StevieT's Red Sea Max Experience

[StevieT]

Oh and Stevie, your tank rocks but I read that you called someone a noob. I don't know what that means but we need more people in the hobby and insulting them even in fun is not the best.

 

Here we will practice.

 

Hey Stevie, great tank, how/what/where ______ -_______ ______?

Well that is on page __ and __, there is an index on the first page.

 

See good will is built.

 

Take care,

Donn

 

Donn, a noob is a new person in the hobby. If you look back at my "conversation" with him you will see that I was joking around with him. He is not a noob literally, he is a regular here and I was just razzing him which was taken in good humor. After 10,000+ posts on this site, I do know the culture here pretty well.

[WhiteShark]

hahaha

[StevieT]

here is mine, i am having a hard time getting my camera to take a good picture of this tank.

And the bulbs are really bright.

 

check me out on yourtube bayareareef

 

the beginning

 

here is today

 

another one

 

more photo of current

 

and some zoos

 

I have to work on getting my camera to work with this tank, the lights are so bright that it gives me so much burn.

 

 

 

And I have to get to cleaning the glass, I added a 1/15hp chiller that puts the return water back where the water comes in and the skimmer production quadrupled.

 

Is that a yellow tang?

 

It might be time to remove a piece of LR or two to give the corals a little more room to fill in. Tank looks great

 

 

towards the top?

[WhiteShark]

I have three fish, a tomato clown "Dolly" that started off real small and cute in my 12 gallon nano and now is large and still kinda cute but what teeth, I have a lawnmower bleny named skippy and i have a yellow tang named jenny, she is a small one about the size of a silver dollar and I have a cleaner shrimp called buddy; Also three emerald crabs a green bubble tip anemone. That is doing great, I found that it was a lot happier with the temperature a lot higher and it was large and beautiful when the tank ran in the 80's and now that I run the tank cooler it is not as active. Tons of little snails and a medium turbo snail that comes out at night.

 

I do not have any sand sifting snails or fish at this time. I am of two minds about this, You can see the life in the sand but I think this quickens the sand lockup of silt but then this life also strips the water of stuff that would decay and pollute the water. So I leave it as it is. I will use a suction vacuum on the sand soon to churn it and get some of the silt out. In my large system the sand bed locked up on me and I am still cleaning the sand bed every time i do a water change.

 

As to live rock, there is very little in there, the rock that is in the tank is a piece of base rock and it is not coral based. The theory I run with in my tanks is that a deep sand bed is more benifical with water changes than expensive live rock. The rock in a tank is there to hold the critters we put in there and the biological action happens in the sand, skimmer and with water changes.

I took out a great amount of rock that I had in the tank once the change over took place and the tank is very open. I know it doesn't look it but it is. And my photo's need work.

 

As to feeding, I feed pretty heavily in the tank. I have a lot of things that can take spot feeding and I have found that I don't razor blade the glass because the algae on the glass supports life with little white pods growing and living on the green areas, Jenny the tang swims by and eats the critters. I know someone is going to tell me that I am starving this poor creature but believe me she gets fed fine. I also have a vegy clip and the tank gets nori seaweed every third day also. She eats that too and she eats meat when I feed that also.

 

I use a combination or brine shrimp and blood worms and cyclops with a cube of green coral food mix. I supplement this with dosing in small amounts of kent marine products sometimes twice a day. I mixed up a combination of stuff and keep it in the refrigerator and give a teaspoon of it when I go to bed and I wake up in the morning. I do this on the theory that some of the critters in the tank feed at night.

I run a magnet over the glass every other day.

 

As to the skimmer, well I agree that it is noisy but when I set up my chiller and I ran the return back to the compartment where the water comes in at that made all the difference. I am running a 350 gallon per hour pump on the chiller so a lot of the water gets run back threw the skimmer a lot of times before it then makes it back into the tank. And the skimmer produces this tight skim now.

 

Oh and I run carbon in the chamber of death but I built a media reactor for before the chiller that I am going to run all the good stuff in.

 

The only problem I have is getting my photos to look good, the light is so bright that I get a lot of white wash. And I took some video of it and I will take some more so there will be a short one on youtube under bayareareef about it.

Gota go my tanks at my art studio need attention today.

 

Thanks,

Donn

www.donnbuchfinck.com

 

A yellow tang?...oh boy here we go....I'll let you take it from here SteveT...lol

[StevieT]

The best thing is to take a lot of pictures and play with your manual modes, there you will find what looks best.

