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StevieT's Red Sea Max Experience


StevieT

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Godfather,

 

Your ATO, I get it, it keeps the water at a specific level due to evaporation lost. in that resevoir im assuming its straight water, no salt, but just water. Question is where do you source your water from? do you have a RO/DI unit around ?

 

2nd water item, im a bit lost on is your WC's....when you change your water do you remove like X amount of gallons and let it replinish from the ATO source and then add new water to your resovoir ? :huh: So many questions !!!

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haha

 

No, salt does not evaporate, so you will only replace it with freshwater. So in the resivor it is RO water. I get my water from a water delivery service that I have for drinking water at my office. If i did not have that I would have a RO/DI unit. But since it is at no charge to me and is pure as day, I have 4 - 5 gallon water jugs of RO delivered every other week.

 

During a water change I add 4 gallons of RO to a bucket. Add in 2.5 cups of salt. Drop in a heater and a powerhead to bring it up to temp and do the mixing for me. This brings my mix to 1.025 salinity.

 

I syphon out 4 gallons of water from the display, use the razor blade every other week to remove stuck algae and coralline. Rinse the sponges, change the filter floss every week. Add in the water that has been mixing in the other bucket.

 

I do turn off my pumps and ATO during a water change so nothing is run dry and the ATO doesn't kick fresh water in my tank, that would be badddddddddd!!!!

 

ATO resivor lasts 5-6 days without refilling.

 

Remember, salt does not evaporate so i don't add the mix to the resivor, that would just be a pain since i would have to drain out the ro water, make sure the tubing is clear, remove the pumps, etc. I prefer dumping the water directly into the tank. If i was more "fancy" i would use a pump to add the water back, but then I would have waste every week since there would always have to be a level to where the pump doesn't run dry.

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I never considered getting RO water from the water guys at the office. I have them bring me distilled. Is RO really better?

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distilled and ro are almost the same. Both reef safe. Just make sure they are distilling the water over any metal surfaces.

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mandelbloom

I did the Media Basket mod this weekend....helped bring the water level up in the pump chambers! Also setup a JBJ ATO, going to come in handy as I am away this week :) I was thinking of starting and RSM mods thread...put my mods and others could put theirs so its all in one place.

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mandelbloom

Wow that beats mine for sure! Not sure it would fit with the stock skimmer. I will start it up on thursday when I get back. All my pics are on my personal machine. We can just add all the stuff at the top like the info threads.

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he is saying that the eggcrate will not work with the tunze skimmer, it needs to direct the flow downwards....

 

He did a very nice job.

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razor blade and a straight edge clamped down. Score and cut, it will snap just like glass. That or a saw

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what makes that tunze skimmer so much better? I'm still in the process of setting mine up...should I bypass using the stock one all together and just buy the tunze from the get-go?

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Have you ever contemplated a Refugium ? :huh: maybe one that is submersed inside your ATO bucket ? or attached behind your chambers? It woudl be cool to have a constant food source right there .... I think if I go with a RSM i can somehow come up with one. :) Start inventing for RSM...What are your thoughts?

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Oceanic 30g

StevieT,

Great tank and I loved the thread. I am picking up my RSM this week. I cannot wait to get it going. I am however very patient with these things. I have had a bunch of tanks and I have made all the mistakes before.

 

Question -- Did you consider the tunze instead of the koralia?

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masterbuilder
Thanks, it fits nice there. Looked a LOT smaller in the store!

 

Yeah...everything always looks smaller in the store.

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what makes that tunze skimmer so much better? I'm still in the process of setting mine up...should I bypass using the stock one all together and just buy the tunze from the get-go?

 

The stock skimmer doesn't work, and the tunze does. The tunze is also quiter and produces less micro bubbles. If I were you, don't even mess with the stock skimmer, replace it with the tunze right away. YOu will have lots of room

 

Have you ever contemplated a Refugium ? :huh: maybe one that is submersed inside your ATO bucket ? or attached behind your chambers? It woudl be cool to have a constant food source right there .... I think if I go with a RSM i can somehow come up with one. :) Start inventing for RSM...What are your thoughts?

 

well, a fuge needs to be in salt water so it wouldn't work in my ATO resivor. I have lots of new room with the skimmer change, but it is in the wrong area. I would think about it but with my currect water quality, it really isn't needed, and I don't want to plum a sump in the stand, and I can't get light to the chaeto because if you look at my drawing of my rear chambers a page back, you'll see.

 

Urchinhead, a member here and RSM expert, has a fully engineered and designed sump for the RSM. He even has cost of production figured out, he may be releaing more later on about this.

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Question -- Did you consider the tunze instead of the koralia?

 

Thanks!! good luck with yours. The tunze is a good pump, but I wanted to try the Koralia and it is cheaper. I love the koralia, happy with my purchase

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REEFSAINT has to ask if this was used as a tax write off????

it looks work related and can releive stress??

post-34992-1204642624.jpg

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