fierceseaman's highly modded Red Sea Max

[fierceseaman]

So, I have moved from the third coast to the west coast and had to take down my tank. I took the opportunity to make some modifications that I had been wanting to do for several months and clean the system up nicely. I will be adding water soon but took a few pictures of it to have a good progression. I will put up a list of the current mods and then I'll post some pictures.

 

removed and replaced stock hood with 24" 150W Outer Orbit Pro Series hood

cut rear trim and added Lifereef Overflow

designed and built 20 gallon sump to fit into RSM cabinet, total water volume around 50 gallons now

removed and replaced stock skimmer and added Reef Octopus Needlewheel 110 skimmer

added Tunze Osmolator ATO to keep steady water volume in sump

removed one stock powerhead and attached return line from sump to Loc-Line output

added Hydor FLO wave maker to sump return line

added Hydor Koralia #1 to right top side of display

 

And here are the pictures.

 

 

 

 

[HankB]

Cool - looks like the sump will nearly double water volume.

 

I take it you sold off all of your livestock prior to the move. What do you plan to do differently the second time around? Do you have stocking plans? I'm guessing that there are some SPS involved due to the lighting.

 

Keep us posted. Do you have a tank thread for the first iteration?

 

-hank

[fierceseaman]

Hank,

 

I don't think it will double my water volume but it has definitely added a good bit. I calculated it adding about 17 gallons at the water levels that will ensure no overflow during a power outage.

 

I did sell off my livestock prior to my move and I don't really have another build thread.

 

As far as doing things differently the second time around, I already have plans to at least double the depth of my sand bed, I am also doubling the amount of live rock that will be in the display tank. To top it all off I am going to be running a refugium with chaeto and live rock rubble in the bottom. I haven't really gotten a change to see what the sump will do for livestock because I sold most of it off before I added the mods.

 

I am definitely interested in some SPS but I also really enjoy LPS. Obviously I will be keeping the LPS very low in the tank. The livestock option I am MOST excited about is that I was to keep at least 1 clam in the tank, possible up to 3 depending on space. I'm really looking forward to that.

[fierceseaman]

Well, I've finally got the tank filled and am adding salt to the water in the tank today. I will add sand later today or tomorrow and live rock probably on Tuesday or Wednesday, or I might have to wait until next weekend if the week is too hectic. I am using Reef Crystals to salt the tank, DrsF&S had the 160 gallon buckets on sale for 29.99 so I bought 2 for about 70 bucks with shipping. This is how much the LFS near me charges for 1 bucket so I couldn't pass it up. I know everyone has their own ideas on salt but I've had good success with Reef Crystals in the past so I'm going with them again. I also added a hydor flo device on the stock pump and I am slightly dissatisfied with the amount that it cuts the flow down. I do like the idea though. I might end up having to upgrade the koralia I have on the right side of the tank. Ok, here are some new pictures, not much to see here but I love the new lights.

 

 

 

[lilredneckman]

It looks purdy

[fierceseaman]

Now with 100% more rock!

 

Just got some Fiji from a guy in my area selling it for 2 bucks a pound! Wow! Also tossed in the crappy shelf rock that I had from my last setup. No rockscaping has been done yet, no clue when I'll finish that up but I actually kinda like the way it looks now, just have to adjust things to make sure they will fit with the mag cleaner in the tank. Added a bunch of rock to the fuge, also a tiny tiny bit of chaeto.

 

 

 

[fierceseaman]

Final rockscaping done, I believe. The only heartburn I have with the system right now is the lack of space on the sand bed. I really wanted to have a few open brains, when the time comes, I may have to make some room for them. We'll see what happens, I really like the way it looks now.

 

[fierceseaman]

Well, after looking at the water flow with the new rockscaping, I'm really thinking of adding more flow to the tank. I think I have a few options and would really like some feedback, especially from people that have an RSM or have Koralias.

 

Opt 1: REPLACE the Koralia 1 that is currently in the tank with a Koralia 2 or Koralia 3. The Koralia 1 moves 400 GPH and the 2 and 3 move 600 GPH and 850 GPH respectively.

