Monique's RSM 130d

[spiraling]

Hello!

I found these RSM owners threads while I was dreaming about getting a RSM 650. Maybe one day, especially when they are avaialable with LED's. But for now I have the 130.
I got it on CL a year ago for a steal. I keep freshwater fish and I thought the RSM would be a good breeding tank. But then I started to think about saltwater since I suddenly had a complete system, and the bug bit me!
So I set it up as a marine tank last October. Here is a photo of the original rock work. It was part dry rock I got off ebay, live rock from someone else on CL, and some live rock from my LFS.

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The rock was just stacked. But it kept falling over. And it always fell over onto any corals I had in the tank.

We tried all sorts of ways to attach the rock. The superglue/epoxy combo didn't work. The rock fell apart immediately after the set time was up. I also didn't like leaving the live pieces out of the water for so long. We tried drilling it so we could insert acrylic rods. Using a quality drill and a masonry bit we gave up after 10 minutes and had a hole that as maybe a half an inch deep. I'm not sure what other people use for this system, but I didn't have the patience. Finally I used quikrete which worked pretty well. Now after about 6 months some of the pieces are coming apart, so I'll have to re-attach them.

I've had my share of ups and downs with the tank. The cool hitchikers I got were mushrooms (green and purple), little brittle stars, tiny feather dusters. The bad ones were aiptasia (of course) and caulerpa bryopsis. I also got things like bristle worms, which I find annoying, but are a good indicator that I'm overfeeding. Joes juice and a few peppermint shrimp got rid of the aiptasia, or at least keeps it in check. One year later and I'm still battling the caulerpa. I was also given a dying sun coral with the live rock that I have been trying to nurse back to health.

I let my tank cycle for several months. We loved seeing the little life forms that would appear on the rocks. Then I put in my CUC and started getting corals. I battled algae of many types, including a recent and long lived cyano outbreak.

I wanted to start a thread about my tank because, unlike most of you, my tank still looks like crap after a year. When I started dreaming of a 650 to have a beautiful large tank, I had an extreme reality check that I need to help out my current tank. I'll try to get some current pictures today so you understand what I'm talking about.

 

[neildradford]

Welcome Monique. That's a really nice, well written first post. I'm useless with setting up the rockwork, I keep moving it around but can never be satisfied. None of it is fixed together, not sure I'd do it right anyway.
I'd also love to have an S650, maybe in my future somewhere. The C-250 for me is a good learning curve.

Would love to see more of your tank, I'll be following your thread to see how it progresses.

Take care.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary and the RSM Club, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

 

Cheers for starting a new tank thread & sharing your tank with us so we can follow along - we love pics

You tank will get there, the great members of RS can help

My rock is just stacked (Marco Rock) it fit pretty well intertwining

they do make this... http://www.marcorocks.com/aquascape-supplies/e-marco-400/

if that helps any...

 

[spiraling]

So here is a full tank shot. I spent a little time getting some of the algae cleaned up. I also upped my CUC last week. Its a bad shot I know. I'll try at night when I can control my lights better.

Inhabitatants:
2 percula
watchman gobi and pistol buddy
tuxedo urchin - currently carrying zoa frag
peppermint shrimp

acans
sun coral
zoa
mushrooms
gsp

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The shelf at the top has my two sun corals. I have been nursing one back to health for the past year. Its tripled in heads, so its doing pretty well considering it was almost dead when I got it. The little orange one really has never extended its polys after 6 months. Its alive, but not thriving. I was trying to put them in a tupperware to feed, but I don't think they liked the movement. So now I turn the pumps off and give each head a bit of food. Since they are on the shelf the hermits can't rob them. I started this last week and both have noticeably improved.

My sucesses are my zoa and gsp. They've grown like crazy in the past year. I fragged them both and put the pieces in my frag tank.