 

As far a a tang, why are you doing this to your RSM? If any bit of research would show, they need a very large volume of water to be happy, healthy and good for the tank. Our RSM can not handle that fish, it needs a ton of room to swim, my advice is to remove it quickly.

 

It looks like you have a lot of algae issues with both tanks on the glass. Are you using RO water? Have you tested for phosphates?

 

I would recommned starting a thread of your own to discuss these issues. This will also let others chime in that may have other ideas.

 

Heavy feeding? Feed a nano every other day max. Dose as needed by testing.

 

If you are scraping the algae off your glass that often, you are probably using bad water, over feeding, adding way too many nutrients to the water, and undersupplied on a CUC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A yellow tang?...oh boy here we go....I'll let you take it from here SteveT...lol

 

 

[Greenstar]

I was thinking of the rock that the clam is on, or some of the surrounding rock to create a gap in the upper lefthand side. I would slide the abro and the other staghorn into where those rocks were. Shift the hystrix to the upper right. Would help make the tank look more open and natural but that just my opinion.

[bayareareef]

I pulled the posts, i started my own thread,

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=3&t=177992

 

I think it will be a good one, I will describe how my chiller is installed and how it helps with the skimmer production.

Also the build of my media reactor and it's installation with the chiller.

 

And people can inform me about the bioload.

 

Also there are no clams in the tank

 

Thanks StevieT, great tank

[StevieT]

No, I am not scraping my glass with a razor blade every other day I run a magnet over it to catch the little bit of buildup that is on the glass. I leave the green on the glass in areas so the pods can grow.

 

Your right I should just start my own thread, Then I can get help from all the EXPERTS, man I must be lucky with the 4 tanks I have had. The 12 gallon is gone now. I guess I will just have to hope to be keep being lucky. As to experts, well the saying of "too many cooks in the kitchen" is apt in dealing with people who have been successful and their opinions.

I have found there are a lot of different ways to have success in anything we take on. My experiences, Italian restaurant chef, beekeeping, cheese making, MFA in ceramics, 6th grade teacher, fine artist. A lot of people want to feel that they are experts and really all I have found is that there is a lot more to learn.

 

As to the bioload on the tank, I guess it would be a novel idea to test, I also run at least a 4" sand bed and I do regular water changes. If it spikes I will put changes in place. As to what the fish are doing with the water, so what does it mean that I have the fish load that I do and the water tests out good? I tell people that even though what you are doing is working that doesn't make it right, that is probably the instance here but it seems to be working.

 

Also I didn't realize this thread was a love fest just for your tank, and oh and to advertise things you want to sell through your website, on that I apologize, I thought it was a forum to talk about your RSM and others who have issues with them,

 

As to the camera, it's time to upgrade, my nephew dropped it and it won't go to manual now.

 

Take care,

www.donnbuchfinck.com

 

I didn't mean the razor every few days, but the magent cleaner.

 

I don't think you understand the idea of these forums. It is a place to share ideas and experiences, not to come to hear expert help on everything. Even those that others would call experts, would not call themselves that. If you make anything public, opinions will follow. Take them as needed, but expect different thoughts.

 

This thread is my RSM experinece, yes it can be used for others to input ideas and ask questions, but too much can clutter the true use of it. I don't use it to push my products, if someone asks or wants to share their opinion about it, I will respond.

 

I don't mind questions, there are hundreds of them on this thread, I think what others are saying is that if you want to share your experiece with pictures and video, it is best organized on a seperate thread, one you can manage and update and for others to see. I also think you will get a lot more feedback from others that may not even care to look at my thread.

 

I will warn you, the tang is going to catch some or a lot of flack. And the algae is more than normal. I see from your other tank that you had the same issue, which means you are doing something wrong, normal tanks do not have that amount of algae build up on the glass sides of their tanks. But it can be fixed if you listen or ask for advice.

 

Please don't come here to tell me how to do things, every forum has it's own culture and I am expressing that, basically as a noob yourself to this forum, like anything in life, take the flame like a man.

 

I want to see everyone's tank succeed and provide help where I can.

 

I pulled the posts, i started my own thread,

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=3&t=177992

 

I think it will be a good one, I will describe how my chiller is installed and how it helps with the skimmer production.

Also the build of my media reactor and it's installation with the chiller.

 

And people can inform me about the bioload.

 

Also there are no clams in the tank

 

Thanks StevieT, great tank

 

thanks, many have questions on chillers in a RSM.

