Neeb's RSM 250

[neebs]

Happy New Year Everyone!

Got my RSM 250 this weekend, and spent the better part of the weekend putting it together. Basically stock plus Vortec MP40, reefkeeper lite with new heater.


Have put in saltwater and the sand (caribsea seaflor special grade reef sand) and waiting for the sand to settle before I put in the dry rock (running just the 1st pump on the left hoping that the polishing filter will help clear up the cloudiness). I did rinse with RODI but didn't do the best job.

The bad news is there is a crack (see picture below). The crack didn’t occur during shipping (at least it wasn’t visible when I set it up) and nothing bumped into it. It just appeared half way into my water change. What should I do? Does this crack affect the structural integrity of the tank?

Also does anyone here live in a condo or other small living space? Was wondering what system you had put into place for water preparation/water changes? Looking for a efficient system with a small footprint – my wife is getting irritated with all the room the preparation of the initial water took up.



Thanks

 

[PSBoston]

Hey Neebs, not sure about the crack does it go all the way through the plastic. I live in a city apartment and making water does take up more space than I intended. Right now I have a couple of buckets that I put in the bath tub and run the RODI off the bathroom sink. Just need to make sure they are gone before the GF wants to shower in the morning.

ON bulk reef supply's website they have some videos on how to hook them up under a sink, I am starting to figure out how to hook it up to the washer cold water line and will get one of their float value kits to make sure it doesn't over flow. Hopefully that way I can hang the RODI unit on the wall and get it out of the way permanently.

Just some thoughts.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

The bad news is there is a crack (see picture below). The crack didn’t occur during shipping (at least it wasn’t visible when I set it up) and nothing bumped into it. It just appeared half way into my water change. What should I do? Does this crack affect the structural integrity of the tank?

Bummer on the crack ! PM Avaid (RedSea Aviad) USA Red Sea Rep

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/private.php?do=newpm&u=35424

and call Amanda

U.S.A. Office: Red Sea 18125 Ammi Trail Houston, Texas 77060

Tel: (281) 447-0205 Fax: (281) 447-1153

Toll Free: 1-888-RedSea9


Great to see you start a tank thread ! Don't worry about the cloudiness it will clear !

 

[tnwillia]

+1^, go straight to Red Sea with the Picture before you go any further in set up incase the send you a new tank. Good luck!

 

[oakleyx]

When I received my rsm 250 there was a crack in the glass. I sent pics to rsm and they sent me a new one.

 

[RedSea Aviad]

Hello,
I sent you a PM.
All the best and thank you Glenn,
Aviad

 

[neebs]

Thanks guys sounds like they are sending me a new tank. Great customer service


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Thanks neebs for the report back to the club, great to hear they are tanking care of you, Red Sea really does have Great Customer Service !!!

Cheers to Avaid & the Red Sea team !!!

 

[neebs]

More questions. So as you can see from the pictures below I have set up my tank and put rocks in it. I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on how much more rock I should buy. I was thinking about a few pounds for the left side and leaving the rest as is, what do you think? Also is the position of my grate and skimmer correct?



Also I have been cycling using Dr. Tim`s One and Only and the reagent grade ammonia that comes with it. Immediately prior to dosing Dr. Tim`s and the ammonia (Jan 4), my tank had a PH of 8.1, calcium of 440, salinity of 1.024, and temp of 28 (Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates all at 0).
January 7 Ammonia was up to .5 ppm, nitrites up to .25 and nitrates at 0 ppm. I thereafter dosed some ammonia.
January 8 ammonia is .5 ppm, Nitrites are 1.0 ppm and Nitrates are 5 -10 ppm
January 9, ammonia approx. 0 ppm, Nitrites are 2.0 ppm and Nitrates are 10 ppm.

When my nitrites drop to 0, am I essentially ready to add clean up crew after a water change?

So far I have not been turning the lights on in my tank, nor have I been running the skimmer. When should I do that?

Thanks!

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

On the skimmer... study the pics in this thread & adjust from there... it will be close - hard to see in the pics

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/red-sea-max-owners-club/66778-rsm-250-stock-skimmer-tips.html

I always ran my lights & let the algae run it course, other like lights out while cycling - which is fine, when you turn them on, the algae will take off ... the skimmer you can run it to break it in, a few hours a day, it's not going to do a lot with dry rock

On the ammonia, if you are using Dr. Tim's method, I guess I would follow his dosing recommendations...

