Red Sea Max Owners Club

[Reefmack]

mbdave - buy me that acan, and I'll trade you my frogspawn, Euphyllia and my boring purple acan. Deal? Or. I'll sell you this baby for only $399.99:



Boring huh? It looked so pretty in the pictures when I bought it at least 6 months ago. It killed my toadstool that used to keep falling on it, and in return it was stung by one of the long sweepers on my frogspawn. It can be a war zone in these small tanks! By the way, I paid a lot less than 399 for the acan LOL.

By the way I was looking in my little fuge with a flashlight and it looks like I have some baby mysis or some other free swimming shrimp like critters in there now, Is this possible?

[martinphillip03]

Mbdave, I must of missed it but what is the RSM D?

Marty

Originally posted by mbdave
Well got all the acrylic for the RSM "D" Will start cutting tomorrow. If it goes as planned I will use the stock skimmer pump and have room for much more stuff. Can't wait to finish it. Will keep you posted!

[mbdave]

The RSMD is the answer to all your RSM skimer needs. It will skim with hardly any bubbles, it will have a place for media where a reactor is not require, it will have a place for a chiller pump, its the alfa, the omega, its what we all will want, what we all will need, the skimmer of skimmers, the big kuhuna!!!!!.......NA my feeble atempt at making a better skimmer unit for the RSM.

[Stuart60611]

Reefmack:

I have read that others have developed a decent population of mysis and other shrimp in their refugium. I remember that you indicated you added some micro stuff from inland aquatics to your refugium. I willing to bet that this is the source.

Well, I may have made an incredible find today. I hooked up with a local guy who has a ton of corals-- sps, lps, zoas, and a variety of other softies. He is says he likes to help people out and offered to give me a ton of free stuff, including several pretty vibrant zoas, varying sps frags, and some softies. All he wants in return is a beer. Not too bad a deal.

My fish have had an eventful few days. Although everyone is fully recovered from the phosban reactor disaster, the addition of my sailfin blenny caused quite a bit of upheaval. A total new pecking order with several fish being displaced from their established territory. Quite a bit of bickering, but everything seems to have calmed down and my fish are adjusting fairly well to their new turf. My sailfin blenny has still not fully settled in but he is slowly becomming more relaxed. As far as my extremely tiny green banded goby, he did manage to make into the tank. I have seen him only twice since I added him last Friday. He has yet to feed in the open. Hopefully he got a scrap. All my new corals are also doing very well. Going to wait and see how good a job the blenny does on the algae once he fully settles in, and if not totally satisfied may revisit Phosban in very small and carefully monitored doses.

[martinphillip03]

Have you figured out what happened. Do you plan on trying it again. Any advice to anyone else who wants to try

Marty

My fish have had an eventful few days. Although everyone is fully recovered from the phosban reactor disaster, the addition of my sailfin blenny caused quite a bit of upheaval.

[donna53w]

mbdave: Keep up that hard work on the RSM "D"!

My original RSM skimmer puts out very few, if any, MB. However, I can't say it does much skimming, either! It makes the feeble effort of getting skimmate almost over the the tubes edge, not enough 'umph' to even dump it into the cup!

Rue, Wow!! That was a close call with the RBTA.

Reefmack, great pics these last few days!
I love the look of Frogspawn, but am too cautious to put it in the RSM. Same with the Torch Coral, hammer coral, & BTA's. It's difficultto find what I think is 'just right'!
It will take some time to accumulate a decent collection of 'something pretty'

I'm including a few pics. I've added a Randal's Goby & Six Line Wrasse to the 2 percs.
Any comments on these clowns? They were sold as True Percs, ... I have my doubts. The one with the wider black bands is aggressive towards the other one. [











IMG]http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b188/donna53w/greenpinkbuttons.jpg[/IMG]

[martinphillip03]

Donna, nice rock set up. How many lbs or kilos of rock is in your tank?

Marty

[donna53w]

One more photo. I am so glad my algae blooms have subsided & that the hair algae is gone! Boy, my pics looks pretty stark ... the coralline is just beginning to get a foothold, here & there.

[Stuart60611]

martinphillip03:

I do think that I have figured out what happened. I had a decent amount of algae in my tank likely caused from too much phosphate. The reactor requires that you add the entire 150 grams of phosban (enough to treat 150 gallons) because it needs enough media in the reactor so that it is not all blown around during fluidization.

What happened to me is the reactor was so incredibly effective at removing a ton of phosphate from my system in literally a few hours causing a massive and sudden drop in ph/alkalinity. I only ran the reactor for one day, and my entire tank showed a very substantial algae reduction overnight. Way too fast.

