new build - please critique my equipment choices

[Litt]

I am working on a new build. This will be my first build. I am going for a mixed-reef tank and plan to start out with beginner stuff but want to be flexible down the road for more advanced corals. I also would like to add an apex at some point down the road as well as a refugium. Here is what I have come up with for the build. Please offer advice or suggest something that I might be missing. Thanks for any help/advice in advance.

Red Sea Reefer 250 (debating if I should go 350 to get 48 inches)
4 Stage Plus RO/DI - 75GPD
Pukani Dry Live Rock - 50 lbs
Arag-Alive Special Grade Reef Sand - 40 lbs (1 inch depth)
300W Accu-Therm Heater
2X EcoTech Radion XR15W Pro LED
Syncra Silent 4.0 Pump (951 GPH) - SICCE
Reef Octopus Classic 150SSS 6" Internal Protein Skimmer
MarinePure Ceramic Biomedia (for sump)
Maxspect Gyre XF130

 

[thegrun]

The 350 will allow you to keep fish like a Kole Tang or Dwarf Angel that would not be appropriate for the 250. Your list looks good but I would get two heaters at half the needed wattage rather than a single larger heater so when it goes bad (they usually stick in the on position when they fail) you have more time to notice and fix the problem before the tank crashes. I would skip the biomedia in favor of simply using small pieces of rock.

 

[Litt]

The 350 will allow you to keep fish like a Kole Tang or Dwarf Angel that would not be appropriate for the 250. Your list looks good but I would get two heaters at half the needed wattage rather than a single larger heater so when it goes bad (they usually stick in the on position when they fail) you have more time to notice and fix the problem before the tank crashes. I would skip the biomedia in favor of simply using small pieces of rock.

Good call on the heater. Thanks for the input. If I went with the 350, other than rock and sand, do you see something else that would need to be upgraded (thinking about lights)? I was thinking the biomedia based on the study BRS did with total surface area of rock vs biomedia. What is your reasoning behind rock instead if you don't mind me asking? thanks.

 

[CafeReef]

If you go with the 250, I would save a litte money and get the xr30 instead of two xr15's. If you go with the 350, then I'd do 2 xr15's

 

[gone fishin]

I would personally go with dry aragonite over the live sand and save yourself a couple bucks. The dry sand will become live. Good luck on the build.