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I had two acans. I wan't paying attention and it ended up that a mushroom was covering one of them when it expanded. I didn't see it because it was retracted in the evening. It pretty much killed the acan, but there are two pea sized spots that are still there and look healthy. My other one changed color. It was a tangerine orange, but for about 6 months it has been a translucent pink. Its very pretty and healthy, I'm just not sure why the color change. Maybe the half hour of direct sun in the morning? There's my little YWG in the background. He set up shop right in front and his pistol buddy joined him there. I love to watch them.



Along with hair algae and red cyano, the real bane of the tank is Caulerpa Brachypus. I have pulled out rocks and removed it twice. I can't seem to keep it in check. Help.




Now that the weather is colder I tend to mess with my tanks more. I've been trying to keep up on the dosing and water changes. This tank is always really low on calcium. I think its the sun corals. I use the seachem fusion and that seems to work pretty well if I dose regularly. I'm not really ready to go for a dosing system. More water changes are helping with the cyano. (yea!)

Anyway - I'll try for better pictures later. Ha - and I just noticed my thermometer is stuck in the rocks again (green in the middle). The stupid little suction cup just doesn't stick to the glass and it blows around. I think it would be better to just take it out and pop it in when I want to check temps.

 

[yorkieUK]

Just a thought, but the direct sunlight on your tank can be encouraging the algae.:shades:
Zoa is looking really healthy.

 

[spiraling]

Not much I can do about the sun. I'm also not against having natural light in a tank. I do run the lights less. I currently have them on about 7 hours a day. The hair algae doesn't necessarily grow where it is sunny. The red cyano was everywhere. I used chemi-pure then I've been doing frequent water changes (2x week) to try to keep it at bay.

The zoa really exploded. It ends up there was one poly that always looked 'off'. Its at the top of the picture. Now that original one is about 10 and I think they are a gorrila nipple or similar, so its like finding a free coral

 

[spiraling]

What I don't like

So I guess if I want to improve my tank I need to figure out all the things I don't like and get rid of them, or things I want to improve on to help it out.
This list is in not particular order. I categorized them for myself. Some of these things are easier that others. Some are way more $$ than others

1 - CORAL - its a reef tank and there is very little coral. I want it filled with coral.
2 - LIGHTS - The RSM lights are OK if you like the white look. I like it when corals "pop" under blue LED. I have a strip of blue led's I got off ebay that helped. but now they are really dim, so I'm wondering if they are safe in that wet environment
3 - SKIMMER -the skimmer is really noisy and not very good compared to a HOB reef octopus I have on the 40 gallon frag tank. I'm guessing a better skimmer will also help with macro algae (caulerpa). Thoughts on the tunze?
4 - NOISE - the lighting fans are really noisy too
5 - MAINTENANCE - I can't keep up with the evaporation in summer. an ATO would be nice
6 - AESTHETICS - I have coraline on the pump out takes and on the intake. The out takes are easy to remove and soak. I haven't figure out how to get the intake panel off - any one know how?
7 - ALGAE - that darn Caulerpa Brachypus. I picked out a bunch last night, but its still all over the place.
8 - PESTS - an abundance of bristle worms makes it kinda creepy when I feed. I know I'm overfeeding - I meant to for the sun corals and gobi, but I think I have their feeding regime down now so I don't need to use nearly as much food to make everyone happy.
9 - PHOTOS - better pictures to show off my tank. I have a good camera, I need ot learn to take tank and inhabitant shots.

whew! that's quite a list. I better get going! :bugout:

 

[spiraling]

adding corals

So the easiest thing to do is to add more corals. The funny part is that I have a bunch of corals I bought for THIS tank. So what happened? Well, when you have to order them online you tend to get more to compensate for shipping. I also purchased little guys because of the price, and I'm letting them grow out. So after I got my first couple of corals I became totally addicted to them. Yeah, I know if you are reading this you are nodding your head right now. So I set up a 40 gal frag tank to grow out my corals.

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I have been able to propagate a few of them so far. Today I added 4 more zoas and some monti caps to my RSM. I feel better already. I know I can make this tank look good!

