Thanks for looking! I try to keep it interesting with pictures, words are no fun

It just keeps lookin better and better! I love this tank!

Thank you ! I am waiting on a few new corals. Updates to come.

Cant wait to see the new corals. I have a question though...

I was wondering about when you cut the holes in the skimmer and you put that tube in there does that tube cuk up water at all? Also i have been running my skimmer for two days and it has not taken anything out yet. Just not enough bio load?

No, it doesn't suck up any water, that would be bad. The tube is only in the hole about 1/2" and my skimmer cup doesn't fill up with water, but green goo.

Probably not enough bio load yet. Let the skimmer break in before you expect anything to collect, it may take up to two week for it to "break in". My cup doens't collect very much anyways, yet the tube and inner collum collects very think green paste.

Ok thanks. I thought that it said it was not supposed to suck in water but for some reason it looked like yours did.

Already this morning there is not near as many micro bubbles from the skimmer.

Well i just cut the holes and stuck that tube in there a little and the noise in like gone! But the only problem i had is that the back part of the hood will not close all the way now.

Adjust the hose so it will close. You can either shove some of it down into the cord chamber or cut it. Mine closes fine.

Ok thanks!

don't be a little girl about it and make it work !!

I know what you are talking about. The first time I set it it up the lid didn't close either. I just shoved it down enough and it adjusted the hose for me. Now the hose is formed enought that is closes.

I am shocked at how much it cuts down the sucking sounds.

Yeah its amazing on how quiet it is now. Now i can sleep at night!! (its right next to my bed)

I just took some duct tape and taped the hose down so it would close and now it does!

Hey i was just wondering how often and how much water do you change when you do a WC?

4 gallons every friday


Dose with a two part solution half way through the week.

What solution do you use?

C-Balance from dr. fosters.

hold off on dosing till you stock full on corals. My calc. drops after 3-4 days so I need to dose.

4 gallons of RO water, 2 1/2 cups of salt every week = 1.025 salinity and the perfect amount of calcium after a WC. It's nice when you nail it down to a science, i still check with the refractor to make sure i'm on with the salt, but it has never been off yet.

What kind of salt you use?

Red Sea coral pro. Same stuff that came with the starter kit (which was a waste of $$ !)

I have gone through that small bucket and now onto my 5 gallon bucket.

I have done 15 water changes since the tank has been set up. I record every on on the software program.

Ok thanks. Dont feel like doing the math but how long has your tank been up and running?

Set up August 21st, first fresh water change was September 11th. I was using old water from my other tank to get this one set up, stabilized the water quick.

Veyr nice... but very pricey. I think my 90G oceanic tech build has come out cheaper :-P "bought the tank & stand used in mint condition for $450 *LOL* "

Good work on keeping records of everything. Impressive!

Thank you. The tank is a bit expensive out of the box but there are no mods to be done. The only thing I have put in the tank is an extra powerhead and an ATO system. Sounds like you got a great deal on the 90 gallon.

Understood, my 18T viaaqua 680 / my setup was all purchased new so I feel your pain. Was very pricey, but I think in equipment I came out to a grand running all seperates with a CPR overflow and 10G sump. Would have been nice to have it all in one!!!!

this is an expensive hobby! I have about $2100 total, fish corals equipment... but a lot of corals came over from my old tank.

EEK THATS ALOT OF MONEY!

you're telling me! Some of it is spread over a year and a half. A lot has come from this RSM, say $1500 of it on the tank and new additions...... I suppose it's better than wasting it on crack.





mmmmmmmmm crack

I wonder which is more addicting....
crack vs reefing........

reefing while on crack

damn your good!

1.25 Update:

GSP not open today, other than that nothing too new, still waiting on new corals to be shipped (holding for new frags to recover). Everything is growing nicely





^^new yuma growing ^^


















FTS

Awesome Tank. I just bought a RSM about a month ago. I am wondering if you have any advice on what to do about the stock equipment that came with it. I have heard about cutting the black sponge in half, and drilling a hole in the protein skimmer. I am having problems with floating particles in the tank. The black and white sponge don't seem like theyre doing the trick. Water is just not as clear as when I had a 90 gallon with a sump. Right now I have a small frag of green star polyps, a maroon clown, misc. crabs and snails, a pistol shrimp and his life-partner the watchman goby, and a sand sifting star. My parameters seem like they're doing good. Also too, are you using the stock lights (T5 PC's)? I have pics, but I don't know how to put em up. IMa try though. see if it works.Click to view attachment
Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment

insurgo71 How old is you tank??
Nice rock scape!

Thank you. The Tanks a little over a month old. I seeded it with water from my 90 gallon, along with some live sand and some of the more purple looking live rock. Looking to get some corals today. Will post pics when I get new corals.

you need to lower your water level for proper surface skimming. Also junk that white sponge, it is garbage. If you want to run a similar option get filter floss and change it weekly. Throw out the bio balls. I have all my equipment on this thread somewhere.

