Red Sea Max Owners Club
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DontXtripNfall
New member
I don't access to a machine that can cut metal nor welding equipment or skills for that matter. My friend has offer to pay for shipping it back, but its still annoying to do. Glad he didn't order the 42'' handle atleast... everything looks nice it just suck that I can't use it until i get the 24''
DontXtripNfall
New member
If anyone was wondering why I'm in such a bad mood its because I waited in line at the DMV for 2 hours ( and 2 hours of getting ready IE picking out which shirt I to be wearing for the picture and making sure my faux hawk looks symmetrical and neat... I just like to be presented well when I have to take a pic for ID or w/e) and some doffuss misspelt a letter in my last name on my SSC so it didn't match the name on my birth certificate.... I have to go back tomorrow then take the permit test and all.... it just ****es me off ...
Reefmack
In Memoriam
DontXtripNfall - Sounds like you had a double-whammy bad day. That's a real bummer on the DMV, but typical I think. They mess up and you suffer for it. Does the JBJ have an actual razor blade or just a fairly sharp stainless blade? I'm think it's probably like the SS blade on the Kent scrapers.
DontXtripNfall
New member
On the package it says stainless steel scrpaer (for glass)
Cycle Questions
Cycle Questions
The RSM has been running for 18 days.
Here are the last water testig results
PH: 8.2
Temp: 26°C.
SG: 1.024
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrites: .1
Nitrates 5
Alk: 2.3
CA: 390 ppm
Since yesterday I've add 4.5ml of Purple Up.
Since day 3, 6.5ml every day of Sea Elements
From day 1 a little Biozyme.
The nitrates are down to 50% in 2 days, but so far the nitites have not increase along with the ammonia levels.
Is this normal???
I expected to see the nitrites increase by the time the nitrates decrease.
I changed the Koralia nano for a koralia 2,
Thank you.
Cycle Questions
The RSM has been running for 18 days.
Here are the last water testig results
PH: 8.2
Temp: 26°C.
SG: 1.024
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrites: .1
Nitrates 5
Alk: 2.3
CA: 390 ppm
Since yesterday I've add 4.5ml of Purple Up.
Since day 3, 6.5ml every day of Sea Elements
From day 1 a little Biozyme.
The nitrates are down to 50% in 2 days, but so far the nitites have not increase along with the ammonia levels.
Is this normal???
I expected to see the nitrites increase by the time the nitrates decrease.
I changed the Koralia nano for a koralia 2,
Thank you.
Last night I went to the store to buy a new diamond goby since my other one "disappeared" from my tank last week.(My wife took all the rock out of the aquarium trying to find him with no luck) I tested the water with no increase in anything. Anyways we had gone to the store and found a new diamond goby, had him in the bag and thought I would start acclimating him after dinner, half way through dinner I saw my cat run from the living room and kept hearing a fluttering noise. So I went into the living room and my cat had bitten the bag and all the water had gone all over my floor. I was trying to get the bag open and get a cup of water at the same time and the goby flopped right out of the bag and directly into the tank. So much for acclimation. I feel bad but almost 24 hours later he is doing fine. It was all quite funny looking back at it. I wish I would have had a video camera.
snake plissken
New member
thats why i hate cats :lol:
Reefmack
In Memoriam
Arreola
PH: 8.2 - looks fine - wish I could easily keep mine this high
Temp: 26°C. - looks fine (78.8F)
SG: 1.024 - OK
Ammonia: 0.25 - still cycling - wait for 0
Nitrites: .1 - zero the goal
Nitrates 5 - not bad - OK for now
Alk: 2.3 - a bit low - 2.5 is the recommended minimum
CA: 390 ppm - OK, on the low side but OK
The nitrAtes are decreasing - good sign, but I doubt you'll see zero this early, 5 isn't that bad
Ammonia should be zero, nitrItes should be zero or very close to 0
Ammonia goes to nitrite, nitrate goes to nitrate (end product of nitrogen cycle. Eventually if you're lucky the nitrate will be converted to nitrogen gas and will be at zero. We don't all get to 0 nitrates, but need 0 ammonia, and 0 nitrite. But it looks like you may be getting close to having your measurable cylce complete. I'd wait another few days or week & test again. I never had a measurable cycle so I'm not good at telling you what else, if anything to do at this time. Maybe someone else will give some advice.
Here's a link to good information on water parameters:
Water Parameters
brycek - sorry about probably losing one goby (unless it's very good at hiding). Glad the other goby is doing OK. On acclimation, about a year ago I had a big online order of 6 bags of corals & fish arrive one day. My wife had foot surgery the day before, so I was at home. I was about 5 minutes into acclimating everything, when the wife banged her operated foot into a table leg & started bleeding. I had to forget the acclimation and quick dump everything into the tank before heading to the doctor, as I had no idea how long we'd be gone. In that lot of livestock were some shrimp, and a blue Linkia star. I figured nothing would be alive after I got home, but everything survived the lack of acclimation, and the Linkia, shrimp, and corals are still in the tank and alive a year later. Hopefully your goby will do just as well without the acclimation time.
