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JimDantin's RSM


JimDantin

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Index of Subtopics

 

A Brief History of my Reefing Adventures

DIY Frag Racks

Frag Rack Details

The Rock Arrives!

Ghetto Kalk Reactor

Rockscape

Livestock Added

Slideshow of My Corals

65 Watt Lighting Upgrade!

Pictures of the Lighting Upgrade Results.

Near Disaster!

October 2008 Update

Live Webcam

 

Overview

 

Through a very strange set of circumstances, I am the proud owner of a new Red Sea Max tank and hood, a new Reefkeeper 2, a new Tunze 9002 skimmer, a used Aqua Medic Niveaumat ATO and a pile of parts salvaged from a broken RSM.

 

I bought a used Red Sea Max and stand from a guy in California for $465. He didn't listen to anyone's advice regarding packing and decided to pack it himself. UPS delivered it with the bottom broken, the hood cracked, and some other minor scratches. The seller naively thought that the shipping insurance would cover the damage. UPS rejected the claim since there was virtually no cushioning around the tank.

 

The seller had already spent the money I sent him, so he was really in a financial bind. Red Sea sold him a replacement tank and hood and shipped it to me. It arrived FedEx freight -- basically no cushioning, but the box was stretch-wrapped to a wood pallet so nothing could bang against it. With shipping, it came to slightly more than I paid him for the complete used setup. Very expensive lesson for the poor guy!

 

The new hood was complete except for bulbs, and I had salvaged all the removable parts from the broken tank. I ended up with 2 spare pumps, the timer and lighting system guts, and some other small parts like hinge pins and hood supports. I also have the stand.

 

I bought a better skimmer (Tunze 9002), so I have the original Red Sea as a spare.

 

In the middle of all this, I fell into a really sweet deal on a brand new Reefkeeper 2 -- for $150! Of course, that purchase also didn't go as expected -- the guy had a family emergency and didn't ship it for a week - I thought I had been scammed! It has replaced the stock RSM timer and power center (another spare part in the pile! I added a Koralia power head and put a Hydor Flo onto one of the existing pumps. With the wave maker functions of the Reefkeeper I should be able to get a nice random flow pattern.

 

My Marco Rock order has been delayed repeatedly since mid April. I finally have a DHL tracking number and it is scheduled to arrive May 28. I have already picked up some acrylic rod, live sand, and salt.

The tank is filled with water and about 3" of sand. This has been a painful wait to get started!

 

I have set up the Tunze 9002 skimmer and a media basket that I got from StevieT. I've been tuning up the water flow and cooling fans to get everything stable for when the rocks arrive.

 

The Reefkeeper 2 is quite cool. Because of the rather complex wiring in the RSM hood, I've decided to let the hood's timer handle the lighting and main cooling fans. An auxiliary cooling fan is tied in to the RK2 and comes on when the tank temperature rises above 79 F. The software myReef that comes with the RK2 is rather primitive and I'm having communications problems between the RK2 and my computer. I'll probably develop a logging program on my own.

 

I keep falling into sweet deals -- I picked up an Aqua Medic Niveaumat ATO unit for a real deal. It uses a peristaltic pump for makeup water. I'll use it to feed RO/DI water for top off for now, but I want to add a Kalc stirrer so that the Niveaumat pushes RO/DI into the stirring chamber and displaces kalc water into the RSM. I will probably build a simple kalc rig unless I can find a real deal on a small one. Anyone have a supply of clear acrylic or PVC tube? Or, have you seen plans for one made out of some other type of container?

 

Here are the mods I've done to the RSM:

 

1. Replaced stock power distribution strip with the Reefkeeper 2

2. Added an auxiliary cooling fan (free from Red Sea) and plugged it into the RK2

3. Added a Koralia Nano pump. Should have gotten a model 1 or 2 instead!

4. Added a Hydor Flo to one of the circulation pumps.

5. Replaced the stock skimmer with a Tunze 9002 and modded the Tunze with a magnetic mount.

6. Installed a StevieT media rack in the space freed up from the stock skimmer.

 

To be completed --

7. Install Aqua Medic Niveaumat ATO

8. Acquire and install kalc dispenser

9. Set up the rock and cycle the tank!

 

I've been reading everything I could find on cycling Marco Rocks. Seems like everyone has their favorite methods including:

1. Burn off dead stuff with a propane torch and then scrub

2. Use the pressure rinse wand at the car wash

3. Soak in vinegar water for a day or two and then scrub

4. Soak in bleach water for a day or two and then scrub

5. Cycle in tubs with frequent saltwater changes

6. Variations on the above

 

At this point, I plan on the following once the rock arrives:

1. Inspect for any major junk and remove by hand and propane torch.

2. Rinse and scrub with tap water and then soak in tapwater/bleach for a day

3. Dump the bleach water and haul the rock to the carwash for pressure washing.

4. Put the rock in a container with saltwater, heater, chlorine remover, and circulation pump for a couple days

5. If the smell isn't bad, scrub off any remaining junk, rinse in the salt water, and then transfer to the RSM

6. Start working on a scape while waiting on nature to take its course. There's no way I can just let it sit there!

7. Seed the rock with a few pieces of live rock and coralline algae from my existing tank. Seed the sand with a cup of live sand from as many sources as possible.

7. Change water a couple times during the cure and add carbon and Phosgen to try to avoid an algae outbreak.

8. Use acrylic rods to lock the rock together and to hold it off the bottom.

9. When the cycle is over, start slowly transferring cleanup crew, live rock, and coral from my existing tank.

10. Transfer some of the Marco rock to the old tank once I'm sure the cycle is complete.

 

OK -- what looks like a disaster ready to happen? Any comments/suggestions/warnings would be VERY much appreciated. I'll be posting pictures and updates.

 

Thanks to everyone for providing an incredible wealth of information here.

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A Brief History of my Reefing Adventures

 

While I'm waiting for DHL to deliver my Marco Rock, I decided to put together a brief pictorial of my reefing experiences. It all started May 31, 2007 when I converted a JBJ 3 gallon Picotope to salt water. I bought live rock, sand, and a few frags to get started.

 

Picotopestartup.jpg

 

After a short month, I ended up with this on June 29, 2007.

 

Picotopeatend.jpg

 

At that point I was hooked, and hooked BAD! I bought an Oceanic 14 gallon Biocube, moved everything from the Picotope, and have been adding more specimens and live rock. Here's what the 14g looks like now, after 11 months.

 

A full tank shot:

BC14FTS.jpg

 

And some closeups:

BC14a.jpg

 

BC14b.jpg

 

BC14c.jpg

 

BC14d.jpg

 

I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. Now, I'll be taking it apart and slowly moving the stock to the RSM.

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Frag Racks

 

Marco Rock just arrived - a day ahead of schedule! Nice looking pieces, 6" to 12" size. I picked through the box and shook off any rubble while transferring the rock to a plastic tub. I ended up with less than a quart of rubble!

 

While twiddling my thumbs waiting on DHL, I built myself a few frag racks. I used these magnets from K&J Magnetics. They are epoxy coated. I designed the rack to provide good holding force as compared to the magnetic racks that are offered commercially. Here's a couple pictures. The magnets are glued on with JB Weld epoxy. The eggcrate is glued using Testors Plastic Cement (water thin solvent used for plastic models)

 

DSC_4912.jpg

 

DSC_4914.jpg

 

Off to the grocery store for a couple gallons of bleach.

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Nice job on the custom magnetic racks ... do you think gluing with super glue gel will work? I don't really want to buy a lot of parts to build the racks ...

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Nice job on the custom magnetic racks ... do you think gluing with super glue gel will work? I don't really want to buy a lot of parts to build the racks ...

 

The glue is just a couple bucks anywhere plastic models (cars, planes, etc) are sold. Superglue really doesn't work well on styrene. You probably could use PVC cement or epoxy. Also, both are FAR cheaper than superglue gel!

 

Since you need the epoxy to properly hold the magnets, just use it for everything.

 

HINT: When working with epoxy glue, it's sometimes hard to find a place to set the assembly down while curing. Wax paper is a proven surface. I found that Parchment Paper (stolen from my wife's baking supplies, and available at the grocery store) works even better. Parchment paper is silicon-impregnated paper.

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Frag Rack Details

 

One more hint regarding the frag racks. The original photos don't show it very well, but I left the little fingers of plastic when I trimmed the horizontal piece of eggcrate. These pieces overlap the rear brace to provide a series of strong glue joints. Each grid hole has a lap joint.

 

Also, here is a link to where i bought the magnets.