What I plan on doing is first running small amounts of phosban passively in the included media bag in the back rear sump compartment of the max without the reactor monitoring it carefully and even only running it for a few hours a day. I will gradually increase the amount added to the bag and the amount of time I leave it in the tank. I will quickly pull it out the moment I notice even the slightest reaction from my corals. I should get to a point that I can run the full 150 grams of phosban in the filter bag in the rear of the max comfortably without reaction from my livestock. I will then set up the reactor and run a new full 150 grams in the reactor. I have read that running the entire 150 grams will not be a problem once I have the phosphate largely removed from my system. The problem with running the full 150 grams in the beginning in a system with higher phosphate levels is the sudden and rapid drop that occurs. The reactor is just extremely effective to the point that it removes most of the phosphate in a system the size of the max in literally hours.

[donna53w]

Thank you, Marty! There's approx 55 lbs of Christmas Island rock in there. I may end up taking a piece or 2 off the top, depending on what I eventually find for corals.
The great thing about the rock is that it is so multi-branched, it kind of fits like a jig-saw puzzle, they almost lock into each other!

[Stuart60611]

Donna:

I think your problem may be that you have one false perc and one true perc. The darker and thicker black bands are markings of a false perc, where the thinner and less dark bands are the markings of a true perc. This is the best way to tell them apart. This would explain the aggression issue.

[donna53w]

Stuart, I was thinking along the same line ... 2 different types of percs. I may have to trade them in & start over, making sure I get 2 young ones of the same type! Another way to tell true from false is by counting rays in the dorsal fins ... but my eyes will just not co-operate with the count!

[Titans]

I noticed your percs swim close to the bottom. My clown won't even go half way down from the top or explore...

[Fishy Something]

Donna53w

Firstly to clear up the fact that "false percs" are A. oscillaris, "True percs" are A. percula, (more on that in a sec), but having said that "Percolaris Clowns" are not that uncommon. On that basis what you are seeing is unlikely to be anything more than the clowns are just establishing their natural pecking order as they mature.

The eventual "winner" will suddenly put on a growth spurt, become your female clown & you will then have a 'true" pair. Look for submissive behaviour in the one getting beaten up. This can sometimes look like the fish is shivering in front of the other. When the dominant fish sees this she will realise she has won & things will calm down.

As for the colouring, I don't put too much credence in colour variations as being a determinant of species. Physiologically the most reliable is supposedly the number if dorsal spines (go on, I dare you to try & count them on a live fish...), but even then there is overlap between the two. Another is an apparent ring around the eye (but I cannot remember which does & does not supposedly have it).

Personally I think at some point in time someone will do a DNA analysis of 2 distinct populations of Percs & Occys to discover there is actually no significant genetic difference & they have been the one species all along...

Either way, I would not worry about what you are seeing - it appears quite natural to me.

[donna53w]

Titans, they seem to prefer the lower portion of the tank, but, they actually swim at all levels ... especially when they see me approach, then they are at the front, at the top ... expecting some food. They are a busy pair ... always on the go.

Fishy Something, thank you so much for your information. I feel better & will settle down & wait to see when they actually form a true pair. The one with darker markings is dominant & a bit larger in size. They were the same size when I bought them. The dominant one hasn't caused any damage to the other, just chases it a lot. And the smaller one doesn't seem stressed by this as it's always trying to be near the other one. So, should I just call them 'clowns' or true percs, or what??? It really doesn't matter to me, as long as they are healthy & settle in. Thanks again.

When I am cleaning the tank, it's the dominant one that nips at my fingers, too! Doesn't hurt, but startles me!

[gigs]

a little off topic sorry, but hey another aussie hi Fishy Something! It seems like you know your stuff maybe you could drop by my tank journal some time and pass on some of your experience. Tank Journal

Do you trade frags? Maybe we could one day. I am a complete nub so excuse me if Im out of line.

[Hodge]

Donna,
I've just finished reading a great book on clown fishes and what fishy something said is exactly what I read. Most species of clowns can be bred with each other (maroons being the exception if I remember correctly) and the bickering is just the first phase of courtship (my small one is already showing the submissive signs). Once the roles have been decided, they will then grow to maturity and form a life long companionship.

[Hodge]

Can the ATO users pass on some advice (brands, setup) I know reefmack has one, can't remember who else. I looked at JBJ ato reviews and they were rated well by owners. Only other one I looked at was a Tunze and it was pricey!!

[Reefmack]

Wow - so much to catch up on after one night!

On the clowns - my pair prefers the top half of the tank and I can't recall seeing either one ever venture to the bottom of the tank.

