Sy's RSM250 adventure
- Thread starter Sy101
- Start date
redsea reefer
Well-Known Member
+1 ^
RSM250PEARL
Member
+2 ^
Hi,
Its been been 9 months since the beguinning of my Max adventure and so far so good! (touch wood) I've added an MP10, chiller and uv sterilizer
I'm hoping someone can give me some advise on why a few of my SPS frags are losing there bright colours and turning brown. The polyps are out and look happy
I run my lights for 8 hours per day and have just replaced the bulbs this week, using Rodi water with red sea coral pro salt I do a 25% water change every 2 weeks
I have been using the Red Sea care program for base elements, No & Po control and energy A & B. I have not used the colours part. (May be I should)
Last weeks test results were- Red sea test kits
SG 1.025
Temp 26-27c
PH 8.4
Alk 2.9/ 8.1 Its always this low
Cal 440
Mg 1480
Nitrate 0.0
Pho 0.0
Any advise would be very welcome
Thanks
Its been been 9 months since the beguinning of my Max adventure and so far so good! (touch wood) I've added an MP10, chiller and uv sterilizer
I'm hoping someone can give me some advise on why a few of my SPS frags are losing there bright colours and turning brown. The polyps are out and look happy
I run my lights for 8 hours per day and have just replaced the bulbs this week, using Rodi water with red sea coral pro salt I do a 25% water change every 2 weeks
I have been using the Red Sea care program for base elements, No & Po control and energy A & B. I have not used the colours part. (May be I should)
Last weeks test results were- Red sea test kits
SG 1.025
Temp 26-27c
PH 8.4
Alk 2.9/ 8.1 Its always this low
Cal 440
Mg 1480
Nitrate 0.0
Pho 0.0
Any advise would be very welcome
Thanks
David Shaw
Well-Known Member
I have used the colours and had good results. Make sure you test for anything that you are going to add before putting into the tank though. I personally would switch to a weekly water change, and see if that helps.
I ditched the No & Po control as it sent my perameters off kilter and went back to what filter media worked for me which is a CPE and SeaGel combo.
I personally just use the Red Sea reef energy A and B and the colours A-D.
I ditched the No & Po control as it sent my perameters off kilter and went back to what filter media worked for me which is a CPE and SeaGel combo.
I personally just use the Red Sea reef energy A and B and the colours A-D.
Looking great !
David Shaw
Well-Known Member
My nitrates went through the roof using it, and the daily dosing got to be a pain. Soon as i reverted back everything came back into line.
Hi Sy, I saw on another post the you have added a couple of strips of LED to your RSM hood to add to the coloration and for sunrise, sunset lighting. Do you have this posted anywhere. I'd love to see how/what you did. I've been thinking about doing this. I've got the modification bug. Your tank looks great!
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
Hi John, thanks for you nice comments, I know that modification bug feeling I always seem to be planning something lol
I didn't think to write it up or take pictures when I fitted the LEDS. I was planning on taking the hood apart and fixing the LEDs from the inside and running the wires through the hood but in the end I decided to go quick and simple (lasyness got the best of me)
Here's a pic of where I fitted them.
I modded the useless TMC mounts by screwing through the mount into the led fixing hole (hole would be used if you where going screw down through the hood) then screwed the tmc mounts into the rsm hood using 1" self tapping screws. Then ran the wires around the outside of the main lights into the power centre then out to controller. It really was that simple!
I brought the TMC duel aquaray 600's with the simple 2 channel controller. Reef blue front marine white rear
Pros- sun rise from 1 min to 240 mins, sun set same in reverse
- you get what looks like 1 point of white light at the rear during main lighting while getting blue shimmer across the rest of the tank
- each strip apparently gives about the same power output as a 24w t5 although they look brighter
- very little heat off the strips
- even at 1% power the lights are to bright to leave on all night
Against
- because the LEDs are close to the water about 40mm if you look though the side of tank with only LEDs on you can see the 2 different light beams (it's not noticeable with main lights or from the front
- the 2 channel controller allows different power setting for each strip but you cant switch them separately
I hope this helps, let me know if you would like me to post some more pictures
I didn't think to write it up or take pictures when I fitted the LEDS. I was planning on taking the hood apart and fixing the LEDs from the inside and running the wires through the hood but in the end I decided to go quick and simple (lasyness got the best of me)
Here's a pic of where I fitted them.
I modded the useless TMC mounts by screwing through the mount into the led fixing hole (hole would be used if you where going screw down through the hood) then screwed the tmc mounts into the rsm hood using 1" self tapping screws. Then ran the wires around the outside of the main lights into the power centre then out to controller. It really was that simple!
I brought the TMC duel aquaray 600's with the simple 2 channel controller. Reef blue front marine white rear
Pros- sun rise from 1 min to 240 mins, sun set same in reverse
- you get what looks like 1 point of white light at the rear during main lighting while getting blue shimmer across the rest of the tank
- each strip apparently gives about the same power output as a 24w t5 although they look brighter
- very little heat off the strips
- even at 1% power the lights are to bright to leave on all night
Against
- because the LEDs are close to the water about 40mm if you look though the side of tank with only LEDs on you can see the 2 different light beams (it's not noticeable with main lights or from the front
- the 2 channel controller allows different power setting for each strip but you cant switch them separately
I hope this helps, let me know if you would like me to post some more pictures
Thanks, this looks very do-able. I probably won't get to it until after the new year, so I may have some questions then. I like the thought of enhancing my lighting without doing a complete overhaul.
