Red Sea Max Owners Club

[stathis]

Originally posted by Reefer82
Nice looking tanks everyone. I only have one day a week now to check how everything is going on here.
Stathis - Thanks for the info on the fugia. Is there anything special you do as far as feeding to have kept it in that great condition? I've always liked them...also are you running stock lights?

I'm using the stock lights with diy sunset-sunrise.
No special feeding.
Just some flakes for the fishes ,two times a day , and half of a frozen cube every night . (mysis or lobster eggs or cyclops).
Every three days a small piece of shrimp for the anemone.I've never feed heliofungia.
Maybe she likes the corner (at the first days i placed it in the midle of the front glass and she went to the corner.She lives there for more of 11 months as i said before.
A picture of as it is now ( sorry for the ditry glass).

[Rue]

Nice! I wished mine looked like that...but I think she was injured either during bagging or when I put her in the tank...I was gentle...but I might have inadvertantly hurt her

[Reefmack]

I never realized till not long ago that the plates could move around. I used to think that the bottom was a solid piece of calcium skeleton.

[Rue]

Just can't take the pics I want with this little camera...driving me batty...however, here's the new ric...I think it's fine...



And here are the other 4 corals...the one monti and the 3 single polyp zoas. One's fine...the other 2 I'm not sure about...they're so small I can't tell if they're okay or not. How long do you think I should give them?



And here are the two clowns in their respective hosts!

[Reefmack]

Well, I think the pictures look great Rue! The ric looks fine to me. Give the zoas a few days - some take a while longer than others to open. Nice on the clowns and their hosts. I wish mine would find a host other than my Koralia! i saw some pics today of clowns being hosted in flower anemones - mine host with the pump a few inches above the flower, but never in it. And they have nothing to do with my frogspawn. It must have been love at first sight with the Koralia.

[Rue]

Thanks!

My first pair of percs preferred the mag-float! However these guys are doing better.

I wonder if there is any truth to the statement that the ocellaris are much hardier and do better in tanks?

[Hodge]

Rue,
I had an zoa frag shipment that arrived very cold. Polyps did not open for more than a week. I figured they were toast and threw away 3/4 of them. After another week the remaining ones opened and are fine. I gave up too early!!!

[MJSavage]

Does anyone have any information on how many hours the stock bulbs should last? I figue I have 2100 hours on mine now.

Mike

[MAXreefer]

My new friend I got yesterday. A Flame Hawkfish. He only gets only about 3 1/2 inch. He is not a real "swimmer" but "jumps" more from rock to rock and sits there then for a while until he gets to another. A joy to watch him doing this. Always visible and not shy at all. He gets along very well with his other roommates. He doesn't bother corals and clams but the only negative thing is that he might go after small shrimp or similar.
For now he is in my bigger Tank (pictures below) but will get another one for my RSM.

Michael
MAXreefer

[Stuart60611]

Maxreefer:


I housed a flame hawk for a while. At the begining he was also a peaceful citizen. However, over time he became a bit more aggressive. You need to watch him carefully if you plan on adding him to the RSM. I would also suggest that you do not keep a lot of fish in the RSM if you plan on having a flame hawk. He will use the entire tank as his territory. As mine aged, he took a disliking to my royal gramma and forced him into perpetual hiding after they peacefully co-existed for several months.

[donna53w]

rue, nice photos! Your corals will grow! I love zoas. Your clowns look very comfortable, & it's amazing that they both have chosen something different.

Hodge: I tried your suggestion, more than once, and still could not get the pics. I've checked everything I can possibly think of ... right to my ad blocker, pop-up blocker, etc. Thanks for the suggestion tho, it was certainly worth a try.

Reefmack: Thanks for the 'elf' link. What a laugh!! Of course, I've pasted my Hubby & I, & have sent them off to friends & family! I hope some of them send themselves back to us as elves!!!

[Reefmack]

MAXreefer - the flame hawk is indeed a pretty little fish. Maybe yours won't become agressive like Stuart's did.

Donna - I was wondering if anyone even tried that link. Someone sent it to me at work, with our 3 top bosses pictures pasted in, and I was rolling on the floor laughing. Glad you liked it and were able to use it for some family fun!

I almost ordered a half dozen Ricordea floridas today, but thought I should look at the tank & see if I had any space to put them - not really. But I may reconsider & make room somehow!

[martinphillip03]

Reefmack, I am sure its somewhere in this thread, but why did you upgrade your lights?

