What I need to be successful

[MatthewJ]

I've got a new tank...free no less
It's a RSM Max and included ~30lbs live rock, 4 snails and 2 clown fish.
I thought this would be a good chance to create a reef tank on the "cheap".
It's setup and still cycling. I'm beginning to think I might have to spend some serious dough though.

I bought replacement lights and a replacement powerhead and miscellaneous supplies including a digital thermometer and refractometer: $200. So far, not too bad. But I don't have anything fun yet either.

For testing:
I have some kind of Red Sea kit that includes everything but phosphates. Is this kit above good enough? Is there a particular brand that is recommended or to be avoided? I can just buy the phosphates test.

The live rock already has algae, at least some of it hair algae. This is why my brother gave me the tank in the first place. I originally started the tank using city water, now I'm using RO water from WalMart. I really have two questions:

1) Can live rock "die"...i.e. stop being useful as live rock?
2) Can I ever expect success using the Walmart RO water? Should I just bite the bullet and buy a RO system? Can anyone recommend a good value RO solution?

[MatthewJ]

sorry guys, this isn't an RSM specific question...I posted to wrong forum. I welcome your input though.

inherited a system...Couple of questions

[Reefmack]

myusernameRocks - the staff must have moved your post here to the Red Sea Max section as you're in the right place.

On the Red Sea test kit, I replaced the alkalinity test as the test only gave a very broad range - not a number. I use a Salifert test now. The other tests aren't that bad, even though I'm using others now. To be honest I haven't tested for phosphates in ages, but should. I test for Magnesium once in a while - can't remember now if that's in the Red Sea kit or not?

Live rock can "die" if left out of water for a while and allowed to dry out, and I read somewhere that after a long time it can have the pores plugged up with detritis and lose some of its bacterial efficiency. I doubt your rock has died though unless it was allowed to dry out. Even dry rock will become alive again if seeded with some fresh rock.

I've heard different opionions on the Walmart RO water quality. Best bet IMO is to get your own RO/DI unit. I'm not pushing a brand, but I got mine at Air, Water & Ice - not as low priced as Ebay units, but lower priced than a lot of others, and I'm very happy with mine. AWI is also a sponsor here and has 10% for Reef Sanctuary members:

10% off Air Water & Ice for all RS members!

As always, just my opinions based on what I've read and experienced. I wish I could tell you this is a cheap hobby but I can't. Just try not to waste money on useless things.

More questions just ask. Lots of RSM owners & other reefers around here!

[MatthewJ]

I ordered the Typhoon III from airwaterice.com. thanks for your advice and the coupon link. I'm excited about setting that up. I really would like to get a sump going, but the overflow is so expensive I wont right away. This "free" reef tank I was given is getting quite expensive

still 0 ammonia, nitrites .05ppm, and nitrates 2.5ppm. I just read something interesting in the Red Sea test kit. It says that at .05 ppm level of nitrites, 2.5ppm nitrates is actually 0 nitrates. So, it would appear that I have had 0 ammonia and .05ppm nitrites, and 0 nitrates since October 11th? Does that seem right to you? I'll be honest, in the past I haven't paid that much attention to the cycle. I did take the live rock out and brush off the algae and it looks much better now. Of course, I'm afraid to turn the lights on.

[MatthewJ]

still 0 ammonia, nitrites .05ppm, and nitrates 2.5ppm. I just read something interesting in the Red Sea test kit. It says that at .05 ppm level of nitrites, 2.5ppm nitrates is actually 0 nitrates.

nevermind. I missed a decimal point, a .2ppm or higher level of nitrites can interfere with the nitrate test results.

[Reefmack]

You may very well be done with the cycle. You might want to get a different test kit(s) to confirm it. It's always good, when in doubt, to get a "second opinion".

[MatthewJ]

Hey reefmack. I've got my RODI working and have done 1 water change You were right on the money, the nitrite test kit results must be bad. I tested my RODI water (0 ppm TDS) and it also came up with .05ppm nitrites. This is a relief, I've kind of been stressing the nitrites.

