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Jason's 130 RSM


bekindtoyurbuds

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bekindtoyurbuds

Hey how's it going guys (and girls, I think there are a few) just wanted to show off some pics of my RSM 130's progression throughout the last year and a half. (I'm new to the site, but i am on most of the major forums, under the same screen name)

 

 

 

So this first pic is what it looked like when i started the tank, I started the tank on 1/16/2008 cycled with 55 lbs pounds of live rock this pic was taken about a month after the tank cycled.

Tankclean.jpg

 

This pic was taken probably about a year later when I re-scaped the rock work to get better flow, setting the rock so it wasn't sitting against the back wall of the RSM (note: I have never been blessed to have an abundance of money, so adding corals has been slow)

FishTank2.jpg

 

This next pic was taken a few months later when I noticed that I didn't have enough places to put my corals, most of them were sitting in the shade due to the previous rock setup (note: re-scaping live rock sucks, it took about 3 hours to do this)

DSCN3151.jpg

 

 

Here is what my tank looks like now (well... this pic if a few months old), :angry: due to asterina starfish, and low alk, I have lost most of my coralline algae. Apparently when i moved my live rock around (second photo- third photo) I spread the stars around (they used to stay on one rock) but they went crazy munching on all of my coralline algae, leaving little white spots in their place, and multiplying, thus spreading all over the tank. (its a rookie mistake but I didn't know how big of a deal alk was, it had been falling for awhile but I didn't correct it, I thought water changes would do it, I was sort of afraid of "two part" dosing because i did not understand it fully, so I didn't supplement) Needless to say I now dose and alk is back up to acceptable levels 9 dkh(CAL has always been good around 450) The coralline is slowly coming back, SLOWLY! and will soon be back to its former glory (i hope)

 

DSCN3511.jpg

 

I will post an updated pic of the tank soon, like I have said the pic above is at least a few months old.

 

This is what I have in the tank so far:

Fish:

2 Green chromis damsels

1 fire fish goby

1 false perc. clown fish

 

Inverts:

15 hermit crabs

1 emerald crab

1 "elephant trunk conch"

6 snails (not sure what they are called)

3 nassarius snails

1 peppermint shrimp ( I think, I haven't seen it since I added it to the tank)

 

Corals:

Torch coral (about 3 heads)

Frogspawn(2 separate heads)

Zoanthids, (about 5 different types)

hairy mushrooms (green and pink/fluorescent green)

Blue spotted mushrooms

pink mushrooms

Blue mushrooms

Red with purple spot mushrooms

flowerpot coral

Green/Brown brain coral

Brown/pink colt coral

red/white feather duster

elephant ear mushroom orange/brown

green star polyps

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bekindtoyurbuds

I just found a more recent pic of my tank, Its probably about a month old, (notice: less white spots from where the asterina stars have been, slowly getting covered by more coralline algae (green and then to pink)

(note: I have a bunch of frags in my RSM, waiting to go into my 15 gal frag tank as soon as it is cycled)

DSCN3652.jpg

 

I also forgot to mention all of the equipment it stock, skimmer, pumps and so on, I still run ceramic bio media, and I run a filter pad when I need too, every now and then (if I stir up junk) I no longer run the black filter pad (3 inches thick, as it seems to trap more junk, and fouls the water). I have added two nano korilias in each lower corner (right and left) to help with flow, one pointing towards front(back left, pointed towards front), and the other (in the bottom right of the tank) pointing to the left side of the tank blowing through the rock for better flow, I used to also have a korilia #2 in the upper right corner, blowing down at the lower left, front corner, for better flow but it recently broke so I have not replaced it, (seems about the same with out it, as far as coral happiness goes)

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bekindtoyurbuds
I would recommend removing the bioballs

 

I don't have any bio balls in the system, if you are talking about the ceramic bio media, I have heard that they can be nitrate traps, but I have never had an issue with my nitrates, they have always been 10 ppm or below, which is pretty good (I think) :D

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I don't have any bio balls in the system, if you are talking about the ceramic bio media, I have heard that they can be nitrate traps, but I have never had an issue with my nitrates, they have always been 10 ppm or below, which is pretty good (I think) :D

 

Bioballs and ceramic rings are considered the same. They add nothing to the system but hold the risk over time of nitrates. Your live rock is the biofiltration.

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bekindtoyurbuds
Bioballs and ceramic rings are considered the same. They add nothing to the system but hold the risk over time of nitrates. Your live rock is the biofiltration.

 

 

Well I wouldn't say they don't add anything to the system, they are more space for bacteria to colonize (the more the better), but I get what your saying

:)

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Well I wouldn't say they don't add anything to the system, they are more space for bacteria to colonize (the more the better), but I get what your saying

:)

 

It is such a small amount of bacteria compared to what is in the rock. They were designed for fish only or freshwater setup where substrate like porous rock is minimal.

 

Just some advice to think over. I will add your tank to the RSM owners thread

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  • 4 months later...

nice tank man i had no idea about the starfish eatin corraline i have tons of them in my tank that would exp y i dont have much corriline after 8 months

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