Build and Progress of my RSM Nano Tank - Page 16

aceheart1976 · #**376** 09/29/2007, 08:28 PM

very nice progress on your tank, i know how the start is a reall pita, but its well worth it when your system is up and running

LaurentSeattle · #**377** 09/29/2007, 08:40 PM

Month 4 - Week 14 - Day 94 - Saturday September 29th - Around 6pm

- ALK is still at 8.6 DKH with the Salifert test kit. I am a bit concerned about adding even more calcium and I am not sure about what I should do. Please advise!

- Here is a bad picture of the algae growing on the very top of the tank. Is this some Halimeda? Could someone confirm? Thanks!

- Another mushroom is on the move and willing to drop an offspring!

- I finally shot a decent picture on my Fromia sea star: She was always hiding in dark areas until today.

- Here is the picture of the "brown strange thing" growing on the rocks. It is not cyano. Anyone has an idea?

- Did my usual cleaning and then headed to the LFS... And here is the new guy on the block:

The beautiful Royal Gramma. Mine seems to be not so fat. I tried a pinch of cyclop-eeze and he went mad. There will be more tomorrow, buddy... So far, no territory problem and all three fishes are happy together. I like peaceful tanks...

Livestock as of tonight:

- Gramma Loreto
- Yellow Wrasse
- Rainford's Goby
- Fromia Sea Star
- Pepermint Shrimp
- Feather Duster
- Ricordea Yuma (seven mushrooms)
- Actinodiscus (two big one and three small mushrooms)

I am going to wait a week or two before adding more species (maybe a firefish) therefore there is plenty of time to get your advice...

Thanks all for visiting!

aceheart1976 · #**378** 09/29/2007, 10:02 PM

i love the way the firefish look in my nano tank, so personal preference they are great and peaceful fish

LaurentSeattle · #**379** 09/29/2007, 10:42 PM

Month 4 - Week 14 - Day 94 - Saturday September 29th - Around 9pm

Forgot to mention...

- I removed the heater from the RSM. Temperature is always in the high range. The cold and rainy season has already started here in Seattle and the tank temperature is high enough even when I do not heat the apartment. I live in a high rise building and many layers of people below me heat my little abode for free...

- Removing the heater frees a slot in the electrical compartment, now used by the extra circulation pump. I am back into the "one plug" concept.

- Got my "silent" hood fans earlier this week. (For free and free shipping: Nice tech support Red Sea, thanks Pnky) For some unknown reason, the fans do not make any noise on startup anymore. ??? No need to open the hood for now. Good because this is a pain...

- Decided to clean my Koralia #2 earlier this afternoon. A little piece of something went down deep into the kitchen sink while I was rinsing it... And got taken away by the flow of water... Dang!!! Back into the tank, the pump was just making an ugly noise and not really pumping. I removed it and went online to order a K#1... If some very experienced aquarist could tell me that the same thing happened to him/her in the past, I would feel better... Sending a pricey good pump down the drain, I feel stupid. At least, no animal got hurt in the process... PETA is not going to sue me...

MAXreefer · #**380** 09/29/2007, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LaurentSeattle
Month 4 - Week 14 - Day 94 - Saturday September 29th - Around 6pm

- ALK is still at 8.6 DKH with the Salifert test kit. I am a bit concerned about adding even more calcium and I am not sure about what I should do. Please advise!

Laurent,
Alk could be a little higher but it is not dangerous low for sure.

I am using for 2 weeks now a new product I got from my LFS.
It is called: B-Ionic Calcium Buffer System
Their Website

It works very good. Raises the ALK without the Calcium level going over the top.
It is not really expensive and last for a long time.

btw... What is your Calcium level now?

Michael
MAXreefer

LaurentSeattle · #**381** 09/29/2007, 11:45 PM

Thanks Michael,

I just realized that the Red Sea starter kit included a Ca test. "Pro" they say... Anyway, I just did the test and I am getting a 390ppm reading. As far as I know somewhere between 410 and 420 is the standard and therefore I am going to supplement Ca for a little more time.

Am I on the right track? Thanks!

LaurentSeattle · #**382** 09/30/2007, 01:34 PM

Month 4 - Week 14 - Day 95 - Sunday September 30th - Around 11am

Took that very bad picture of the 'baby' mushroom just after the lights turned on. It seems like something is developping. Probably the mouth of the new animal.

Iostream · #**383** 09/30/2007, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LaurentSeattle

- I removed the heater from the RSM. Temperature is always in the high range. The cold and rainy season has already started here in Seattle and the tank temperature is high enough even when I do not heat the apartment. I live in a high rise building and many layers of people below me heat my little abode for free...

Funny you should mention that, my heater has never even been powered on. Looking at my temp chart I am pretty sure it will never be needed. The tank is in my office on the second floor. Not only do I get the whole heat rises effect, but I have a few computers heating the room as well.

Reefmack · #**384** 09/30/2007, 02:25 PM

Looks good on the baby shroom! I now have Photoshop Elements 6.0 (new version not in stores yet, but downloadable), and it has a lot more features than my previous software. It'll also work with RAW files. I haven't had a chance to play with it much, but it looks like a winner,

LaurentSeattle · #**385** 09/30/2007, 08:00 PM

Month 4 - Week 14 - Day 95 - Sunday September 30th - Around 6pm

Yet another trip to the LFS and got these corals:

Above without flash and below with flash.

I liked these specimens of Xenia because of their short polyps, because they are truly pink and also because they pump like crazy... Very interesting.

As a goodie, I got a green mushroom on the same rock...

Reefmack · #**386** 09/30/2007, 08:18 PM

Yep - the Red Sea Pom Pom is the type to - get - fast pulser, low growing and doesn'r spread quite so fast. Put it on the top, or plan on it mutiplying upward and sideways!

