Wolffman64's RSM500
- Thread starter Wolffman64
- Start date
Wolffman64
Active Member
Cheers mate, appreciate it,
Mr.Reeefer
Member
hey Jan,
How have you been?
How's the controller going?
Received the LEDs?
How have you been?
How's the controller going?
Received the LEDs?
Wolffman64
Active Member
Hi all,
Back again for a BIG update!
A lot of things has happened since the last update, and I'll try and go though them all, and also show some photos. I will probably split it up into several "blocks". In summary, these are the main items :
1) All fish are healthy and my corals have returned with a "vengeance"!
2) I have ditched the very noisy return pump that was supplied with the tank, and replaced it with a Jebao DC12000
3) I have replaced the original C-Skim with a Coral Box DC Curve Skimmer D700
4) I have installed the LED retrofit from Steve's LED, which now replaces all T5's
5) I have installed a Reef Angel Controller
6) I absolutely LOVE my tank again, and really LOVE the hobby again!
Most important, let's start with 1) above. All fish are healthy and well, and I'm very pleased to say that the combination of 8 weeks Peroxide treatment, and at the same time trying to add garlic into any feed, has gotten rid of the Ich, at least for now. I have also started to feed more each time, and also make sure I feed the frozen food every day (in addition to the feeding of pellets with my auto-feeder) The result is clearly displayed by the fish that looks healthier and great colours. I have a feeling that we sometimes don't feed enough, due to the constant scare of overfeeding with increased Phosphate and Nitrate levels as a result, at least I have fallen into that trap.
Back again for a BIG update!
A lot of things has happened since the last update, and I'll try and go though them all, and also show some photos. I will probably split it up into several "blocks". In summary, these are the main items :
1) All fish are healthy and my corals have returned with a "vengeance"!
2) I have ditched the very noisy return pump that was supplied with the tank, and replaced it with a Jebao DC12000
3) I have replaced the original C-Skim with a Coral Box DC Curve Skimmer D700
4) I have installed the LED retrofit from Steve's LED, which now replaces all T5's
5) I have installed a Reef Angel Controller
6) I absolutely LOVE my tank again, and really LOVE the hobby again!
Most important, let's start with 1) above. All fish are healthy and well, and I'm very pleased to say that the combination of 8 weeks Peroxide treatment, and at the same time trying to add garlic into any feed, has gotten rid of the Ich, at least for now. I have also started to feed more each time, and also make sure I feed the frozen food every day (in addition to the feeding of pellets with my auto-feeder) The result is clearly displayed by the fish that looks healthier and great colours. I have a feeling that we sometimes don't feed enough, due to the constant scare of overfeeding with increased Phosphate and Nitrate levels as a result, at least I have fallen into that trap.
Wolffman64
Active Member
2) As stated aboved,I have also ditched the original returnpump, and replaced it with a DC pump (Jebao DC12000 - ). This is a great improvement, both because the Jebao has a greater flow than the original pump, but also because it's a DC pump and is much more quiet and nmo vibrations at all. I don't have to constantly try and look for a "sweetspot" for the return pump to minimise the noise. The Jebao is a GREAT pump, and the price is even greater ($
3) I finally got so sick and tired of the very noisy and temperamental/inconsistent C-skim skimmer, and replaced it with a new skimmer, Coral Box DC Curve Skimmer D700 (http://www.fish-street.com/coral_box_dc_curve_skimmer_d700), also from Fish Street Store in Hong Kong. The skimmer is a brand new release, with a Jebao DC pump driving it. The build quality is great, it is whisper quiet (I can't hear it at all), it is sooo easy to empty the skimmer cup and it's very easy to remove the cup for extra cleaning. It also skims much better than the C-skim (not that hard though...). When you then also add that it's significantly smaller than the C-skim, and that the price is $190 (!!), it's a really great upgrade to the tank, the second best I have done so far. I can, so far, really recommend this skimmer (I've been using it for 4 weeks).
3) I finally got so sick and tired of the very noisy and temperamental/inconsistent C-skim skimmer, and replaced it with a new skimmer, Coral Box DC Curve Skimmer D700 (http://www.fish-street.com/coral_box_dc_curve_skimmer_d700), also from Fish Street Store in Hong Kong. The skimmer is a brand new release, with a Jebao DC pump driving it. The build quality is great, it is whisper quiet (I can't hear it at all), it is sooo easy to empty the skimmer cup and it's very easy to remove the cup for extra cleaning. It also skims much better than the C-skim (not that hard though...). When you then also add that it's significantly smaller than the C-skim, and that the price is $190 (!!), it's a really great upgrade to the tank, the second best I have done so far. I can, so far, really recommend this skimmer (I've been using it for 4 weeks).
Great news that fish and corals are better. its been a long wait for you im sure, but at least you know yourve done it right.
