hb2envy Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Hey everybody, so I was always eager to setup a salt water tank but didn’t know which tank best fits my needs. After doing a lot of research, I found that the Red Sea Max has a great look and had won awards which caught my attention. Anyhow, I was in L.A. for the weekend (3/16/08) and decided to purchase the Red Sea Max ($650) for $100.00 less than what I can find on the market. So as I was shopping for the RSM, I didn’t know how many pounds of live rock to get. For one thing, the guy at the fish store said that he is a wholesaler and that he recommends I get 50 lbs. of LR. So I purchased 50 lbs. of LR and 40 lbs. of LS. When I got back home from L.A., I left the live rock in the styraphoam container for about two weeks before I started the RSM due to my busy schedule. Well in those two weeks, I discovered this Wonderful site, N-R, and have been doing a lot of research on setting up a salt water tank. I also admire the great thread of StevieT’s RSM Experience along with the rest of you GREAT RSM owners!!! Anyhow, my RSM has been running for 5 months now and this is what I have done so far. On 3/26/08, I made room for the corner in my bedroom and decided to build and finish the stand that night. On 3/27/08, I measured the area of the RSM and aquascaped the LR on cardboard and a plastic bag. On 3/30/08, I put the tank on the stand and never added the biological filter material, but left the carbon filter material in the chamber of death. I added 2 bags of Nature’s Ocean Bio-Activ Live Aragonite Natural White #1 Reef Sand which is a total of 40 pounds. I then added the 50 lbs. of live rock from Fiji, Indonesia, and Tonga. As far as the cycling process, I actually left the skimmer running and just kept cleaning the mechanical filtration material and filter pad every 3 days. I set the timer for the lights to turn on at 4PM and switch off at 12PM with the moonlights. After the first week of the cycling process, I added Bio Spira to help speed up the pace. On the second week, I got my first algae bloom and was very shocked and worried because I did not know that it was part of the cycling process – hahaha. Anyhow, I decided to purchase a CUC to help with the algae. I also purchased a Mag-Float and a thermometer. Within the third week, I got cyanobacteria on a few of the rocks and some parts of the sand bed. After doing more research on N-R, I found out that I needed more water flow. So, I purchased a Hydor Koralia 2 that I setup to the top right of the RSM and also added a Hydor Flo Deflector to the right circulation pump. After my algae bloom and the cyanobacteria were resolved, I did my first water test using the API Saltwater and Reef Master kits which all of my parameters were 0 except for my nitrates which were at 20ppm (possibly because I have 50 lbs. of LR). Therefore, I did my first 20% water change and the nitrates were still at 20ppm. So I removed the stock carbon filter and added “Chemi-pure Elite” and “Purigen” to the chamber of death. I just used a rubber band to keep them together. I also removed the stock filter floss and started using the “Odyssea Nitrate Remover filter pad” that I change out ever 2 weeks. So after my first water change, I started doing a 20% water change every Thursday and tested my water twice a month with still no change of the nitrates being at 20ppm. Anyhow, I finally added fish and for the following weeks I added coral, coral, fish, and more coral – hehehe. I feed the CUC “New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Formula sinking pellets”. For the fish, I feed them “Spirulina 20 flakes” and sometimes frozen foods. As for the coral, I feed them “Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast Live”. I feed every other day to prevent the nitrates from rising and there is still no change of the nitrates except that it’s starting to look like 20-40ppm now. So I don’t know what to do about that. About a month and a half later, I purchased these 10 LED moonlights from Ebay and customized them to fit in between the lights just fine. I connected it to a timer and set it to turn on at 12PM and shut off at 8AM. The 10 LED moonlights looked great like I had atinics. The only downfall on these lights is that it only lights up the center of the tank. I ran the 10 LED moonlights for about 3 weeks and started to get cyanobacteria again, but this time – only in the center of the tank where the lights hit. Therefore, I used “Red Slime Cyano-Bacteria remover Chemiclean” which helped just fine. After the cyanobacteria was resolved, I figured that I was running the moonlights too long and now set it to turn off at 3AM which there is no more cyanobacteria. 