 

I was thinking of the rock that the clam is on, or some of the surrounding rock to create a gap in the upper lefthand side. I would slide the abro and the other staghorn into where those rocks were. Shift the hystrix to the upper right. Would help make the tank look more open and natural but that just my opinion.

 

 

interesting. I will take that into consideration since things are running out of room in some areas. I never thought to remove a piece of rock, but to just frag

[bayareareef]

I had an algae problem because I ran the tank at around 84 degrees because of the faulty thermometer, it was at 85 degrees the night I put the chiller on. I went around and the coralife probes that I have on all three of my tanks are not consistent so I got rid of them. I use a digilab probe now to check the temperature. From what I have seen from other peoples tanks is that the glass gets algae on it and I leave it on there to feed part of the life in the tank. I could scrape it off before I take the photos but I don't and the photo of the 12 gallon is like that because I just left it. On the big tank once a month I scrape the algae off from near the sand.

 

Like I said, Great tank

[StevieT]

Gotcha, if it is there for food that is a different case, most like to get rid of it, but if need it there that is smart thinking.

 

Thank you.

[Drewlonius]

Hello StevieT, ran across your huge thread here and i absolute love it being a supreme NOOB "no shame admitting this haha" im only 6 months in with my RSM and have found your advice outstanding. Soon as i got my max i ran it with everything it came with until it cycled then ditched all the media bags and filters. i also run the Tunze 9002 what a godsend that was enouph about me i have a question where did you get the black sponge that you have near the inlet i need a good size piece like yours to do some of my own mods wanted to ask ya so i dont end up picking up some that might be toxic or whatever to my tank.

 

Keep up the excellant work

Drew

[JimDantin]

It might be time to remove a piece of LR or two to give the corals a little more room to fill in.

I've been so focused on ADDING corals, I never stopped to consider REMOVING live rock! Thanks for the head-slap, Greenstar! How about jumping over to my thread and suggesting some makeover ideas? Thanks.

 

StevieT -- It's time to add another fish to the "think hard before you buy" list. The Banggai is a threatened species in the wild ! Please read this MACNA Presentation. There is also an article in the January 2009 issue of Tropical Fish Hobbyist. The important thing is to be sure you buy captive-bred Banggai.

[StevieT]

I've been so focused on ADDING corals, I never stopped to consider REMOVING live rock! Thanks for the head-slap, Greenstar! How about jumping over to my thread and suggesting some makeover ideas? Thanks.

 

StevieT -- It's time to add another fish to the "think hard before you buy" list. The Banggai is a threatened species in the wild ! Please read this MACNA Presentation. There is also an article in the January 2009 issue of Tropical Fish Hobbyist. The important thing is to be sure you buy captive-bred Banggai.

 

 

Yes, they have been threatened for a few years now, some of the larger ones you see in the stores are wild capture which is a shame. The smaller ones like mine, captive-bred. I made sure and asked, I suppose they could have lied ot me or not truely known, but it's size would have me believe it was born in a glass cage.

[StevieT]

Hello StevieT, ran across your huge thread here and i absolute love it being a supreme NOOB "no shame admitting this haha" im only 6 months in with my RSM and have found your advice outstanding. Soon as i got my max i ran it with everything it came with until it cycled then ditched all the media bags and filters. i also run the Tunze 9002 what a godsend that was enouph about me i have a question where did you get the black sponge that you have near the inlet i need a good size piece like yours to do some of my own mods wanted to ask ya so i dont end up picking up some that might be toxic or whatever to my tank.

 

Keep up the excellant work

Drew

 

hello Drew-

 

The black sponge came with the tank, and I wouldn't recommend running it. A better option for collecting detritus is filter floss. It is "cleaner" and pretty cheap. Spones can be dirty since you reuse them over and over.

 

If you do need the sponge, I believe that red sea sells spares at redseamax.com Or you could find a sponge at a LFS and cut to fit.

[annamarie421]

Your tank is beautiful Stevie! I absolutely love the look of a well thought out mixed reef - well done!!

[StevieT]

thank you

[JimDantin]

I kinda expected that you asked if they were captive bred -- this was just a perfect opportunity to let others know about the issue. They are great little fish and we need to do whatever we can to protect the wild stock.

 

On a different note, I've started a simple routine that eases the cleaning of your skimmer cup. I'm using filter floss in the top of the media rack. When I need to change it, I've been taking the lid off the skimmer cup and putting the dirty floss in the cup while I carry it to m sink. This helps prevent dripping on the floor. When I get to the sink I use the dirty floss to help scrub the inside of the skimmer cup and the deflector in the lid. It's much easier than trying to use a brush. Then I push the floss through the tube to clean out any grunge. By the time I'm finished, the cup is clean, and most of the dirt has washed out of the floss so it doesn't stink up the trash can.

