So I bought a API copper test kit and it is showing no signs of copper in the tank or in the bucket from when I was dripping corals though some of that water would have been taking out But for the short time I had the skimmer on it sucked up a bunch of stuff even though it had some color before the test it is deff darker around the 1.0 range. before the drops were added looked to be at .25 so not the most reliable since this is skimmer water but its the only water out of everything showed any coloration after testing.
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I am with you, do it rite first time. Max 250 is great system , all thou it’s limited on what methodology you choose to build and remember it’s not any different then 20g tank and will fail if not properly maintained.
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Any tank can fail which is to always be considered in this hobby. I look at it as there is less to maintain (no sump/refug.) less noise from the over flow going to the sump. But as you stated its limiting to the methodology I would prefer to do. but then cost. I don’t want to spend the whole tax money in 1 place.
lights aren’t really strong enough to support delicate life. youre really paying for the convenience and looks, because the equipment isn’t top notch.
"Lighting: Reef Spec lighting of 4watts per gallon is controlled by a high quality timer and consists of 6 39w T5 Linear Power Compact lamps giving 234 watts output. An additional fan is now included in order to aid cooling during hot periods. "
w/p/g is no longer considered meaningful and pc lighting is just not sufficient to do what they say: "Extensive research and development carried out in our laboratories clearly shows that in order to sustain delicate hard corals such as SPS species, it is essential to meet certain criteria. This is especially true when we remember that many Max aquariums may be purchased by less experienced hobbyists. "
my first tank was and still is a 65, but a 75, which i have also, is a much better tank for looks, ease of cleaning, light penetration, fish swim room. i don’t really wanna steer you in a direction i’d prefer, but look at the options available at tfp. are you limited in the room it’s gonna go?
We are sort of limited on the space for it considering where the DT will go in our addition room. We have a roommate living with us and his home theatre stuff takes up that room pretty much and his tv doesnt mount on a wall like mine does PBJ! I would love to go to a 6’ tank but just to big for what we want to do.
I would love to get into sps If you look at my page link I have some of the coral pictures up nothing great since were still new to s/w and want to have the right setup before we get into the nicer stuff 
Update!
I cleaned the sump with vinegar and let it run for almost 2 full days and then ran it with fresh water to clean out the vinegar 1 or 2 times. finaly made the acrylic divider to fit in the slot since it was missing and put some foam in there. I now have it running again on the tank also put some cheato in the sump this time since it needed some pruning from the copepods tank. Everything seems to be running fine. Also put a piece of poly filter in my filter still no signs of copper at all.
dead list-
1 astrea snail
1 yellow tail damsel
1 finger leather
Today I went to wipe off this nasty stuff off the finger leather and the whole head just fell off basically. can they rejuvenate? Also found a 4-6" bristle worm in my main tank inside the tank and a couple bristle star fish.
Making some progress!!!
Make sure you have something in the sump to prevent the cheato from getting sucked in to the return pump. Something about a big ball of macro algae tied around it makes the impellar difficult to spin. >LOL<
Not sure what happened to your leather coral but rest assured then can rejeauvinate. It may have just been getting ready to drop a baby and you helped it along. Leather are some very difficult corals to kill.
I generally find that gently using a turkey baster to blow stuff off of your corals and rocks is sufficient and there shouldn’t ever really be a need to wipe anything off of them.
[quote=“Cdangel0, post:25, topic:3704”]
Making some progress!!!
Make sure you have something in the sump to prevent the cheato from getting sucked in to the return pump. Something about a big ball of macro algae tied around it makes the impellar difficult to spin. >LOL<
“finaly made the acrylic divider to fit in the slot since it was missing and put some foam in there”
Not sure what happened to your leather coral but rest assured then can rejeauvinate. It may have just been getting ready to drop a baby and you helped it along. Leather are some very difficult corals to kill.
I hope thats the case but it was not looking good and didn’t just fall off as a whole head kinda fell apart ???
I generally find that gently using a turkey baster to blow stuff off of your corals and rocks is sufficient and there shouldn’t ever really be a need to wipe anything off of them.
I will keep this in mind for next time…[/quote]
so far the test polyp I added to the tank did not close it is fully open still. added a polyp I found in my copepod tank and added that into the tank to see if it opens… prob will not till a day or 2 then I can hopefully add my corals back in the tank.