hazmat Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I just installed the Tunze skimmer in my RSM. You will not believe how much quieter your tank will be. I have bought about 5 thermometers and they ALL give different temp readings. I finally bought a cheapie glass/plastic thermometer and found the digital that closely matches it. I thought it was my heater at first too. Might want to just check the thermometer and make sure. Looking good! It's exciting isn't it?!? Aren't you in the land of Hershey?? Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 16, 2008 Author Share Posted April 16, 2008 I have it up against 3 thermometers and I am getting a reading of 72-73 at night I live about 15 minutes from Hershey PA. I may just buy a stealth. I have never had issues with one of those. Link to comment
hazmat Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 So the heater is not kicking on?? Are you running the lights yet?? Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 Heater is kicking on. It is just not maintaining a constant temp. I had less of an issue when the skimmer ran all the time because it produced heat (still not 100% though) I am running the lights. It is around 78degrees during the day with the lights on. Link to comment
hazmat Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Heater is kicking on. It is just not maintaining a constant temp. I had less of an issue when the skimmer ran all the time because it produced heat (still not 100% though) I am running the lights. It is around 78degrees during the day with the lights on. I should have asked this before but what is you thermometer set at?? I keep my heater set at 76. But my tank can heat up to 81 with the lights on. I have more of an issue with keeping the temp down. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 I can set it to 82 at night and it will not hold temp. I have a finished walk out basement so the ambient temp is a bit cooler, but that heater should be ok. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 I am starting to get some hair algae. Probably from the lighting and nutrients in the water. I kicked the skimmer back on and I am going to run the lights very little. Link to comment
lilredneckman Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Tanks looking good Chuck. I just made a fuge in mine! Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 18, 2008 Author Share Posted April 18, 2008 Hmm...I think I want to some pics of that setup! Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 23, 2008 Author Share Posted April 23, 2008 Tank is still cycling. Ammonia is zero. Nitrites are up and Nitrates are starting to show... Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted April 27, 2008 Author Share Posted April 27, 2008 Ammonia Zero. Nitrites on the way down. Added a few snails and 10 hermit crabs. More cleanup crew on the way next week. I will do the first water change at that time. I may add a couple of green chromis to the tank next week as well. I bought chemipure today and a couple of filter bags for floss. I plan to add a korallia 1 at some point in the near future. I may also mess with the aquascape. I hate the same old formarion, but I want to make sure I have plenty of places to mount corals. Link to comment
2001accord Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 any updated pics of the tank??? Link to comment
Phixion Posted April 29, 2008 Share Posted April 29, 2008 I would W/C today or tomorrow, then W/C again next week when you get the reamining CUC. Almost there though! Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 I am going to take some pics soon. I plan on doing a water change this weekend. I threw a small bag of floss in the first chamber and used a baster again to get the cr?p off the rocks. The tank is perfectly clear right now. It has been up and running for about a month. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 4, 2008 Author Share Posted May 4, 2008 I added some chemipure, completed my 1st water change, and added a tunze 6025 for some extra flow. This tank has some turbulent water now. I am hoping it isn't too much. I have a lot of cr?p floating around in the water column so hopefully that will all get filtered out. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 4, 2008 Author Share Posted May 4, 2008 I thought I had everything pretty well figured out. The chemipure in the first chamber seemed to throw everything out. I shut my tunze off for a couplr minutes to make an adjustment and when I turned it back on the water level dropped in the back chambers. The water level was then too low for the kimmer to function and the pumps were blowing bubbles. I removed the chemipure and everything went back to normal. I usually only run carbon off and on, but this looks like ot will be an issue. Ideas Welcome Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 4, 2008 Author Share Posted May 4, 2008 I put the floss back in and the levels appear to be ok. I usually get my loverock from my LFS and it goes from his tank to mine wet. I have had a lot of die off getting it online. It is to be expected, but I am just not accostomed to it. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 5, 2008 Author Share Posted May 5, 2008 I have been trying to remove the bulk of the die off by using a turkey baster or picking up the rock and shaking it off and then allowing the floss to remove the big particles. I think I will need to do this about every other day and just keep removing the spent floss. Let's see how it goes. I am getting anxious to add some stuff. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 Unfortunately, my tank is overrun with hair algae...... You really need patience for this hobby... Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 8, 2008 Author Share Posted May 8, 2008 I think I am going to go to the store today and get a sea hare and the rest of my cleanup crew. I am wondering how "Cured" the rock was from Premium Aquatics. I know shipping will cause die off, but this was excessive. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 I added a lettuce nudibranch, 10 hermits and 3 nassarius snails. I also started running an aquaclear 20 with a quick filter on it to get rid of some of the die-off. The aquaclear is not that good. It is working to polish the water but that is it. I also added a small bag of seagel in chamber one to try to isolate phosphates. Frankly, I am embarrassed right now. I have nevr had this much difficulty starting a tank and the tank is just dirty. I am going to do another water change this weekend. I cannot say that I would recommend getting liverock shipped and I do not think the rock from Premium Aquatics is as good as that which I have gotten from my LFS. Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 10, 2008 Author Share Posted May 10, 2008 I did a 10% water change today. I added a bag of chemipure. I cleaned the skimmer. I took individual rocks out and scrubbed them with a plastic bristle kitchen brush. I shook the detritus off. The tank is back to sparkling clean. I am hoping that I removed the itrates that were in the tank. I am going to do another 10% water change tomorrow or the next day. This cleaning got a lot of cr?p out. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I also rearranged the rock. I will post some pics soon. Link to comment
HankB Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 Hi Chuck, Tanks for keeping up with your dialog even though there have been few replies. I'm probably not the only one who has been following your journey. We visited the folks we plan to buy from and found everything as we had hoped. We could have walked out of there with our own RSM today except that they sold the two they had in stock last weekend at the frag fest in Rockford. They can get one Monday and promised to drop it off along with live rock, sand and water. They said we could put stuff in right away because the rock is already cured, but I'm going to hold off and make sure things are stable before we proceed with stocking. We've waited months to get the tank so why rush now? Then I can start my own tank thread. thanks, hank Link to comment
Oceanic 30g Posted May 12, 2008 Author Share Posted May 12, 2008 Thanks for the reply! Even if the rock is fully cured and the water is from a current system, you will have a mini cyce. I have done a couple smaller tanks like that and always had a cyle of some sort. I did another 10% water change today. My one pump got loud again so I had to take it out and reset the impeller cover. PIA. This tank is nice overall, but the components are horrible. The heaters are cheap. The skimmer svcks. The pumps are the cheapest thing I have ever seen. Has anyone swapped out the stock pumps for something else? Link to comment
Phixion Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 How's the GHA battle faring for you? I've done tank moves into new tanks (1st with my old AP12 into my Finnex 30g and then recently from my 10g AGA to my new Advanced Acrylics 10g custom AIO) using "new" established rock and never had an issue with even a mini cycle. Its pretty much just luck how that's worked out for me, but I had all livestock transfered over within 24 hours and never lost a single thing. Not to say it's good to do, but it's worked for me thus far. I just aquired a UV sterilizer today, and will be setting that up. Hopefully I can kick my GHA issues with it, we'll see... Link to comment
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