Red Sea Max Owners Club

[Rue]

Originally posted by Reefmack
Rue - hopefully you won't need to mod anything! And everybody here will try to help you too. That's why I started the "club" - so we can all share questions, successes and (hopefully very few) failures.

I guess I didn't think really about little-d's placement close to the patio doors. Were you thinking it might get too much sunlight there? It would be a bear to move it though - I think the full tank itself weighs about 440 lbs.

I hope I won't have to mod. anything...although it seems I might need another powerhead...but I'll see how it goes first...looks like I have decent flow so far (I can see bits of stuff on the rock move).

And yes...I thought little_d's tank would be overlit...unless he gets blinds on his doors...I was also wondering about traffic flow...too busy by the doors?

[Rue]

Originally posted by jdeveaux
I have actually been toying with the idea of setting up a refugium in my cabinet but it would start to really defeat the reason I bought the RSM. I bought it for the all in one clean look. I let you know if I ever move forward with trying the refugium and please keep us posted too.

Thanks,

Oh I will! I was wondering if it would be good place to try to culture some macro for food and what not...

[lpsluver]

Reefmack,

I am starting to believe that our skimmer's lack of production has to do with bioload. In looking at what JDEV has in his tank compared to mine, his is loaded for 29 gallons of display space. Two anemones alone are hugh waste factories. I'd say his skimmer is working well because his water is gunkier than ours. Your thoughts?

[jdeveaux]

Skimmer production is definitely tied to waste/bio load however you can tell if a skimmer is function correctly by the foam head. A good foam head but no gunk may just mean you don't have alot of waste for the skimmer to filter. On days when I don't feed and there isn't much going on in the tank I get very little gunk but I generally always have foam bubbling up through the throat of the skimmer. Also getting a lot of water in the collection cup may mean you are over skimming.

Also when I do clean the collection cup I have noticed that a few hours will go by before I get a decent foam head going again.

Never use soapy water to clean the cup just rinse and rub off gunk the soap can leave residue behind that can prevent good collection and potentially get back in to the water causing death to the inhabitants.

Fine print: These are my observations and opinions that I have developed over the years so by all means let me know if you have a different opinion.

[little_d]

josh&jana,

It won't be another month before live stock is going in, I can't wait but I have to let it cycled , I have all the live stock in my main display that can can frag and place it in the new RSM. I'll probably have some sand and a few piece of rock in there to help with the cycle process. I wanted the Tonga Slab so I have to wait until next month before I those came in.


Rue,

Yes, it's very closed to the windows and some sun light will lit the tank, since it's in a commercial building and we don't have much room that was the best place we can put it. The good thing is the room is aways air conditioned so thing will be cool all the time, I'll have to keep monitoring it to see how much algea will grow as a result of the sun.

I have to order a thermometer and install an extra power strip since RS sent me the extra fan with it and I got no extra outlet to install that thing, don't know if I have add an extra power head yet since I am just keeping softies and some lps for now. Beside that I have to see if I am experiencing some of the thing mentioned from current owner. So far I only placed the coarse foam in there and will probably add a small bag of carbon.

[lpsluver]

Originally posted by jdeveaux
Skimmer production is definitely tied to waste/bio load however you can tell if a skimmer is function correctly by the foam head. A good foam head but no gunk may just mean you don't have alot of waste for the skimmer to filter. On days when I don't feed and there isn't much going on in the tank I get very little gunk but I generally always have foam bubbling up through the throat of the skimmer. Also getting a lot of water in the collection cup may mean you are over skimming.

Also when I do clean the collection cup I have noticed that a few hours will go by before I get a decent foam head going again.

Never use soapy water to clean the cup just rinse and rub off gunk the soap can leave residue behind that can prevent good collection and potentially get back in to the water causing death to the inhabitants.

Skimmer underperformance is a common problem with the RSM skimmer. The fact that you are getting enough skimmate to clean out every 2 days is quite rare. Most of us in the thread know about the foam production and what it means to be there or not be there. No one that I've read about and I do mean no one has an overskimming problem. In fact we wish we had that problem. We could simple cut back the air and would be able to control it. Most of us simply only get the foam in the neck and very little in the cup with no way to make the foam wetter to get it into the cup. Several of us have even performed an impellar mod which has improved the performance somewhat but it is still not where it needs to be.

I think if we all had a loaded tank like you we would get a lot more skimmate.

