red sea max 130 virgin - return to salt after 21 years

[russbooger]

Hi All

Taking the marine plunge after a 21 year break.. secured a 2 year old RSM 130 off an auction site, collect tomorrow. Can't set it up yet as the wife will crucify me, but my 3 yr old daughter always looks at marine set-ups in the fish shop when we buy food for her mini fresh tank, so hoping infant power will sway her..

Have hopefully done my homework correctly, I used to run the biggest fish shop in my local area in my youth, but looking at the technological advances since then I think my knowledge is way out of touch! I was going to go with a D&D Nano Cube 28 HQI with the metal halides, but I hate the way the wires are so untidy at the back, and you have to have a bank of plugs - plus the open skimmer and filter compartment made me think way too much evaporation. Then looking at this site switched me on to a RSM, and even after seeing problems such as heaters dying, poor stock skimmer and hood problems, it seemed the tank for me.

Waffling on, advice needed. The tank I've bought is a couple of years old. According to the vendor, its in great nick. So I'm assuming I'll need new tubes, and probably fans as well. Would you stick with the stock skimmer or upgrade, I'll be getting the surface skimmer upgrade as on the 130d. Plus I'll add one of those rotating outlet head thingies, and would you recommend another pump for circulation such as a Koralia or Tunze Nanostream? Plus any other upgrades you can recommend, but bear in mind I've spunked the next 3 months beer tokens on buying the tank, so cash is a bit hard to find!

Thanks all, I've learnt a lot in the last 3 months looking at this site, loook forward to your replies (and don't tell the wife!)

[redsea reefer]

I would replace the lights and hood fans first and try out the stock skimmer first before you replace it with another. I have a Koralia 2 on the right side of my tank, other than that welcome to rs and good luck with your tank...

[russbooger]

Thanks Redsea, I won't be loading the tank with too many fish, maybe a pair of tank raised percula clowns, a jawfish and maybe a firefish - if I get a good stable copepod population perhaps a mandarin or scooter, so hopefully not too much of a load on the skimmer. Molluscs/crustaceans I'm reasonably au fait with,will be following the usual threads on clean up crews on this site. With regard to corals, clams etc, I'm a complete novice, so when the tank is set up and cycled in a few months time will be asking for all the advice in the world about them. Thanks for the quick reply, I see you're in LA. You surf?

[redsea reefer]

Ask away and sorry, no surfing for me.

[tnwillia]

Welcome to RS and back to SW!

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Congrats on the new rsm, be sure to come visit the rsm club here on RS and start a tank thread & post us some pics feel free to ask any questions, everyone here is very nice & more than willing to help!

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...x-owners-club/

[nanoreefing4fun]

+1 to what eddie said... get new blubs & start out slow I run my rsm stock & am having great sucess !

[russbooger]

Thanks for your kind comments all, just off to collect the tank now, which unfortunately I can't bring home just yet (it will be stored at work for a couple of weeks until I can sweet talk my wife). It has no manual though for setup, lighting and wiring, can I download a manual from the RS website? If i can sneak some photos through will upload them later.

[nanoreefing4fun]

RSM User Manual 130

http://www.marineandreef.com/v/vspfi.../redseamax.pdf

[nanoreefing4fun]

Q & A :

Red Sea MAX | Support – product support information, user manual downloads

[TheSilverSurfer]

Welcome and good luck with your new venture ....

[Reefmack]

to Reef Sanctuary - the best place to be! Have fun with the "new" 130! You already know where to find us RSM owners so don't hold back on questions on the 130 model. You can always get a tank thread going while you await being able to set the tank up.

[jbm109]

I also got my 130 from an auction site at a couple of years old, and has been set up for 4 months now, and is going really well, only upgrades i have so far are an extra pum on the right hand side, and the 130d surface skimmer which has made so much difference!

however, now i have a good amount of livestock in the tank, and starting out with my corals, i have decided to upgrade my skimmer......have gone with the euro-reef nano skimmer, as my water clarity was not great, and was worried about light penetration and such the like, however still waiting to install that!

but anyway good luck, hope you manage to sneak it into the house soon!!

[russbooger]

thanks all, picked the tank up today, and have spent 6 hours taking everything apart, cleaning, and putting back together. Thanks for the link for the manual, much appreciated. Needed new fans because they sounded like fighter jets taking off! There was so much dust under the hood when I went to replace the fans, had to use a PC hoover to get the worst of it off. I'm showing my wife the tank tonight after giving her a couple of glasses of wine, here's hoping I'm not out on the street by midnight..

The guy I bought the tank off was really generous and gave me an RO filter, test kits, enough Red Sea salt to fill the tank, a spare Eheim canister filter and TMC UV filter, but sure If I want to run a UV on the tank - have any of you used them to any effect? So now to get the RO filter running over the next few days, by a hydro / refractometer, fill with water and away we go!

[Dweezil]

Good luck with everything. Keep us posted with pictures. Good luck with the wife as well. haha