snake plissken Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 After two+ years with a FOWLR tank they can only be called an "experiment", I made a major upgrade and got the Red Sea Max. My first tank was a 30 gallon tall hexagon. (recipe for disaster, right?) I put a hang on filter on the back, dropped in a heater and a power head and my science experiment was in full swing. It was a pretty ugly tank (and i am sure you are all having a good laugh now trying to picture it), but it was a good test for me to see if i could be disciplined enough to manage a salt water tank. I transfered all of my water, live rock and sand from the old tank to my RSM. A false percula and firefish made the trip safely as well (I have not stocked any new critters in quite a while because i knew i was going to make this transition). After i got it setup Sunday morning I ran into a friend who was breaking down a 55g reef tank. He sold me some xenia and a few mushroom covered rock. I know i probably should have let things settle for a few days before adding anything new, but it was a small window of opportunity This is my first all in one, my first nano reef tank, heck its my first "real" tank...i can still hear you laughing about the 30g Hex...cut it out! anyways...any advice would be much appreciated. Snake question for aquamac and secondbreath (as i know y'all are RSM owners and active posters on this site) - i know you removed the bioballs from the left chamber and replaced with LR rubble...did you remove the carbon filter media bag as well or did you leave that in? i can see thorugh the smoked glass that the bag is getting sucked up into the powerheads above it!!! also - have you had any success replacing the stock fans with quieter ones? Link to comment
newnanofl Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 You have a lot of sand in there. Not sure if that is good or bad. If you put i a sand sifting star, you may never find it. Link to comment
snake plissken Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 yeah, i had 20LBs of sand in the old tank but it had a smaller footprint. so i bought another 20 pounds to make sure i had a minimum 2 inch substrate. it is also slightly mounded towards the front. the back is not that high with sand. so there is a slight slope to the sand bar but yeah, it is a lot Link to comment
aquamac Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 I have no LR rubble in the filter area, only in the main tank. I replaced the stock fans with quieter ones...here is the thread. Link to comment
Mike Savage Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 Snake, thanks for posting that picture. I plan on using 40lb of sand on mine too and was wondering how it would look. I like it! Mike Link to comment
snake plissken Posted March 26, 2008 Author Share Posted March 26, 2008 well, time for an update...hey its only been like 10 months! Link to comment
snake plissken Posted March 27, 2008 Author Share Posted March 27, 2008 i am thinking of adding a canister filter for the 34G RSM. or possibly cutting up some eggcrate to make some home-made "trays" to drop into the far left chamber under the retunr pumps. i figured this would allow me to layer different media (chemi-pure, purigen, phos-guard, etc...) instead of just piling it all on top of each other in the bottom of the chamber. anybody had any luck (or horror stories) of a do-it-yourself filter/reactor for the third chamber? Link to comment
snake plissken Posted April 1, 2008 Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 bump... canister filters? anybody? beuller? beuller? Link to comment
StevieT Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Urchinhead had a sump design going for his RSM, you may want to contact him, he may as well had a media reactor If you still have the stock skimmmer a media basket may work in the chamber of death. Might cut flow, only issue i see Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 I am not a big fan of canisters. They build nitrates and are a pain to clean. I guess you could add seagel or the chemipure that has a nitrate remover. Link to comment
snake plissken Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 I am not a big fan of canisters. They build nitrates and are a pain to clean. I guess you could add seagel or the chemipure that has a nitrate remover. thanks for your input oceanic. I am not planning on running the bio-balls/ceramic media that comes with the canister. I removed the stock ceramic rings that come with the RSM on advice from other RSM owners on NR. everybody said they were beneficial for a while, but eventually would just become a nitrate factory. I am planning on running chemi-pure, purigen, sea-gel, phos-zorb or phos-ban. i hav enot decided on what combination. but it will be 2 or three of those stacked in the trays Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 Not a bad idea. You know you will still need to take the cannister apart every few months and wash all that cr?p. PIA and it stinks like crazy because it is trapped in the canister. Link to comment
snake plissken Posted April 2, 2008 Author Share Posted April 2, 2008 the chem-pure and purigen only need to be replaced every few months, supposedly. however i pan to open the canister every week and use it to do my water changes. dump out the "old" water in the canister and repalce it with newly mixed up RO saltwater. then let the canister pump add ti abck to the tank. i think this will be less stressful on my livestock. right now i just pop the hood on my RSM and dump the bucket of "new" water in. using the canister should be more "Gracefull" Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 2, 2008 Share Posted April 2, 2008 It is a good plan, but I think it will be a total pain in the azz. You will need to disconnect the filter. Dump out the old water, rinse it out fully, and then refill it to put the water back to the tank. Also, I am not sure how many gallons a cannister holds. (Enough for a water change)? Link to comment
snake plissken Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 Yet ANOTHER attempt at improving my aquascaping. FTS from below upper half Link to comment
adamskit Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 Here's the link to the media reactor I built. Your tank looks good. RSM Media Reactor Link to comment
snake plissken Posted April 9, 2008 Author Share Posted April 9, 2008 while i am posting pix, anybody know what the white "mystery" coral is growing out of the middle of my zooanthid? I assume it is a coral. not really sure. red, green & blue zooanthid rock adamskit - depsite being completely inspired by your media reactor, i bailed out and bought a canister filter. sad thing is, after seeing yours, i went to Lowe's and bought some eggcrate. it sat in my garage while i planned out my media baskets. ultimately i decided i did not want to mess with the chamber of death (i am running the stock skimmer so my baskets would ahve had to go there). i have big monkey hands and digging back there for chemipure now is no fun. removing the pumps and holding up the lid is not a fun time either! i just could not pull the trigger... Link to comment
StevieT Posted April 9, 2008 Share Posted April 9, 2008 looking good! I don't know what that thing is but it looks like a pest. I would research that one some more, it may hurt those zoas Link to comment
snake plissken Posted April 10, 2008 Author Share Posted April 10, 2008 somebody in another forum said it was a Foraminifera. ever heard of it? Link to comment
lilredneckman Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 no but those zoas are sweet!!!! Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 I would get rid of it. Tank is looking good. Nice Coraline growth. Link to comment
adamskit Posted April 10, 2008 Share Posted April 10, 2008 while i am posting pix, anybody know what the white "mystery" coral is growing out of the middle of my zooanthid? I assume it is a coral. not really sure. red, green & blue zooanthid rock adamskit - depsite being completely inspired by your media reactor, i bailed out and bought a canister filter. sad thing is, after seeing yours, i went to Lowe's and bought some eggcrate. it sat in my garage while i planned out my media baskets. ultimately i decided i did not want to mess with the chamber of death (i am running the stock skimmer so my baskets would ahve had to go there). i have big monkey hands and digging back there for chemipure now is no fun. removing the pumps and holding up the lid is not a fun time either! i just could not pull the trigger... Yeah definately not an easy mod unless you get rid of the skimmer of death! Upgrade to the Tunze you won't regreat it. The extra space is really nice to have even if you don't do the reactor mod. Your tanks looking good though. Link to comment
snake plissken Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 thnaks for the complients on the tank/zooas/corraline by the way, i did not make the "waves" in the sand bed. my pistol shrimp takes care of all interior design for me! He is always working, digging, and moving sand! very interesting to watch but he worries me sometimes because of possible "live rock collapse" from the tunneling just somehting to think about for anybody else pondering getting one... here is "pistol pete" and his best friend "goby" the goby i get real creative with my names Link to comment
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