My personal opinion is that you tank is overloaded or will be shortly. Those anemones will outgrow that tank fairly quickly if they survive for any period of time. MOFWIW

[Reefmack]

jdevaux - I would think I'd have the bioload I need to get good skimmate - no anemones, but overstocked with 7 fish (a few lps, a dozen or so mushrooms, snails, etc.). I get a good amount of gunk building up on the neck & skimmer top, but the only time I really generate enogh foam to actually get over the neck is after a water change and/or after wiping the gunk off of the neck & skimmer chamber top - and it's a pretty thick layer of gunk depending on how many days go by. After that one initial bubbling over the neck top I really no more till the next water change. I've read that the chemical nature of that skimmer gunk can actually break the foam, so that builup seems to just make things worse. Do you think I don't have enough bioload? Other than the times I mentioned above, I just don't get a foam that's fine enough, or stable enough to ever get to the top of the neck & over the lip. I never use soap to clean anything, so that's not it. I'm just really stumped, and don't really know what to do other than try the impeller mod. I'm open to any other suggestions.

Little_d - now I understand why the RSM is located by the patio doors! If you get an algae problem maybe just cover that side of the tank with some paper or a tank background.

[jdeveaux]

My tank is definitely overloaded. That is why I'm doing weekly water changes and keeping a very close eye on the stats. So far everything has been good and the only thing I lost was an arrow crab to Zippy my eel. I'm in the process of building a 90 GAL reef right now and the eel and Haitian anemone will be moving over to it. the Seabae is very small so it will be awhile before I need to worry about her.

Hopefully the Bullet I skimmer I'm putting on the 90 will perform a lot better than the RSM skimmer.

Regards,

John

[shramj]

This is my first Reef tank and I have had my RedSeaMax setup for about 2 months now. Here is some information on my tank and the way I have it setup.

Live Rock/Sand

I have 55 pounds of live rock, all different kinds, Fugi, Marshall Island, Tonga, Africian, etc. I also have 20 pounds of fine sand.

Chiller

Living in Arizona, I ended up having to put a chiller on my tank. I went with the JBJ Mini Artica and I am using a Rio 1100 pump for the chiller. I do not like how I have the pump connected to the chiller, the Rio didn't come with an adapter to fit 5/8 tubing so I actually have the tubing pushed into the pump. It actually is a good fit and does seem like it will not come out easily but I still do not trust it. I need to locate some different fittings, etc.

Tiny Bubbles

I cut the black filter material in half, removed the white filter all together. I also zip-tied the carbon bag because I believe that the extra/loose material from the carbon bag was getting sucked up in my powerheads and that was causing the tiny bubbles. I also have my surface skimmer gate all the way down. I don't see how I can do effective surface skimming with this tank. If I set the gate to where it is doing a good job, in a few hours with the water evap, my tank will start producing tiny bubbles, so I just leave it all the way down.

Lighting

I got the 150 MH upgrade from Nanocustoms, I got the upgrade with the 2 antinic lights and a single LED night light. Out of all the posts I read, it seems that everyone is getting the dual LED night lights. I am sure it looks very cool and at first I wish I got the dual LED's but Nanocustoms said I can adjust the angle of the LED so I will do that and get it centered to where I like it. It actually is starting to grow on me with the way it looks as is, it looks natural with only part of the tank getting the LED light, kinda like the moon. I really do love the MH and the shimmer effect is awesome, I will now look for a clam and some hard corals. I will post some pics after I get the night LED positioned the way I like it.

Power/Stand

I am running my lights off the Coralife dual timer powerstrip. This is a good powerstrip to use as it can control 3 different sets of lights. The only problem with the light mod from nanocustoms is that they used the existing light power cord for the actinic lights, since I now have my power strip in my stand, this power cord will not reach into the stand, so I had to get a seperate extension cord to run the actinics cord into the stand. I think Nanocustoms, should scrap using this existing cord and run a new one that is the same length as the cord they use for the MH light. The MH Ballast and chiller are in my tank stand. I ended up getting 4 4-inch fans from Target (5.99 each). I have 1 on the top shelf (where the ballast is) blowing air across the ballast to the back of the stand. I have 2 fan (one on each side) in the bottom where the chiller is, blowing air towards the back of the stand, and 1 fan blowing air in front of the chiller. It still seemed a little hot in the stand but once I started leaving both of my ceiling fans on low, the stand has been keeping cool. I think all the hot air was staying between the stand and the wall, the ceiling fans seem to be circulating this hot air away effectively on low. I also have a small battery UPS in the stand, it is a small one but I am glad I have some sort of battery backup to my tank. I am only running the power center from the actual tank on battery power. The chiller, stand fans, and lights are only running on the surge protection on the UPS. In a power loss, that chiller would drain that UPS in a minute. At least I will be able to run the powerheads and skimmer for a little while. Having all this stuff in my stand has pretty much taken my storage away from me but I am glad I all this in the stand rather then sitting next to the stand.

