The Fredericks' RSM C130

AFrederick

AFrederick

Active Member
I just put together an RSM C130 in my kitchen. Now I'm brewing up some RO/DI to fill it.

rodi.jpg

Regarding this new BRS 6 state universal plus filter system I got:

Apparently I've got pretty good water pressure. When I started the faucet, the pressure gauge ahead of the RO filter maxed out so I quickly dialed back the input pressure on the faucet. I've got it running at about 80 psi ahead of the RO membrane right now. Is that appropriate? I read that higher pressures make the filter work more efficiently and of course make water faster. But I also don't want anything to burst...

The guage maxes out at 100 psi. As I mentioned, I'm running it at about 80 right now. Should I open up the faucet a little more?

It seems to be making water much faster than the promised 3 gal/hr for this 75 gal/day unit.
 
M

melvis

Well-Known Member
Can't help on the RODI as my father in law does all my water for me, but welcome to the gang mate! Don't forget to start up a thread so we can all follow along...and everyone on here loves pics lol.
 
Oxylebius

Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
Do you know what psi your unit was made for (rated for)?

For example, my GPD membrane rating is based on a water temperature of 77 degrees and water pressure of 65 PSI. My rodi unit is in a bathroom on the third floor - thus there is a lost pressure up there. Mine runs at around 25 psi. When not using the rodi w/in the right settings you may be using up your filters faster then they should be or stressing the seals of the unit. Just be aware of this.

Using it in the range that is recommended by the manufacturer is ideal.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I should have been clear my response was based on the BRS 6 75 g/d RODI unit, which is what I also have.

The 50-80 answer was not a general answer, but was specifically for this rodi unit. (Or at least my understanding of the parameters of this unit. I could always be in error on anything I say. :). ).

So, anyone in the future reading this should be clear I was giving a specific answer and your mileage may vary if you don't have the same thing.
 
AFrederick

AFrederick

Active Member
Thanks guys. I've got the display tank full and I'm bringing the salt up to 1.025, almost there. Then I'll put in the sand (live) and the rock (dry).

The sump is empty so I'm guessing that will have plenty of room for the water that spills over when I add the 20 lbs of sand and 25 lbs of rock. Then I'll fine tune the water level and salinity. Is this an appropriate procedure or I am making mistakes?
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
AFrederick said:
Thanks guys. I've got the display tank full and I'm bringing the salt up to 1.025, almost there. Then I'll put in the sand (live) and the rock (dry).

The sump is empty so I'm guessing that will have plenty of room for the water that spills over when I add the 20 lbs of sand and 25 lbs of rock. Then I'll fine tune the water level and salinity. Is this an appropriate procedure or I am making mistakes?
Click to expand...

I think this should work fine. It's a touch harder to do it the way you are in my opinion, but it should work just fine.
 
AFrederick

AFrederick

Active Member
Also, is it possible to change the name of this thread? In haste, I misplaced the apostrophe.

It should be " The Fredericks' " instead of " The Frederick's ". I meant to indicate the tank was mine and my wife's, instead it looks like I refer to myself as "The Frederick" haha.
 
AFrederick

AFrederick

Active Member
thanks nano!

So tonight I got my sand in the tank... Boy is it murky in there!

cloudy water.jpg

I figured putting the water in first and then the sand might do this but my biggest mixing container is 5 gallons. So I wanted to mix the salt in the tank the first time so I didn't have to mix 6 buckets.

But the LFS guy told me if I put the live sand in and then put fresh water on top before mixing it with salt (which also would have stirred up the sand) the live sand would die.

Anyway, this will clear up in a few days, right? I dumped in this little pack of "biomagnetic" potion that came in the bag of carribsea special reef grade live sand. Is that stuff (1) safe? and (2) effective?
 
