Seb's RSM

[Seb]

I just picked up my used RSM yesterday. The tank is only 6 months old I have the original receipt for it.

 

This is what I have:

 

Rsm 130

RSM Stand

Tunze Nanostream 6025

 

and all of the test sets,salt and additives.

 

 

The tank was neglected for some time I think as when I came for it it wasn't in a good condition so I took the tank home and cleaned it. I had a friend knock up 180L (47Gal) of fresh seawater. did some scaping and filled the tank.

 

Some pictures:

 

The Tank:

 

The back wall before cleaning.

 

Filling with fresh water:

 

A lttle aquascaping:

 

 

 

Now I have already orderen another 8KG (17Lbs) of fresh LR to be added. This isn't enough LR imo and some of the rock you see isn't even LR. So at the moment i'm looking at other tanks for cool scaping ideas. my LR should be here in 2 or 3 days.

[CrownOfficial]

what are you planning on stocking with?

corals fish inverts.

what are you plans.

looking good. how much did you get it for used? its in awesome condition

[Seb]

When I filled the tank with water yesterday I used 100% freshly made seawater for 100% of the tank.(The water has been mixed and left for about 24hrs.) Later that evening I saw some dead critters floating around and this morning a dead worm so I pulled out the test set to see if my water was any good.

 

I came up with these results:

 

Temp: 25C or 77F

SG: 1.024

PH: 8,4

No2: 0,1

No3: 5.0

Ca: 370

Mg: 1320

 

I also tested the amonia but couldn't really work out how to read of the chart. The test vial gave the same color as 0,25 on the low right end of the chart but I don't understand how to use this figure in the calculation described in the manual.

 

Can someone explain this to me?

 

Also ,what do you guys think of my test result. what Should I improve on and how do I achieve that?

 

All help is welcome as I'm relatively new to the hobby.

[CrownOfficial]

just put everything into your tank and run the filter and let it sit.

test every couple of days and your nitrates should go down.

then your going to get a spike in nitrates and an algae bloom.

[Seb]

what are you planning on stocking with?

corals fish inverts.

what are you plans.

looking good. how much did you get it for used? its in awesome condition

 

Here's my whishlist....

 

Corals:

Acropora formosa

Montipora digitata

Montipora monasteriata

Acropora granulosa

 

Caulastrea furcata

Euphyllia ancora

Euphyllia glabrescens

Euphyllia paradivisa

Favites flexuosa

 

Xenia sp.(Pumping xenia)

 

Discosoma coeruleus

Ricordea Florida

Ricordea yuma

 

Zoanthus

 

Briareum spp.

 

Inverts:

Lysmata amboinensis

Percnon planissimum

Percnon gibbesi

Thor amboinensis

 

Fish:

Synchiropus splendidus

Synchiropus picturatus

Amphiprion percula

Doryrhamphus excisus

Chrysiptera hemicyanea

Salarias fasciatus

Halichoeres chrysus

Opistognathus aurifrons

Pterapogon kauderni

 

Starfish:

Archaster angulatus

 

 

Note I will not add all of the above but these are the things I like in a aquarium. I will try to keep the numbers of fish down to a minimum and I'll have to see what works in the tank and what I can get my hands on. Some of the things above can only be added after a year or so whan the tank is been running for a while.

 

 

 

Now the people I bought it from bought all of this 6 months ago from the dealer and I have all the original receipts;

 

Tank: €699,- / $ 978,-

Tunze streamer: €59,- / $ 84,-

LR 20kg 40lbs: € 250,- / $ 350,-

Other stuff all together: €80,- / $ 112,-

 

Total: €1.088,- / $1.523,-

 

These people put their RSM on the dutch equivalent of E-bay and I put in an offer which they accepted pretty quickly. (maybe they needed money fast in these times of crisis...)

 

I paid for the whole package.... €300,- / $ 420,-

 

So I think I have a real bargain here and maybe the cheapest RSM on NR...lol. The only thing I had to buy was a thermometer for €1,50 / $ 2,10

[CrownOfficial]

lol. nice steal. and thats a very nice stocking list.

[Seb]

I have done a bit of DIY on the skimmer. It wouldn't skim or give any substantual bubbles. I got a saw and took off 1,5 cm of the bottom and glued some airhose on it. I also adjusted the skimmer pump outlet a bit and it seems the bubbles escape the pipe a bit easier.

I'm very satisfied with the results.

I know I will have to get the tunze 9002 and drop stevieT a line anyway but this has made my day!

 

I had a feeling I forgot something and all of a sudden I knew. I hadn't checked underneath the two return pumps....

