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Reefmack's Red Sea Max


Reefmack

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Well, after 15 months it's a bit late to start a build thread. I started the monster RSM Club thread on Reef Central to help with sharing problems and resolutions/mods for the RSM, but I've never had a thread specifically on my own tank, so I'll start one here and update it as things change.

 

The beginning - 24 lbs. of live rock from Reef Science:

 

Tank4_21_07.jpg

 

The rock was fully cured, and as a safeguard I added Bio-Spira live bacterial innoculant with each batch of rock, another 25 lbs. added within a week, and fish added about a week later. Using multiple test kits I've never had a measurable cycle since day one - no ammonia, no nitrites, just some nitrates. I attribute this to the fully cured rock, and the use of Bio-Spira.

 

Although fully cured, the rock had coralline on it, and a lot of life (good types) that were hitchhikers. This was taken a few hours after the first rock went in - zoas opening, several bright red mushrooms, and some green star polyps. I was amazed how much life was still on the rock and that I saw no die-off.

 

GreenStar1.jpg

 

After the second 25 lbs. of rock, and after adding 2 clowns, 2 pajama cardinals, and a Diadema Pseudochromis. As I said, even after adding fish, no ammonia, no nitrates - I was a happy camper!

 

Tank5_2_07.jpg

 

I suffered through a diatom stage for a couple weeks, but never had anything but a very minor amount of green hair algae. I have no grisly looking pictures of my rockwork covered in green hair, thank goodness!

 

The tank at about 2 months, after adding some corals:

 

Tank6_2_07.jpg

 

I went though a lot of early mods on a poorly performing Prizm-based RSM skimmer. This was one of the mesh mods on the skimmer pump impeller. None of these or other mods ever did much to improve RSM skimmer performance:

 

Mod7_5_07.jpg

 

The tank at about 7 months. I replaced the RSM hood with a Current Outer Orbit Pro HQI/T5 fixture to open up the back section to different skimmers, and ATO, etc.

 

TankSitting.jpg

 

An older picture of the back of the tank with the raised hood off - I went with a Aqua C Remora HOB skimmer that performs great, and Tunze ATO sensors. The blue thing was a DIY mechanical filter I built. I'm now running the StevieT media basket to the right of the Remora. It's a bit tight back there now, but it all fits, and the StevieT media basket solved a lot of problems with media placement and mechanical filtration. I'll have to thank StevieT for dropping in my RSM Club thread on Reef Central and sharing his mods! His basket was exactly what I needed.

 

ATOBack.jpg

 

A few days output from the Remora. I doubt I got this much gunk out in months of running the RSM skimmer!

 

 

skimmate9_22_07.jpg

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Well, after 17 months it's a bit late to start a build thread. ...

 

Never too late!

 

:welcome: to the world of N-R tank threads and thanks for sharing your experiences. :D

 

-hank

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Jumping way ahead, this is pretty much the look I had till a few months ago:

 

Tank8_18_20MHR.jpg

 

My diadema dottyback - I've had it from the start and it's still one of my favorite fish. A bit aggressive but none of my fish have ever physically hurt one another - just occasional displays of dominance:

 

Dottyback2a.jpg

 

At about 9-10 months I had an outbreak of pesky Bryopsis algae that was starting to overgrow some of my corals. I tried pulling it out, but tough to remove & grew right back. I tried elevated magnesium levels but saw some negative effects on some of the polyps. Although the fish will eventually get too big for the tank, as a last resort I bought a small Foxface. The Bryopsis was gone in a week, and hasn't reappeared!

 

Foxface11_25_07.jpg

 

In April I bought a small 9g Aqua Medic tank and moved the top rock and corals from the RSM to furnish the 9g nano. This gave me a clean slate on top to get some new rock on top, move things around and try for a new look, and new coral types. The bare top back in April:

 

RSM4_27_08.jpg

 

I'm now trying SPS, Acropora, Montipora, Pocillopora, and some new lps types (Blastomussa, Duncans, etc.). I'm begining to like the look of the tank again, and even now prefer it over the "old" look.

