Red Sea Max Owners Club

[martinphillip03]

Brent, Nice job. I am really interested how you plumbed a sump into your RSM. How does the water get from the tank into the sump? And you explained the return but could you do it again. Some pictures from the back, if possible, would be appreciated.
If you are planning some LR in your sump, I don't think more in the filter is necessary.

Marty


href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11489036#post11489036 target=_blank>Originally posted by Brent F [/i]
All mods fit under the hood so from the front the RSM looks stock. The only mods I made to the RSM itself were removing the chiller plug, cutting out a 9 inch wide portion of the back (below the hood) for the CPR overflow and removing a section of the power cord channel so the tank will surface skim with the water level above the top of the glass. The CPR overflow and lines to the Phosban Reactor use the space where the RSM skimmer was. The return line from the sump goes through the chiller slot and the Phosban reactor also hangs in this slot.

I took the hood off to try to show the mods. Once I get it filled and stocked with live rock I'll post a picture with the hoods on.

I had to do a lot of work with the Dremel to get a inlet line to feed the Nanocube 6 and still fit the hood. I drilled a hole in the back glass of the Nanocube with the Dremel and have it draning into the shallow tank which then drains to the sump.


Since I now have a lot of space in the place where the skimmer originally went I need to decide whether to leave it open or to put live rock rubble in it. I've heard live rock rubble can be a real detrius trab so am leaning toward leaving the back chambers empty. I'd appreciate any info on the pro's and con's of empty chambers vs. live rock rubble. [/QUOTE]

[Y-DesygnGuy]

Brent -- Very nice for sure, I wish I would have done all the mods to the tank before I set it up myself.

NaCl+H2O Fish -- You are very welcome!

[stephensturman]

brent - wow nice setup. i didnt know if the cpr overflows would work but i see they do, time to add a sump and get my refugium and a good skimmer

[Brent F]

Originally posted by Reefmack
Brent F - Welcome to the Club and WOW! It sure makes sense doing all the mods in place before you get everything going. I'd never be able to figure out designing all that piping & engineering with my non-mechanical pea-brain, but congratulations! Does the skimmer sit on the floor, or in the sump - it looks like the water feed is plumbed in and out, and it's not in the sump? On the LR rubble, you may not even need it with the sump in place, and sufficient rock in the tanks to take care of the nitrogen cycle. Let us know how it goes!

The skimmer is sitting on a block on the floor behind the tank. It's a hang on tank model so could be placed externally. I had to cut away a lot of the mounting bracket so placed it on a block for support. The inlet and outlet lines go through the chiller slot in the back of the cabinet. I did it this way because it is easier to access. With the limited space over the sump I can't get anything bigger than a pump in or out of it. I wanted as large a sump as possible - the sump is 21 X 17 X 18

Originally posted by martinphillip03
Brent, Nice job. I am really interested how you plumbed a sump into your RSM. How does the water get from the tank into the sump? And you explained the return but could you do it again. Some pictures from the back, if possible, would be appreciated.
If you are planning some LR in your sump, I don't think more in the filter is necessary.

Marty

The water gets from the tank to the sump via a model 650 CPR overflow. The little pump in the picture of the top of the tank is used to remove air bubbles so that the siphon isn't lost. I chose the 650 because it it had enough flow and would fit on the back of the skimmer chamber without having to cut into the plug for the chiller. (had 9 inches of space available). The CPR has a 1 inch bulkhead on the bottom which I plumbed into the sump. The return line goes through the chiller plug opening in the back of the RSM so didn't require any cutting. I can post some pictures and an explaination later.

Originally posted by stephensturman
brent - wow nice setup. i didnt know if the cpr overflows would work but i see they do, time to add a sump and get my refugium and a good skimmer

Yes, I chose the 650 over the 500 for the additional flow rate. It was the biggest one that would fit without having to do a lot of cutting.

The 20X20 tank beside the RSM was going to be my refugium but when I added the metal halide lighting it changed to a shallow display tank. I'm considering having the live rock break the water surface - a small rock island. I'll have to see how that looks.

[Y-DesygnGuy]

Well the Hyrdo Flo will not work no matter what. I let it soak over night and it looks great, nice and clean. But it will not spin any more on the power head, what a bummer, oh well I needed a reason to go the fish store, lol yeah right!

[abyall]

Well almost made it a year without any micro bubbles or skimmer problems then they show up out of the blue,I am so pi##ed.

[Reefmack]

Y-DesygnGuy - I guess you can have the honor of being the first to have a Hydor Flo break!

abyall - strange on the appearance of skimmer problems after almost a year. Had you done anything to it recently that was out of your normal maintenance?

[Y-DesygnGuy]

Reefmack -- Great!
I went to 3 stores and none of them had one, bummer... I think I am going to turn one power head off, my tank is being blown apart from so much flow!

[Reefmack]

Y-DesygnGuy - good idea on turning one off. That or go back & figure out what happened to the Hydor Flo - there's not much to those things.

To All:



Have a happy, safe, healthy, prosperous, better new year!