Main thing is lowering your water level 1/4" bellow the black molding.

Changing the Carbon, Cleaning the filtration chambers:

Well this process took about 45 mins and was well needed. There is a lot of detritus that gets built up in the sump chambers. Here are some pictures of how this was acomplished.

Removed hood brace pins and blocked up the hood for better access:



Removing Pumps, heater and ATO float sensor:





Blocked off Output holes where pumps were, very important to keep junk out of the main display when cleaning:



Before:










Old bag of chemi pure, as you can see it is not to cloged up:




nasty:



New Bag:




After, I did not take a pic of the pump chamber before installing powerheads, it was nice and clean as well:





FTS to come Monday, make it a great weekend!

Coralline owns that Koralia

it is winning the war! It is everywhere

Damn bud! That Fiji is really taking off!

You know I got so darn tired of the cut-the-hands-stand-on-a-chair routine when I had to change my carbon I opted for that $30 poly-reactor and just moved it all off line. Went from a 40 minute+ cursing festival to about 15 minutes. Something to think about as you could do it HOB style on the tank...

UH

Lookin awesome!

Yeah.... it is taking over, i am wondering if the orange monti is going to be effected by is presence.

we'll see how long I let the current set up piss me off. Right now I am on a 4 month schedule for the carbon so it isn't very often, yet it is still a pain. I have a grabber tool so removing the bag isn't too bad, and it allows me to clean out those chambers. I do like the idea of doing things off line. Do you have a link to the reactor you purshased?

Lookin GOOD!!!!!!!! post more pics!!

Here you go:

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~Sea...rs~vendor~.html

And mine in production:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...st&id=34142

When I need to change/clean it I shut off the pump switch, unscrew the reactor top, dump the carbon and phosban, then replace. Short, sweet, and simple. 15-20 minutes including the washing of the media and cutting it out of the bag as well as a water change in the main tank. So really it is about 5-10 minutes of work for the filter change out.

You can use the stock pump to move water from/to your wc change bucket if you like. It just has to be within about 3' of the tank I believe. Its like a Minijet pump BTW. I first hang mine in the water and run a hose out to my 'dirty' bucket then I rinse off the pump, put mine in the bottom of my 'clean' bucket and run a hose up into the tank. Its allot gentler on the inhabitants to pump it in rather than pour it. I still syphon water to catch detritus every 3rd week or so.

I use a standard chemipure bag (w/o the bag) and top it off with Phosban. First in line is my poor man's fuge which is Chaeto in a polyreactor and a 9w hang on light then comes the chemipure/phosban. I am using a RIO 800 pump in camber 2 for that. The UV Sterilizer is using the stock pump that came with the poly-reactor and is in chamber 3.

For about $45 shipped its a steal. And with the space you have in the back of your tank you can just hang it off the back in the chiller outlet port.

UH

thanks!!! look back a few pages, recent pics are up

Stevie tank is looking great. Im joining the Max club. Bought a used one and picking up this weekend.

Sorry man, the club is full! haha, Awesome, please update or post a link if you make a thread. There are some good people here that are more than happy to help you out if you have any questions. Good luck!

Hi SteveT
Great thread. Lots to learn from. I am new to RSM and got one last week. Just set it up and moved most of my rocks/corals into the RSM. My bubble coral look large in the 12G nanocube but like nothing in the RSM. I gues i need to get use to this now.
I have a few problems that what to see if you can help out...
a) the famous microbubles, i have it coming out, not a lot but enough to be a headache. How to get rid of them? How long the skimmer need to run before they are gone. I am running it for a day now.
My water level is a hair line lower than the white pin where hood support elbow is. Is it to high? I am getting a film on my water surface now.

thanks.

Great job on the RSM, I also upgraded from a 12 gallon tank. The bubbles will go away, I promise!!! Let the skimmer run for at least 2 weeks, as soon as you have a good bioload going in the tank you will see them go away. the skimmer is not very impressive, but it does work, somewhat haha. Also when you black sponge gets clogged up with junk it will limit the microbubbles. Have you cut the sponge in half???

Yes you water level is too high. Lower it to where it is about 1/4" below the black molding. If you look at my last picture you will see where I keep it. If it is too high you will see surface film. It needs to be about 1/2" bellow that white pin.

Hey question about the black sponge. How big was the one you cut in half? The one that came with mine is only about 3 1/2 inches. So I think maybe they got smart and decided to cut it down to size. Also 1/4 of it is angled, guess just so its easier to grab?

NICE!! looks like Red Sea is taking the advice of reefers. They did have this solution on their FAQ section. Mine was twice that thick. I do use the other half every other week. I swap them on waterchanges letting one dry out. I couldn't think of any other reason to have it angled, did they still include the white filter floss sponge?

Yep, but I replaced it with filter floss that I toss every other day. It also comes with a fan free now I upgraded the ac adaptor per your recomendation. It still runs a little hot though...I may invest in a chiller down the road or try and add another fan somhow.