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NKunleashed's RSM 130D w/LEDs


nkUnleashed

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nkUnleashed

The Tank "At a glance"

 

Tank: RSM 130D (34g AIO)

Started: June, 2009

 

Upgrades/Additions:

-3 Aquabeam/Aquaray 600 LEDs (instead of stock T5s) (colors - 2 reef white and 1 marine blue)

-Maxi-Jet 1200s for Return pumps (instead of stock)

-Koralia (K1) for water circ.

 

Fish:

Allard's Clownfish, Amphiprion allardi

Yellow Watchman Goby, Cryptocentrus cinctus

 

Inverts:

Banded coral shrimp, Stenopus hispidus

Blue legged hermits (~3)

Astro snails (~5)

Nass snails (~3)

Cerith snails (~2)

 

Corals:

Bali green slimer acro

"Long tentacle" acro, (Unk sp)

Branched frogspawn, (Euphyllia paradivisa)

Aussie acans (Acanthastrea sp)

Open brain, Trachyphyllia geoffroyi

Finger leather, (Lobophytum sp)

Kenya tree, (Capnella sp

Superman mushrooms, (Coralimorphia/Actinodiscus)

Various zoanthids/palythoas

Duncans, (Duncanopsammia axifuga)

Trumpet coral, (Caulastrea furcata)

Green star polyps, (Clavularia viridis)

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nkUnleashed

The lid to the skimmer comparment won't shut all the way. Its like the skimmer is sitting to high up or something. I've tied to physically push the skimmer down farther, but it seems to be all the way down. Any ideas?

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nkUnleashed

FTS Day 2

 

Removed the skimmer yesterday, inspected and reinstalled it and it is still sitting about 1/4 inch too high. I looks like it is all the way seated when I look through the view port on the power panel side, but the pump may be sticking down a little too far. I don't mind that the lid to the skimmer part is open for the time being.

 

Other than increased evap, will this cause a problem? I'm gonna drop a new skimmer in there in a few months anyway...

post-41874-1246366576_thumb.jpg

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nano4funreef

Your aquascape is looking good ! Congrats on your new RSM - they are great tanks 745.gif

 

Regarding your lid... RSM had a few lids with problems, if you have checked all the above tips, contact Pinky & they will ship you another one out at no charge - Red Sea Max has great customer service. Mine was up like 1/8" I just took a knife & shaved down a couple of the ribs 1/8"

 

Pinky Bulot U.S.A. Office: Red Sea 18125 Ammi Trail Houston, Texas 77060

 

Tel: (281) 447-0205 Fax: (281) 447-1153

 

Toll Free: 1-888-RedSea9

 

pinky@redseafish.com

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nkUnleashed
Your aquascape is looking good ! Congrats on your new RSM - they are great tanks 745.gif

 

Regarding your lid... RSM had a few lids with problems, if you have checked all the above tips, contact Pinky & they will ship you another one out at no charge - Red Sea Max has great customer service. Mine was up like 1/8" I just took a knife & shaved down a couple of the ribs 1/8"

 

 

Thanks a bunch nano4funreef, I thought I was losing my mind with this lid thing. I'll just shave the lid down. :)

 

Yeah, glad you like the 'scape. I lucked out with some awesome LR.

 

come on..cycle!

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nkUnleashed

Went home over lunch and fixed the lid. I had to remove some plastic on a few lid-ribs. Thanks agian nano4funreef!

 

'Nother question- when I set my tank up I thought I had it level (using a super-cheapo level), but the water in the tank is clearly ~1/4" lower on one side. I know tanks that aren't level put extra stress on the glass...is this cause for concern?

 

Thanks for helping the new kid!

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I'll be following this thread! My RSM is only 1 week older. In my thread you can see what mods I made to the stock skimmer to make it work better. (I'm getting the tunze later)

 

I see you have the 130D, this new model had 1 big error. the lid would close... but I guess you fixed that yourself. You could have contacted RS because to had other lids for you.

 

I wouldn't like to have my aquarium at an angle that big. I would try to fix this asap.

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  • 2 weeks later...
nkUnleashed

Microbubbles! What?