[Y-DesygnGuy]

Happy New Year to you as well Reefmack and everyone on this thread!

Holly Cr@p I fixed it! I am soooooo not mechanical and I actually fixed it! I can not tell you what was wrong with it, but after taking it all completely apart again, swearing at, threatening to bounce it off the floor it worked! Amazing!

I had a huge amount of water flow once I took it off. My sand bed started shifting and changing shape I could see sand covering things and my frags were getting blown over! I guess adding a Korilia 1, Korilia Nano and the Fluval 205 was enough!! I needed to diffuse the water some with the Hydro Flo!

[abyall]

Reefmack I only did my sponge clean same as I always do.

[abyall]

I went to my lfs and got one of the best deals ever I got a huge gorgonia and a fridmani gobie for only thirty bucks.

[Reefmack]

Y-DesygnGuy - I knew you'd figure out the Hydor Flo! Congrats on getting it going!

abyall - I'm not sure what to tell you on the skimmer, but that's a great deal on the new additions. Post some pics when you ca.

[Y-DesygnGuy]

Reefmack -- LOL I tell ya, that is what was so upsetting, its so simple... yet it would not work! Much better now, of course I am going to have to turn everything off and use the turkey baster to get the sand off of things. I think the Yellow Watchman liked the flow though, he has been out all day in the middle of the tank swimming against the current, looking happy.

[abyall]

Here are some pictures of my latest buys.my orange spot gobie[IMG][/IMG] my gorgoniathis is a small frag four others[IMG][/IMG] my fridmani gobie sorry he is still shy[IMG][/IMG] my purple firefish[IMG][/IMG] and one of my two roses[IMG][/IMG]

[Hodge]

Y-DesygnGuy,

If you look directly at the end of the hydor, you will see a split white nub, it must be centered in the cover cap when it's reassembled. it's possible to get it back together without the nub centered and will not turn, even tho it looks ok.
I had that problem and took about five tries before figuring out what was wrong. It's like the control panel...once you do it a few times, it's easy. lol

[Y-DesygnGuy]

abyall -- Very nice shots! How about a full tank shot?

Hodge -- You know I am willing to bet that is what it was, it would snap together but not spin. The last time I snapped it back together I did notice the little white tip sticking out and it worked! Sorta one of those... Daaaa moments

[abyall]

Here are some full tank shots.[IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG] [IMG][/IMG]

[abyall]

Thought I would put my cleaner shrimp on he has molted five times since I bought him.[IMG][/IMG]

[stephensturman]

ok i have a question. i have about 15 lbs of sand in my rsm. so that is about 1" can i leave it at tha or should i add more?

[martinphillip03]

abyall, OMG what a nice tank. Do you have a thread going on RC?

Another note, one of the threads I am following, did something interesting. They put an eggcrate, or something, ledge in the tank. They filled it with corals. I guess the idea is, in time the corals will overgrow it and the crate disappears. Neat idea. The thread is 29 Bellacube, the link http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...6#post11494476

Marty

[Y-DesygnGuy]

Originally posted by stephensturman
ok i have a question. i have about 15 lbs of sand in my rsm. so that is about 1" can i leave it at tha or should i add more?

I don't know if you can or should add more now. I have about 32-33lbs of sand in mine.
But I don't know if its good to add more once your tank has been running for this long. Although live sand should ok, of course getting more sand now with water and rocks in the tank will be fun.

And sorry if this message is goofy its from my iPhone. We are taking my girl friends kids to the zoo lights for news years and my girl friend drives like a mad woman!

[stephensturman]

lol i just went to the zoo today it was cool kinda ****ty that u have to pay to see the sharks and stingrays after u already pay to get in!

[martinphillip03]

Well I was wrong again. Won't be the last time. Its a frag tray. Oh well
Last post this year!

Marty


Another note, one of the threads I am following, did something interesting. They put an eggcrate, or something, ledge in the tank. They filled it with corals. I guess the idea is, in time the corals will overgrow it and the crate disappears. Neat idea. The thread is 29 Bellacube, the link http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...6#post11494476

Marty [/B][/QUOTE]

[Reefmack]

Y-DesygnGuy - I was going to mention that the white nub had to go through that hole in the Koralia - I should have. Good call Hodge. I was caught once by the same thing, but figured it out before putting it back in the tank.

abyall - thanks for the great pictures of the new additions and the tank - beautiful! I still think you need to be in the Guiness book for world record sized bubble algae! They're actually kinda pretty and unique at that size.

Marty - that eggcrate is really used to grow small coral frags on - they get good flow grown on crate, and it supports the frag blocks and skeletal bases easily. Nice idea for making multi-use of the tank, but I liked the look of the tank better without the rack in the middle. I've seen some hung on the back and I think that looks much better. Just my own preference.

stephensturman - I think the substrate that came with the RSM kit was 22 lbs. 15 may be enough though. If you add more try pouring it through a 2 liter soda bottle with the bottom cut off - that may help to keep it from messing up the tank as much.