 

And yes! ofcourse I find the original bag of active carbon and the bag of ceramic pipes... They had turned all green brown and disgusting and must have been in there since the start 6 months ago.

 

I quickly (but carefully) whipped them out and I'm hoping this will help the quality of the water. I did put in 1 (fresh) bag of AC and placed it on the slopey bit of the skimmer.

 

 

 

 

 

[wmb_1983]

wow i hope haveing that old rotten crap under your pumps wont hurt your water any make sure to keep a good eye on it.

[StevieT]

Calc is a little low but without anything in the tank yet it no big deal.

 

You may be high on the fish stocking but I don't understand what they are so hard to tell

 

I have added you to the RSM index thread

 

cool skimmer mod

[slcw]

hey Seb, u got the tank on the same day i got mine...hehe see u around

[monosyth]

I'll be keeping an eye on this one. Lots of new RSMs!

[Seb]

Thanks for the replies!!! I'll be watching your tanks too! well.. I watch about half of the tanks on this forum anyway...

 

I did another small mod to the tank. I added a small rubber ring to the two return pumps. I put the ring between the pump and the back wall to to keep the resonating sounds to a minimum and again this is a succesfull modification to keep the noise down. Sorry for the bad pic but you get the idea..

 

I have also added another 6lbs of LR to the tank but I'm still waiting on the other 12lbs of LR that I should get any day now so I can start my rock scaping project. I have just added the rock now.\

 

I don't see any critters during the day exept for this little one in the picture. At night I do see a few but not very much at all...

 

Also my rocks are covered in a brown algae. It's not like the green hairy type but it looks a bit more like a slimey brown layer. You can compare the picture below with one of my first pictures to campore the rock.

 

Is this ok? should I not get nice green algae?? I'm a bit worried now so if someone could answer this for me it would be much apreciated.

 

Mod:

 

 

Critter:

 

 

FTS:

[monosyth]

Are you planning on adding sand? Might want to do it soon?

[slcw]

u have a layer of film on the water surface,

 

u might wish move the water inlet to the filter compartment higher.

In my case, i use my tunze nano to blow towards the inlet for further assistance

[Duncan]

the brown algae is called diatom and it is perfectly normal... it will last for about 1 week.

 

you might want to do some aquascapings about the rocks? to be honest, the rockscape doesnt look too great.

[JBM]

Your experiencing a cycle. This is a good thing.

 

Be patient, read thru some of the other rsm threads for ideas & things of the like.

 

Have fun & go slow

[Seb]

Are you planning on adding sand? Might want to do it soon?

 

Yes, ofcourse I'll be added sand... But here in Holland they chase you with pitchforks if you put the sand in from the start. Most people here advise you to add the sand right after the cycle. You might heve to cycle for a longer period then but the sand stays nice,fresh and white.

 

u have a layer of film on the water surface,

 

u might wish move the water inlet to the filter compartment higher.

In my case, i use my tunze nano to blow towards the inlet for further assistance

 

Thanks, I'm playing with that. still haven't got it perfect yet. I have 1 outlet pointed to the surface to break the film. I took this picture right after I added some more LR so what you see is mostly sand and detritus that came of the LR the second it touched the water.

 

Still have to find the exact right setup though.

 

the brown algae is called diatom and it is perfectly normal... it will last for about 1 week.

 

you might want to do some aquascapings about the rocks? to be honest, the rockscape doesnt look too great.

 

Thatnks, Ill search for topics with diatom and have a look.

 

I haven't done any scaping at all. I just dumped the LR in. This "scape" took about 5 mins. As said before I'm wating for another 12lbs of LR first before I start scaping. I don't see the point of scaping something now and then having to break it up over the weekend when the new LR arives.

 

 

Your experiencing a cycle. This is a good thing.

 

Be patient, read thru some of the other rsm threads for ideas & things of the like.

 

Have fun & go slow

 

I thought it was part of the cycle but most topics I read mentioned the nice and green algea whilst I'm experiencing this mucky brown Algea. You have all put my mind at rest now and I can sleep again.

 

I'm planning to go very slowly ,1 step at the time. would be a waste to buy stuff and throw it out a week later.

[JBM]

9 out of the 11 tanks i have set up ( not all for me ) have all experienced brown algae blooms within the first 3 weeks of being set up. I consider it a good thing.

 

no need to worry, we wont let you make a mistake (atleast that we have already made before)

[Seb]

Ok, thanks in advance because I certainly don't want to make any mistakes. All help is welcome

 

So I have a few new questions...

 

(1) I'm running the lights for 4hrs a day now building up slowly to more hours over the coming days/weeks. When the lights are on the diatom algae produce a lot of tiny airbubles. This is ok right? Will this affect my parameters?

