Antics Red Sea Max C-250

Antics

Active Member
I decided to wait a half dozen weeks or so before posting my build so that I would have plenty of photos for everyone to enjoy. Just as a little background information about me, I live in Florida and have been in the hobby between 6-8 years with periods of inactivity in between. I also work at a LFS so I have a varied degree of experience listening to interesting problems and solutions on a daily basis.

My last aquarium with a reef was a 60 gallon cube. I liked the tank a lot but I had three real complaints that won over and made me break the system down and sell out of the hobby for a year or so.

  • Rimless
While I do think that rimless aquariums look great, I think they have a number of problems that outweigh the aesthetics. For me personally, I didn't like that I was uncomfortable buying a number of fish due to their flight risks.​
  • Light Bleed
I also did not care for the substantial amount of light bleed that was being thrown off the sides of my aquarium. It was located in my home office about 4 feet from my desk. Everyday I was annoyed with my aquarium because a bright light would constantly be shinning directly in my eye. It was giving me headaches and causing a lot of resentment toward my fish and coral, despite them having nothing to do with the aquarium placement or light choice!​
  • Filtration
At the time I couldn't find any type of "cube" sump that could house an adequate protein skimmer among other things. Because of this, I used a full size sump/refugium and skimmer on the aquarium but kept it outside of the stand. This was a huge eye sore and basically had my wife complaining every other day. I can't lie though, it really was unreasonable of me to try and justify that mess of equipment and noise.
Learning from that experience, I decided it would be best to go with a canopy this time around. I enjoy canopies because they are an attractive solution to having a lid while also trapping some light in the system. Living in Florida, and dealing with pretty hot annual temperatures, this also had the downside of buying a chiller. Regardless, I was okay with the initial chiller cost and electricity because I wanted peace of mind and stability. I keep my home at 77 degrees normally and It's not uncommon for an AC to freeze up in summer and my home to shoot up another 4-6 degrees so a chiller would help me sleep easier.

With this in mind I purchased a 90 gallon drilled corner over flo Marineland aquarium with the stand and canopy. I picked it up from work and loaded it up on a truck to take home. As I was getting up three flights of stairs, oh did I not mention that I live on the third floor? At this time I began to seriously doubt my estimation that the floor would be fine with a 90 gallon aquarium. When I made the order I was confident and had no worries. Reading on other forums made me much less confident. By the time I had the aquarium home, I had basically ruled out ever using it. After considering the tank volume was 90 gallons with a 30 gallon sump, I estimated the aquarium would sit close to 1,500 pounds when all the equipment, water, rock, and sand was calculated.

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Just as an aside, at this point I should say that in retrospect I'm almost positive I would have had absolutely no issue with this on the third floor. I live in a condo and each floor level is concrete not turn of the century wood beams. Regardless, I didn't want to worry about it so I decided to pursue a different avenue.

We have a larger Red Sea Max at work and after a lot of consideration I decided to go with the Red Sea Max. The price wasn't really an obstacle for me because I knew I would spend at least that much if I were buying my own pumps, lighting, and skimmer after the cost of a tank, stand, and canopy. My only difficulty was choosing between the C-250 and E-260. I loved the rimless look of the E-260 and the ability to use an optional sump in the future. However, I wasn't too thrilled with the choice to use AI lights and again, I wasn't going to trick myself into getting a tank that was almost identical to the cube I grew to hate.

I've always loved T5's and I had already budgeted the necessity of a chiller. I put a down payment on the C-250 and eagerly awaited the aquarium to be delivered.

Preparation

My store has enough distributors that I could have had this tank delivered within 3 days of order. However, I really wanted to take my time getting everything set up because I know how impatient I am. My boss made a request for delivery to be 6 weeks after I placed the order. During that six weeks I made sure to go about preparing everything I would need for the aquarium.

  • Live Rock

I've only used true live rock once and I almost instantly regretted it. I know many people love the Russian roulette of hitchhikers and whatnot, but I absolutely hate knowing that I introduced something annoying or frustrating into my system. Because of this, I've almost always used dry rock when creating my aquariums. In my much hated cube I used the BRS Reef Saver rock. I really enjoyed how easy it was to aquascape and though it was pretty porous. I loved the noise it made when it entered water. For those who haven't had the opportunity, the reef saver rock sounds like muffled Rice Krispies as its submerged.