G

GTBlackIce

Member
Hi Frederick,

Can't say for sure but yes I was told the same thing from my lfs that if I fill with freshwater it'll defeat the purpose of having live sand and rock (not that I can find dry ones here anyway [emoji12])

So what I did was prepare the saltwater on a 24g plastic garbage can I use to store water when there's a water supply issue in the country. I use 2 bags of caribsea fiji pink live sand in my tank (never knew it was such a tough and messy job filling in the sand in the tank with the rocks already in it, had some 'fun' cleaning up the mess thereafter [emoji29])

Filled the tank with a smaller 1.5g bucket I have so it was quite a number of trips to and fro from where my water is to the tank. Poured water on the rocks slowly so it doesn't disturb much of the sand. Still got cloudy but mine cleared up in 15mins or so. I did use the clarifier given, one had burst in the bag originally so nothing to pour out from that but the other was ok.

Hope your tank's cleared up by the time you read this. Keep us posted on your progress.

Cheers!
-Gary


Sent from my Xperia Z3
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
You should be fine. It should clear up in a couple of days. The sand may be a bit all over the place, though if you have your live rock in. If not, then it will just settle on the bottom.

Even if you do sand first (which I did) it ends up murky like that when you pour a ton of water on top of it.

So, no real way to avoid the murky (that's worth the time/effort anyway), but it doesn't last long.
 
AFrederick

AFrederick

Active Member
cycle started.jpg Started cycle last night!

Got a couple questions:

1. Forgot to get a shrimp to start it but my wife was cooking salmon for dinner so I stole a little nub of raw salmon and threw it in the tank. I figured that would do the same thing as a shrimp...will it?

2. Right now I have all the standard RSM equipment running except for the skimmer. I figured people seem to report it doesn't work right when you start a tank because there isn't any protein in there to skim. Plus, the point of putting the shrimp in there is to make ammonia, to make nitrite, to make nitrate, right? If I run the skimmer, it will take a bunch of those chemicals out, slowing the cycle. Right? Or should the skimmer be running at this stage?

Also, just an observation, but just the one return pump pushed the little pieces of salmon all the way around the base of the tank. With all the threads I've read about people putting in powerheads I was afraid the return pump would be much weaker but it pushed those salmon bits all the way around.

Anyway, total noob here, so please let me know if I'm headed in the right direction, or if I'm making mistakes.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
I ran stock with no powerhead for a long time. The stock circulation pumps do a good job. Most of us end up getting a powerhead anyway for a bit more flow, but my opinion is you don't truly need it (most likely...may depend on what you are keeping where). It's more a nice to have.

The skimmer won't have much to skim until you get some bio load. I left mine off for cycling, but others leave it on and have some real reasons to do so.

I can't think why some salmon wouldn't do the same thing, but maybe I'm missing something.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
+1 ^ next time at the deli just tell them you want one raw shrimp & add it too... but sounds like you have a nice start & the rotting fish will work too... make ammonia, to make nitrite, to make nitrate

On the skimmer... I always ran mine, it won't hurt or slow the cycle... running it will break it in which takes a few weeks, but you can leave it off too... no one right way here

If concerned, dump what it skims back in the tank :nessie:

Start testing and watching... the Ammonia will 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

Tank Cycled

fish-tank-nitrogen-cycle.gif
 
AFrederick

AFrederick

Active Member
Cycling is moving along. It's been 3 weeks since I added the raw salmon. I only saw minor bumps in ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, as of earlier this week so I added a medium sized raw shrimp on Monday to give the good bacteria some more food and bump up their numbers before I add livestock.

Which brings me to my next point, LIVESTOCK!! :celebrate:

Once the cycle is finished, I'll need a CUC. What do you suggest for a RSM C130? I've seen people talking about getting rid of their hermit crabs and going snail only. Why? Which snails and or crabs should I get? How many?

After that, I'd like to add two little clowns, some kind of decorative shrimp, maybe a goby...

And corals too, of course! I've been looking at hammers, zoas, mushrooms, maybe a brain, etc. I want really cool corals that aren't too finicky but also will not take over my small tank. Any suggestions?
 
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