10 LED Moonlight installed and turned off: 10 LED Moonlights installed and turned on: And here is the FTS as of 8-10-08 where I added 15 more pounds of LR. Hope you enjoy. Any comments and advice are welcome. FTS RTS LTS Ryan’s RSM: 34 gal Red Sea Max (born 3-30-08) 40 lbs. of Nature’s Ocean Bio-Activ Live Aragonite Natural White #1 Reef Sand 65 lbs. of live rock from Fiji, Indonesia, and Tonga Hydor Koralia 2 Hydor Flo Deflector Mag-Float Thermometer What I currently have: Invertebrates: Nassarius Snail (3) Bumble Bee Snail Tiger Sand Conch Snail Snail (Hitchhiker) Astralium Calcar Star Snail Sand Dollar Lettuce Slug/Nudibranch different kinds (2) Electric Flame Scallop Crocea Clam Derasa Clam Skunk Cleaner Shrimp Blood Red Fire Shrimp Peppermint Shrimp Pistol Shrimp Harlequin Shrimp Purple Reef Lobster Thin-Stripe Hermit Crab Emerald Crab, Spotted Porcelain Crab different colors (2) Pom Pom Crab Purple and Gold Feather Duster Hawaiian Feather Duster Brittle Starfishes (Hitchhiker) Fishes: True Percula Clown Fish (2) Purple Fire Fish Goby Orange Fire Fish Goby Aurora Goby Yasha Goby Catalina Goby 6 Line Wrasse Royal Gramma Basslet Chalk Bass Red Scooter Dragonet African Golden Midas Blenny Corals: Mushrooms different colors (7) Green Star Polyps different colors (3) Star Polyps Yellow Polyps Palythoas different colors (4) Zoanthids different colors (13) Tubs Blue Zoanthids Xenia different colors (4) Anthelia Clove Polyps different colors (6) ATL Home Grown Green Pipe Organ Kryptonite Candy Cane Green Candy Cane Caulastrea Trumpet Orange Sun Flower Pagoda different colors (2) Galaxia Blastomussa Merletti Carnation different colors (2) Blue Sponge Orange Sponge Different Types (2) Red Gorgonian Yellow Tree Gorgonian Blueberry Gorgonian Peach/Purple Polyp Gorgonian Purple Bushy Gorgonian Green Gorgonian Toadstool Leather Tyree Neon Green Toadstool Leather Neon Green Palau Nepthea. Christmas Tree Kenya Tree Duncans different colors (2) Goniopora different colors (3) Branching Frogspawn different colors (2) Fine Grape Torch different colors (4) Fox Modern Cynarina Bubble different colors (2) Anchor Hammer (Green) Branching Hammer (Purple) ORA Neon Green Birdnest Pink Birdnest Purple Birdnest Fluorescent Green Birdsnest Montipora Capricornis different colors (2) Montipora Spongodes/Confusa Green Acropora Unknown SPS (1) Green Porite, Stylophora (Purple) Orange Montipora Digitata Purple/Brown Montipora Digitata Pink Peony Pocillopora Original Atlantis Meteor Shower Cyphastrea Ocellina What I use to have: Invertebrates: Scarlet Hermit Crab Electric Blue Hermit Crab Anemone Crab Red Mini Crab Light Purple and Yellow Nudibranch Dark Purple and White Nudibranch Gymnodoris Aurita Cowrie Snail Horseshoe Crab Elegant Sea Star Anemones: Atlantic Anemone Long Stem Anemone Fishes: Occelaris Clown Fish (2) Twin Spot Goby Flasher Wrasse Pearl Blue Yellowhead Jawfish, Corals: Tunicate/Clavelinidae, Yellow Toadstool Leather Long Tentacle Plate Coral Alveopora Link to comment
nanoty Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Wow that looks great. You should have someone move it to the members tank forum. Will probably get more attention over there. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 12 Fish? Holy crap... corals look good How long have you had the catalina goby? Link to comment
nanoty Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 How do I do that? Just PM one of the mods and ask them to do it. Link to comment
hb2envy Posted August 31, 2008 Author Share Posted August 31, 2008 Yeah I know....12 fish - I took the chance! I had the Catalina Goby for about more than a week now! Link to comment
nanoty Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Yeah I know....12 fish - I took the chance! I had the Catalina Goby for about more than a week now! Chris Marks is online and could do it. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showuser=192 Also, if the fish are looking fine and your params are checking out I don't see why it wouldn't work. They are all smallish fish and present little bioload. Your doing it right apparently. Link to comment
hb2envy Posted August 31, 2008 Author Share Posted August 31, 2008 Right on "Nanoty"!!! Link to comment