LaurentSeattle · #**387** 10/01/2007, 12:50 AM

Reefmack:

I hope for reasonable growth... So far, I have read that these smaller xenia species are less hardy than the bigger ones and need more attentive care. I will do my best.

I placed them in the upper half with a quite a lot of light and medium flow. During their first afternoon in the tank, they pumped like there was no tomorrow... Hopefully this is a positive sign...

LaurentSeattle · #**388** 10/01/2007, 08:29 PM

IOStream: These real time charts are really cool indeed. The next step would be a webcam... Or even better a WebSLR like this one: http://www.katkam.ca/p.asp?what=currentjpg

Iostream · #**389** 10/01/2007, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LaurentSeattle
IOStream: These real time charts are really cool indeed. The next step would be a webcam... Or even better a WebSLR like this one: http://www.katkam.ca/p.asp?what=currentjpg

I thought about that, but I actually work out of the home, and have the RSM set up in my office, so most of the time that the lights are on, I am in the office too. The historical data is interesting to establish patterns and such that a spot check of current parameters cannot give me... Well, that and the fact that I had the Aquacontroller II and probes left over from my 140g reef

LaurentSeattle · #**390** 10/02/2007, 10:26 PM

Month 4 - Week 14 - Day 97 - Tuesday October 2nd - Around 8pm

Two days with minimal care of the tank: Cleaning white pad, topping-off and emptying the skimmer collection cup...

All animals seem to be happy except the blue stripped mushrooms that do not extend very well. I am considering moving them and rearranging a bit the lower level tomorrow after work.

The Xenia colony seems to have created new polyps already! The pumping activity is amazing...

michaelaz · #**391** 10/02/2007, 10:30 PM

move the shrooms to the back corner where there is a little less flow, mine love the corners

LaurentSeattle · #**392** 10/02/2007, 11:21 PM

Thanks Michael...

My plan is to move the feather duster to the center, and swap the yumas and blue stripped mushrooms (BSM) positions. I will post a FTS tomorrow night... The Yumas seem to appreciate some flow and the BSM do not. Hopefully that will do the trick.

LaurentSeattle · #**393** 10/02/2007, 11:44 PM

Just a bit Off Topic...

The "stuff" I am currently working on has made it to the XBOX 360 'official' website. Here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/sc...scameraaction/

Enjoy...

Reefmack · #**394** 10/03/2007, 08:07 AM

Laurent - you may find that the featherduster has attached the bottom of its tube to the rock or tank bottom, and it may be difficult to remove without damaging it.

michaelaz · #**395** 10/03/2007, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by LaurentSeattle
Just a bit Off Topic...

The "stuff" I am currently working on has made it to the XBOX 360 'official' website. Here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/sc...scameraaction/

Enjoy...

Dang , was hoping it would have been a FPS or a really good baseball game for the 360, the current ones are pretty bad

LaurentSeattle · #**396** 10/03/2007, 09:15 PM

Month 4 - Week 14 - Day 98 - Wednesday October 3rd - Around 7pm

- First, I did a two gallons water change, removing from detritus along the way. Removing 2.5 gallons is about the limit where the water level is down enough to starve the circulation pumps. With a 2.5 water change, I do not interrupt circulation, skimming and it seems this avoid the bubble storm that follows more significant water changes.

- Trimmed some red algae.

- Installed my micro jet PH for extra circulation to compensate for the "loss" of my Koralia...

- Then, tested the water
ALK: 8.6
Ca: 440
pH: 8.4
NO2, NO3, PO4: All zero.

I have significantly boosted the Ca level but Alkalinity stays low... If someone could explain me a bit what's happening here, I would very much appreciate it! I will test again ALK and Ca tomorrow to rule out human error when testing.

- All inhabitants seems to be happy and well.

- The Sea Star is currently staying on the mushrooms rocks. I postponed the move until tomorrow.

---

MichaelAZ: There are a bunch a nice FPS's for the 360: Halo, Gear of War, GRAW, etc... Sport games are an issue: EA has many exclusive licenses and produces nothing. Formula One has not been updated since forever... Not even sure, there is a 360 title for Formula 1.. Lame.

LaurentSeattle · #**397** 10/04/2007, 12:30 AM

Month 4 - Week 14 - Day 98 - Wednesday October 3rd - Around 11pm

A quick picture showing the growth of my Astrea snails in less than 4 months! They like algae blooms indeed!

And here is the Full Tank Shot as of tonight:

Some spots still have pest algae...

kmjoen230 · #**398** 10/04/2007, 12:47 AM

Hey ALL - Does anyone know anything about Montipora?
Does the RSM supply enought light at the stock setting for those guys?

LaurentSeattle · #**399** 10/04/2007, 12:54 AM

kmjoen230:

According to litterature, Montipora corals require medium to high lighting and are not 'easy' to keep. Knowing my limits as a 'n00b' in reef keeping, I would not try my luck with those with the stock lights of the RSM.

Hopefully more experienced reefers will comment on this...

LaurentSeattle · #**400** 10/04/2007, 10:44 PM

Month 4 - Week 15 - Day 99 - Thursday October 4th - Around 8pm

- With extreme caution, (Thanks Reefmack for the advice) I tried to move the feather duster. No way... So I simply swapped the blue stripped mushrooms and yumas. The blue mushrooms are already much happier and extend much more. The yumas have been very slow to adapt to their new location and do not extend fully yet. I will post a FTS tomorrow night.

- Skimming has almost stopped today and I am getting a LOT of bubbles...

The skimmer probably needs a cleaning. I never did that since I started the tank...

- I also cleant the glass and white pad, as usual... but no courage after a long day at work to "play" with chemicals and test ALK and Ca.