Skimmer looks like a fantastic upgrade. I know exactly what you mean about the old skimmer noise too, it was the main reason I swapped mine out. Having a dc return pump is great too, I have mine running at 70percent max capacity. It's so much easier to adjust than throttling back a pump that's for sure.
Can't wait to see the pics
Skimmer looks like a fantastic upgrade. I know exactly what you mean about the old skimmer noise too, it was the main reason I swapped mine out. Having a dc return pump is great too, I have mine running at 70percent max capacity. It's so much easier to adjust than throttling back a pump that's for sure.
Can't wait to see the pics
Wolffman64
Active Member
4) The next thing I did was to install the retrofit LED kit from Steve's LED.
The final result is fantastic, I am over the moon with the way all the colours "pop" under the LED's, both corals and fish, and I'm still only using 53% of the blue, and 58% of the white! The shimmer is also really great. The other positive effect is that my chiller has not been used a single time since I installed the LED's, and it used to come on at least every hour for about 15 minutes during the day. the fans in the middle ramp are really quiet, but the PSU fan is quite loud when it starts up to cool the PSU, so you need to hide it away somewhere.
The road to get everything installed was anything but great. I had read in several places before that the instructions were not good, but I have to go one step further and say that they are absolutely appalling! The only part that was good was the part on how to pull apart and strip the RSM500's existing lighting (probably because it was written by Matt/IDK in here), but everything else was shocking.
A couple of examples, there is no drawing or description on how or where, in the stripped middle middle ramp on the 500, the LED's should go, or how you should align them. Pretty important, since it will all decide upon where you drill the ventilation holes in the aluminium "canopy". I was worried about the drilling itself, but that actually turned out to be the easiest part.
Next example is that all cables are too short, with quite a big margin. I had the expectation that since it is a retrofit kit, that they would actually would supply appropriate cables, but no... The control cables that either go to the Typhon controller (or your aquarium controller) are so short, so that after you have finished, the Typon controller ends up I the middle of the back of your tank, and it's not easy to stand at one corner and stretch in to try and reach it...
The final example of how good the instructions are: After about 20 itemised steps on how to disassemble the 500 lights (written by Matt), the connection guide more or less says:" Connect all the power and control wires". That's it! Shocking... And there is no diagram at all that tells you which connectors are white, blue or royal blue either, you have to test yourself with all combinations possible. The also only supplied 4 connections for the controller, when you need to connect it to 6 control points. That alone took me quite a while to figure out how to split and connect. Thank heavens for Goma's LED thread in here!
The instructions says that it will take a bit more than 1 hour to do the whole thing. I started at 9pm, and finished at 3am...
Two days later, I had to rip it all apart again and replace all the cables with proper length cables so that I can have the controller and PSU where it should be, not where the cables ended.
All in all, I am over the moon with how good it looks in the tank, and that it's hidden away in the original light ramps, and the quality of the LED light is amazing!!
If anybody is going this way as well, and I do recommend it, please feel free to contact me before you start the install and I will give you proper guidance to avoid most of the traps.
The final result is fantastic, I am over the moon with the way all the colours "pop" under the LED's, both corals and fish, and I'm still only using 53% of the blue, and 58% of the white! The shimmer is also really great. The other positive effect is that my chiller has not been used a single time since I installed the LED's, and it used to come on at least every hour for about 15 minutes during the day. the fans in the middle ramp are really quiet, but the PSU fan is quite loud when it starts up to cool the PSU, so you need to hide it away somewhere.
The road to get everything installed was anything but great. I had read in several places before that the instructions were not good, but I have to go one step further and say that they are absolutely appalling! The only part that was good was the part on how to pull apart and strip the RSM500's existing lighting (probably because it was written by Matt/IDK in here), but everything else was shocking.
A couple of examples, there is no drawing or description on how or where, in the stripped middle middle ramp on the 500, the LED's should go, or how you should align them. Pretty important, since it will all decide upon where you drill the ventilation holes in the aluminium "canopy". I was worried about the drilling itself, but that actually turned out to be the easiest part.
Next example is that all cables are too short, with quite a big margin. I had the expectation that since it is a retrofit kit, that they would actually would supply appropriate cables, but no... The control cables that either go to the Typhon controller (or your aquarium controller) are so short, so that after you have finished, the Typon controller ends up I the middle of the back of your tank, and it's not easy to stand at one corner and stretch in to try and reach it...
The final example of how good the instructions are: After about 20 itemised steps on how to disassemble the 500 lights (written by Matt), the connection guide more or less says:" Connect all the power and control wires". That's it! Shocking... And there is no diagram at all that tells you which connectors are white, blue or royal blue either, you have to test yourself with all combinations possible. The also only supplied 4 connections for the controller, when you need to connect it to 6 control points. That alone took me quite a while to figure out how to split and connect. Thank heavens for Goma's LED thread in here!
