Restarting my rsm250

[mtk]

Hey everyone,
Its been a while since I have been on the forums. Lots have happened. We have moved twice and added two identical baby boys to our family on sept 18th. In this time my rsm 250 had moved with us to our apartment but it crashed due to the lack of time I had for the tank and aptasia taking over. Well the tank is still in the apartment and we are in the main house with my fish and a few corals that are still surviving. I was toying around with the idea of buying a new red sea reefer 170 but dot know if I want to spend the money to buy a new tank so I might go buy a 20 gal tank to put my fish in while I break down my rsm 250 and clean it up and get it started up again but have a few questions that you guys may be able to answer for me.

1. Being that my tank is loaded with aptasia what is the best way to clean the tank? Remove everything and fill it with a viniger and water solution?

2. This tank will be a mixed reef with gorg's, sponges, lps and softies. Just curious if there is a better skimmer option for the rsm 250. Was never a big fan of the stock skimmer.

3. Lighting is my next concern. I was running reefledlights.com set up and don't want to do that still. I still have a stock hood that I can run t5s and maybe just add a strip to give me a slight shimmer or do I remove the hood and run a kessil or radion? If i remove the hood then I feel I need to figure out a better skimmer option to try and keep the sound down

Let me know what you guys think.
Thank's
Richie

 

[dacianb]

Why dont you try one of those ready made sumps for RS 250? Then your skimmer choices are much wider.
For a single radion/kessil - I am not sure will cover the whole tank (I have a Reefer 350 - slightly longer than RS250, but for sure I need 2 led modules)
For aiptasia - not sure what works best, but I sterilize rocks with bleach + boiled water. Put rock in a bucket, add some bleach and then fill the bucket with boiled water. After 2-3 days, remove the water and replace it with fresh water daily for next few days (so all bleach to come out).
I do the same even when I buy new dried rocks. If you still have traces of bleach when put rock in tank, skimmer may go crazy for a while.

 

[mtk]

thanks for the response. If i go with a ready made sump I run into spending more money then I want to at the moment. I am trying to restart my set up as cheap as I can other wise I would just go out and buy the rsd sea reefer 170. I am wondering what way would be better for a whole tank? Bleach or viniger?
thanks

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Hi Richie - welcome back to the game - best of luck on the restart - I think you could use either bleach water or vinegar

 

[Adrienne]

There has been a bit of discussion over the last couple of months about replacing the stock red sea 250 skimmers on either the 250 or C250. Either way as the C250 sump is smaller than the 250 the one people seem to be using would work. I'll have a look and see if I can find the links

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/index.php?threads/what-goes-in-the-back.93863/#post-1284558

 

[mtk]

Thank's glenn.

Thanks adrienne.
Anyone know how the tunze DC 9004 skimmer would work in this tank? Better the the stock and or the skimmer thats for the 250C

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

If you search for 9004, you will get a dozen hits, I know 5 or 6 members are running them... not sure how they like them after running some time though...

 

[mtk]

Thank's Glenn. I was hoping that someone might of had personal experience with it. Anyway so it began today.. Picked up a 20 gal high tank yesterday and set it up as a holding tank until I get my 250 back up in its new location. I drained the 250 today and put about 15 gallons of tank water into the 20 high with 3 pieces of live rock with my 2 mp 10s and the heater. I then drained the rest of the 250 and removed all my live rock and sand. Then filled the tank with 20 gal of viniger and then filled the rest of the tank with tap water. I am going to let it run this way for a day or two and hopefully all the aptasia will die off. also hope this will make it possible tor me to get the coraline off the plastic intake grate. If anyone has a good way to get coraline off the plastic intake please let me know.
thank's

 

[mtk]

can anyone tell me why someone would run a tunze 3162 in the back chamber of a rsm 250? Just curious what the benefit is
thanks

 

[Adrienne]

instead of a media rack?

 

[eQuatics]

Good feedback here, but I can't help to think about the obvious, and I hope this comes as helpful and not judgmental. But I definitely recommend starting over, for simple reasons. I think starting over will allow you to develop the appreciation needed in this hobby which you've lost a little over the life circumstances you went through. Keeping a living piece of art in your living room isn't just a playful hobby. You have to be willing to completely commit to it. Starting over will allow you to develop the habits and routines youll need all in the meanwhile slowly adjusting to it all. Not to mention you might have all sorts of other complications from the old tank and such, and might be turned away or disappointed by the fact that you're climbing an uphill battle. Hope this came across well haha

 

[clown lover]

Hey everyone,
Its been a while since I have been on the forums. Lots have happened. We have moved twice and added two identical baby boys to our family on sept 18th. In this time my rsm 250 had moved with us to our apartment but it crashed due to the lack of time I had for the tank and aptasia taking over. Well the tank is still in the apartment and we are in the main house with my fish and a few corals that are still surviving. I was toying around with the idea of buying a new red sea reefer 170 but dot know if I want to spend the money to buy a new tank so I might go buy a 20 gal tank to put my fish in while I break down my rsm 250 and clean it up and get it started up again but have a few questions that you guys may be able to answer for me.

1. Being that my tank is loaded with aptasia what is the best way to clean the tank? Remove everything and fill it with a viniger and water solution?

2. This tank will be a mixed reef with gorg's, sponges, lps and softies. Just curious if there is a better skimmer option for the rsm 250. Was never a big fan of the stock skimmer.

3. Lighting is my next concern. I was running reefledlights.com set up and don't want to do that still. I still have a stock hood that I can run t5s and maybe just add a strip to give me a slight shimmer or do I remove the hood and run a kessil or radion? If i remove the hood then I feel I need to figure out a better skimmer option to try and keep the sound down

Let me know what you guys think.
Thank's
Richie

I agree the stock skimmer just does not work well, I went with the Deltec MC500 a little pricey but worth the money IMO and slides right into the same area with very little modifications.