With this build I wanted to go with something different. Before I used Reef Saver rock on my 60, I had ordered the Pukani dry rock. I loved the look of the Pukani, but it was filthy when I ordered it. I wasn't willing to let it cure for weeks on end before even chancing it in the display. Additional research this time around told me much of the same. However, because I was giving myself a 6 week lead time, I decided it would be a great time to try out the Pukani.
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Always support your Local Fish Store... except when you can't! My store couldn't get this type of salt, which I really wanted to try out. They also don't deal in dry rock other than the Walt Smith and Caribsea. Because of this, I decided to go with BRS because they always have great customer service and pricing/rewards.

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Unfortunately, I wasn't too pleased with the rock selection I received. This isn't BRS's fault. When I made my order I mentioned the dimensions and size of my tank and asked for pieces that would be easy to aquascape with. Once I received the rock though, I knew I really only liked the "Double Island" style of aquascape, and decided to try and order a larger piece that I would enjoy.

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Ultimately I was happy with a few of the larger pieces and decided to begin my cure. I mixed up my salt and threw the rocks in a brute set to 86 degrees. I don't know if the temperature helped or hurt, but I assumed that being on the warmer end of the spectrum would speed up decay and break down of organics. Two days later...

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The photo may not stress the color, but the water went from pure 1.025 RODI to a dark amber colored in only 48 hours. The smell was terrible and I was worried that my wife would not allow this process to occur for much longer. Unfortunately I was doing this cure inside to make the necessary water changes much easier. I didn't bother testing the water for phosphates. I knew they would be off the charts. I continued doing 100% water changes once a week for 7 weeks total. Half way through I switched from running carbon in a bag to running a GFO reactor.

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At the end of the 7 weeks my water now looked like that after a full week. Much improved isn't it? I never went the dramatic route of muratic acid of SeaKlear but that's just because I could never really trust those methods as reef safe despite numerous testimonials supporting the methods. Here is a better photo of the large rock I ended up using. I don't know how to describe my feelings for this rock. I love its personality if that makes sense. I think it looks very cool!

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After my rock was done cycling I had been waiting with tank in hand for almost two weeks. I was excited to get it all together, but I was kind of dreading the process of building the stand, putting the tank on top of it, running all the equipment etc. I do this kind of stuff every week at work, but when you have to do it at home it suddenly becomes tedious and took just a little bit of the enjoyment out of all my preparation.

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After much convincing (lying) to my wife that she was in fact strong enough to lift the aquarium onto the stand, we have success! Looking back on these pictures, I'm realizing that this process was rather tedious and time consuming beyond what I remember. I wasn't very happy with how my "area" was looking due to the clutter and "stuff" that was laying around. When I was choosing the C-250 I didn't really have any type of preference on the color. I was apathetic to white or black, but knew that my wife would certainly have an opinion due to it being in the living room. She chose white and I'm glad she did because it made matching additional furniture much easier. I knew I would need a better way to store and organize the equipment, so I went on down to target and found what I was looking for.

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This cabinet was perfect for what I was looking for. I wanted something that had a drawer, a shelf on the inside, and enough room to keep my 6 stage RODI system inside of it. As a bonus, I wanted something as close as possible to the height of the Red Sea C-250's stand. I don't think I could have got a closer match to what I was looking for without custom work. I was able to fit my RODI in the center unit while also drilling holes in the side for my input, waste, and output hoses.

  • Live Sand
Sand deserves its own section because it almost made me regret going with the Red Sea Max. I'm actually a pretty big fan of bare-bottom aquariums and I don't think they look bad at all. I also prefer the benefits as far as cleaning and whatnot. All of that being said, my wife thinks they're dumb looking. She won out in the end and I decided to go with 60 pounds of Fiji Pink. I wanted the sand to be on the heavier end because in my experience it always settles down a considerable amount in the first week or so.

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As you may have guessed, I did not intend for my sand to recreate the landscaping of Dune. No matter how I played with the stock nozzles I was unable to position them in a way that didn't essentially push the first inch of sand away from the front of the aquarium. I was frustrated because I couldn't find a true solution to the problem that didn't involve a permanent mod like super gluing loc-line adapters to the nozzle outlet's etc. Thankfully my tireless google skills led me back to Reef Sanctuary! @DianaKay has done a number of reviews and product awareness posts that illustrate the use of a Innovative Marine Spin Stream in the Red Sea Max. I bought two from work and my boss showed me a nice trick for shortening the connector just enough to not make them stick out so bad.

With that said, the sand looks great and the flow in my display is even better! I'm really glad that I was able to find this solution due to other members posts, and its one of the reasons this build thread is so detailed! Hopefully someone asks a question and I can offer some answers down the road!

