Aaron & Anna's RSM 130 Adventure
- Thread starter Monkeyboy
- Start date
Nowellsy SNR
Active Member
Re: Aaron's RSM 130
Hi and welcome
Tanks of to a great start
Hi and welcome
Tanks of to a great start
Re: Aaron's RSM 130
I'd wait and see what develops concerning brown diatom and green algae phases. That will help determine what type of snails. etc. you need. If you don't get much algae you don't want to get a huge CUC right away, or many will starve.
How's the cycling going? Did you use dry rock, uncured or cured live rock? Any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate showing up?
I'd wait and see what develops concerning brown diatom and green algae phases. That will help determine what type of snails. etc. you need. If you don't get much algae you don't want to get a huge CUC right away, or many will starve.
How's the cycling going? Did you use dry rock, uncured or cured live rock? Any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate showing up?
Monkeyboy
Member
Re: Aaron's RSM 130
Hi i have a about 3-4kg (7-8lb) of Ocean rock and 7.5kg (16.5lb) live rock as it stands (cured) as well as a little live sand. I only put it in yesterday so i'm going to test tonight when i get home from work. I will post results. Thanks for the reply concerning the C-U-C.
When should i start running the skimmer and lights?
Aaron
Hi i have a about 3-4kg (7-8lb) of Ocean rock and 7.5kg (16.5lb) live rock as it stands (cured) as well as a little live sand. I only put it in yesterday so i'm going to test tonight when i get home from work. I will post results. Thanks for the reply concerning the C-U-C.
When should i start running the skimmer and lights?
Aaron
Re: Aaron's RSM 130
Aaron - you're welcome! The skimmer may not produce anything with so little organics in the tank to provide a stable foam, but since they take a while to break in you could run it now. If you've added any bacterial additives leave it off for a couple days after that. As with everything else in this hobby you'll get differing opinions on skimming during cycling. Some say do, some say don't.
Here's an interesting article on some things you might have questions about. There's a small piece on hermit crabs too:
Reefkeeping 101 - Bogus Information - by Tom Murphy (aka WaterKeeper) - Reefkeeping.com
You'll most likely get a bout of brown diatom algae showing up first - on the substrate & rocks. It may look ugly but it's a phase almost all of go through with a new tank. It thrives on silicates and light, but has to run it's course. You can limit it a bit by running the lights at about 6 hours for a while.
Aaron - you're welcome! The skimmer may not produce anything with so little organics in the tank to provide a stable foam, but since they take a while to break in you could run it now. If you've added any bacterial additives leave it off for a couple days after that. As with everything else in this hobby you'll get differing opinions on skimming during cycling. Some say do, some say don't.
Here's an interesting article on some things you might have questions about. There's a small piece on hermit crabs too:
Reefkeeping 101 - Bogus Information - by Tom Murphy (aka WaterKeeper) - Reefkeeping.com
You'll most likely get a bout of brown diatom algae showing up first - on the substrate & rocks. It may look ugly but it's a phase almost all of go through with a new tank. It thrives on silicates and light, but has to run it's course. You can limit it a bit by running the lights at about 6 hours for a while.
Re: Aaron's RSM 130
Aaron - Your off to a nice start !
Aaron - Your off to a nice start !
redsea reefer
Well-Known Member
Re: Aaron's RSM 130
Welcome to RS and good luck with your tank!
Welcome to RS and good luck with your tank!
Re: Aaron's RSM 130
not to worry about - while cycling or really anytime... imo - the oceans vary that much through out the day - every day
Cheers !
not to worry about - while cycling or really anytime... imo - the oceans vary that much through out the day - every day
Cheers !
Re: Aaron's RSM 130
+1 on Glenn's info.
Are you using Red Sea tests? They're not very accurate, and have led many to believe their cycle would never end, due to inaccurate ammonia readings that never get to zero. API and Salifert are better tests, as well as some other brands. Just a heads up if you never see that ammonia or nitrite reading get to zero.
+1 on Glenn's info.
Are you using Red Sea tests? They're not very accurate, and have led many to believe their cycle would never end, due to inaccurate ammonia readings that never get to zero. API and Salifert are better tests, as well as some other brands. Just a heads up if you never see that ammonia or nitrite reading get to zero.
JimmyJ
Active Member
Re: Aaron's RSM 130
+1 on the API test, very nice
I am still bit of a newbie myself, I have had a swt before in the past but this is my first reef tank and about 5 weeks into it and can tell you that I removed my ceramic media beads based on what a lot of others did and advised. Since your live rock will be act as your bacterial filter there would be no need for the media beads since you will end up having to rinse them every so often to keep the level of nitrates down. I built a DIY media rack (link in sig) to get the carbon (or whatever type of media you plan to use) off the bottom of the return pump chamber to help with the flow.
+1 on the API test, very nice
I am still bit of a newbie myself, I have had a swt before in the past but this is my first reef tank and about 5 weeks into it and can tell you that I removed my ceramic media beads based on what a lot of others did and advised. Since your live rock will be act as your bacterial filter there would be no need for the media beads since you will end up having to rinse them every so often to keep the level of nitrates down. I built a DIY media rack (link in sig) to get the carbon (or whatever type of media you plan to use) off the bottom of the return pump chamber to help with the flow.