Epoxy coated magnets

 

Hope these pictures help.

 

Note how I trimmed out the corner of the eggcrate to glue in the magnets.

 

DSC_4916.jpg

 

DSC_4917.jpg

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I cleaned the rock at the car wash -- the pressurized rinse wand works great. I let it dry overnight and then started playing around with layouts. I used acrylic rods to support some of the bottom pieces and will tie the upper pirces together once I'm comfortable with the overall layout.

 

I was able to put around 35 to 40 pounds of Marco Rock in the RSM. I'll post a picture after the water clears. I pumped 5 gallons of water out of the RSM before I started aquascaping. When I was finished, I put water back in to the same level as when I started.

 

BIG SURPRISE -- all that rock displaced less than 2 gallons of water! Marco Rock is DEFINATELY full of holes!

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The Rock Arrives!

 

This is a first-try layout. I'm sure I'll be rearranging frequently. The Marco Rock is fantastic with many holes, caves, and interesting structures. I tried to arrange the rocks for a large number of caves, passages, and an open area in the center.

 

I'm dropping in a dead shrimp and starting the cycle.

 

My fish display area.

DSC_4919.jpg

 

My Oceanic Biocube 14 and the RSM.

DSC_4920.jpg

 

A couple shots of the rock in the tank.

DSC_4921.jpg

DSC_4922.jpg

 

The rock in all its naked glory.

DSC_4923.jpg

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Nice rockscape! It looks like it is growing right up out of the sand.

 

How much sand is that, BTW and is the rock sitting on that or did you add sand after you scaped?

 

thanks,

hank

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Thanks!

 

I used acrylic legs for a few foundation pieces in the back. I plan to tie everything together with acrylic rod eventually. FYI, I used 1/4" rod and some 1/2" OD x 1/4" ID tube slipped over the exposed legs. The tube gives a firm foundation for the rock and holds it a couple inches off of the tank bottom.

 

The sand bed consists of 40# of Carib Sea Ocean Direct Live Sand topped with 20# of Carib Sea Arag-Alive West Caribbean Reef Sand. I bought it from Big Al's. I put it in about two weeks ago, so it had plenty time to settle. I've been waiting on the rock, so this worked out really well.

 

The initial sandstorm took a couple days to clear. During the past couple of weeks, I watched the bed shift around under the water flow and start to stratify. The superfine material has moved down into the bed and the more coarse particles are left on top. Very little was stirred up when I placed the rock and pushed it down into the bed. I was not particularly careful, but the cloudiness settled in just a couple hours. If I had put the rock in first, I'd have a real mess of fines coating everything.

 

So, based on this project, I'd recommend sand first, allow to settle as long as possible, and then add rock.

 

I will now start begging cups of sand from as many people as possible to seed a diversity of life into my sand bed.

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Very nice aquascape ... it does look like the rocks have had extensive die off with all the white stuff on it ... or are these custom made rock work?

 

One more hint regarding the frag racks. The original photos don't show it very well, but I left the little fingers of plastic when I trimmed the horizontal piece of eggcrate. These pieces overlap the rear brace to provide a series of strong glue joints. Each grid hole has a lap joint.

 

Also, here is a link to where i bought the magnets.

Epoxy coated magnets

 

Hope these pictures help.

 

Note how I trimmed out the corner of the eggcrate to glue in the magnets.

 

DSC_4916.jpg

 

DSC_4917.jpg

 

Thanks for the tutorial :)

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Very nice aquascape ... it does look like the rocks have had extensive die off with all the white stuff on it ... or are these custom made rock work?

Thanks for the tutorial :)

 

The rock is dead rock from MarcoRocks.com. This rock is collected from beaches or has been piled on land for an extended period. I cleaned it with bleach and a power rinse at the car wash! The goal is to start with as clean a rock as possible and then culture life back into it by seeding with live rock from other sources.

 

This Fiji rock is very complex shape and full of holes, passages, and little nooks and crannies for the fish and inverts to call home.

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The ammonia level is rising from the cocktail shrimp I put in the tank. I am getting a diatom bloom now.

 

I have makeup water automated with the Aqua Medic Niveaumat. I'm experimenting with some DIY kalk mixers and hope to insert that after the Niveaumat pump.

 

For those of you with Aqua Medic feed pumps, I am developing a low cost tubing replacement kit. As soon as testing is complete, I will be offering kits. If you might me interested, PM me.

