Aearin's New RSM C-130 Tank

Aearin

Aearin

Member
Hi guys

I've owned a biOrb life 60L for just over 2 years now and have been using it as a marine tank. I've made mistakes, learnt a few things and been inspired to take it further and decided to purchase a brand new C-130!

I've been looking on various forums and websites and come across this tank and decided it was perfect for me. Everything i needed built in, obviously with the Orb i've only been limited to a powerhead for circulation and live rock as my filter, it's been a mission keeping it presentable and stable and never had the luxury of a skimmer etc so it's exciting stuff.

After debating for ages i decided to take the plunge and give my credit card a kick in and get one ordered. I opted to buy from my LFS as they've given me great support and advice over the last couple of years and i've been talking to them about making an upgrade for a while.

I'll start off with a few pics I've taken of the old Orb:

Starting Out





Cheeky Crab (Avatar)


New Tank to follow...
 
Aearin

Aearin

Member
I ordered the RSM C-130 Wednesday last week and was expecting a long wait. Impatiently Monday i rang my LFS for a rough idea when it would and was told it would probably be friday! Later on that afternoon i got a phone call saying it had just arrived it! I was out the door in seconds...

After spending another fortune, i come back with the tank, 100L of premixed salt RO, 2 bags of Red Sea Reef Pink Live Sand, a new test kit and digital thermometer.




Finally built the tank after about 4hrs! Instructions really sucked and my incompetence didn't help.

I added 20L of the premixed water and then added the live sand (never used live sand before because i think it's all a con, but it was only £3 more so i thought whats the harm).





After adding another 70L my tank was at optimum level and i was faced with this image for the next 3 or 4 days...

 
Aearin

Aearin

Member
Okay so day 4 i go and pick up some new LR for the tank to get the cycle started. I originally was going to use the rock from my Orb and scrub the hell out of it but i've seen a few conflicting views, i decided to start the cycle with new rock and just use 1 or 2 of my favourite pieces from my Orb.

Scrubbing the old piece of LR


I placed all the new LR and the old piece in the tank and kicked up another sandstorm so left it overnight to arrange it etc.

Day 5 (Evening) All the rock was arranged and i wiped all the glass of sand dust and left it tip the morning before taking any photos etc.

Day 6 (Today) This morning the water was pretty much crystal clear, theres still a bit of sand dust floating around etc but it will go away in time.

My scape so far. I love rocks with caves and crannies etc so i've made as much as i can for swim throughs etc for the fish.





I left a couple of inches at the back for maintenance and water flow etc (i'm not sure if this is a good idea or do you guys think it's best to push it back a bit to have more of a sand bed at the front?)



I've been testing the water etc to try out the new test kit, but not expecting a cycle to happen anytime soon. I opted for using just live rock to start the cycle and see how it goes and decide whether to try and kick start it later.

So basically this is where i am now. I've got some more live rock to add i think and i would love some opinions on the current layout of the rock and suggestions etc. I want to get a bit of rock to go between the two rocks on the right end. I love the end rock but one side of it is pretty bare and plain and think it needs something to go on top.

opinions/recommendations please guys!
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Cheers for starting a tank thread and welcome to the RSM Club on RS ! :clink:

Great start and pics - look forward to watching it progress ! :) Nice looking LR & scape, I think your are right, in that you might want to try for a bit more height, especially on the right side - while the tank cycles working on scape is the thing to do :dance:

No one "right" way... but I choose to have my rock back to where a fish could just swim behind in the back (not room to clean) and a more open sandbed in the front where lots of corals like to live.
 
Joeys Tank

Joeys Tank

Well-Known Member
Welcome aboard to Reef Sanctuary!! A home of friendly people with helpful advice.

Rock scaping, planning, and research is the way to go for the next month or so.

Glenn is spot on with his inputs on rock. A little more on the right side. I would also determine how low the water level would go for a typical water change and keep track of that level somehow so you know how high you can go with it.
 
Aearin

Aearin

Member
Thanks guys

I was keen to get the rocks up and couldn't resist spending more money. Heres the current layout which i think i'm happy with. Not sure about the positioning of the small one in the middle though...


