DanKents RSM 130D

[dankent]

Well its come !

My RSM 130D has been set up in the living room and here goes with a thread for it

1st day
- First night i got the stand built and setup and aquarium on it and leveled.
- Filled with RO water without salt to test for leaks, also ran all pumps for a few hours.
2nd day
- Emptied tank, didnt like the location and the way it settled brought the level of tank off a degreeish .... and refilled the tank after fixing this.
- Added Salt and turned on circulation pumps.
- Test Salinity .... the little plastic thing that came with the unit was off reading 1.029 .... hmmm ... ran to the fish store and bought a refratometer, It read 1.025, never been a big fan of the hydrometers.
3rd day
- Circ pumps turned off I added the substrate.
- Checked salinity
- Added dry reef rock #30's and #10's of Fiji Live rock (small peices throughout the tank)

Today I will be doing water tests and adding raw shrimp in a hijacked foot of one of my wifes pantihose. I will also take pics so you can see where its at.


Issues to this point are only that the charcoal bag keeps rising up and blocking the circulation pumps ... anyone else have this ?

 

[goma]

Welcome, have fun with your tank. I'm learning here too, but I can say that the people on this forum have been incredibly helpful. Good luck and enjoy!!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Dan - great start - always excited to see another RSM owner & a new tank thread that we all can follow along with and another RS members & RSM owner that can share with us his experience and knowledge !!!

Best of Luck & looking forward to see your pics ! :lurk: :chair:

Regarding the carbon... are you running the bio-media? If so, you can kind of wedge it on top & press it down a bit into the sides... as it settles in after a few days it will become a bit less buoyant too.

 

[Reefmack]

Dan - thanks for starting a tank thread for us to follow along! Off to a great start - best wishes for success!

 

[Dweezil]

dankent ~ Congratulations on the new tank! If your anything like the rest of us you will be spending alot of time here on the forums and getting to know all of us. We are like a family here. On the question of the carbon floating up..Did you make sure to rinse it really well before adding to the tank? I did not use the bio-balls when starting off so my carbon sat lower in the bottom. Once it gets wet and heavy and all of the air is released it should not float up.

 

[redsea reefer]

Good luck with your tank Dan!

 

[tnwillia]

Dan have fun with it.

Take lots of pictures as you go from day one, a year from now you will be happy to be able to look back and see how far you've come!!

 

[Spikewire]

Welcome Dan! Great to have ya here and it sounds like you're off to a great start. Take it slow and enjoy

 

[dankent]

Well here a a few pics After setup and starting the cycle.

 

[Reefmack]

Nice start up & lots of room for circulation on all sides of the rock - good job!

 

[dankent]

Oh only five at a time ... ok the other side of the tank and a couple close ups of some live rock pieces, little blurry on the rock ... still working on getting camera to take nice pics of the tank .... hard to focus.:

 

[mbdave]

Looks good but one recommended change, go to the garage get a ball peen hammer and smash the hydrometer and buy a refractometer... Those things tell more lies than a politition.

 

[dankent]

Yea I only have it in there ... well had, i removed it last night. I have a refractometer works slick as well. I also have a Pinpoint Ph monitor and a new digital thermometer so no longer need the plastic doohickey that came in the kit.

 

[Reefmack]

Looks like a little feather duster in there.

 

[dankent]

Lol. Also added the shrimp yesturaday .... Opened the lid this morning and got to experience that not so fresh feeling .... phew .... oh well off to work i go, wife has the day off and will be wondering what that smell is ... heh. Cant wait for that phone call .... hehe

 

[dankent]

Yea that is ... infact their are a bunch of them ... very tiny but i think i counted about 15 in total last night.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Looks great ! Nice aquascape with lots of places you can mount some coral !

 

[redsea reefer]

Dan - Rockwork looks great, your on your way!

 

[Reefmack]

Looking good!

 

[dankent]

Small update

Not getting a big spike on any of the ammonia, nitrite or nitrate, I decided to add another shrimp into the tank as the first one has pretty much disappeared from the stockings, this will mark the 4th day for the shrimp in the tank, will see when i get home from work when i do all my water tests.
temp 76
sal 1.025
ph 7.8
am 0.25
nitrite 0.1
nitrate H 25 L 5 * not sure what the high and low is about

Anyway ... will see tonight when i get home if the new shrimp helps


have a good day and merry christmas all