PH: 8.2 - looks fine - wish I could easily keep mine this high
Temp: 26°C. - looks fine (78.8F)
SG: 1.024 - OK
Ammonia: 0.25 - still cycling - wait for 0
Nitrites: .1 - zero the goal
Nitrates 5 - not bad - OK for now
Alk: 2.3 - a bit low - 2.5 is the recommended minimum
CA: 390 ppm - OK, on the low side but OK
The nitrAtes are decreasing - good sign, but I doubt you'll see zero this early, 5 isn't that bad
Ammonia should be zero, nitrItes should be zero or very close to 0
Ammonia goes to nitrite, nitrate goes to nitrate (end product of nitrogen cycle. Eventually if you're lucky the nitrate will be converted to nitrogen gas and will be at zero. We don't all get to 0 nitrates, but need 0 ammonia, and 0 nitrite. But it looks like you may be getting close to having your measurable cylce complete. I'd wait another few days or week & test again. I never had a measurable cycle so I'm not good at telling you what else, if anything to do at this time. Maybe someone else will give some advice.
Here's a link to good information on water parameters:
Water Parameters
brycek - sorry about probably losing one goby (unless it's very good at hiding). Glad the other goby is doing OK. On acclimation, about a year ago I had a big online order of 6 bags of corals & fish arrive one day. My wife had foot surgery the day before, so I was at home. I was about 5 minutes into acclimating everything, when the wife banged her operated foot into a table leg & started bleeding. I had to forget the acclimation and quick dump everything into the tank before heading to the doctor, as I had no idea how long we'd be gone. In that lot of livestock were some shrimp, and a blue Linkia star. I figured nothing would be alive after I got home, but everything survived the lack of acclimation, and the Linkia, shrimp, and corals are still in the tank and alive a year later. Hopefully your goby will do just as well without the acclimation time.
Reefmack - Thanks for the link. I will give it a closer look.
Does the Purple Up help to increase the alkalinity?
I will keep testing the water and wait a week after the nitrites and ammonia are at zero.
Then I will start the hunt for the Fishes
Possible Species:
•Flame Angelfish (Centropyge loriculus) #1 on the wish list
•Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) #2 on the wish list
•McCosker's Flasher Wrasse, Male (Paracheilinus mccoskeri)
•Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri)
•Longfin Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis)
•Sleeper Banded Goby (Amblygobius phalaena)
•Sailfin/Algae Blenny (Salarias fasciatus)
•Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris)
•Chalk Bass (Serranus tortugarum)
•Kaudern's Cardinal (Pterapogon kauderni)
Any suggestion on those species?
The idea is to have 5 fishes or less.
About the bubbles. last night I turned off the skimmer, and this morning I had 0 bubbles on the tank.
I guess I will have to take out the skimmer and check for possible causes and try ti fix it.
I also found this little white thing on one of the rocks today.
Some times it hides all the tentacles. What is it?
Arreola
Does the Purple Up help to increase the alkalinity?
I will keep testing the water and wait a week after the nitrites and ammonia are at zero.
Then I will start the hunt for the Fishes
Possible Species:
•Flame Angelfish (Centropyge loriculus) #1 on the wish list
•Green Mandarin (Synchiropus splendidus) #2 on the wish list
•McCosker's Flasher Wrasse, Male (Paracheilinus mccoskeri)
•Carpenter's Flasher Wrasse (Paracheilinus carpenteri)
•Longfin Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rubriventralis)
•Sleeper Banded Goby (Amblygobius phalaena)
•Sailfin/Algae Blenny (Salarias fasciatus)
•Ocellaris Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris)
•Chalk Bass (Serranus tortugarum)
•Kaudern's Cardinal (Pterapogon kauderni)
Any suggestion on those species?
The idea is to have 5 fishes or less.
About the bubbles. last night I turned off the skimmer, and this morning I had 0 bubbles on the tank.
I guess I will have to take out the skimmer and check for possible causes and try ti fix it.
I also found this little white thing on one of the rocks today.
Some times it hides all the tentacles. What is it?
Arreola
Reefmack
In Memoriam
Arreola - the little white thing is a tube worm - like a miniature featherduster. You'll probably have lots of those, and may have to look hard to see them. I just saw a new one in my tank tonight that I hadn't seen before, and the walls of my back compartment have lots of them growing on the sides - probably a hundred or more. You probably have more of them - they can be hard to see.
I have no idea what effect Purple Up has on alkalinity - I've never used it or did any searching on it. I know it adds calcium, but that's all I know about it.
The Mandarins can be hard to keep alive as they usually need a lot of live food, such as pods. If you can find one that is eating frozen mysis or flake food it might have a chance, but it's usually not a fish for a new tank with little live pods to support it, especially small tanks like the RSM with a limited supply of pods in it.