 

So, my tank has been running mostly sans bubbles for almost 3 weeks. Now the water is kinda cloudy from them. I started dosing with 2 part, a couple days ago. But other than that, I haven't changed anything. Whats the deal?

 

Tank has cycled. Did a 25% H2O change on Sunday, but 'trates are still around 12.5. Cleaning crew is destroying all the algae on the LR, but the sand is a little gunky still. Photo period is around 8 hours, with a 3 hour break mid-afternoon to try and control the temp.

 

CUC:

10 astros

10 blue legged herms

4 nass

 

Also, does anyone have any advice about how to cool RSMs? I just can't get mine below 83 with the lights on!

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Hi, How's your waterlevel in the tank? my rsm only spits bubbles when I'm a bit late with top off with RO water. The waterlevel in the back of the tank then drops causing micro bubbles. Also You algae might be producing a lot of bubbles that are released by the force of the streamers. Sometimes the bubbles will dissapear by them self I have heard.

 

Get some pics! I want to see your algae... I haven't put sand in yet and I'll wait till I'm through my cycle. That way my sand will stay fresh and white but that's a bit late for you I guess. Mayby get some more snail that live in the sandbed or a special starfish that cleans your sand. (will have to look up name)

 

I would change your light period. Mine's on for 12hrs a day almost since the beginning. The algae cycle is just something you'll have to sit out and wait and you might just be prolonging yours.

 

Temp can be lowered by using a cooler, this is a bit expensive but your best option. You can also build in more computerfans in the hood. Like two fans sucking out air and 2 on the other side blowing in cool air. I have 4 fans and that works for me. When it's been hot weather for a week or more I just open the front cover for more evaporation. I do have to top off morre RO water daily then. And I only have my skimmer on at night, the skimmer gets warm as well. Also check how warm your room temperature is and try to get this down. Don't know if you've got airco or use other measures to keep the temp down.

 

Have a look at my tank for my algae growth..

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nkUnleashed
Hi, How's your waterlevel in the tank? my rsm only spits bubbles when I'm a bit late with top off with RO water. The waterlevel in the back of the tank then drops causing micro bubbles. Also You algae might be producing a lot of bubbles that are released by the force of the streamers. Sometimes the bubbles will dissapear by them self I have heard.

 

Get some pics! I want to see your algae... I haven't put sand in yet and I'll wait till I'm through my cycle. That way my sand will stay fresh and white but that's a bit late for you I guess. Mayby get some more snail that live in the sandbed or a special starfish that cleans your sand. (will have to look up name)

 

I would change your light period. Mine's on for 12hrs a day almost since the beginning. The algae cycle is just something you'll have to sit out and wait and you might just be prolonging yours.

 

Temp can be lowered by using a cooler, this is a bit expensive but your best option. You can also build in more computerfans in the hood. Like two fans sucking out air and 2 on the other side blowing in cool air. I have 4 fans and that works for me. When it's been hot weather for a week or more I just open the front cover for more evaporation. I do have to top off morre RO water daily then. And I only have my skimmer on at night, the skimmer gets warm as well. Also check how warm your room temperature is and try to get this down. Don't know if you've got airco or use other measures to keep the temp down.

 

Have a look at my tank for my algae growth..

 

My water level is set to where they suggested for the 130D in the RSM threads <shrugs> for optimal surface skimming. I'll wait it out for a couple more days before I do anything drastic. I lowered the house AC so that it is the same in the day as it is at night and this seams to have dropped the daytime hihg to about 82 degrees. I won't be using a chiller since they are crazy expensive and I don't want to redistribute the water heat into the air around the tank. My tank would have to be running >84 for me to consider that, I think.

 

The algae on the sand is slowely going away, and the rock is looking nice. This crew is hungry!

 

As for the light period... Most guys I have talked to say to limit the photo period to ~8 hours during the cycle and before you add corals to reduce unwanted algae growth and since there is no reason to leave them on for 12...

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As for the light period... Most guys I have talked to say to limit the photo period to ~8 hours during the cycle and before you add corals to reduce unwanted algae growth and since there is no reason to leave them on for 12...

 

Yeah that's because we're from different coutries, continents even.

