Red Sea max 250

[RGS88]

I've had a Red Sea Max 250 for about a year and a half now. Some comments...

- It's a excellent starter tank... because it's an all-in-one, it reduces the learning curve if this is your first steps into saltwater/reef... like it was for me. At the beginning, I didn't want to go with a piece-meal setup when I didn't even know what a protein skimmer was or what it was for.

As for the tank itself...

- It runs hot! This is primarily due to the two circulation pumps (which run hot). My water temp runs around 80-81 with all the fans going. The higher temps haven't had an adverse effects on anything that I can tell, and most soft corals (mushrooms, xenia, anthelia, green polyp, etc.) grow like weeds in my tank. I'm pruning/removing a lot of this stuff every month or two). I also started with one (sickly) Rose Bubble Tip Anemone. I now have 7 of these a year later, including baby ones. So I'm not overly stressed about the water temp otherwise corals or fish/anemones would be doing poorly (which they're not)

- Stock protein skimmer isn't the best. It does the job (sort of), and is kind of finicky to get it set properly

- I was recommended by a bunch of other RSM 250 users to replace the stock heater with something of better quality. (The RSM 250 stock heater isn't the best quality and is prone to failure). So I replaced the stock heater with another brand. (Obviously with the water temp running at the high end... the heater... which I have it set to 77 never goes on. So the heater is there as a safety backup in case the water temp drops below 77).

- If you don't already have one... I would recommend an auto-top-off system. Because the RSM 250 runs so warm, water evaporates quickly, and you'll find yourself topping off the tank every day or two.

- The stock bulbs are bright (skewed to the white end of the spectrum). When it comes time to change bulbs, you can change to a softer/blue spectrum if that's something you like. I found the stock RSM 250 bulbs to be so bright (white) that it lit up my entire room which made it hard to watch television at night.

[ashr]

As for myself I can also comment on the heat. I run a chiller and have my tank at a stable 79-80 most days. I also never have my heater on but I do recommend as stated above replacing it. I have done a little mods that have helped with the skimmer to make it work 50% better and I can share this if anyone is interested.

I have replaced all my bulbs with ATI's as well.
I need a ATO soon as well

[LipmanJ]

this is my primary tank right now. it does run hot, i have a chiller though.

as for my skimmer after 2 months (and a auto top off system) my skimmer is dialed in and stays dialed in.

my heater seems to work fine, I'm using it in my fresh water tank and no issues yet.

I have added the intank media tray mod, this has helped me get CPE and purging in my tank at the same time and my water is clear and levels perfect.

the products I use are
- intank media rack
- 1/4hp aqua euro chiller (more then the 250 need but i got it cheap and will be good when I go bigger)
- tunze 3155 ATO
- 1 mp10 powerhead

I also just got a 5 stage ro/Di unit because it's cheaper to make it then for me to go get it..

I'm very happy with the tank, my next upgrade will be led lights, but im in no rush right now.