Marty

[stephensturman]

here are my parameters 4 days after the bio-spira. is it ok to add my cuc this weekend?
ph~ 8.2-8.4
nitrite~ 0ppm
nitrate~ 20ppm
ammonia~ oppm

[GDESQUIRE]

Stephensturman: looks like you spiked, so I would say it is safe!

[stephensturman]

ok great!

[Reefmack]

Originally posted by martinphillip03
Reefmack, I am sure its somewhere in this thread, but why did you upgrade your lights?

Marty

How about temporary insanity? Other than that, I suppose some of the reasons were 1) to get rid of the noisy RSM hood 2) open up that back compartment to allow the use of better, quieter skimmers without the worry if they'd fit under the hood 3) allow me to have any corals I'd want without being concerned about having enough light energy. I do miss the RSM hood at times though - especially being able to lift up the front half to easily get my arm in the tank. But, the Orbit hood is no big deal to lift off and set on the floor. I feel that the stock RSM lights are good enough to keep just about anything, so it was more of a matter of being able to do more with that back compartment. If & when I install the pump mod by mbdave the only thing stock I'll have left will be the tank itself. But, I still have all the original equipment and one of these days I may just put it back the way it was - if I ever get my sanity back.

Stevensturman - as I expected the Bio-spira appears to have worked. If it was me I'd be putting the CUC in now. I'd wait a while to see if you'll get lucky like I was, and be able to avoid the major green algae & cyano phases, before putting a lot of corals in. Hopefully the Bio-spira innoculation will help eliminate that phase that so many others have suffered through.

[stephensturman]

ya i have some algea coming now but not much just your typical diatoms but not very many at all!

[stephensturman]

sould i wait on a serpant star or should i be ok adding everything?

[Stuart60611]

Well, today my gramma is completely back to normal. Unstressed, out in the open and eating well! On top of that, a very small bubble developed on the bubble coral so it may be comming back. Figures, it would show significant signs of life the day before my new one arrives for $70.00. If it makes it, I will have to do some wealing and dealing b/c I do not not want to maintain two long term. Looking forward to my new livestock arriving tomorrow.

[Reefmack]

Stephen - I think I'd wait on the serpent till there's a buildup of things it can eat off the substrate, unless you plan on adding some food to the tank- the serpents are great at scouring the bottom for leftover food - if there isn't any it won't have much to live on. I added mine after I'd added some fish and its arms are out as soon as I put food in. Some of these critters have an amazing ability to so quickly sense that food has been put in the tank! I added my first fish very early and the serpent shortly after.

Stuart - you are full of good news lately!

[stephensturman]

ok thanks! i will add my snails and hermits for now and then maybe add my fish after xmas. i plan on getting a rods onyx pair

[Titans]

Alright guys and gals I am almost done adding fish to my RSM. I have followed my live stock plan and now have succesfully introduced a clean up crew, two red sea stars, red scooter blenny, yellow tail damsel, Oc. clown, fire shrimp and I have a purple firefish in my quarantine tank which I will be introducing into the RSM in 3 days. This was over the course of 3-4 months.

Now my question: What fish should I add next? I only planned on the 4 fish but am starting to feel I need a 5th. Any suggestions? It can't be anything that will eat up the pod population, that's the scooter's job . Also, after I am done with the quarantine tank what do you guys think I should do with it? Should I just throw some kind of invert or a super hardy fish in it to keep it going? Ooo maybe a mantis shrimp? Turn it into a 10 gallon plastic nano tank? Oh or a breeding tank for brine or something?

[Hodge]

I received my stuff today.
Scroll coral and Monti cap arrived fine. The Monti digitata was broken into 5 pcs (bummer). I glued the pcs back onto the rock it came on and it seems to be ok (polyps opened) just doesn't look as impressive anymore.

My Randalls pistol shrimp buddied up with my Hi Fin Goby already. They're built a burrow under a rock...very cool.

The "new" tunze nano skimmer has a magnetic attachment instead of the adjustable bracket now. There's no way to attach it to the glass divider beside the heater now, as it would be mounted too low in the water. I did manage to mount it on the glass panel on the right side with the electrical panel removed. For some reason with it plugged into the stock skimmer outlet, the pump wont start every time?? and with the skimmer mounted at the correct water level, the back lid doesn't come close to closing. And it's loud!! too used to the rsm skimmer noise mod I guess.
I'm gonna pull it apart tomorrow and look at a noise mod and maybe figure out a cup mod.
No Micro Bubbles tho...

I'll try to remember to post a pic.

[martinphillip03]

How many watts is it? Could you keep sps and clams?

Marty



I feel that the stock RSM lights are good enough to keep just about anything,