 

Opt 2: ADD and additional Koralia 1 or 2 to the tank. I'm tempted to go this route to get better random flow and overall movement but am worried about cluttering up the tank.

 

Opt 3: Something I haven't thought of. IE adding a Tunze, Vortech, Koralia Nano, etc.

 

I used the Koralia 1 with great success when the system was mostly LPS. It was also better with my last setup because I had half as much live rock in the display tank. More live rock seems to be cutting down the flow. I also am pretty convinced (even though I know most people claim otherwise) the that Hydor Flo attachment has cut the water movement dramatically.

 

So, what do people think?

[lilredneckman]

I personally would add a koralia 2 as an addition to the other one. The random flow would be great. I have just the koralia 2 and there are a few dead spots. The flow would be awesome for some nice sps.

[fierceseaman]

I personally would add a koralia 2 as an addition to the other one. The random flow would be great. I have just the koralia 2 and there are a few dead spots. The flow would be awesome for some nice sps.

 

 

Well, I just ordered a Koralia 2 from the DrsF&S. Should be here in the coming week, right on time to start adding CUC and livestock. I think I will leave the K1 in the tank along with the K2 and see how I like the flow. If I have to take the K1 out then it will be for sale soon. Either way, the cycle is in full swing right now, the live rock that I added was very nicely cured but I wanted to induce a cycle to make sure the base rock got in on the bio filter so I added a small cocktail shrimp to start the cycle. Yesterday and the day before I had pretty bad cyano but today it seems to have cleared a good bit. Today I noticed a huge bacterial bloom as I could see clouds floating in the tank, very interesting to see. The ammonia and nitrites are approaching zero. I haven't yet tested for nitrates. I have a small bit of chaeto in the sump but it has doubled in size already. I have a quart sized bag coming next week as well which I am very happy about because I have seen a relatively small amount of macro invert life on the rocks. I will get pictures up tomorrow.

 

In addition to all this, I believe that I will be adding some sort of kalk top off to the system as well. I am running a tunze ATO and am planning on adding the tunze calcium dispenser.

[lilredneckman]

Sounds good, cant wait to see the new pics!

[fierceseaman]

Well today has been 8 days since the cycle began and I thought I'd post up some of the numbers and a few observations.

 

SG: 1.025

Temp: 79.9

PH: 8.2

Ca: 420

dKH: 9

Mg: 1260

Ammonia: .1 (I am not going to call it zero because at some point it is just undecipherable to my eyes. It is definitely not above .1 and it probably is zero but with the Red Sea test is doesn't get to that perfect yellow that would be zero)

Nitrite: .05 (This is also probably zero but between one shade of light blue vs. another shade of light blue, it starts to get very difficult to tell. May as well round up.)

Nitrate: 10

 

Today was the first day that I tested for Nitrates and I was really surprised with the number. It was much lower than I thought. This may have something to do with the fact that I used well cured live rock that was not out of water for more than about 30 minutes or that I am growing chaeto in the fuge. Probably a little bit of both.

 

The fuge is doing a great job and I'm really happy with it. The cheato is growing and has probably doubled in size since last week. There is a tons of nasty algae in the fuge but little to none in the display. The fuge has a lot of cyano in it but there is none in the display so I am fine with it being down there. I know I have a lot of live rock in the fuge, maybe too much and if I need to I might add a very small powerhead down there to stir it up a bit. I have a quart sized bag of more chaeto on the way that is full of life so I am really happy about seeding the fuge with that stuff. I'm also expecting a Koralia #2 and the Tunze Calcium Dispenser in the mail any day now. I should have everything hooked up this weekend and the clean up crew should be in the tank over the weekend sometime.

 

I am planning on going hermit crab-less for the clean up crew. I hated them when I had the tank set up last time. I kept mostly LPS and they would constantly steal the food from every coral that I had. I am going to try to go all snails and if I have to I will buy some sort of shrimp, probably a peppermint shrimp as I've had great luck with them in the past. Any body else gone crab-less for the CUC? Any advice on what the best snails to get when you go in that direction?

 

Here is a current shot:

 

[PodRod]

Hey Adam,

 

The tank is coming along nicely. Looks like you're getting close to adding your CUC. I saw in a previous posting that you're going to try some SPS. Watch out - they're addictive! I didn't see any plans for fish. I'm always curious as to what fish people keep in their tanks. Do you have any in mind yet?

