Highly's Red Sea Max 400 Mixed Reef

SPR

Well-Known Member
I wouldn’t think you need extra flow as the rear pumps provide all you need really. It’s just a matter of angling them so they don’t bother corals to much and it doesn’t create a sand storm.

My return nozzle points to the right hand side glass and slightly down but it all depends on your rock work etc The 4 rear pump nozzles point in different directions including straight across.

On the fish, I would get your nutrient levels under control before adding anymore.

It might be worth increasing the methods of biological filtration in the system such as Seachem Matrix or whatever you prefer and possible carbon dosing (Nopox) and also rhowaphos or similar for phosphate control.

You need this to be under your control before increasing fish numbers as they will just make the numbers worse and potentially cause other unwanted issues
 

Highlyagaming

Active Member
Working on it, already been dosing nopox for just over a month. Also added activated carbon along with a new piece of kit I have never tried before called Hydra stream 1 inline filter pump, which I find extremely strange how its meant to work but hey some people swear by it so might as well try it out.
 

Highlyagaming

Active Member
Been looking at my tank today and without testing for nitrates I can defo say Nopox is working. Rocks that were previously covered in algae are now almost completely white and the skimate is getting lighter every day. Ill do a small water change today and do some tests tonight and post an update hopefully my battle against high nitrates will be on the winning side this time :)
 

Highlyagaming

Active Member
How is the tank coming along?

hey bud, sorry been MIA lol. Tanks doing so much better, apart from dosing the NoPox I modded my old hang on filter and converted into into a refuge which immediately changed my tank. The day after I had a reduction in red slime and my acans which I thought had died are now growing and puffing up

On another note I added a fee sps to see if they would be a good fit and sadly out of the three I added I am only left with one birdsnest. Sadly lost the monti and a second birdsnest so I guess my system is not quite ready for sps, but i blame my lights as the sps looked burnt even with leds at 50% max.

I also had issues with stock pumps being to powerful and forcing my corals to stay closed regardless which angle i faced em so I was forced to reduce their slow to minimum which is not ideal for cleaning or algae growth, dam current blew two duncan heads clean off even when faced at the rear rock work. But like everything else beauty is an art and one hell of a learning curve, slow and steady does it and slowly making minor corrections to get it down perfect.
 

Highlyagaming

Active Member
Well after a few months of constant filter maintenance and nopox dosing I still cannot get Nitrates and phos balanced. Nitrates at 80/100 ppm and phos is between 0/1 ppM which is so bad its causing algae blooms left right and center.

Added some zeolites to the system to see if that would help in reducing nitrates and still noting. I mean i only feed my fish once a day and a small amount of food goes in, really tempted to vacuums my sand bed to see if its that but i prefer not to as id remove my star fishes food source.

Kh seems to have also dropped recently by 0.5 so ill retest everything tomorrow and see if i can do a few more water changes this week.

As to equipment, I will hopefully be buying myself the Nyos quantum for xmas so hopefully that will assist in removing junk from the system.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Without reading back through all your posts have you tried putting something lime Marine Pure or Seachem Matrix in the Sump? Using products like these does seem to keep the Nitrates under control.
It's funny with your Nopox as most people say Nopox is great for Nitrate control but not so good for Phos. It looks to be the other way round for you, but as they say, every tank is different :)
 

Highlyagaming

Active Member
Without reading back through all your posts have you tried putting something lime Marine Pure or Seachem Matrix in the Sump? Using products like these does seem to keep the Nitrates under control.
It's funny with your Nopox as most people say Nopox is great for Nitrate control but not so good for Phos. It looks to be the other way round for you, but as they say, every tank is different :)

Yeah I love Nopox, Always used it for my previous tanks but yeah every tank is different and it seems this ones reacting to it differently.

looking at pulling out my sump and seeing what i can change to make it better, since i bought it second hand it didn't have any sort of bracket for cups of filter socks which i have seen on other RSM 400’s so thats another thing I want to look into since I also have an issue with particulates in the water making the tank look ugly no matter how clean the water looks.

Sump space is super restricted but want to plan and try to put in a roller to help filter out the water, but as with anything else in this hobby it all comes down to funds
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Yeah I love Nopox, Always used it for my previous tanks but yeah every tank is different and it seems this ones reacting to it differently.

looking at pulling out my sump and seeing what i can change to make it better, since i bought it second hand it didn't have any sort of bracket for cups of filter socks which i have seen on other RSM 400’s so thats another thing I want to look into since I also have an issue with particulates in the water making the tank look ugly no matter how clean the water looks.

Sump space is super restricted but want to plan and try to put in a roller to help filter out the water, but as with anything else in this hobby it all comes down to funds
That is where Marine Pure or Seachem Matrix are good. They just sit in the corner of your sump and don't really take up much space, but either can really help with Nitrate reduction.
The previous owner must have removed the filter cup holders for a reason.
 

Highlyagaming

Active Member
That is where Marine Pure or Seachem Matrix are good. They just sit in the corner of your sump and don't really take up much space, but either can really help with Nitrate reduction.
The previous owner must have removed the filter cup holders for a reason.


Yeah, was looking into buying some but its very expensive to get around my area. Around £20 On a small pack, and on my take I would require at least 3

Atm i have a fair amount of rock in my skimmer section to increase natural filtering, might remove that and place a layer of matrix instead. I am planning on hopefully having the nyos quantum, two bags of zeolites (currently using) plus the layer of matrix and the small hang on refuge. Hoping that will do the trick, also going to open up the flow again to help move the crap in the display & hope to god the few softies i have will learn to like it.
 