The instructions says that it will take a bit more than 1 hour to do the whole thing. I started at 9pm, and finished at 3am...
Two days later, I had to rip it all apart again and replace all the cables with proper length cables so that I can have the controller and PSU where it should be, not where the cables ended.
All in all, I am over the moon with how good it looks in the tank, and that it's hidden away in the original light ramps, and the quality of the LED light is amazing!!
If anybody is going this way as well, and I do recommend it, please feel free to contact me before you start the install and I will give you proper guidance to avoid most of the traps.
Wolffman64
Active Member
5) The Reef Angel Controller.
As I wrote before, I had some initial problems with the adapters, but now that the problem is rectified, I have to say that the RA is absolutely fantastic!! This, together with the LED upgrade, had changed the whole tank!
An example: there is nothing (and I really mean it) that you can't do with this controller. Since it's fully programmable, you can virtually transform your whole tank. I added another WP-40 to the tank, and the RA are now controlling them both in a great way. The are now setup in a master/slave configuration, and the RA drives them with different modes during the day. In the morning they have the Reef crest mode, after lunch it goes into Wave mode, and after feeding time in the evening it starts a 3 hour Nutrient Transport mode until it goes into Lagoon mode for the night. Sooo cool! And this is with a wave pump that cost $76 each...
The RA has to be programmed, which scares some people off, but it comes with a really good wizard that does it automatically for you, and it has also got it's own forum where people are more than happy to give you additional coding help to cut and paste into your own.
Very good price for a truly great product. If anybody in interested, please let me know and I can explain more.
As I wrote before, I had some initial problems with the adapters, but now that the problem is rectified, I have to say that the RA is absolutely fantastic!! This, together with the LED upgrade, had changed the whole tank!
An example: there is nothing (and I really mean it) that you can't do with this controller. Since it's fully programmable, you can virtually transform your whole tank. I added another WP-40 to the tank, and the RA are now controlling them both in a great way. The are now setup in a master/slave configuration, and the RA drives them with different modes during the day. In the morning they have the Reef crest mode, after lunch it goes into Wave mode, and after feeding time in the evening it starts a 3 hour Nutrient Transport mode until it goes into Lagoon mode for the night. Sooo cool! And this is with a wave pump that cost $76 each...
The RA has to be programmed, which scares some people off, but it comes with a really good wizard that does it automatically for you, and it has also got it's own forum where people are more than happy to give you additional coding help to cut and paste into your own.
Very good price for a truly great product. If anybody in interested, please let me know and I can explain more.
Wolffman64
Active Member
Last but not least, I have also bought a new sailfin Tang that is beautiful, and also another 8-10 coral frags.
Phew, that was a lot of writing, hope that it's not boring you all to sleep.
I will update this with lots of photos tonight.
Take care, and enjoy your tanks!
Phew, that was a lot of writing, hope that it's not boring you all to sleep.
I will update this with lots of photos tonight.
Take care, and enjoy your tanks!
Wolffman64
Active Member
LakeLivin
Active Member
Good to hear you have everything all setup and working to your satisfaction. I still would like to convert to LED's specifically for the heat reduction factor. However, I'm a bit hesitant because every post I read about Steve's LED's say that they are a real pain. I may have to bite the bullet and get them because as it stands now I can't run all the lights without the tank getting too hot. My option is to buy a chiller and deal with the extra noise and plumbing as well as the storage space loss or get LED's. It makes better sense to get the LED's for sure. I just wish they were more "turn-key" and not such a hassle to setup. I will probably need to pick your brain if I go with Steve's.
Wolffman64
Active Member
Even with all the hassle, it's still worth it. The light from them make the corals and fish look spectacular, and the difference in temperature is massive.
I can give you quite a bit of help and pointers on how to do it. Just let me know.
I can give you quite a bit of help and pointers on how to do it. Just let me know.
Wolffman64
Active Member
You have to contact them directly and ask for the 500 retrofit, and they tell you how to place it as a special order. You can go into the 650 retrofit kit and have a look at the options you will have (ie Typhon controller, 95% build, what combination of LED's you want to have etc), and then specify that in the special order. The price is obviously cheaper that for the 650 kit.
Wolffman64
Active Member
Sorry for the delay in posting the pics, I had to go for an MRI for my neck a bit urgently... I'll have another go tonight.
Wolffman64
Active Member
Not really, I've had two discs removed in my neck, with the result of one fusion and one of these in my neck:
Now it seems like I might have a 3rd disc gone :cursin::smack:
Now it seems like I might have a 3rd disc gone :cursin::smack:
Best of luck !
Wolffman64
Active Member
Cheers guys!
Not sure of the result yet, will be told on Tuesday when I go back to doctor. At the moment, strong codeine painkillers is what keeps me in some sort of control...
Not sure of the result yet, will be told on Tuesday when I go back to doctor. At the moment, strong codeine painkillers is what keeps me in some sort of control...