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The sand is much better now and doesn't get blown around at all. The grouping and mounds are the result of my lackadaisical leveling the other night. I actually kind of like unevenness so I'm planning to keep it. Not photo'd include the installation of my ATO and Chiller which are also working great. So far the tank has been running for 3 weeks and I don't have any complaints!

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I just added my first live stock a few days ago. A 3" Magnificent Foxface and a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp! I know the Magfox may outgrow this size aquarium, but for now he's going to do fine. If he gets over the 5" range I'll take him back to work and find him a larger system to live in. From personal experience, it's hard for me to say. I've had fish for years that never really grew more than an inch or two and never reached the "max size" I see listed on forums and websites. Until that day happens, I'll be sure to enjoy this beautiful little guy!

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silver97

Active Member
I kind of wish more people did this when starting their threads. Waiting and then dumping all this info on here is more fun to read than day by day updates in my opinion lol.
Good choice with the pukani, if I'd have known about that when I was starting my tank I would have definitely bought that. I think the structure looks good for your tanks dimensions also.
I hope your foxface gets a friend in the next few weeks!
 

Antics

Active Member
I kind of wish more people did this when starting their threads. Waiting and then dumping all this info on here is more fun to read than day by day updates in my opinion lol.
Good choice with the pukani, if I'd have known about that when I was starting my tank I would have definitely bought that. I think the structure looks good for your tanks dimensions also.
I hope your foxface gets a friend in the next few weeks!
Thanks a lot! I think pukani is beautiful but definitely a huge pain to use! I plan to get a midas blenny and a pair of gold flake clowns. My wife wants a purple tang. I told her if I get one around 2.5-3" I'll pick it up. Not looking forward to the price though. X_X
 

silver97

Active Member
That's a nice stocking list- can't wait to follow along!
Jealous of the gold flake clowns, those are going in my next tank
 

Antics

Active Member
Day 21 - "I forgot how nasty new tanks look"

Spent the a few minutes this morning cleaning up the glass. Adding my Magnificent Foxface and then feeding him has quickly brought about the bloom that everyone see's toward the end of their cycle. Everything has been doing well and I've been testing daily to make sure I wasn't too hasty in declaring the cycle complete. My rock is now brown and yellow. Planning to introduce my clean up crew tomorrow. Not sure when I'll be introducing more fish. I'm impatient, but I'd like to do a full quarantine again for each fish. We'll see.

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I've been giving my fox face half a cube of Mysis and a sheet or so of green algae a day. I think it's a lot of food for one fish but hes been eating it quickly so I'm content with the amount for now. Skimmer is finally pulling out actual waste so that's nice to see instead of just clay from the sand.

Although I'm trying to get the Foxface adjusted to my presence he still seems very skittish around me. He keeps his normal coloration when hes swimming openly, but as soon as I approach he gets all sulky. Hopefully continued feeding will make him associate me with food. Then he should be all smiles!

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meknudson2

Active Member
Very nice detailed startup to your thread. I really like the way your tank is developing and look forward to more details in the future. :)
 

Antics

Active Member
Day 24 - "Snail trails"

I always add my clean crew in small portions. I'm going to try and avoid using any crabs including hermits or emeralds with this aquarium, but I've never done it before so we'll see if it works out. Yesterday I added 3 Nassarius and 2 Turbo Zebra snails. I love to place them on the rock and watch them carve a path! Unfortunately my rock still has a lot of diatoms on it, but its clearing up quickly. I don't think I'm going to add any more snails than this but I may depending on how the maintenance is. I always seem to need way fewer snails than everyone seems to recommend. Without any crabs though I may be able to stock a little heavier.

Planning to add a few more fish in the near future. Will be interesting to see how annoying this skimmer can become once a decent bio load is present. ATO seems to be making it much easier thus far. The stock skimmer in the C-250 isn't bad, but I'm not getting the dark sludge I prefer to skim for. That could also be because there is only one fish in the system right now. ;)

My Magnificent Foxface finally doesn't shy away from me when my hand is in the tank or when I'm preparing to feed him. I'm aware of the danger associated with his spines! Don't worry. :D Cleaner Shrimp has finally decided he can leave the cave hes been holed up in since I introduced him last week. Forgot how small he is! Might consider picking up another one in the next few weeks.