Livestock

1 - Tank raised Clownfish
1 - Royal Gramma
1 - Red Firefish
1 - Red Marbel Seastar
1 - Fire Shrimp
2 - Emerald Crabs
3 - Nassarius Snails
2 - Trochus Snails
2 - Turbo Snails
5 - Astraea Snails
About 12-16 hermit crabs (will probably get rid of some)

Coral frags

1 - Tubs Blue Zoo (5 heads)
1 - Whammin Watermelon Zoo (30 heads)
1 - Blue/Green Zoo (4 heads)
1 - Kryptonite Zoo (20 heads)
1 - RadioActive Dragon Eyes (8 heads)
1 - Rainbow Monti (about 1 1/2inch)
1 - Hammerhead (about 2 inches)
3 - Small Green star Polyps
2 - Xenia (both small)
2 - Ricordias (one orange/blue & one Blue/purple)
1 - Sand polyp



Question:

Does anyone know of a different pump that I can use for my chiller, something smaller then the Rio 1100? The Rio is 4.875 x 2.5 x 3.25 in size and I will need something that can pump out 110-160 GPH at 3.5 to 4 feet of head loss, anyone got any recommendations?

[jdeveaux]

Shramj,

Your tank looks awesome. I love the aquascaping.

Very nice job.

I want to do a clam and sps too but first I need to get my new reef up so I can move over some of my overstock...

[Reefmack]

Tank looks great Shramj. You've certainly done a lot to the RSM!

[Rue]

Very nice! I can't believe that's 55 lbs of rock! Wow!

Got brave (don't laugh...had to work up the nerve ) and officially aquascaped...

Tried to keep as much as possible off the bottom (as suggested!) and tried to leave lots of spaces for water flow...I think I managed...also think I have lots of room for corals...so now we'll see how it goes...

Also worked up the nerve to set my light timer (remember...no laughing)...had a mini-panic when the lights wouldn't come on...but after taking a deep breath and unscrewing the 8 teeny-tiny plastic screws that hold the splash guard in place...I realized I just hadn't pushed the lights in quite far enough during the initial installation...

I also managed to screw the 8 teeny-tiny plastic screws back in position without loosing any in the tank, and having to dismantle my newly positioned live rock.

I also spent about 30 min. staring in the tank...

...saw nothing...

[shramj]

Rue, the aquascape looks great. I would suggest that you take your magnet cleaner and make sure you can move it freely around the entire tank without hitting any of the live rock. I have a couple of spots on my tank where I put the rock too close to the glass and I either can't clean some areas or the magnet gets stuck between the glass and the rock.

[Rue]

I did check with my hand...but you're right...I should move the magnet around too...

...thanks!

[MJSavage]

It is cool. I like the rockwork too.

Mike

[shramj]

Also, if you find that you cannot move your magnet around and just need a little bit more room, I found a new type of magnet a Petco that is about half as thick as the magnet you have in your tank now. The only thing is, it is about twice as wide but it looks like this new magnet I got would work perfectly in your tank. If you look at my picture above, you will see the type magnet you have on the left side of my tank and the new one on the right. It cost around $6.99.

[Reefmack]

Wow - that looks great Rue - that has real possibilities. Good job! Only 30 minutes staring at the tank? That's probably changed by now!

I wish I had set my rock up so I could clean all around it. In fact I was just in the tank now with my arm length glove & moved my mushroom rocks around a bit on the bottom to open up the bottom cavern more in the middle of my rock. It was pretty well blocked by the rock that my green & blue striped mushrooms came on. At the same time I tried again to move some of my top rock to get it away from the left side & finally gave up & ended up pretty much where I started. Without also moving some corals and rock around on the right side I can't do much with it. Another weekend project when I'm not tired from working all day.

Cleaned the skimmer out - the usual gunk on the neck & top of the main skimmer compartment and barely any liquid in the cup - after 3 days. Looking forward to getting the parts from RSM so I can do the mod.