 

Under the 20000k HQI metal halide:

 

FTS37_5_08.jpg

 

And under only the 420/460 actinics - I love the way the corals fluoresce and "pop out" under actinic lighting! A totally different appearance:

 

Wallpaper7_6_08.jpg

 

Excuse the "desktop picture". My PC crashed last weekend and I lost all of my pictures other than what I had in Photobucket.

 

So there's a brief rundown of my 15 months of RSMing.

 

 

 

StevieT, HankB - you guys are quick! I was trying to get it all posted and corrected before anyome saw it! :)

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That actinic picture is amazing. I wish I could do that to my tank, I would stare at it all day and never get any work done.

 

 

Oh on the speed.

 

1. I live here

2. You posted at a time that EVERYONE is online ! haha

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Thanks all for the nice words.

 

StevieT - I just run the actinics before, during and after the HQI comes on. I'm not sure if actinic light alone would be good for coral growth - at least not at the 96 watts of actinics I have. Things look totally awesome under the actinics! I have 6 blue LEDs on all night, then early morning the 6 white LEDs also come on. Mid-morning the LEDs switch off and the actinics come on for a couple hours, then the 150w HQI also comes on, and in late evening the HQI switches off, leaving the actinics, then those switch off, and the 6 white & 6 blue LEDs come on, and then just blue LED overnight. I try to simulate a dawn-dusk-night light sequence. It works well but takes a lot of timers and cords! :o

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No, I don't think they would do very well either, I have herd mixed opinions on that but overall, the sps can't handle it. Softies.... probably

 

I have actually had that light over my tank before, I purchased it for a memeber and sent it to him in new zealand. Wow, what a difference it was!

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fierceseaman

Great looking tank. I have just purchased this same fixture and am looking forward to setting up my tank in my new place in the next month or so. Is that 2 different types of euphyllia in your tank? I can identify the frogspawn. Is there another in the earlier tank shots coming out of the sand, branched, slightly to the right from middle?

 

Also, for someone who hasn't actually set up their Current USA Outer Orbit fixture, could you break down your lighting cycle with actual times? Thanks!

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fieceseaman - I used to have 2 types of Euphyllia - one was the frogspawn that looked like a branching weeping willow tree. I had to give that one away as it got too big and was stinging too many things, including me. I just have one left - a torch type - mid level in the rock work, left of center. I used to have the timings down on my Outer Orbit lights, but not sure I can locate them since my PC crash. If I can find a record somewhere I'll post them.

 

StevieT - Do I just post in that thread and ask to be listed under the other RSMs? I'll have to go through that whole list - thanks! They blocked photobucket images at work now so I can't even see people's pictures unless I'm home - grrrrr!!!

 

I found I had taken the above "wallpaper shot" since the PC crash - here it is without all the icons:

 

FTSsmallActinics7_6_08.jpg

 

And here's a couple of other actinic close ups. I didn't realize it till looking through old Photobucket pics that my light green acropora has grown a good inch in about a month. The montiporas grow even faster. And my 3 week old green & blue Duncans are already putting out baby heads all around the stalks. Amazing how quickly some of these things grow, while others can be impossible to keep alive.

 

Corals7_6_08.jpg

 

Corals27_6_08.jpg

 

Corals1.jpg

 

Pocillopora damicornis - another SPS type I'm having good luck with. But, these are semi-agressive so it may be a problem as it grows. I've tried to avoid aggressive corals in my latest setup, but I didn't read up on this one first - one of those impulse buys!

 

Pocillopora7_5_08.jpg

 

A Blastomussa wellsi I won on Ebay a week ago. One polyp so far, but that one polyp can expand to over 2" across:

 

Under actinics:

 

BlastomussaWellsi7_6_08.jpg

 

Under the metal halide:

 

BlastoWellsi.jpg

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wow your tank looks great and yeah Pocillopora is pretty agressive i had some in a frag tank a while back and it attached to the wall and welded it self to the frag rack but its a coral just watch what its next to

 

cheers

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fierceseaman

Thanks man, I'd love to get that lighting schedule. When I see people doing great things, I try to mimic that.

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Very nice looking tank. I have read the threads on StevieT's and Hank's tanks, so seeing another great RSM just makes me want one even more. Do you have a chiller on it? I have my BC8 here at work, and want to replace it with an RSM or Finnex30 sometime late this fall (maybe my Xmas present to myself?).

