Ratvan's RSM 130D

[kimberbee]

26 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

OK, so Bio Balls.

What kind are they? I've seen mixed suggestions on if they should be used or not. Not - because your rock should be enough for beneficial bacteria and they trap a lot of detritus when left in back chambers. Yes - I've seen it suggested to put them in a basket or mesh bag for ease of cleaning.

 

The first hammer looks branching the second is harder to tell, but I'd lean towards branching. 

 

I had a hard time selling corals locally, but if someone had given me a deposit I would have been happy to hold onto the corals for them. If you're looking to add those specific 7 frags, I'd do it in two groups. There's probably a lot of people who would do it all at once. 

[Ratvan]

30 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Hmm, I don't know.. I'm thinking of adding a brick to the back chamber of the water box.. little more filtration can't hurt.

I had my eye out for the bricks but they were stupid money (5x the cost), need to stick to build budget. SO far so good.

 

4 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

What kind are they? I've seen mixed suggestions on if they should be used or not. Not - because your rock should be enough for beneficial bacteria and they trap a lot of detritus when left in back chambers. Yes - I've seen it suggested to put them in a basket or mesh bag for ease of cleaning.

 

The first hammer looks branching the second is harder to tell, but I'd lean towards branching. 

 

I had a hard time selling corals locally, but if someone had given me a deposit I would have been happy to hold onto the corals for them. If you're looking to add those specific 7 frags, I'd do it in two groups. There's probably a lot of people who would do it all at once. 

I bought these ones https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Pond-Solutions-Ceramic-Filter/dp/B00F43W93Y/ref=asc_df_B002OIIMLA/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=255441644365&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13572971143506418666&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046314&hvtargid=pla-421768565688&th=1

 

They come in mesh bags, I was planning on rinsing these on a regular basis (3-4 Months?) to not clog the back chamber etc 

 

I wanted to use Bio Media so I could use slightly less Live Rock in the DT, or rather less live rock but the good of the tank comes first so may abandon that idea

 

Sweet, I'm still on the fence about the Acans so will just get the Euphyllia's and maybe all of his Bubble Corals (3) and add in two groups

 

Stuck a bag in the 5.5G to start seeding 

[kimberbee]

5 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

They come in mesh bags, I was planning on rinsing these on a regular basis (3-4 Months?) to not clog the back chamber etc 

Perfect then, you've got a good plan for keeping them clean. Just a shake in a bucket of old water during a water change every few months. Remember to siphon the back chambers a couple times a year too. 

 

I bought a box of substrat pro 2 years ago, cause I like to go light on the rock/scape too. It did not come with a mesh bag so I've yet to use it. 🤭

[Ratvan]

Sweet. I have to try and find that media basket in all this mess now...... also tried a new LFS and f#ck me it is awesome. Hour and a half each way but so worth it. Just wish I hadn't seen a specific fish now....

[Ratvan]

WANT

 

Had some paired up and mostly Male, but this one in particular caught my Eye

She's beautiful...... and Indo Pacific...

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

WANT

 

Had some paired up and mostly Male, but this one in particular caught my Eye

She's beautiful...... and Indo Pacific...

Is that a dwarf lion fish? Not very good with identifying fish very well.

[Ratvan]

1 minute ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Is that a dwarf lion fish? Not very good with identifying fish very well.

Yeah Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish £20 for female £40 for male, £80 for "established" pair..

I would go for the singular female (that was begging for food) Would mean that I could keep my Planted windowsill tank and use that for breeding River Shrimp as food. 

But would have to rehome Clown, Gobies and Blenny I would think.....

[kimberbee]

10 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Yeah Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish £20 for female £40 for male, £80 for "established" pair..

I would go for the singular female (that was begging for food) Would mean that I could keep my Planted windowsill tank and use that for breeding River Shrimp as food. 

But would have to rehome Clown, Gobies and Blenny I would think.....

Might have to rehome the smaller fish.

 

Check out this TOTM. Maybe there's something in there about mixing lion/clownfish:

 

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

13 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Yeah Fuzzy Dwarf Lionfish £20 for female £40 for male, £80 for "established" pair..

I would go for the singular female (that was begging for food) Would mean that I could keep my Planted windowsill tank and use that for breeding River Shrimp as food. 

But would have to rehome Clown, Gobies and Blenny I would think.....

Hmm, one would think anything that'll fit in it's mouth would be or could be food.