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Antics

Active Member
Day 29 - "Things are coming together"

My diatom bloom seems to be mostly gone. I only have the total of 5 snails and one cleaner shrimp in the system. I'm debating whether or not to add a couple more snails, but I haven't had any issues with algae thus far so I think I'll wait a little longer before committing to increasing the clean up crew.

My Magnificent Foxface is doing fine. I think he's finally adjusted to the aquarium and he isn't very skittish around me when it comes time for feeding. I did my first water change last Friday and I plan to continue doing 10-20% every week for the foreseeable future. Some users on Reef Sanctuary and other forums have made me a little interested in Aquaforest's line of products. I'm planning to document their use on my reef, but who knows how long that will take.

I'm thinking about adding my first coral tomorrow. I think cycle wise everything is finally good to go. I added three more fish so I'm trying to monitor my ammonia and nitrite to make sure my bacteria is able to keep up with the bioload. They've been in there for 5 or 6 days without any adverse affects. Will continue to test for a few more weeks.

In other news, I dug up my MP10s from my last aquarium. Using two right now and considering upgrading their drivers to the Quiet Drive. Not exactly sold on the technology of the driver, or the benefit it will provide without a dry side assembly upgrade, but I am partial to the black controller so that may be enough.

I took these two photos about 3 minutes before my lights cut off for the night. I haven't had time to really play with my DSLR but for now I enjoyed just taking some real photos!

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Antics

Active Member
Still haven't added another snail! Might do that tomorrow and perhaps another Skunk Cleaner Shrimp! I was originally planning to get some Gold Flake Maroon Clowns but my boss got a really good deal on some Gold Nuggets so I decided to bite. Really happy with them so far! I generally don't care for super white clown patterns but I like these guys a lot for some reason. :)

I'm all fished out in my system now. I don't plan to add anything else except for MAYBE a small purple tang if I come across one at work. We shall see!

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Antics

Active Member
Day 36 - "First corals introduced!"

I guess I should preface this by saying that Euphyllia are my favorite family of coral. If I had it my way my tank would be nothing but Hammerheads, Frogspawn, Torches, and Acans carpeting the bottom. Unforuntately this isn't really a good aesthetic in action, but this aquarium will most likely being very Euphyllia dominant. I'm thinking about trying out SPS but I really don't know how great the C-250's skimmer is despite Red Sea's claims. I'd be interesting in seeing other 250's success with SPS first.

Here are a few pictures for now! Hopefully I can get an updated FTS when I have time to clean all the glass and whatnot.

Thanks for reading!

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Adrienne

Well-Known Member
I have a frogspawn and a torch in my C-250 with the stock skimmer. Frogspawn is doing really well at between 1/3 - 1/2 up the tank, torch was doing really well on the sandbed but needs more room. Both will be being fragged shortly and the main corals moved to my larger tank set up.
 

Antics

Active Member
Hello Pogipoints,

Welcome to Reef Sanctuary!

If you have the C-250 like I do you're going to want to order two of the Innovative Marine Spin Stream nozzles. You can purchase them from your LFS or make an online order at Amazon, Marine Depot, or Bulk Reef Supply.

The kit will include adapters and one will fit over the stock nozzles on the C-250. However, this might make your output a little long so I suggest you cut it slightly shorter to make it more snug with the nozzle. I used regular undersized vinyl tubing and boiled the ends to ensure a tight fit and worked them over the nozzle and the spin stream.

I'm using 60 pounds of Fiji Pink and have zero sand movement in relation to the Spin Streams after installing them.
 

Rini

Well-Known Member
Looking good. I'm using the ati's as well in our c250 and liking the more blue color.

In my c250 I have some sps corals and they are doing (as far I can judge) very well. They grow rapidly, open up nice. They are halfway up in the tank. Some even a bit lower.
Everything stock here except the light bulbs they are ati since a month or so.
Don't see any difference in grow and opening upwith the red sea bulbs. Was a bit worried about that with the change of lights.
To be honest, I like the lps corals more as the sps. They are friendly waving to you. The sps are just sticks in the water, not very exciting.
Like you more of the Euphyllia will come to my tank in the future.

Keep up the good work. Looking good.
 

Pogipoints

New Member
Updated FTS!

Recently switched from Red Sea to ATI bulbs. It's much bluer and I've had trouble getting photos to be true to the eye but this is pretty close!

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thank you on your reply regarding the mod in 250, i can't find the trend... i'm waiting for my lights too, shift to ATI from red sea lights... your tank looks good. my tank is 4 week this week and i see a lot of green algae, instead of red or purple algae
 
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