New Rock with random polyps on
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Well done ! I like the added rock, some corals like to be nearer the lights, lots good places to mount corals and the open sandbed you will like !
 
NickF

NickF

Well-Known Member
Hi Aearin,

Congrats on the new tank. I've also got C130, I've had it running for about 7 months now & absolutely love it. Coincidentally, I had a biorb before this but it was only a tropical tank. It was a real pita to maintain with it only having the small opening at the top and although I did consider converting it to a marine tank I just don't think they are very well designed so I got the 130.

I think your scape looks great. I've also left a gap at the back so there is flow & I can keep the back wall clean but it's just personal choice, I've seen some great tanks on here with the rock stacked against the back as well. I use this to scrape the back wall & it works great:

http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/tetra-aquarium-glass-cleaner-p-1180.html

& I've got a flipper cleaner for the glass.

I think your looking good so far, now you just have to wait for your tank to cycle before the real fun can begin !
 
Aearin

Aearin

Member
NickF said:
Hi Aearin,

Congrats on the new tank. I've also got C130, I've had it running for about 7 months now & absolutely love it. Coincidentally, I had a biorb before this but it was only a tropical tank. It was a real pita to maintain with it only having the small opening at the top and although I did consider converting it to a marine tank I just don't think they are very well designed so I got the 130.

I think your scape looks great. I've also left a gap at the back so there is flow & I can keep the back wall clean but it's just personal choice, I've seen some great tanks on here with the rock stacked against the back as well. I use this to scrape the back wall & it works great:

http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk/tetra-aquarium-glass-cleaner-p-1180.html

& I've got a flipper cleaner for the glass.

I think your looking good so far, now you just have to wait for your tank to cycle before the real fun can begin !
Click to expand...

Hi Nick

I've literally just ordered one of them after clicking the link! I was thinking, yeah nice one left a gap behind the rocks but how the hell am i gonna clean it. Thanks for that!

Yeah biOrbs are a massive nightmare, i only opted for it because of limited space and i like modern looking stuff, not ideal as a marine tank but i only had a couple of fish in i prefer all the inverts like shrimps etc.

Cycling is a ball ache but i'm not getting new tank syndrome on this one, forked out like £250 for Rocks/Sand/Water alone so i'm determined this is going to goto plan.

Rock watching is always fun anyway :rolleyes:
 
Aearin

Aearin

Member
Look like it's kicking off, looks like a 0.2 reading on both ammonia and nitrites.

I think anyway. These kits are impossible to read!
 
Aearin

Aearin

Member
Hi guys, wondering if you can help me. I just done a water test and come up with the following results:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: Coming up a shade of pink between 5 and 10, more towards the darker end 10.
PH: Between 8.0/8.2

The last couple of days i've been getting small ammonia/nitrite readings but they've shot back down to 0. Has my tank had a mini cycle?

I started it off a week ago with the two bags of live sand and a ton of live rock. A couple of bits was from my current system where it's been there for two years and the guy in my LFS where i got my new rock told me that the rock i bought had been cured for ages.

Since yesterday i've noticed patches of diatoms on the sand and bits over the glass, none on the rocks and nothing too exciting on that front.

Advice would be amazing right now!

Thanks in advance guys

Edit: I'm using the Red Sea Marine Care Test Kit if that helps
 
Roy Page

Roy Page

Active Member
Hi Aearin,

We will be following along and echo Glenn's comments.
Good idea to get a strong cycle going, that will show you better where the cycle is at.

And I agree, the color matching tests are not easy to use, but use them often and you be better at matching the indicated value.

Roy

 
Aearin

Aearin

Member
I'm a vegetarian :smack: dreading the prawn idea!

How bad do they actually smell it the tank? I think it will send me over the edge

Thanks Roy/Glenn, I'll pick some up tomorrow and get it going.
 
Roy Page

Roy Page

Active Member
Aearin said:
I'm a vegetarian :smack: dreading the prawn idea!

How bad do they actually smell it the tank? I think it will send me over the edge
Click to expand...
In that case grab an RS Reef Mature Kit and do their 21 day cycle.
I found that much easier, because you have a defined set of tasks to complete everyday through to Day 21.
 
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