Creating a home for nemo

abugslife

abugslife

New Member
My 11year old son and I have purchased a red sea max 250. We are building a reef for "nemo". The tank has been running for about a month and we have been pouring through the manuals trying to get our heads around RO, protein skimmmers, salinity etc. Here is a snapshot of our clownfish.

Wish us luck!
 

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lcstorc

lcstorc

Well-Known Member
Welcome to RS!
I hope your fishy stays happy. Keep researching like you have been and don't make the mistake of adding a Dori (not a big enough tank) or an anemone (until your tank is prepared for it). There are a lot of pretty corals you will be able to support with that tank if you decide to.
A properly maintained tank can be a great learning experience.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
welcomefish.gif

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members
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We love our Nemos

Be sure to come visit the RSM Owners Club here on RS

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/red-sea-max-owners-club/
 
abugslife

abugslife

New Member
Thanks so much everyone for the warm welcome and tips! I especially appreciated the note about not getting an anemone as I was thinking of buying one but my 10 year old said we weren't ready. I guess he was right.

Well I'm faced with my first challenge. The skimmer isn't working. I have tried soaking it over night in hot water with vinegar but it still just splutters. I will try and contact Red Sea as it should still be under warranty.
 
X

xspeedrj

Member
abugslife said:
Thanks so much everyone for the warm welcome and tips! I especially appreciated the note about not getting an anemone as I was thinking of buying one but my 10 year old said we weren't ready. I guess he was right.

Well I'm faced with my first challenge. The skimmer isn't working. I have tried soaking it over night in hot water with vinegar but it still just splutters. I will try and contact Red Sea as it should still be under warranty.
Click to expand...

Skimmers take quite a while to break-in. Days sometimes. Just make sure you are not over skimming to compensate just to produce something.
 
abugslife

abugslife

New Member
I bought some snails as my "algae" eating crew. Hopefully, in a month, the tank will be a lot cleaner.

-------------
ps

Hi Eric,
I loved the link "quarantining fish procedure". It was a great read.
 
abugslife

abugslife

New Member
A lot of failure in our tank but Nemo is still alive. The coral is all dead though.

After a number of emails to Pinky at RedSeaMax I was able to get the protein skimmer and main filter replaced. By this stage the tank was full of stringy algae and the water was starting to smell so I decided to replace all of it. I took out all the "living rock" and gently scrubbed them in a salt water solution. I don't know if this was a good idea but it does seem to have helped. I was able to buy sea water from our local aquarium so it should speed up the establishing process.

The fans have also stopped working so I installed a 1/6 HP chiller. Although highly recommended it is very noisy which is a bit of a bummer.

To celebrate all this hard work I bought a cleaner shrimp which was a hit with my son aka "Fish Man".
 
Eric

Eric

Google Warrior
PREMIUM
I would slow down and let the tank cycle seems like an awful lot of change for a short time.
 
GrendelPrime

GrendelPrime

Well-Known Member
yeah by doing everything u did ur gonna have another cycle and if u dont moniter ur water carefuly ur cleaner shrimp is gonna be added to the death toll
 
teacampuzano

teacampuzano

Member
Try cutting down the amount of lighting (around 6-8hrs is optimum) this will help with the algae problems. Also, snails are far more sensitive than red/blue-legged hermit crabs, so I would use them because they don't produce as much waste and at least over here they're a lot cheaper. Many fish stores will do a water test for you if you give them a small water sample. They'll be able to see if you're still in a mini- cycle and if your Nemo is safe. Did you ever do a water change after your tank crashed?

Well, I wish you the best of luck to you and your son :) keep us posted!
 
abugslife

abugslife

New Member
Here is what the current tank looks like.

I have bought a number of 5 gallon tanks which I'm stocking with both sea water and ROS. I getting into a good rhythm of changing 10% each week.

I confess I'm still trying to understand the optimal operation of the protein skimmer. Its foaming nicely into the cup. I presume I keep fiddling with the air intake and water level, as the water evaporates, to try and maintain this behavior?
 

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