New RSM 130 owner in need of a little help

[simmo888]

Hi i have recently brought a RSM 130 from a friend. I have set up with RO salt water from the local shop and have added live sand and some live rock.

I have been monitoring the tank:

temp 25-26
salinity 0.0123-5
pH 8.2
Nitrate 0
(need to buy an amonia and calcium test kit)
However the alkalinity is very high - 22KH


I had hoped to avoid too many water problems by buying it from the shop...

Is this high alkalinity due to it being a new tank or is it something i need to activily change.

Many thanks

Rob

 

[dankent]

Hello,

Your salinity numbers do not appear correct, what are you testing this with ? You should have somewhere between 1.022 - 1.025.

How long has the tank been running ... first test kits you should have is ammonia and nitrite then nitrate.

Once you put a source of ammonia in the tank .... ie live fish cycle or preferably a raw shrimp your ammonia should go up in a few days - week, once it starts to come down your nitrites should rise ... depending on the live rock you got and live sand ... this may happen very quickly and be hard to notice ... however once that cycle has completed your should have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites .... then your nitrates will climb. After this has happened ... about 2 weeks .... and your numbers stay the same for a few days with am 0 nitrite 0 and nitrates 0-20 you can do your first water change, 20% seems a good number if your doing weekly water changes.

Now you can add a cleanup crew ... and try and feed the tank with flake so your CUC doesnt die off. Maintain the water checks throughout the next week and if all is good during that week .... add your first fish .... something hardy and healthy..... Resist the tempation to buy 14inches worth of fish and a few hundred dollars worth of coral ... take your time


Anyway ... probably went way into that more then i needed too .... Get the test kits you need .... calcium you dont need to start testing until your done your cycle, its a pain in the arse test ... hehe so dont bother till you need to ... just PH, Salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and of course temp.

 

[simmo888]

Thanks for the reply, i meant 1.023 sorry. i iwll get hold of those test asap. do i need to go down the raw shrimp route or will the cycle begin on its own? i have noticed some small dead 'animals' from the live rock?

Thanks again

Rob

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

Rob

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

+1 Dan post !!!

don't worry about calc now, just let the tank cycle the shrimp can't hurt, some use them & some don't, depending on the die off on the Live Rock, I happen to favor them... adds to the die off and helps start a nice cycle imo

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

oh... and start a tank thread & post us some pics so we can all follow along !

 

[simmo888]

Thank you for your quick and useful replies. This may be a silly question but could the raw shrimp/prawn be brought from a supermarket or does it need to be from the aquarium shop? Also, what is the optimum time to leave it in the tank.

Thanks
Rob

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

No silly questions - ask away - no flames here - only nice members !

You are correct - Krogers... Deli I would say a week...

when I tried to buy one shrimp... the deli worker could not weight it, so he just gave it to me

 

[Shamus]

+1 on what Glenn said - No silly questions and the deli shrimp. One thing that will help to get the shrimp out when done is to put it in something like pantyhose (I put mine in cheesecloth, although the frayed ends made for a bit of cleanup). This will help contain the pieces of shrimp as it decomposes.

 

[Reefmack]

Best wishes with the 130! I didn't know alkalinity could get that high under normal tank conditions, and I would suspect your alk test to be in error. What alk test are you using? Any idea on what the pH is?

 

[simmo888]

used saliert, which came with the tank from the previous owner. i couldnt understand how anything could have gone too wrong already so it may be me making an error (even though i did it 3 time) or the testing kit.

pH is normal at 8.2



Thanks for the tip Shamas.

 

[Reefmack]

Could be that the Salifert reagents have expired if the test kit is old. pH looks fine.

 

[steveh]

If you purchased a Max 130D then you should have a dvd with it. We strongly advise that you follow the advice in this and in the manual. If you have the original M130 then you still have the manual, which covers in some depth the way to set and mature the aquarium. The guide really should be followed as it gives good, sound advice. Good luck and thanks for choosing a Max.

 

[redsea reefer]

Welcome to RS Rob! Good luck with your tank...