Kraylen Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Yeah I know....12 fish - I took the chance! I had the Catalina Goby for about more than a week now! Dont be surprised if it dies out of the blue... they are cold water fish from socal and require a chilled tank..... happens all the time Link to comment
hb2envy Posted August 31, 2008 Author Share Posted August 31, 2008 Dont be surprised if it dies out of the blue... they are cold water fish from socal and require a chilled tank..... happens all the time Yeah I heard...that's why I decided to take the chance. Link to comment
E36 328i Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Nice tank. What do you feed your lettuce slugs? I heard they can be tough to feed (aside from their natural photosynthesis). Also, have you had any problems with the anemones stinging corals/fish? When did you add them? Thanks! Link to comment
Aqua newbie Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Very Nice. Are those scallops hard to keep? What do you feed them, hand feed them? Link to comment
Cam198 Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 dang man your tank is awesome!!!! Link to comment
StevieT Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 wow, very impressive. But man, that is a lot of fish, especially for all of the corals you packed in this tank. Tank looks very nice, very health so far. Just watch it close I guess, normally this would be death to a tank Good luck! Link to comment
hb2envy Posted August 31, 2008 Author Share Posted August 31, 2008 Do you run a chiller? Nope, no need for a chiller since I live in San Francisco, CA. But when it gets hot, I usually leave the rear top cover open for more ventilation. Nice tank. What do you feed your lettuce slugs? I heard they can be tough to feed (aside from their natural photosynthesis). Also, have you had any problems with the anemones stinging corals/fish? When did you add them? Thanks! I just let my 2 different lettuce slugs graze up and eat all of the algae in my tank. As far as the anemones, I added them in the begining with only a few corals and decided to bring them back to the LFS since I wanted to add even more corals. Very Nice. Are those scallops hard to keep? What do you feed them, hand feed them? I had the scallop for about 4 and a half months now and feed them with “Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast Live” which works just fine for all of my corals, clams, and scallop. wow, very impressive. But man, that is a lot of fish, especially for all of the corals you packed in this tank. Tank looks very nice, very health so far. Just watch it close I guess, normally this would be death to a tank Good luck! Thanks StevieT, that's why I maintain my tank for about 2-3 hours everyday. Link to comment
ajlaman Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 I have never, ever, seen a better nano tank. This is absolutely amazing! Congratulations! Link to comment
lucasw Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Wow, awesome! I wonder, do you have any room left for the water ? Link to comment
hb2envy Posted August 31, 2008 Author Share Posted August 31, 2008 Wow, awesome! I wonder, do you have any room left for the water ? Nope...no more room for water, but definitely will find and make more room for more coral...hehehe! Link to comment
Normandy Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Christ dude, beautiful tank. So much for low bioload, stuff not touching, fitting your pinky into the tank. That thing is stuffed and looks incredible. Link to comment
ddelallata Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 beautiful! I'm too chicken to add a 6th fish. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Nope, no need for a chiller since I live in San Francisco, CA. But when it gets hot, I usually leave the rear top cover open for more ventilation. Even in San Fran your tank isnt going to stay at 63 degrees without a chiller... haha, if it did everything else would die. Link to comment
Sexy Shrimp Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 Nice but +1 about what everyone said about the catailna - it will likely die (why is that a reason to take a chance?). Looks very nice but short term beauty only - anyone can buy $1000 of corals, put them in a tank and take pics. Keeping them alive is a different story - I'll check in again in 6 months... Link to comment
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