 

[spiraling]

New skimmer

I ordered a new protein skimmer today. I went with the turboflotor 500. Its supposedly silent, so that should help with the noise a lot.
I was considering taking off the lid and adding an ocean revive light. That's what I have on the frag tank. pretty cheap and pretty good. But I got veto'ed on that. I now need to look at adding LED in the hood. The builds I've seen so far have cost more than buying that light. Maybe I can figure out how to put it in the lid, but the size is tight. {sigh} More fiddling and experimenting (which I like, unless it involves the plumbing cause I suck at that and tend to get water everywhere)

I was reading some posts by Paul B today. God that old coot cracks me up! So funny. And so much common sense. And I'm not even gonna try to disagree with his methods. While I like high tech, I don't want to be a slave to monitoring, measuring, and dosing the system. I realized after a bit that he wrote several of the articles about rearing Mandarins that I have bookmarked for later. So hopefully some of his methodologies will work for me. I'm now looking into putting a brine shrimp hatchery in the frag tank for live food. Its warm and light there, so that should do it. I wish I had half his knowledge. But I guess its never too late to start learning and experimenting with what works for me and my tanks.

 

[spiraling]

I suck with superglue

I traded some mushrooms and gsp for some other corals at my LFS today. And moved some more over from my frag tank. I added an acan, duncan, trumpet, and a clove. I took out some more zoas and traded for a really nice gold acan that is in the frag tank. Its the first corals I have raised and 'let go'. I feel both like a proud parent and sad. The tank is starting to look sweet though.

I tried to superglue all the corals - including the zoas - into their new spots so the urchin can't rearrange every night. Using superglue underwater is HARD. I got it all over. I'm not even sure any of the corals are fixed securely. One of the hermit crabs has it all over his claws and is trying to get it off. I wore gloves. Maybe next time I'll have to get little latex gloves for all the hermits.

any suggestions on gluing things underwater?

 

[StephLove]

Take the corals out of the water, place the super glue (gel) where you want it on the bottom of the coral and then place the coral where you want in the tank. You may have to hold the coral in place for a few seconds to make sure the glue is sticking properly. If it isn't, take it out and apply more glue.

 

[spiraling]

Take the corals out of the water, place the super glue (gel) where you want it on the bottom of the coral and then place the coral where you want in the tank. You may have to hold the coral in place for a few seconds to make sure the glue is sticking properly. If it isn't, take it out and apply more glue.

That seems less messy for certain. But the glue wouldn't stick that way. Maybe I just didn't use enough. I'll try it that way next time!

 

[Oxylebius]

Add some make sure it is super glue GEL. Apply as stated above by Steph, but between each time you add to the bottom of the coral, dip it in the water to allow the glue to form a firm surface, add more glue then apply to rock. Once on rock move it a little to break the glue bubble, then hold in place for a few seconds.

 

[spiraling]

New Skimmer

I got the turboflotor this week. It took some zip ties to get it in place. I'll have to mess with it some more to make it stable.
Its already skimming. It is now much quieter. In the order of noise levels it was: the skimmer that was noisiest, then fans, then pumps. Now its the fans, then pumps, then skimmer. Hopefully I can figure out some LEDs to get rid of the fan noise.

All of the installation noises really upset the goby. He was swimming around pretty panicked for a couple of hours. He's settled back down now. I need to do a WC today, so hopefully he's ok with that.

 

[spiraling]

I had to go out of town rather unexpectedly for a couple of weeks. I gave quick instructions to my guy. He has been great at building and modifying hardware, but I've always been the one to mess with the tanks so this is a new adventure for him. I felt bad leaving him with a new skimmer, but he says the skim is dark and stinky like the other tank, so it sounds about right. I don't think he enjoys feeding the corals like I do, but I'm sure everything will be fine.

Since I'm in a big city this week I've hit a few of my favorite stores. Most had big coral sales a few weeks back for a show, so I'm not seeing the pieces I was hoping for. However one of the stores has the 650S on the showroom floor. Its really nice to see them in person. It's BIG. I will be very interested in it when they switch to LEDs. I also saw the new 'Reefer' design on the RSM site. If that came in a slightly larger size I would probably pick it up instead. I like being able to choose some components now that I know a little about what I'm doing.