Looks great ! Thanks for sharing
As of the 9th January my rsm250 had its 1st birthday I thought I'd share the ups and down to hopefully help anyone new to the hobby (way of life!!)
Firstly My set up-
It all started with a rsm250 black ordered for xmas 2010, I carried 17kg of live rock from my 1st reef tank and added 8kg from my LFS display. 21kg carbi live carribean sand.
At the time I remember thinking great cycle time will be minimal and it was only a couple of weeks. However now I wish I had been far more patient and brought dead rock because of the hitch hikers good and bad. I look into the tank at nights to see serval large crabs, bristle worms, the odd wierd thingy etc! Now its me against them ;-)
The Additives-
I decided to buy the foundation & algae control additives from red sea. I put a large amount of my success to the RCP, The tests are easy to use and give clear and constant results, additive instructions are simple and once I got my foundation elements in balance everything else has fallen into place.
For the longest time my sps corals were all dull and brown. I spent hours researching new lights, more additives and in the end it was simple maintain Alk at 4.5mq while keeping cal around 450 and mag at 1300. Once I figured out how to maintain these levels those small cheap brown frags siting around the tank started growing and colouring up quickly and nicely.
Red sea NoPOx has kept my nutrients low (to low at times) and stopped all but the slightest algae growth and its nothing the mag float cant cope with.
I decided to make the job of dosing these elements easier. I purchased a GHL dosing pump and I'm pleased to say it was worth every penny. NO more messing around measuring liquid, being lazy or out the dosing pump takes care of it.
Extra equipment-
Arcadia 250 chiller supplied by Tunze silent pump and water returned via TMC300 UV.
Good points- it all connects on 16mm pipe, chiller noise is ok (cant hear it over stock skimmer) sits nicely in cabinet. UV the only reason I think it was a good buy is when the bulb was 10 months old I started getting algae on the glass. I replaced the bulb and more importantly cleaned the sleeve and the glass cleared within a couple of days.
Lighting- After following a good thread on RS I replaced RSM bulbs at 9 months when brown algae started growing on substrate with ATI Aquablue x2 Blue plue x3 Purple plus x1. I love the crisp white light with a hint of blue. I added a TMC Reef blue aquaray 600 in front of the main T5's which gives a lovely blue shimmer
Extra flow taken care of by 2 vortech mp10's which keeps every inch of the water flowing nicely.
The live stock currently included 2 clowns and a yellow tang. I would love a flame angel but I just not sure its worth the risk with my corals
CUC includes some 30 snails consiting of turbos, astras, nass, fighting conch, ceirth and money crawlys (the moneies are my favourite always busy and they look so cool) about 10 red & blue legged hermits.
The story will continue another day
Firstly My set up-
It all started with a rsm250 black ordered for xmas 2010, I carried 17kg of live rock from my 1st reef tank and added 8kg from my LFS display. 21kg carbi live carribean sand.
At the time I remember thinking great cycle time will be minimal and it was only a couple of weeks. However now I wish I had been far more patient and brought dead rock because of the hitch hikers good and bad. I look into the tank at nights to see serval large crabs, bristle worms, the odd wierd thingy etc! Now its me against them ;-)
The Additives-
I decided to buy the foundation & algae control additives from red sea. I put a large amount of my success to the RCP, The tests are easy to use and give clear and constant results, additive instructions are simple and once I got my foundation elements in balance everything else has fallen into place.
For the longest time my sps corals were all dull and brown. I spent hours researching new lights, more additives and in the end it was simple maintain Alk at 4.5mq while keeping cal around 450 and mag at 1300. Once I figured out how to maintain these levels those small cheap brown frags siting around the tank started growing and colouring up quickly and nicely.
Red sea NoPOx has kept my nutrients low (to low at times) and stopped all but the slightest algae growth and its nothing the mag float cant cope with.
I decided to make the job of dosing these elements easier. I purchased a GHL dosing pump and I'm pleased to say it was worth every penny. NO more messing around measuring liquid, being lazy or out the dosing pump takes care of it.
Extra equipment-
Arcadia 250 chiller supplied by Tunze silent pump and water returned via TMC300 UV.
Good points- it all connects on 16mm pipe, chiller noise is ok (cant hear it over stock skimmer) sits nicely in cabinet. UV the only reason I think it was a good buy is when the bulb was 10 months old I started getting algae on the glass. I replaced the bulb and more importantly cleaned the sleeve and the glass cleared within a couple of days.
Lighting- After following a good thread on RS I replaced RSM bulbs at 9 months when brown algae started growing on substrate with ATI Aquablue x2 Blue plue x3 Purple plus x1. I love the crisp white light with a hint of blue. I added a TMC Reef blue aquaray 600 in front of the main T5's which gives a lovely blue shimmer
Extra flow taken care of by 2 vortech mp10's which keeps every inch of the water flowing nicely.
The live stock currently included 2 clowns and a yellow tang. I would love a flame angel but I just not sure its worth the risk with my corals
CUC includes some 30 snails consiting of turbos, astras, nass, fighting conch, ceirth and money crawlys (the moneies are my favourite always busy and they look so cool) about 10 red & blue legged hermits.
The story will continue another day
Great post & happy Tank Bday !