Hodge - I ended up getting the Tunze ATO after questioning both Tunze & JBJ customer service via email, and Tunze being the only one of the two that replied they could handle a water level drop of only 1/4 inch. JBJ said their unit couldn't do that. But, I'm sure both would work, and there are units out there that are lower cost than both the Tunze and JBJ units. I like my Tunze Osmolator a lot, but there are certain conditions that can "upset' the optical sensor more than they would a double float system like the JBJ and similar.

[martinphillip03]

Stuart, Could you use 1/4 of the product and reduce the flow through the reactor. Your plan does look like a good one.
When (if ever) I get my tank, I ewas going to use it immediatly even through the initial cycle. How does that plan sound?

Marty


I do think that I have figured out what happened. I had a decent amount of algae in my tank likely caused from too much phosphate. The reactor requires that you add the entire 150 grams of phosban (enough to treat 150 gallons) because it needs enough media in the reactor so that it is not all blown around during fluidization.

[donna53w]

Thanks for the help with the clowns, you guys. I love the little guys!

Last night my #1 pump just about gave me a heart attack! All of a sudden it started a horrible, loud, 'squawking' noise. Sort of like it was running 'dry'. I shut it off. I waited. I turned it back on. Less than 5 minutes & it started blaring again. Repeated the above, but waited for a couple of hours before turning it back on ... of course, about 1/2 hour later (just when I thought the problem had fixed itself!) the 'noise' kicked in again. There were no micro bubbles, just noise. I can see through the glass that there is nothing obstructing the bottom of it. I did a water change yesterday ... ???
Well, there's nothing for it, but to take it out, inspect it, & give it a run in the sink. That is the one procedure (removing the pumps) that I dread ... I guess the removing is just fine, it's the replacing them that is painful ... why can I thread a needle with no problem, but have to fiddle around in a contorted position, straining to get the pump thread through the hole in the glass?????

Hodge: I have the Tunze osmolator as well, but it's not hooked up yet. I am waiting for my hubby .... We had it in our bigger aquarium & it was 100%, just loved it. Reefmack has me a little concerned because his has given him a couple of problems in the RSM. Ours is going in there, tho.

On another note, we do have our Milwaukee Ph monitor hooked up & that's another great convenience.

[mbdave]

Woo hoo new stuff!! Will take pics of it and the 40 when they open. Got a green leather and a Cebu striped goby. The fish is awesome but idy bidy. Can't wait to see if the leather is really green or just kinda.

[Stuart60611]

Marty:

You cannot use 1/4 of the unit of phosban in the reactor because the reactor needs to be filled with all the media in the unit or it will otherwise blow the phosban through the reactor and into your tank.

If you plan on running the reactor right away even during cycling, I do not see a problem in setting up the reactor right away with the full 150 grams unit of phosban. My only concern would be how this would effect the cycle, but I cannot think of any negative effects. Anyone else who sees a problem with the cycle caused by running the reactor please feel free to comment. My prior post concerning the gradual acclimation of phosban first passively and eventually a full unit actively in the reactor really only applies when one wants to add a reactor to an existing tank, particularly a tank that has been running a while with elevated phosphate levels.

[Iostream]

Phosphate is really not a part of the cycle, it is why we need reactors on even established tanks. The cycle can go all the way and convert amonia into nitrogen, but nothing consumes phosphates outside of algae in any quantity. The options for removal are water changes (not terribly effective for the phosphate problem), reactors, other media, or refugiums. The reactor is probably the most effective, though the refugium has additional benefits.

[Reefmack]

Donna - have you checked to see if the pumps are vibrating against one another, or if one is vibrating against one of the compartment sides? Mine ocassionally get out of alignment & make noise for that reason - easy to fix by turning them a bit, without pulling them out. But the noise you indicate sounds like it's more than that - maybe something is stuck on one of the impellers.

On the Osmolator, I recently posted in the UK forum the things that have "upset" my level sensors:

1) once a week or more I just use a finger to rub off the bottom of the optical sensor for a quick cleaning.

2) Microbubbles on the surface in the sensor area (easier to see them with a flashlight)

3) Low water level in back (my Linkia star at times covers up the gate, causing the flow to drop in back and the pump to come on - when the Linkia moves the water comes up too high and the overflow alarm sounds). Don't get a Linkia!

4) Algae growing in the back and on the sensor mounts can affect the eye seeing the water level

5) Coralline on the optical sensor

6) A thermometer probe or wire, if coming to rest over the float will keep it from floating up and sensing too high a water level. This once caused a near overflow when the optical sensor was affected by one of the above - my wife caught it just as the water level reached the very top of the black rim - a very close call!

>>>>>>>>>

mbdave - are you staying in Ohio? All this coral and fish buying has me wondering - just more to move? Pics would be great!