export and 3 part Aquaforest, so 2 DOS heads work well. The sump area can ‘just’ fit a DOS either side. I also need a chiller so love the dedicated compartment.

Here is my sump and tank in case you find my setup useful.

 

[leroy_jenkinz]

I am very happy I made the investment in the Apex. As others have said it is by no means necessary, but I love being able to keep an eye on my tank whenever I want, and all the alerting and failsafes you can use. I use the ATK to keep the stock RSR ATO full from my nearby RODI reservoir. I also like the stepping motors in the DOS and the ability to spread the dosing throughout the day to maintain stability. The RSR sump isn’t huge but I have made it work for me and dose NoPoX for nutrient export and 3 part Aquaforest, so 2 DOS heads work well. The sump area can ‘just’ fit a DOS either side. I also need a chiller so love the dedicated compartment.

Here is my sump and tank in case you find my setup useful.

you definitely have a really nice setup going on!