Ocellaris clownfish are a great fish, Try to get them small, with one a little bit bigger. The big one will end up being female, and the smaller a male. They're all born one sex and the dominant, bigger of the two, becomes a female.
Flame angels are beautiful. I have a little one in my 9 gallon tank, waiting to go in the RSM when my Foxface gets too big. There is a chance that the small angel fish will eat coral polyps, but if fed well most folks don't seem to have that problem.
Algae blennys are a great fish too, and very comical, but will need algae to do well. They usually are put in once you have green algae growing, or you can hopefully get them to eat dried algae, spirulina flakes, plus a regular flake food. I recently lost mine after over a year. It either had an internal parasite problem, or starved as I no longer had any algae growing in the tank, and it wouldn't eat dried algae or algae disks. But, it's a great fish to have, and enjoyable to watch.
I have a spotted/pajama cardinal, and the Kauderns is probably a good choice also.
On the other fish - I have no idea. Have you considered a Yellow Watchman Goby. Pretty little fish.
On the skimmer - are you getting any skimmate into the cup? Any brown buildup in the neck of the cup or top of the skimmer chamber below the cup?
I have no idea what effect Purple Up has on alkalinity - I've never used it or did any searching on it. I know it adds calcium, but that's all I know about it.
The Mandarins can be hard to keep alive as they usually need a lot of live food, such as pods. If you can find one that is eating frozen mysis or flake food it might have a chance, but it's usually not a fish for a new tank with little live pods to support it, especially small tanks like the RSM with a limited supply of pods in it.
Ocellaris clownfish are a great fish, Try to get them small, with one a little bit bigger. The big one will end up being female, and the smaller a male. They're all born one sex and the dominant, bigger of the two, becomes a female.
Flame angels are beautiful. I have a little one in my 9 gallon tank, waiting to go in the RSM when my Foxface gets too big. There is a chance that the small angel fish will eat coral polyps, but if fed well most folks don't seem to have that problem.
Algae blennys are a great fish too, and very comical, but will need algae to do well. They usually are put in once you have green algae growing, or you can hopefully get them to eat dried algae, spirulina flakes, plus a regular flake food. I recently lost mine after over a year. It either had an internal parasite problem, or starved as I no longer had any algae growing in the tank, and it wouldn't eat dried algae or algae disks. But, it's a great fish to have, and enjoyable to watch.
I have a spotted/pajama cardinal, and the Kauderns is probably a good choice also.
On the other fish - I have no idea. Have you considered a Yellow Watchman Goby. Pretty little fish.
On the skimmer - are you getting any skimmate into the cup? Any brown buildup in the neck of the cup or top of the skimmer chamber below the cup?
Reefmack - I know the Dragonets can be hard to keep.
I will try to find one that is eating on different food than pods.
I saw a Flame Angelfish last saturday at a lfs, that is one gorgeous fish. Unfortunatley, we do not see them very often and the prices can be up to $100.00USD for a medium size.
Skimmer is working good, It start to put some foam on the colection cup, and also has a brownish buildup at the top of the skimmer body.
So I guess thats a good thing.
I've been trying to get as much information about the fishes an coral I can get online, but I guess is time to go and buy some books and stop asking so many dumb questions. :lol:
BTW, The alge is not growing as fast as it did a week ago.
I will try to find one that is eating on different food than pods.
I saw a Flame Angelfish last saturday at a lfs, that is one gorgeous fish. Unfortunatley, we do not see them very often and the prices can be up to $100.00USD for a medium size.
Skimmer is working good, It start to put some foam on the colection cup, and also has a brownish buildup at the top of the skimmer body.
So I guess thats a good thing.
I've been trying to get as much information about the fishes an coral I can get online, but I guess is time to go and buy some books and stop asking so many dumb questions. :lol:
BTW, The alge is not growing as fast as it did a week ago.
Reefmack
In Memoriam
brycek I had a CPR Aquafuge for a while, but due to not enough space behind the tank I had it on the righ side of the RSM (my raised hood allowed). It was great for growing chaeto and raising pods and even had what looked like small mysis shrimp show up in the thing. But, after a while it became covered in coralline and was pretty unsightly and not easy to keep clean. If you can hang it in back it's a good thing - you won't see how ugly it gets LOL! :lol: Glad the pump stopped squealing.
Arreola I often look at the coral & fish information on liveaquaria.com - It's a pretty good place to get some quick information on care requirements, etc. for different types of fish, corals, and inverts.
Arreola I often look at the coral & fish information on liveaquaria.com - It's a pretty good place to get some quick information on care requirements, etc. for different types of fish, corals, and inverts.
snake plissken
New member
+1
yeah mandarins are very difficult to keep. some folks do have good luck but only in a very well established tank . adding them to a new tank is never a good idea.
very picky eaters. i would LOVE to have one...very high on my wish list...but i also know i cant keep it alive in my one year old RSM
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