 

The sump looks great! I told you in an email that I wanted to make my own stand and that is exactly why. I like the idea of adding the additional water volume and keeping the equipment out of sight. I'll be following along to see how the tank progresses and feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding the calcium dispenser.

[fierceseaman]

Hey Adam,

 

The tank is coming along nicely. Looks like you're getting close to adding your CUC. I saw in a previous posting that you're going to try some SPS. Watch out - they're addictive! I didn't see any plans for fish. I'm always curious as to what fish people keep in their tanks. Do you have any in mind yet?

 

The sump looks great! I told you in an email that I wanted to make my own stand and that is exactly why. I like the idea of adding the additional water volume and keeping the equipment out of sight. I'll be following along to see how the tank progresses and feel free to contact me if you have any questions regarding the calcium dispenser.

 

Hey Karen,

 

The calcium dispenser got here as planned. I have is settling down as I type this. I've only just added corals today so I'm not sure that I will plug it into the system today. I ended up having to replace the check valve that was on the system with the second one that you had provided. As far as fish go, the only one that I'm certain on is a Yellow Watchmen Goby. The problem is that they are reported to be jumpers and I have an open hood. I don't really want to add any sort of mesh or anything to break up the clean look of my tank. Thanks for noticing the sump, it is probably one of my proudest accomplishments in reefing. My next project it to build a set of cabinets and drawers to match the black RSM stand and hide the ATO bucket, wires, and other misc. equipment.

 

As far as questions with the dispenser, how much did you end up adding to the system on a weekly basis? I started off with 2 tbsp. I am planning on have a ton of stuff to really suck up Ca and Alk.

 

Either way, I'll be adding pictures of the brand new coral in my next post.

[fierceseaman]

Ok, here are various pictures of the new frags that I got today from a guy that is local to me. These are obviously all actinic shots. I don't want to turn the halides on till a little bit later this evening after that have had a chance to settle in to their new environment. They are two monti caps, one orange, one green, and one spongodes. I have them mounted and they are getting pretty much blasted with water. Later this week I should have another monti cap coming, this one with green with blue polyps which I'm pretty excited about. Either way here are some new pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very unimpressed with how the pictures came out under actinics. Oh well, no money for a good camera.

[PodRod]

Hey Karen,

 

The calcium dispenser got here as planned. I have is settling down as I type this. I've only just added corals today so I'm not sure that I will plug it into the system today. I ended up having to replace the check valve that was on the system with the second one that you had provided. As far as fish go, the only one that I'm certain on is a Yellow Watchmen Goby. The problem is that they are reported to be jumpers and I have an open hood. I don't really want to add any sort of mesh or anything to break up the clean look of my tank. Thanks for noticing the sump, it is probably one of my proudest accomplishments in reefing. My next project it to build a set of cabinets and drawers to match the black RSM stand and hide the ATO bucket, wires, and other misc. equipment.

 

As far as questions with the dispenser, how much did you end up adding to the system on a weekly basis? I started off with 2 tbsp. I am planning on have a ton of stuff to really suck up Ca and Alk.

 

Either way, I'll be adding pictures of the brand new coral in my next post.

 

I'm glad it got there okay. My experience with check valves is that once you removed them, they don't work well. That's why I added an extra just in case. As for the kalk mixture, I started with 2 tbsp. and ended up using 8! I have my tank heavily stocked with calcuim sucking SPS and clams (see thread) so I don't recommend that for the normal user.

 

Yep - your sump rocks! That will be my next project so I may be contacting you for some pointers.

 

I've had two jumpers this week. Not sure why, but both fish were a little over 7 months old. I'm not sure what happened in my tank last night, but I lost a clown and a six-line wrasse. So, I'm fish shopping now and I was thinking about a YWG. Funny, I've heard they are jumpers but I had one in a previous tank and he never left the bottom - ever. I took him back to the LFS because the pistol ship he was paired with made a huge mess in my tank because he was always reconstructing. I'm still trying to decide if I want to go through that again...