My setup appears to finally be turning a corner...fingers crossed. I'm leaving the lights on longer and the hair algae is not coming back too much. There's some algae on the glass but it's not keeping getting much ahead of the snails so far. I expect with the new RODI water changes, it will only get better.

I found a local guy on frags.org who's just a few miles from me(Double-J). Man, does he have a sweet setup (his skimmer is about 6 feet tall, "volcano" something or other). I told him I wasn't ready to buy just yet, but he gave me a frag for free just to see how it does in the tank. Maybe you guys can help me identify (he might have said it was montiporo or something like that). The picture is below. I thinks it's a pretty common one. It was still darn nice of him to do that. If you're in the Des Moines area and want to buy frags...look double-j up. It's worth a trip just to see his tanks.

[Reefmack]

Montipora capricornis is the coral, and it's a nice piece with nice color! This is the type that forms plate-like structures. I have an orange and green piece of it. In this picture the orange Monti cap started out as a small piece about an inch square, and in a few months has begun to grow out into a plate.



Below the orange plate is a smaller green one that I haven't had as long. Montipora are one of the easier SPS corals to grow - there are branching types as well as encrusting types in different colors. There are several of the branching Montis in the picture - the ones that look like sticks - orange, green, brown and purple. Other SPS and LPS types in there too.

Sounds like everything is progressing well!

[Reefmack]

Deleted as I somehow did a double post.

[MatthewJ]

Is that your RSM? Awesome. The orange piece grew that much in a few months? wow. How did you attach the coral to your live rock? Mine's just kind of laying in a hole for now. Should it be lying flat then?

[Reefmack]

Yep - that's mine and it did grown that much in a few months. Montipora corals grow fast under good conditions. I usually mount my corals that have a rock base with a "sandwich" of a blob of superglue gel on the dried off coral base, then a piece of epoxy putty, then another blob of superglue gel. Then I press it onto the rock and hope for the best. This method has worked the best for me. Just superglue gel, or just epoxy putty never seemed to hold well for me and even this combination will sometimes get knocked off by a stubborn bulldozing snail, or by my hand in the tank if I'm not careful.

If your piece of Monti cap is wedged in that spot in the rock pretty firmly it should hold and eventually the coral will grow onto the rock. The way yours looks in your picture you might get by with just using the epoxy putty in that depression and then pushing the Monti base into it before the putty hardens. IMO the stone gray epoxy is the best color to match the rock color. If you try it don't push on it too hard - those things can break easily - then you'll have more than one piece to mount somewhere - that's called fragging by mistake LOL! I'm not sure what to tell you on how to position yours - flat might be better, but I have a feeling it will be fine the way you have it - it'll grow the way it wants to and will form plates the way it is.

Soft corals like mushrooms and leathers are a different story. Unless they come attached to a piece of rock they can be difficult to attach, as they're too soft & slimy for superglue to work. I recently tried supergluing a small piece of Nepthea to a frag plug, and it only held for a few days. I ended up using a rubberband to hold it on a small piece of rock for a couple weeks till it grew onto the rock. Then I mounted that rock with the Nepthea on it to the place I wanted it. A lot of this stuff is trial and error, and reading what other people find successful. Everything in this hobby is a learning experience, and what works for one person doesn't always work for everybody.

[steveh]

I would use the Pro range of Red Sea tests as they are easy to use and very accurate. The std Alk test is more for marine fish keepers where indicative results are ok. For reef keepers you should use the Alk Pro, which is a titration test accurate to 0.04 Meq/l, Calcium Pro to 10ppm, Mg to 20ppm and Iodine to 0.01ppm. We have recently changed the MAX starter kit to include this in place of the general Alk test. No need to dose anything other than Coral Buff (for alkalinity) and perhaps calcium right now, although I use Molybdenum and Nitrobac as well. Check Alkalinity every couple of days as it's amazing how quickly it can drop. You might find the following link useful:
RSM- by the book

best of luck!