I did see something I hadn't yet seen, When I lifted up the small shroom rocks on the sand, a few white brittle/serpent stars, a good inch across, fell off & skittered away. I've got a lot of those teeny micro stars that live in holes in the rock & just stick their tiny banded arms out & wave them around, but these were larger and pure white - long skinny arms around a central disk. It's another reason I try to be careful moving rock - I'm always afraid I'll crush some poor animal. If their new stock came in today I'm off to a visit tomorrow to a newly located SW lfs that I found near my workplace. He's getting in some serpent & brittle stars tomorrow, and I want to get one to help clean up my sand and rock. He's getting red, orange, and harlequin serpents in so I should have a choice of a few colors.

[shramj]

MAXreefer, I also have a chiller for my tank. I have the JBJ Mini Artica chiller and I have a Rio 1100 for it in the skimmer compartment. I am looking at getting a different pump for my chiller since the Rio 1100 is a tight fit and I also do not like how it fits onto the hose I have going to the chiller. I was just curious what make/model pump you are using? I wonder if I should run an external pump instead maybe. Then I could put a light in the skimmer area and make a little fug area?

[josh&jana]

looks good RUE
lots of caves for the critters to hide and swim in ...

[MAXreefer]

Originally posted by shramj
MAXreefer, I also have a chiller for my tank. I have the JBJ Mini Artica chiller and I have a Rio 1100 for it in the skimmer compartment. I am looking at getting a different pump for my chiller since the Rio 1100 is a tight fit and I also do not like how it fits onto the hose I have going to the chiller. I was just curious what make/model pump you are using? I wonder if I should run an external pump instead maybe. Then I could put a light in the skimmer area and make a little fug area?

Hi Shramj,
I went for an external pump. First reason was the the tight fit for a pump in the skimmer compartment. Also I like to vacuum every couple weeks under the skimmer and it would be a hazzle to remove that pump all the time.
I am running a QuietOne 1200 pump. Runs fine and is actually very quiet.
I placed the pump next to the chiller in the RSM compartment.
I have put the inlet tubing to the chiller in the skimmer compartment and the return deep in the heater compartment. I made sure the intake tubing is at least half way into the skimmer compartment so if for whatever reason the water level into your tank drops the pump won't suck any air. The only thing is when you start the pump for the first time it won't pull the water over the top of the tank so you will have to suck a little on the return pipe to get it running. Once the system is full with water let the pump run for about 30 minutes without the chiller working to make sure all the air is out of the chiller.
Have it running for about 3 weeks now and no issues at all.

Michael

[Uhelski]

Hello Friends, I'm new here e I recently bought a RSM and I think that this thread is great for me, thank for all...

well, now I'm planning my aquascape an livestock.

Did you think that's possible, in a standart setup of RSM, have any BTA with a pair of maroon? I'm considering a chiller in my setup...

[morello]

sorry to say eric the blenny is no longer with us RIP




me parents were gutted he was like a family member lol full of character. i think its possible he had a run in with a bristle worm as i have a fair few in there. gonna get a boxing shrimp see if it will keep on top of the population.

[Reefmack]

Hi Uhelski and welcome to Reef Central and our Red Sea Owners "Club" - all the way from Brazil! I would definitely be sure to make sure you tank cycles before adding any live things. There are some articles in the Newcomer section of Reef Central that can tell you about getting to tank cycled. I added fully cured live rock to my tank, and fortunately have never had a measurable amount of ammonia. I'm not sure if you're new to saltwater or already experienced? If new do a lot of reading of those posts at the top of the Newcomer section, and read a lot of the posts from people in there also. If you are already experienced then you'll already know about cycling, ammonia, etc. I don't have any anemones so maybe others here can help with your questions on the BTA and maroon clowns.

By the way, I picked up my serpent star today, acclimated him for over 2 hours, and when I released him in the tank he promptly skittered off into one of the spaces under my rock. I didn't know these guys could move so quick! I'm glad I took a pic of him in the bag or all I may see on him from now on is an arm or two sticking out from the rock. The arms were about 4 inches each, so he's about 8 inches tip to tip. He sure can fit in small spaces though!



Other than a coral or two I think I'm done adding livestock. Weed or no weed I'd like like to get a small frag of pumping xenia, but so far none of my lfs ever have any in stock. I saw a small little cluster at the lfs today (not for sale), and it was just pumping away - cool stuff!

[Reefmack]

Sorry about Eric the blenny morello. If you have no ammonia, could it have been attacked by something - a bigger fish, an anemone or ? Any sign of disease? Sometimes these things just happen with no identifiable cause and you'll never know the reason.

[Rue]

LOL...do you get money back on the percentage of the brittlestar actually in view???

Sorry to hear about Eric...

I'm looking at livestock lists...dunno if it's just me...but it seems like everything I look at is somehow unsuitable for a small aquarium...?