David's Red Sea Max C130

[dgilbert2]

Last weekend I thought I would put in the Red Sea carbon bag that comes with a new tank. I pre-soaked it as per the instructions and cleaned it as best I could until the water was clear. Well, so I thought! I noticed yesterday that my mechanical filter (white in colour) was thick black and also my skimmer tube had a jet black film. Clearly dust from the carbon, so not being impressed and also concerned (perhaps this was what was upsetting my 6 year old mushrooms?) I've now took the carbon out and binned it. Today I will do an extra water change to try clean up the system.

On reflection, how on earth can you properly clean such a large bag of tightly packed carbon? Needless to say, I will not be buying anymore. Another example of my personal "no additives" rule. You think your doing the right thing but actually end up doing more harm than good.

 

[melvis]

Seems I'm a bit late to the party but welcome to RS mate! Lovely looking tank and the bare bottom certainly gives it a boost!

 

[dgilbert2]

Thanks melvis for your kind words

 

[dgilbert2]

Location of the Tunze Osmolator Nano float sensor, left hand rear chamber of the C130. Pipe from pump (I used clear 4mm) ty-wrapped to surface skimmer so its impossible to siphon back into the reservoir if over top-up safety level reached. I used this left hand chamber as this is not influenced by the mechanical filter in the right hand pump chamber which lowers the water level as it collects dirt.

Control unit mounted in cabinet, starting to get a lot of wires!

 

[dgilbert2]

I'm pleased with how the tank has performed today in the UK heatwave. 30 outside and tank only 0.6 deg C above normal, ie 28.4. To help, I have left the front section of the hood open all day. I know this is still quite cool for some countries but its quite hot for here, especially without any air conditioning.

 

[dgilbert2]

Well after lots of reading on here I have decided to upgrade my lights to LED's, going for the SteveLED's option;

I've decided to go for;

• Red Sea Max 130/130D/C130 - LED retrofit.
• 99% Completed System: Build my LED System for me.
• Stock Timer/Moonlight: No prewire cable, I will be using a digital light controller.
• Digital Lighting Controller Typhon + Laser Enclosure + 6 foot extension.
• Custom LED Combination: 14,000K Super Full Spectrum - More Growth Than Aesthetics.

Lots more reading now so I know how to fit them when they arrive

 

[dgilbert2]

Wednesday this week was really hot for us in the UK with recording breaking +35deg C. Without air conditioning it really was too much! The tank did struggle also at this, reaching 30.5 but now the weather has cooled down again the tank has settled down.

So in conclusion I'm happy now that I will be able to manage the heat just with the ST1000 controlled fans and with the ATO sorting out evaporation. (The LED lights on order will also help )

 

[dgilbert2]

I visited our LFS's yesterday (no livestock purchases ) and heard a couple of sad stories about the really hot day I mentioned above (for the UK - 35degC!) where peoples tanks had "crashed" due to the water temperature reaching 32. So sad .

We are simply not equipped here to cope with the "odd" day of climate extremes. Cost for coolers and air conditioning cannot be justified for just a few days a year, or can it!?

 

[melvis]

I know what you mean David. I'm also in the UK (London) and experienced significant heat within the house, to the point where I kept the curtains closed to help keep the heat out. Had the C130 fans running for almost 3 days solid, which is well outside the norm as I barely need to normally use them. After the Friday night's fantastic lightning storm and hot day yesterday, I found myself researching chillers last night - but like you said, difficult to justify it for the small number of really hot days a year we get.

 

[Pat24601]

So, is central air not the norm in the UK? I've only been there twice and don't really have it down.

I'm in the southern U.S. where it clearly gets very hot. But, I have 4 air conditioners keeping my house cool. A power outage is really the only thing that's going to make my house any hotter than I want it. That's a real possibility, though.

I'm wondering if the fact that my area is so prepared for heat makes me less exposed to hot weather issues than colder climates...

 

[dgilbert2]

Nearly all UK homes do not have air conditioning, we usually worry more about keeping warm

We have never before had to CLOSE windows to our home because last Wednesday the outside air was significantly hotter, and I mean hotter. It was awful to be honest but at least at work we DO have AC. Not much help at home though

 

[dgilbert2]

My C130 has continued to settle down this week, not much to say to be honest, fairly routine!. Latest pictures below. Still waiting for my SteveLEDs to arrive, hopefully next week

 

[dgilbert2]

My LFS has an amazing "stock" C130 so I asked what maintenance they did to keep it looking so good. They changed around 5-10% water a week (using H2Ocean) and kept KH at 9, that was it apart from a bag of Rowaphos.

I've been using Instant Ocean for a number of years in my old Nano cube and have also continued with it in my C130. I measured my KH and found it was only 5 and also Calcium only 240. PO4 is 0.

So with the help of Salifert "KH and Buffer" I've slowly over the last week, helped by a water change today using H2Ocean, got my KH up to 9. I am reluctant to add Calcium additives though due to the balance with Magnesium and Strontium, so at this stage will persevere with water changes using H2Ocean which has much higher levels of these elements.

Will see how things go over the next couple of weeks.

 

[melvis]

Tank is looking lovely mate, really liking the mix of colours you've got....making me rethink lol...

 

[dgilbert2]

Tank is looking lovely mate, really liking the mix of colours you've got....making me rethink lol...

Thank you. As my C130 is not that big I'm wanting to be very selective of what goes in and trying the get a mixture of colours. Years ago I got this wrong and ended up with everything brown!

I'm hoping that when I get my StevesLEDs that I can get even more from the colours, time will tell. Certainly under LED at my LFS they looked different again, to the better

 

[dgilbert2]

My @StevesLEDs parcel today cleared customs with duty/tax now paid. Hopefully the parcel will now be delivered tomorrow

 

[StevesLEDs]

Woot woot!

 

[Desmond]

The colours in that tank are killer love it !

 

[melvis]

Be really interested to follow your install mate, as I'm still debating whether to do this or not.

 

[dgilbert2]

The colours in that tank are killer love it !

Thanks Desmond, just got to keep it that way