 

Here in holland people give you the evil eye if you put in your sandbed from the beginning. Also when you keep doctors or that kind of bigger fish in your RSM.

They idea of having your light on for the full 12hrs is because you will go through heavy algae but for a shorter period. If you don't have your lights on long enough the Po4 will stay in your rocks longer and you will have less algae but for a longer period.

 

It's just which god you believe I think. We all have different ideas about the matter but in the end we'll all get there.

 

I don't think there anything wrong with the american way of doing things, I even try some things out. The only thing I would never do is put the sandbed in from the start. It will get drity and it's hard to clean and will stay that way for a long time.

 

Hope you get your temperature's in check now! B) keep it cool!

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nkUnleashed
Yeah that's because we're from different coutries, continents even.

 

Here in holland people give you the evil eye if you put in your sandbed from the beginning. Also when you keep doctors or that kind of bigger fish in your RSM.

They idea of having your light on for the full 12hrs is because you will go through heavy algae but for a shorter period. If you don't have your lights on long enough the Po4 will stay in your rocks longer and you will have less algae but for a longer period.

 

It's just which god you believe I think. We all have different ideas about the matter but in the end we'll all get there.

 

I don't think there anything wrong with the american way of doing things, I even try some things out. The only thing I would never do is put the sandbed in from the start. It will get drity and it's hard to clean and will stay that way for a long time.

 

Hope you get your temperature's in check now! B) keep it cool!

 

Its all good. :)

 

I never looked at the photoperiod that way. Just getting it over with does make sense. I've been slowely increasing the photoperiod this week. Up to 11 hrs on with a one hour break in the afternoon.

 

Keeping the sandbed out until after the cycle makes sense. Do you add "live sand" then or do you just add regular sand? My sand bed is slowely getting cleaned by the crew and by cleaner water, but I haven't hit the green algae point yet. I'm hoping to have a slightly more robust crew in there, along with an algae eating fish by the time that hits.

 

I think the temp is finally in check. I turned down the house AC to 72F and the tank has been at ~81 for about 36 hours.

 

I'm going to do another 10g H2O change tonight and maybe add a fish and a frag! I'm excited!

 

Your tank is looking good, Seb. Thanks for the comments.

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nano4funreef

Post us some new pic, as you start adding coral & fish :happydance:

 

and remember go slow on fish... fish= bio-load, coral = good-bio, cuc = neutral bio-load

 

regarding micro bubbles... I will send you a PM.

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nkUnleashed
Post us some new pic, as you start adding coral & fish :happydance:

 

and remember go slow on fish... fish= bio-load, coral = good-bio, cuc = neutral bio-load

 

regarding micro bubbles... I will send you a PM.

 

Thanks for the PM! Adjusted levels over lunch, so hopefully that does the trick.

 

I added my first livestock this weekend, but my wife took the camera on vacation (without me!) so it will be a week before I can take pics. :angry:

 

Here's what I added:

 

red scooter blenny (eating cyclopeeze like crazy!)

thumb-sized frag of green star polyps (approx 20)(aquacultured)

neon green Duncan poly (single polyp)(aquacultured)

 

I LOVE the scooter blenny. He's (yeah, he's male) probably the coolest fish ever.

 

 

I'm spot feeding the corals with the cyclopeeze in the mornings, and the duncan gets a tiny piece of uncooked shrimp at night. Sound good?

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nkUnleashed
Woah! Star has single duncans?

 

Yeah! They just fragged one of the monsters they've had into a few 3-head frags, and I've been eyeing the orange dendros in the front/bottom right frag tank for weeks, but I was gonna wait until I got some other stuff first. But when I went in on Friday he talked me into breaking off a single duncan polyp (and he stuck it on a piece of rock for me). Star rocks. B)

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nkUnleashed
Nice pic of scotter blenny & duncan - tank progressing nicely!

 

Thanks nano4fun!

 

I still can't get rid of the microbubbles. I followed the flow chart at Red Sea's support site, and I've tried a few different water level configs and they still won't go away. I think its time to call Pinky.

 

Other than that, everything seems to be coming along nicely. I'm gonna run out and get another frag or two this weekend, and maybe a firefish or something.

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