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The cycling continues . . .

 

The rocks are in arrangement 2.0. I've been working on shelf areas at different depths to support a variety of corals. I'm also concentrating on arranging the rocks so that they look very natural -- each piece is aligned like it was naturally growing.

 

I added a Koralia 2 and relocated the Koralia nano behind the rocks so that it blows into the central open area. The Koralia 2 really moves some water!

 

The diatom bloom has ended, but I have a layer of bright yellow algae on the top surface of the rocks, and a bit of red algae on the sand. I added a bag of Chemipure Elite to try to reduce phosphate and silicate levels. Here's a log of my water parameters so far. I'll upload fresh copies periodically.

 

Question -- should I do anything about the ammonia and phosplate levels other than the Chemipure?

RSM_Data_Log.pdf

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:) The ammonia level is dropping fast, as is the phosphate. Thanks bluesky for calming me down. This is my first real tank cycle -- previous tanks were set up with fully cured live rock and sand, so I had very soft cycles.

 

I spent about an hour rearranging the rock again -- still not totally satisfied, but I think I'm getting close. I'm really trying to disguise the big Koralia 2, but haven't quite found a rock arrangement that works yet.

 

FYI, 25 pounds of Marco Rock is probably all you need for the RSM. Even after cherrypicking the pieces I put into the tank, I have a big pile of very nice extra pieces.

 

My ghetto Kalkwasser reactor is working fine. If you have an ATO powered by some type of peristaltic pump, you can easily add one of these. I'm not sure it would work with an air-driven or powerhead-driven ATO, but it would be worth a try.

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Ammonia is at zero, nitrite still very high.

 

Yesterday, the water got very cloudy and the light green and red algae really started spreading. I've settled on a rockscape (pictures as soon as the water clears!) and have pinned the rocks together with acrylic rod and epoxy.

 

A local club member is shutting down his tank and is selling off everything. I picked up some very nice rics, acans, montis, and zoas -- my little 14 gallon is VERY full right now.

 

Here's the latest log and a couple pictures of the new stock.

 

DSC_4936.jpg

 

DSC_4940.jpg

 

DSC_4941.jpg

 

DSC_4942.jpg

RSM_Data_Log.pdf

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Ghetto Kalk Reactor

 

I've been working on a Kalkwasser mixer. I used some tubing from a pile of medical infusion sets that a friend gave me. If you have a friend who is a nurse, the infusion and enteral feeding sets are a treasure trove of tubing, fittings, clamps, and other hardware.

 

I bought two 1/4" John Guest bulkhead adapters http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/variant.a...iant%5Fid=58174

I also bought a couple heavy wall bottles and caps http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/variant.a...iant%5Fid=66418

 

I drilled holes in the caps (buy extra caps cause I broke one!) to fit the bulkhead adapters. The two adapters barely fit after trimming the interior flange. A test without sealing the fittings into the holes resulted in leaks, so I disassembled everything and appled some silicone sealant.

 

My idea was to use very small (1/16" OD) tubing in a way that would cause it to flail around and stir up the Kalk when water was pumped through it. This would eliminate the need for pumps, stirrers, or other coimplexities. I'll be tweaking the length of the tubing to make it work well, but initial tests revealed a nice wave action in the kalk at the bottom of the bottle.

 

There is a check valve on the output to prevent backflow, and it sits in an old CD cover to contain any spills.

 

This is the entire reactor!

DSC_4944.jpg

 

Closeup of the bulkhead fittings and check valve

DSC_4945.jpg

 

 

Example of the medical tubing I used

DSC_4946.jpg

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love the ghetto reactor!

 

I can't believe how well it works. Why in the world are the commercial ones so complex and expensive? For us nano reefers, this simple design works -- obviously, big tanks require more.

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no kidding. Simple yet effective.

 

They cost so much because they have to hire on people like yourself to think of complicated ways of doing things B)

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Very cool setup. I love the layout of all of your tanks in the room, looks awesome.

Thanks! Like StevieT, it's my office -- mine is in my home, however. If I get the rest of the room straightened up, I'll post some Whole Room Shots.

 

Having tanks where you work is both a distraction and a wonderful stress reliever. When I'm stuck on a project, all I have to do is spin my chair and stare at the tanks. B)

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