[fierceseaman]

What a difference a day makes. I ended up running my lights for 6 hours yesterday which seemed like plenty of lighting cutback to help the corals light acclimate to my system. Much to my dismay I woke up this morning to find all 3 pieces almost completely bleached. There are only the faintest of spots of color left on the 3 frags. I'm not holding my breath that they will pull though. The only bright side to all of this would have to be that this occurred with only 15 bucks worth of coral vice probably over 100 if I had bought them from somewhere and had them shipped. I'm pretty frustrated to tell the truth. The guy who fragged them for me had them under 250w MH bulb about 3/4 of the way down the tank. I'm running 150W MH and I had them about 1/2 up my tank. I didn't think there would be that much difference. The only other thing I could think of would be something in the water that I cannot test for because my numbers are coming back rock solid. I don't think it is the water thought because yesterday when they were placed in the system I saw full polyp extension and they seemed to be happy. Oh well.

 

[fierceseaman]

Well I'm back with an update and hopefully better than ever.

 

In the time since my last update a few things happened in my tank. Concurrently with the loss of all the previous corals, I had a bad outbreak of dinoflagellates. I know many many people have had tons of problems with them and I was a scared little reefer, but little did the dinos know, I had a secrete weapon. Since I had no photosynthetic organisms in the tank I completely blacked out the tank for almost 2 weeks. I'm talking the total blackout treatment, trashbags and everything. Not even a fuge light to keep them going. In addition, I also mixed up a kalk/vinegar mix to create a bacterial bloom that would hopefully out compete the dinos and starve them of there food source. After both of these measures I am cautiously optimistic that the dinos are gone. When the lights out and kalk/vinegar regimen was started my skimmer started kicking out some WICKED stuff but as the dinos finally died down I have been unable to get the skimmer to produce anything. Happy days.

 

After I was pretty certain the tank was clean I was able to pick up some corals! Yay! I am also about 90% certain of my fish stocking list. I want 4 fish: 2 black percs, 1 yellow watchmen goby (maybe a symbiotic shrimp), and 1 six-line wrasse. That should do it for the fish.

 

I am also dead set on a clam. After seeing several beautiful specimens up close there is no way I can't not get one. Its going to happen. So here are some current close up shots.

 

Frogspawn

 

 

Monti Cap this frag's parent colony was bright green with power blue polyps in previous owner's tank but because the frag sat in an area of low light in his tank it has brown and looks a little drab but I have faith it will color right back up.

 

 

Turbinara (pretty worthless picture) hopefully this will grow up very nicely, no polyp extension yet.

 

 

And finally, an acro frag, already huge polyp extension. Really stoked about this frag.

 

[Lizzie1324]

Nice frags!

I really want MH. I would feel much more comfortable getting a clam if I had one!

The tank is looking nice, can't wait to see more stuff in it!

[fierceseaman]

Nice frags!

I really want MH. I would feel much more comfortable getting a clam if I had one!

The tank is looking nice, can't wait to see more stuff in it!

 

Thanks lizzie, yeah MH is da bomb and the RSM looks really nice with this setup. I am really oogling the clams out there.

[fierceseaman]

A new update and some new tank inhabitants.

 

Well, the dinos are back. I'm beating them back early though this time with the kalk/vinegar method again. I will do this until they are dead again plus another week after this time. If that doesn't work then I will probably try dosing vodka next. I think the death of several snails (from starvation unfortunately) has provided the nutrients for the dino outbreak again seeing as how NO nutrients were added to the tank since the last outbreak.

 

Either way, the fight is on.

 

New inhabitants:

 

Open Brain

 

 

Black Percs

 

 

 

 

Excuse my poor photography.

[fierceseaman]

 

NOM NOM NOM! Open brain hungry. Pic is just after feeding PE Mysis. The brain loves it.

[hxcaquaman]

that brain is SWEET, I want it

[fierceseaman]

Yeah man, total steal. Got it from a LFS. Gonna go back and get a radiata here pretty soon. I love the trachphyllia.

[ddelallata]

Cool setup! I just ordered an OuterOrbit MH for my RSM this afternoon. I will keep you guys updated. I'll probably replace the MH with a 14000K bulb though.