[Ratvan]

10 minutes ago, kimberbee said:

Might have to rehome the smaller fish.

 

Check out this TOTM. Maybe there's something in there about mixing lion/clownfish:

 

Le sigh. First thing I see is Fuzzy Dwarf and a Snowflake Eel... nice combo

[jack1978]

2 hours ago, Ratvan said:

Cheers, thats what he said too. All good, all good. 

 

OK, so Bio Balls. I ordered 4kg of these (dunno why cheapest I could find) and have unpacked 10x 400g packs. Awesome.

How many of these do I want in my back chambers? One pack? Entirely fill one compartment? If so which one?

I plan on seeding in either the 5.5g or Pico or Both before adding to the 34g 

I would skip the balls.

Generally speaking, they trap all the nasties and become a nuisance in your tank. 

Your rock should provide the necessary bio filter....... unless you're going super minimal? 

 

....just read more.

Can you fit a small skimmer in a chamber? 

[Ratvan]

2 hours ago, jack1978 said:

I would skip the balls.

Generally speaking, they trap all the nasties and become a nuisance in your tank. 

Your rock should provide the necessary bio filter....... unless you're going super minimal? 

 

....just read more.

Can you fit a small skimmer in a chamber? 

Yeah it came with some Tunze thing? 🤷‍♂️

 

Been thinking about a few options in the DT. Some require more media I would guess. I'd rather have it and remove later if I need to.

 

The bio balls the same as the cannister filters then?

[jack1978]

1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

Yeah it came with some Tunze thing? 🤷‍♂️

 

Been thinking about a few options in the DT. Some require more media I would guess. I'd rather have it and remove later if I need to.

 

The bio balls the same as the cannister filters then?

Trying to remember now.......I had a BioCube 29 about 10 years ago ....... threw the balls away and had rock in display and a skimmer in the back.  Eventually quite running the skimmer as the rock was all it needed.  Kept floss in the back to catch the junk.  

[Ratvan]

3 minutes ago, jack1978 said:

Trying to remember now.......I had a BioCube 29 about 10 years ago ....... threw the balls away and had rock in display and a skimmer in the back.  Eventually quite running the skimmer as the rock was all it needed.  Kept floss in the back to catch the junk.  

Would live rock rubble have the same effect? In the rear chamber

[billygoat]

24 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Would live rock rubble have the same effect? In the rear chamber

Same effect more or less, but you'd also have the same problem with it catching detritus and trapping nutrients. If you go with rock rubble in the rear just make sure you keep it in a bag so you can pull it out and rinse it in WC water every once in awhile, same as the bioballs.

 

Maybe just give the ceramic media balls a try and see if they work out? Could be worth a shot since you've already got 'em. 🤷‍♂️ 

[jack1978]

29 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

Would live rock rubble have the same effect? In the rear chamber

......I think they would do more harm than good - in my tank.  Unless you're super vigilant on taking them out and cleaning those back chambers, they'll just trap and collect nasties.  -I dont because I know I'll slack off and let crap build up.  

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

26 minutes ago, jack1978 said:

......I think they would do more harm than good - in my tank.  Unless you're super vigilant on taking them out and cleaning those back chambers, they'll just trap and collect nasties.  -I dont because I know I'll slack off and let crap build up.  

Hmm, now you guys have me thinking about not putting some rock in my back chamber... I was gonna throw a few pieces back there for the pods and stuff coming in tomorrow...Should I not do that then? I can also get somewhat lazy.

[billygoat]

9 minutes ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Hmm, now you guys have me thinking about not putting some rock in my back chamber... I was gonna throw a few pieces back there for the pods and stuff coming in tomorrow...Should I not do that then? I can also get somewhat lazy.

I am of the opinion that if you're keen on adding some more space for your biofilter to grow, a few larger pieces of rock in the rear chambers is actually better than a bunch of smaller rubble. That way when it's time to clean, you can just pick up the rocks and siphon underneath of them, then put them back down again. Sure the rubble has more surface area, but aragonite rocks are so porous anyway that as far as biological filtration goes it probably doesn't matter much if they're whole or broken into pieces. I bet the pods won't mind much either. 😁

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

41 minutes ago, billygoat said:

I am of the opinion that if you're keen on adding some more space for your biofilter to grow, a few larger pieces of rock in the rear chambers is actually better than a bunch of smaller rubble. That way when it's time to clean, you can just pick up the rocks and siphon underneath of them, then put them back down again. Sure the rubble has more surface area, but aragonite rocks are so porous anyway that as far as biological filtration goes it probably doesn't matter much if they're whole or broken into pieces. I bet the pods won't mind much either. 😁

I have some smaller end rock that's been in old tank water for a couple months. I was just gonna rinse and toss it in. Just to make sure the pods had a safe place to go. I'm trying to get more diversity in my tank so I was gonna start with this.