What you want to see is...

the ammonia raise then drop, followed by the Nitrites raising and then dropping, then the Nitrates will soar - once the ammonia & nitrites are gone, then do water changes to reduce nitrates.

Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate

more than one way to do this... I always accomplished this by adding two raw deli (250) and just letting them rot & dissolve

On the dry rock, looks like you would use a bit more height (imo) some corals like to be closer to the lights

 

[mtk]

That seems a little fast to cycle. If I remember right you need to dose dr tims every day and once you see that there is no more ammonia the day after you add it then I think you are suppose to do a double dose and see how that work's. I started to do the dr tim's but was going on vacation so I think I put the entire bottle in with a deli shrimp and it cycled that way. I would just look up dr tims on here and see how others cycled their tank's.

 

[neebs]

My tank is now 6 months old, work has died down so I thought I would do an update. It has been months since I have made a post so it might as well be lengthy.

All in all I would say that my experience over the first 6 months have been good. I think the biggest mistakes I made were:
1. Not getting an ATO right from the start (bought the tunze)
2. Getting domino damsels – they are the first fish I got, they have attacked and resulted in the deaths of a number of fish…. And I still haven’t been able to get them out
3. I got rid of my lawnmower blenny as it was pretty aggressive, but I didn’t replace it with an algae eater so I’ve had a lot of algea since.
4. Falling asleep when I had the RODI filling up a bucket, which ended up flooding the kitchen and ruining some of my laminate floor – and making my wife frustrated with the hobby
5. I’ve had pretty good luck with my coral, my only regret was getting an elegance coral which seemed to die quickly due to ECS. I also lost a leather of all things when I went on vacation and my acan isn`t doing well as of late.

As far as corals go, I’m not dying to fill my tank up a ton more for the time being. I would like to see how the stuff I have grows out. But I do have a big space in the back right corner, I was thinking of an umbrella leather coral (hopeful it will host my clowns), any other suggestions?

My wife isn’t happy with the number of fish in my tank – she doesn’t think there are enough… I agree. I have been reluctant with fish as they seem to have been doing poorly to my aggressive damsels, lawnmower blenny (former) and now the 6 line wrasse (which attacked and resulted in the death of another wrasse and the chronic hiding of a purple firefish).

This is what I currently have: 2 clownfish, 1 purple fire fish, 2 domino damsels, 1 yellow watchman, 1 blood shrimp, a strawberry conch (my favourite) and a 6 line wrasse. I have been trying to get rid of the dominos and get my hands on a kole tang…. Any other suggestions for fish that would be compatable???

Full Tank Shot:

Latest addition:

Some hammer and torch:

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Looking great !

you can... right click on your pic, copy url & add it in this syntax

 

[whippetguy]

Nice looking tank, love the brain. Sounds like you're well stocked to me. I wouldn't add anything until you take out something else. Just my .02

 

[neebs]

Yeah. Gotta hunt down those damsels...

 

[goma]

Elegance corals are super tough to keep, they are beautiful but extremely difficult.

I would try the coke bottle fish trap to trap the damsels one by one! I've used it a number of times and it always works, take a look here:

Catching Your Fish - DIY Fish Trap

 

[goma]

I also had a six line wrasse that went rogue and starting picking on other fish. I used the fish trap to get him and replaced him with an exquisite wrasse (peaceful and beautiful)!

 

[neebs]

Thanks guys. 6 line has been taken out only the damsels to go. My goal is to have a really peaceful tank and eventually put a mandarin in. What I havent able to figure out it how to seed with a copepod population. What I want to do is create a pod hotel concept. Broadly I understand that there are a few ways people are doing this with their RSM 250s.


1. Get steves' in tank media rack which is about 100 bucks and put cheato in the top compartment. What I'm worried about this option is how will the cheato get enough light in the chamber. Also i think I remember reading about running a small light during the night as it helps with ph swings. I don't know how this would be done.

2. Pod hotel. I think there is a member here that sells them by creating holes in a glass bottle. I seem to like this option the most if I can fit it into one of my back chambers (Same issue re lighting) as I think it's the most affordable. I have removed all the black sponges from my system... Is anyone keeping one of these back there? As I would prefer not to try to hide the pod hotel behind my rock work.

3. Full blown refugium. I think too expensive for me at this point. Also I like that there is virtually no risk of a water overflow with my system right now.

4. Get an Ora mandarin. May still get one... But still think it will benefit from pods so will do one of the above.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[neebs]

Finally the damsels are gone ... After 6 long months of torture.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

many new to sw, don't realize how mean damsels can be & how they can torment all the peaceful fish