I did find some live blackworms. I have a spec 2 gallon tank I use to grow out plants for freshwater. My plan is to throw them in there and let them multiply. The store also has live rotifers. I've been looking at cultivating them, but then you also need to cultivate phyto. I also can't attend to them every day, especially in summer, so I will probably have to pass on those. If anyone has experience with making rotifer cultivation easy please let me know.

Now for a shameless plug. I bought some corals from myreeftoyours.com a few months back. I thought they had good quality and good prices, although not a huge selection. JJ is having a big Black Friday sale http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/my-reef-yours/93348-get-ready-mrty-insane-black-friday-sale.html
I plan to buy some if i can get my hands on a few I want. There you go JJ - I'll be asking for my free coral now too!

 

[RsmJoe130]

You can change the bulbs on the Red Sea to different color bulbs. Royal Blues or actiinic Blues. This will change your look of your corals. Hamilton I believe has multiple of color option. I use 65 Watt lights bulbs on my 3 Red Sea max 130Ds and 130. I also modified my night lights to rapid actinic LEDs. This gives you a wonderful night lights. I used 4 which might be to bright maybe. I like it. You can use the power supply for the LEDs to run this and the timer works the same.

 

[spiraling]

You can change the bulbs on the Red Sea to different color bulbs. Royal Blues or actiinic Blues. This will change your look of your corals. Hamilton I believe has multiple of color option. I use 65 Watt lights bulbs on my 3 Red Sea max 130Ds and 130. I also modified my night lights to rapid actinic LEDs. This gives you a wonderful night lights. I used 4 which might be to bright maybe. I like it. You can use the power supply for the LEDs to run this and the timer works the same.

Thanks for the info Joe - I'll take a look at these!

 

[spiraling]

More Corals

So I grabbed a couple of corals from the LFS just because i could. One store had some fabulous scolys, lobos, and chalice, but they were certainly high dollar. Very pretty, but more than I'm willing to spend.

I did get some pretty pink zoas, a blue and red lobo, a blue and green leather coral, an orange leptastrea, a tron chalice, because I'm I addicted to chalice, and I treated myself to a blue tipped aussie elegance! They have to wait until tomorrow to get into my tank. I've done pretty well bringing back corals before, so hopefully they will all be happy tomorrow. I'll try for pictures when I can.

 

[spiraling]

So Ive had some problems with my tank. I lost the elegance. It looked great and then died and had some slime on it. I've seen the slime on snails and just thought it was the bristle worms. The duncan started looking bad on one head. In retrospect I think it has a bite.
Yesterday I went bristle worm hunting. They are actually pretty easy to pull out with tweezers. I the past two days I've nabbed over 30. There are more. But more importantly I noticed that some of the really big bristle worms were different. more yellow. faster. After many hours of internet searching I found they are oenone fulgida. Yuck. Bad and very troublesome. So I have a trap set tonight. I've seen at least 10 - 15 of these buggers now that I'm looking and can tell the difference. Very early on in the tank I saw a yellow worm in the sand and didn't think much of it. Now I know that was one. I have a huge infestation and don't really want to tear down the tank.

 

[Oxylebius]

Good luck to you. Sounds like you have a lot of them. I don't envy you.

I also had a oenone fulgida before. Tell tale sign are empty snail shells covered in mucus in the mornings/when lights kick on. Major predators that you don't want in your tank. How I ID mine was using a wooden skewer with some food on it to tempt it out of its hole. It easily followed the food and as long as I didn't make sudden movements, I was able to watch it eat the food off the skewer, and ID it.

Once I determined its hole, I got that rock out of the tank. I propped the rock over a ice chest with some salt water in it, half a week later the worm was in the water in the ice chest and out of the rock. It was about a foot long, skinny like a pencil.

I have also used worm traps... which do work as long as the hole into the worm trap is big enough for the size worm you are wanting to capture. Too small of a whole and you won't capture large worms.... but too large of a whole I also captured lots of tiny collinista snails and my nassarius wouldn't leave the trap alone.