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Yeah, was looking into buying some but its very expensive to get around my area. Around £20 On a small pack, and on my take I would require at least 3

Atm i have a fair amount of rock in my skimmer section to increase natural filtering, might remove that and place a layer of matrix instead. I am planning on hopefully having the nyos quantum, two bags of zeolites (currently using) plus the layer of matrix and the small hang on refuge. Hoping that will do the trick, also going to open up the flow again to help move the crap in the display & hope to god the few softies i have will learn to like it.
Yeah, Matrix would be more 'space efficient' than live rock, and if the claims are to be believed provides more actual surface area for the bacteria.
 

SPR

Well-Known Member
I would firstly get some basic mechanical filtration into the system because if you haven’t got filter socks in place, all the detritus is probably going to stay in the sump. Even something basic like filter wool, but you need something to get it out.

if you’ve been running without this, once your sort it, a complete water change from the sump would be useful to get rid of all the rubbish down there.

‘I wouldn’t worry about your sand bed, I’ve never cleaned mine and it will all help with denitrification especially in any deep areas of sand.

What dose of NoPox are you using daily because you basically need to keep increasing it until the nitrate starts to fall ?

As far as phosphate is concerned get some rhowaphos or similar and that will sort that out, Nopox won’t make any noticeable difference on this. Your not that high at 0.1ppm but ideally want to be very low at around 0.03. If you’ve got algae growing the level could actually be much higher than 0.1 if it’s being taken up as a food source so maybe start rhowaphos slowly in case it affects the corals. But you will need to change it regularly to start or it won’t work

As far as Matrix is concerned get double the amount you think you need and that will also help to sort your nitrate problem for good, but it will take a month or so. Also look at Seachem De Nitrate depending on the flow speed you have over it

You could also do a series of 10% water changes over a week or so to give it all a kickstart
 
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Highlyagaming

Active Member
I would firstly get some basic mechanical filtration into the system because if you haven’t got filter socks in place, all the detritus is probably going to stay in the sump. Even something basic like filter wool, but you need something to get it out.

if you’ve been running without this, once your sort it, a complete water change from the sump would be useful to get rid of all the rubbish down there.

‘I wouldn’t worry about your sand bed, I’ve never cleaned mine and it will all help with denitrification especially in any deep areas of sand.

What dose of NoPox are you using daily because you basically need to keep increasing it until the nitrate starts to fall ?

As far as phosphate is concerned get some rhowaphos or similar and that will sort that out, Nopox won’t make any noticeable difference on this. Your not that high at 0.1ppm but ideally want to be very low at around 0.03. If you’ve got algae growing the level could actually be much higher than 0.1 if it’s being taken up as a food source so maybe start rhowaphos slowly in case it affects the corals. But you will need to change it regularly to start or it won’t work

As far as Matrix is concerned get double the amount you think you need and that will also help to sort your nitrate problem for good, but it will take a month or so. Also look at Seachem De Nitrate depending on the flow speed you have over it

You could also do a series of 10% water changes over a week or so to give it all a kickstart

Hey thanks for the feedback, atm I have corse filter wool followed by a very fine filter wool in the section right before the return pump and I clean them out once a week as they get a lot of gunk on them.

I have just been given by a friend of mine a large hang on refugium that fits snug in front of the sump so thats a large upgrade from what I currently have running. Also gave me a free lawnmower blenny which should help eat algae and unwanted things, along with a bigger skimmer but on looking at my space seems it wont fit so ill have to fine the money some way to get that nyos quantum 160, but i need to check measurements to make sure it fits in the stock 400 sump.
 

Highlyagaming

Active Member
7AD4A939-372B-447F-9CCD-DA990FDDFB02.jpeg Its a work in progress as I was just testing how to set it up. Has a fee minor leaks that I will seal tomorrow and then ill add some and more rocks and a few other kinds of algae
 

Highlyagaming

Active Member
So yeah my plans to get the nyos quantum have been thwarted rofl. Mate of mine had a spare aqua medic acone 1.0 which is good for up to 500L which more than covers my tank unlike what I was currently running. Having the nyos would prob be better in the long run but I cannot complain its 200 pounds less in price and its silent which is what I was looking for.

Now that leave me with an extra 200 to spend on what ever else I need in the tank. I will get some money into some sand and a few different species of algae for the new refugium, and then the rest set aside for the Light upgrade to the dual reef led in the near future.
 

Highlyagaming

Active Member
Ok so im looking at removing tiny particulates from my water column and im going insane looking for a replacement sock holder that originally comes with this tank as its last owner threw it. Any one have any idea where I can get it as my LFS wont supply it and I cannot find one online.

On looking at photos online from stock RSM S400’s i wouldnt even know how to place it as it seems to go in the back corner where over flow pipes go down yet my pipes are really long and would not allow the sheet to fit. Anyone with the original plate able to show me how the hell it works?
 
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Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Ok so im looking at removing tiny particulates from my water column and im going insane looking for a replacement sock holder that originally comes with this tank as its last owner threw it. Any one have any idea where I can get it as my LFS wont supply it and I cannot find one online.

On looking at photos online from stock RSM S400’s i wouldnt even know how to place it as it seems to go in the back corner where over flow pipes go down yet my pipes are really long and would not allow the sheet to fit. Anyone with the original plate able to show me how the hell it works?
Normally there should be a separate chamber there. The water comes down the pipes and fills that chamber. It then overflows into the two socks and leaves that socks via a gap at the bottom of the sock chamber and then moves into the Skimmer chamber....Does that make sense? You do not put the socks on the bottom of the down pipes.
 
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Highlyagaming

Active Member
Then I think they removed some glass on this sump. The pipes lead down into a chamber but it has a gap on the bottom left into the skimmer chamber. The only option i see is making a sheet of perspex and putting it after the skimmer chamber before the water gets to the return pump.
 
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