Thanks for the info though, super helpful

[Ratvan]

1 hour ago, billygoat said:

Same effect more or less, but you'd also have the same problem with it catching detritus and trapping nutrients. If you go with rock rubble in the rear just make sure you keep it in a bag so you can pull it out and rinse it in WC water every once in awhile, same as the bioballs.

 

Maybe just give the ceramic media balls a try and see if they work out? Could be worth a shot since you've already got 'em. 🤷‍♂️ 

They're going in. Currently seeding in my 5.5G.

 

1 hour ago, jack1978 said:

......I think they would do more harm than good - in my tank.  Unless you're super vigilant on taking them out and cleaning those back chambers, they'll just trap and collect nasties.  -I dont because I know I'll slack off and let crap build up.  

Right, so this is basically the whole cannister filter thing again isn't it?

1 hour ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Hmm, now you guys have me thinking about not putting some rock in my back chamber... I was gonna throw a few pieces back there for the pods and stuff coming in tomorrow...Should I not do that then? I can also get somewhat lazy.

It'll be right

54 minutes ago, billygoat said:

I am of the opinion that if you're keen on adding some more space for your biofilter to grow, a few larger pieces of rock in the rear chambers is actually better than a bunch of smaller rubble. That way when it's time to clean, you can just pick up the rocks and siphon underneath of them, then put them back down again. Sure the rubble has more surface area, but aragonite rocks are so porous anyway that as far as biological filtration goes it probably doesn't matter much if they're whole or broken into pieces. I bet the pods won't mind much either. 😁

Cool. Keep it clean 👍

[jack1978]

5 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

 

 

Right, so this is basically the whole cannister filter thing again isn't it?

 

Pretty much.

If you're religious on cleaning it all out, go for it.

-I just know I am not - nor do I enjoy cleaning back chambers of an AIO.  That said, my BC29 was probably my best running tank yet.

Just keep it clean and you'll be fine. 

[billygoat]

22 minutes ago, jack1978 said:

Pretty much.

If you're religious on cleaning it all out, go for it.

-I just know I am not - nor do I enjoy cleaning back chambers of an AIO.  That said, my BC29 was probably my best running tank yet.

Just keep it clean and you'll be fine. 

I agree. Whatever you want to use is probably okay as long as you keep it clean. You likely won't have to worry too much about it in the beginning either since there won't be a lot of livestock in the tank and therefore not a lot of wastes or decaying food to turn into detritus that might get caught in your bio rings.

 

Do you have everything moved and set up in the office already? Just waiting on the last few pieces of equipment?

[Ratvan]

Waiting on water and rock. Got some hose that'll fit now so hook that up tomorrow

[StinkyBunny]

6 hours ago, DSFIRSTSLTWATER said:

Hmm, now you guys have me thinking about not putting some rock in my back chamber... I was gonna throw a few pieces back there for the pods and stuff coming in tomorrow...Should I not do that then? I can also get somewhat lazy.

I use the ceramic cubes, BRS and Marine Depot both carry them. I'll look to see if I have some, I bought a metric shittonne of them a few years ago, I think I still have some. They do collect a lot of dirt, you need to shake them out good when you do a water change.

 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-2-cubes.html

 

https://www.marinedepot.com/marinepure-high-performance-biofilter-media-gems-90-gram-box

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

1 hour ago, StinkyBunny said:

I use the ceramic cubes, BRS and Marine Depot both carry them. I'll look to see if I have some, I bought a metric shittonne of them a few years ago, I think I still have some. They do collect a lot of dirt, you need to shake them out good when you do a water change.

 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/marinepure-ceramic-biomedia-2-cubes.html

 

https://www.marinedepot.com/marinepure-high-performance-biofilter-media-gems-90-gram-box

Do they collect as much even though I've got a wad of filter floss under the overflow? It doesn't seem like anything gets in the middle chamber. In face it's probably the cleanest area 😀