[StevieT]

Good thinking on letting others know.

 

I can see that working with the floss rather well. I keep an old ziploc plastic container in my stand, I plop the floss in there to keep it from dripping all over the tank and floor. I will have to give that a try, there are some tough areas in this cup to clean and I can imagine keeping the director clean improves performance.

 

I was giving some thought as to redesigning the director. It is expensive but I feel it works better than other simple foam hits the lid and most goes around the tube yet some falls back in. Saphire aquatics uses a short piece of acrylic tube, same stuff I use on the cups. The foam hits the lid and is directed around the tube.

[bbales]

Hey Stevie T! the Red Sea Max is comming along beautifully I ended up getting it lightly used with stand and everything for 300! I have a quick question however- I took out the bags of media, and was just wondering what the best replacement for them are? Should I put some of the mature live sand into the back filtration area with maybe some live rock or chaeto? any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[StevieT]

Hey Stevie T! the Red Sea Max is comming along beautifully I ended up getting it lightly used with stand and everything for 300! I have a quick question however- I took out the bags of media, and was just wondering what the best replacement for them are? Should I put some of the mature live sand into the back filtration area with maybe some live rock or chaeto? any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

wow, great price!

 

No, stay away from live sand and rock in your rear chambers. If you are going to set it up with the stock skimmer, I would throw a bag of chemical media such as chemi pure elite in the rear area. Then just run a clean system with filter floss under the intake. Junk those sponges if they were included, floss is much easier to manage.

 

You can make a fuge with chaeto if you remove the SKimmer, most invest in the Tunze 9002 s the stock is an underperformer.

 

Let me know if you have anything else.

[bbales]

Thanks a ton, yea ill prlly do the filter floss and chemi pure then, also is the upgrade 100% necessary? I know you sell the top, but even if I were to get a deal on the skimmer, its still a ton of money, I guess something to upgrade later? BTW, does the filter floss just replace the black sponge, above the skimmer pump in the intake area?

thanks again

[StevieT]

No, you can upgrade the skimmer down the road, just do weekly water changes. A better skimmer is very helpful, but you can get away with stock for a bit as you set up. Save up for it if you like.

 

Reasons for me upgrading:

 

Performance

Noise

I knew it would lead to a media rack business

 

ok the last one is a lie

 

Yep, put the filter floss just under the intake grate, enjoy the chamber of death haha. I do not miss it myself.

[WhiteShark]

Steve, I've been wondering (and this has probably already been asked) do you ever plan on upgrading to a larger tank? You've done such a great job with your Red Sea Max I'd like to see what you could do with a 100 gallon or something...

[bbales]

No, you can upgrade the skimmer down the road, just do weekly water changes. A better skimmer is very helpful, but you can get away with stock for a bit as you set up. Save up for it if you like.

 

Reasons for me upgrading:

 

Performance

Noise

I knew it would lead to a media rack business

 

ok the last one is a lie

 

Yep, put the filter floss just under the intake grate, enjoy the chamber of death haha. I do not miss it myself.

 

 

haha thanks, maybe ill be hitting u up for both down the road, but yea need to save up for that, also I live in Florida and so for the summer I might need to get a chiller, right now the tank runs at 78 if we keep the room around 75, yea yesterday it was 85 here in DECEMBER lol. Ill post some pics later when its all set up and fish are transferred=)

[StevieT]

Steve, I've been wondering (and this has probably already been asked) do you ever plan on upgrading to a larger tank? You've done such a great job with your Red Sea Max I'd like to see what you could do with a 100 gallon or something...

 

 

No, not at this time. Probably down the road, and actually that is the FIRST time that has been asked.

 

I have this tank in my office and really don't have room here for anything bigger. I am never at home since I work about 14 hours a day. I live in an apartment right now and I have a 55 freshwater there. I plan on moving out in a year or so to buy a house, so possibly a larger tank in that house, it depends on home much time I can give it. Or if I ever move my media basket business to it's own office, I would expect a Huge tank there, very large.

 

I really can't see myself without a saltwater tank for long now, when I stabalize my life I am sure I will try and play with the big boys.

 

yesterday it was 85 here in DECEMBER lol.

 

 

screw you I hate you now

 

There are lots of RSMs in Flordia, some have chillers some do not. You can add extra fans to the tank to help with the heat.