 

If you had to do it over again, would you start off with the RSM hood and lights or go straight to the Current HQI ?

 

Also great to see another fellow Charlotte member.

 

- geoff

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wow, those pictures look great!

 

Just pm bluesky, or post a link on that thread to be added, (then you can delete that later so you don't look like a desperate attention seeker :D;) ) He seems to be a little busier in the summer but he should add you to the master list soon enough.

 

Man, I love those actinic pictures, I should have snapped one while I had that light on my tank... All i took was a daylight pic.

 

They blocked photobucket....wow that is a bit of a stretch but I can see some reasons. Websense? I am so glad they forgot about my computers at my store... shhhh don't tell them!

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Thanks man, I'd love to get that lighting schedule. When I see people doing great things, I try to mimic that.

 

Well, I found some old notes in an email. These times may not be exact, but should be close to how my Orbit is set up. It's really all up to you, and I know one Orbit owner that has no moonlights on during the night. Too bad we can't ask our corals what they like! I'm certainly no light timing expert!

 

8 AM White Lunar ON (Blue also - has been on overnight)

9 AM T5s ON, both LEDs switch off

11 AM MH ON (T5s also stay on)

9 PM MH OFF - T5s still on

10 PM T5s OFF

10 PM Blue & White Lunar LED switch on

11 PM White Lunar LEDs off - Blue Lunar LEDs on all night

 

StevieT - I'll PM bluesky. I'm certainly not in a rush nor am I an attention seeker - if I was I'd have posted my tank long ago. This does seem to be a better forum for it than Reef Central. After all, this is NANO-Reef.com! Yep - they seemed to have blocked access here now to most of the photo posting sites. I suppose it may be because of "naughty" pictures, but it's made it a real PITA to read posts with no pictures. Then again. with more workforce reductions I've just picked up more job duties and not a lot of time left to check out the forums.

 

rhogeo - Do you belong to the Charlotte RASOC reef club? I'm a member but don't do much posting in their forum, and have yet to go to a meeting. I have no chiller - I keep the house at 70-72 in the summer, and have a dual Azoo fan on the back lip to keeps te tank at 79-80 max. Lots of evaporation but I have the ATO for that. The raised Orbit fixture with the HQI on in my opinion doesn't heat the tank that much - it has a nice big cooling fan and I can put my hand on top of the hood after the HQI has been on all day and it's barely even warm. If I ran a closed hood with a metal halide, like the Nanotuners setup, I'm sure I'd need a chiller - the RSM hood doesn't let a lot of heat escape. If I could do it over again, would I start out with the Orbit hood? I'm not sure - if the RSM skimmer ever skimmed like it should have, I might have stayed with the original hood and lights. the RSM lights are a lot better than most people think - and a lot of owners (StevieT is just one) have been successful with keeping SPS healthy under the RSM lights. That damn RSM skimmer was the biggest reason I went with the Orbit - to open up the back to be able to more easily try other skimmers without worrying about the hood closing.

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No, I don't belong to RASOC. I was up at Coral Dynamics not too long ago and the owner told me about it. I wish the RASOC website was better, maybe I'd feel like it'd be worth it to join to share information locally.

 

I'd like to know when they have a frag swap sometime, I've never been to one and would like to go see what it's like. with my little BC8 I am searching for really small frags of things, which make it a little hard.

 

How would you compare the 2 55 watt buls to the HQI? It seems like these days everyone is talking HQI, but I read some posts from people with T5 VHO lighting and they love it. My little BC8 holds probably 6 gals or so in the tank itself and I just added a 3rd 18w light to my hood. So now I have 54 watts for 6 gallons.

 

As far as the skimmer goes, with the Tunze 9002 and StevieT's cup, the hodd closes fine doesn't it?

 

I will say that I read nothing but great reviews on here from people that have gotten the RSM. I went down to Fintastic today to get my monthly supply of saltwater and looked at it again. The stand looks nice too. I bet an ATO and chiller would fit in there nicely.

 

My building turns the AC down to it's minimum on the weekends, so I'm nervous about the tank getting hot. I had a fan mounted in the feeding hatch and I was amazed how cool it kept the tank (my heater kept coming on). The problem, as you said is evaporation. I need to rig up an ATO (ben looking at the Tunze, JBJ and the DIY kits from Aquahub.

