Well, I wanted to start a reef tank for years, so on a whim I bought a RSM 130 and set it up. I filled it today with two bags of Carib Sea agra alive substrate, salt water and turned on the pump and heater. I left the protein skimmer off. The SG was 1.024 on the Milwaukee meter and pH was 8.2. Other than that I just don't know. I literally know less after reading forums for a couple of weeks than I do now. The water is cloudy, but that was expected. The RSM has a black block sponge and a bag of carbon in it but thats it. In addition to that, I have a couple of red sea test kits, a Spectrapure max rodi manual flush coming, a water change device, another power head.....any thing you want to add, feel free. I'll take some pictures once things have calmed down. What tests should I do before I add live rock? 78F is okay? Have some little bubbles. what would you do next? Thanks in advance for any and all responses Mark
Marcus80's Red Sea Max C-130 experiment.
- Thread starter Marcus80
- Start date
Welcome to RS! You should put the live rock in now. The standard recommendation is 1 to 1 1/2 pounds per gallon of water. You should be testing for Ammonia, Nitrates and Nitrites once the rock goes in.
Here is your typical cycle. Don't worry about they days across the bottom as many factors can affect the timing (condition of live rock). The important thing to look for is the rise and fall to zero of ammonia and then the rise and fall to zero of Nitrites. Once that is done, the cycle is complete and you can do a large water change or a series of water changes to reduce Nitrates and add a CUC.
Here is your typical cycle. Don't worry about they days across the bottom as many factors can affect the timing (condition of live rock). The important thing to look for is the rise and fall to zero of ammonia and then the rise and fall to zero of Nitrites. Once that is done, the cycle is complete and you can do a large water change or a series of water changes to reduce Nitrates and add a CUC.
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Start a new tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along - we love pics
+1 ^
once your sw is at 1.026 add your LR & start the "cycle" - add your LR now & 78F is fine, or between that and 83F imo - stability is key
feel free to ask any questions, we all started at square 1 & RS members will only help, this is what makes RS special, it's flame free, no matter what you ask, there no dumb questions, we all had the same questions at one time
Well, I'm a couple of weeks in and my water is like this. 78 degrees, 1.024 and stable, 0 ammonia, nitrites and <2 nitrates, ph is 8.2 and dkh is 8. There are some bristle worms and fans and other things on the live rock and I seem to have diatoms and green algae is starting to go bonkers. I used treated tap water for the initial fill but have since purchased a spectrapure rodi unit. Any thoughts as to what to do next? Will the algae die off or should I use gfo reactor or what? I've been running the lights a fair amount, ~10 hours a day, and Im just wondering.......thanks for any input. mark
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
If you want to limit algae growth, reduce your lights to 8hrs a day for now. If you want to dilute the tap water with newly mixed rodi water, I suggest doing several large water changes after the tank has cycled. This will not only reduce nitrates that built up during the cycle but also getting rid of and diluting the tap water.
Listed on this page is a bunch of beginner guides, now is the time to sit back and read, read, read!
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/sort/beginner
Would like to see pics of your set-up
Listed on this page is a bunch of beginner guides, now is the time to sit back and read, read, read!
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/sort/beginner
Would like to see pics of your set-up
SantaMonicaHelp
RS Sponsor
Welcome Marcus! Looking forward to seeing pictures of your tank