 

(2) I just spoted a teddybear crab I think it was hard to see because it ran back in it's hole. I already spotted the hole in the LR and thought it was odd because it looked freshly made. Today the crab showed itself a bit. It only stuck out a couple of hairy legs. First I thought it was a tentacle or something but then I think I spotted the body of the crap. I quicly took a picture but it quickly went back into it's hole before I could get a sharp picture. I want to remove the crab this weekend because I have read it will eat hermits and maybe snails. Mine also seems to heve a keen eye for drilling my LR to make a bigger house for himself.

 

What is the easiest way to get him out? put him and the rock in a bucket of RO water? how long can I keep the rock in RO without killing the bacteria in the rock?

 

Do you see him?

 

 

 

(3) I played with the water intake grill or whatever you call it. it seemed to work for a while but now I have some surface film build up again. Can you tell me what the best height is for the grill measuring from the top down?

[slcw]

Ok, thanks in advance because I certainly don't want to make any mistakes. All help is welcome

 

So I have a few new questions...

 

(1) I'm running the lights for 4hrs a day now building up slowly to more hours over the coming days/weeks. When the lights are on the diatom algae produce a lot of tiny airbubles. This is ok right? Will this affect my parameters?

 

if your tank has no corals yet, i would not switch on the lights. The air bubbles on the diatom algae means it is at the stage of photosynthesis. It is fine. If u have corals place on the diatom, it would disappear, as diatom compete with corals for lights and nutrients to grow

 

(2) I just spoted a teddybear crab I think it was hard to see because it ran back in it's hole. I already spotted the hole in the LR and thought it was odd because it looked freshly made. Today the crab showed itself a bit. It only stuck out a couple of hairy legs. First I thought it was a tentacle or something but then I think I spotted the body of the crap. I quicly took a picture but it quickly went back into it's hole before I could get a sharp picture. I want to remove the crab this weekend because I have read it will eat hermits and maybe snails. Mine also seems to heve a keen eye for drilling my LR to make a bigger house for himself.

 

What is the easiest way to get him out? put him and the rock in a bucket of RO water? how long can I keep the rock in RO without killing the bacteria in the rock?

 

Do you see him?

 

 

 

(3) I played with the water intake grill or whatever you call it. it seemed to work for a while but now I have some surface film build up again. Can you tell me what the best height is for the grill measuring from the top down?

 

they say 1/4 inch away from the top i think, play around to find your own acceptable level.

What i do is aim a tunze at the surface towards the grill for higher film breakup.

[Seb]

New results just in!!

 

I'ts been a week so I tought I's check my wter again, here are the results:

 

 

Temp: 25C or 77F

SG: 1.023

PH: 8,6

No2: 0,1

No3: 0

NH3/NH+4: 0

Ca: 480

 

So my Nitrate has dropped dramaticly and my Calcium has risen from 370 to 480. I have been adding Ca and Sera Ammovec over the past week and these results show it has done something to the water.

 

I still feel a bit unexpirienced doing the tests and always doubt my results. I use the red sea test kit and just follow the instructions. Are these good test results or are the impossible compared to the last test 1 week ago?

 

21-06-2009 ------------- 27-06-2009

Temp: 25C or 77F---------------- 25C or 77F

SG: 1.024 ------------------1.023

PH: 8,4 --------------------- 8.6

No2: 0,1 ----------------------0.1

No3: 5.0 ----------------------0.0

Ca: 370 --------------------- 480

Mg: 1320 ------------------- -

[Toomin]

the brown algae is called diatom and it is perfectly normal... it will last for about 1 week.

 

you might want to do some aquascapings about the rocks? to be honest, the rockscape doesnt look too great.

 

i was about to say that as well!

after all, your tank is quite tall.

do some nice stacking!

[Seb]

i was about to say that as well!

after all, your tank is quite tall.

do some nice stacking!

 

sigh... do chicks not read....?

 

In this topic I have already written (twice) that I'm waiting for more LR and I will not do any aquascaping till I get it. The rock that's in the tank just now is just there so it can cure the tank. so this is now the third time I say this....

 

I see no point in spending hours aquascaping when I have to break it all up again when more LR comes in next week. (should have been today but hey..)

[wmb_1983]

your tank is coming along nicely i will keep my eyes on this. your tank is about a month younger than mine so if i can help in any way feel free to pm me.

[Seb]

Thanks WMB. Still waiting for more rock... can't wait to start rockscaping.

 

Your tank might be only 1 month older but you're lightyears ahead of me... My tank consists of saltwater rocks and diatoms...... Do you know how long the diatom stayed in your tank?