 

Anyway, your tank looks great. Keep the posts coming..

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rhogeo - with a RASOC membership you get a 10% discount at Fintastic. It might be worth your while to join just for that. Some other lfs also give a discount with RASOC membership. For me the 150 bulb and 96 watts of actinics blew away the RSM lights for intensity. With both on I'm getting about 250 watts, so it stands to reason it would beat the 110 watts in the RSM hood. Since I don't have the RSM hood anymore closing it isn't a worry with my raised hood. The Orbit raised hood sits over and covers only the display tank portion - I could have something stick up in back up to the ceiling and it wouldn't make any difference LOL. I also run a hang on Remora - not the Tunze. On the chiller - it would probably fit nicely in the cabinet, but quite a few owners that tried this found the chiller was getting too hot - not enough ventilation in the RSM cabinet, unless you mod the cabinet with vents & fans. I don't run a chiller - just a cool house and a dual cooling fan on the back lip.

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snake plissken

Hey reefmack - what took you so long? :D

I have had a build thread on here for a while. maybe now i won't have to keep flip-flopping back and forth between here and RC to keep up with you and your RSM!

 

here is my thread if you want to take a look. it doesnt have quite as many posts as your little monster on RC!! ;)

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=119101

 

and by the way, welcome!

wow -it sounds weird for me to say that to you. i have learned so much from your other thread. you and StevieT have been GREAT sources of info for my RSM!

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Hi Snake! Yep - it took me a while to start a thread on my tank - I figured better late than never, and Nano-Reef seemed a better place for it than Reef Central. The monster RSM Club thread on RC was never really meant to be one about my own tank - it was really started to get owners together to discuss issues with the tank, mods, and their progress. I never imagined it would grow so fast - 15 or more 40 page splits now, and just about impossible for a person to read from the start!

 

Against recommendations, and my own better judgement, I ordered of of these from Foster & Smith - the PS4 model with the auto-topoff. They have them on an anniversary sale 45% off, and I thought at that price it was worth a try:

 

http://www.tomaquarium.com/press/proseries...lish/index.html

 

As you may know, I ran a Fluval cannister for a while and even with a weekly cleaning/rinsing of the pads & media the cannister still had my nitrates going up & up. Even though placed after the mechanical filter sponges, the Chemi-Pure & Purigen bags were still getting a lot of nitrate generating build-up on on them. I pulled it a few weeks ago and went with StevieT's media basket, and saw my nitrates drop from 20-30+ to 5 (I once had zero). Being able to easily rinse/replace the mechanical filter in the basket has really helped.

 

But, I'd still love to get everything out of my back compartment - the Remora skimmer, the ATO sensors, the basket. I considered a regular sump and/or refugium, but when I saw this unit on sale I thought I'd try it. Heck - I've wasted more money than this on other useless things! If it works I no longer have to worry about the water level in the tank fluctuating, or starving the powerheads. The top off will happen in the sump/filter, not in thre tank. I don't plan on running a lot of the stuff that comes with it - maybe loose (unbagged rubble), Chemi-Pure, carbon, etc. The only problem will be where to put it. I'm not sure it will be workable in the cabinet, and I may have to hang the overflow on the side of the tank as I only have 3.5" free behind the tank. If it ends up being another nitrate generator I'll go back to my current set up, or use the overflow to run a regular sump/skimmer setup in the cabinet. At the price they have it on sale it's almost the regular cost of a good overflow box alone. Whether the included skimmer is any good only time wil tell. I've seen good reports on the skimmer and not so good reports. I'm probably crazy with this purchase, but this damn addiction does strange things to my mind, and my wallet! :lol:

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Thanks all!

 

StevieT - yep - it's serious filter, but time will tell if it's worthwhile. Since I won't receive it till next week, it may be a week or 2 before I attempt to set it up. I'll keep everybody posted. I'm now leaning towards mounting the overflow on the side - that 700gph flow would be a terrible thing to waste in the back compartment. With the 2 RSM powerheads (Hydor Flo on one) , and the Koralia, I could probably get some decent non laminar flows and wave action on the surface, depending how I direct the flows on everything.

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