OHHH! am I frustrated now. my refugium will be delivered this morning but I just got an e mail from lifereef the custom overflow box for the RSM that I ordered well the last one got dropped and broken so will have to wait till next week to have a new one built and shipped. Does anyone know of any other overflow boxes that would fit in the skimmer compartment of the RSM?
Red Sea Max Owners Club
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Reefmack
In Memoriam
Arreola I've had my 2 turbos for about 15 months and they're still doing fine and getting huge. I also have about 10 nassarius snails that are good for digging in and helping clean the substrate - don't see them pop out of the substrate till feeding time or during the night. I also recently added one fighting conch - another substrate cleaner that usually stays buried in the substrate, sifting through it. I also have a few hermit crabs, but if I could do it over I wouldn't get any hermits - they are always killing off my small snails for food and their shells. I've had better luck with an emerald crab - they don't attack my small snails, and haven't bothered anything else, but are good for cleanup and picking algae off the rocks. I have a couple Astrea and Trochus snails also - good algae eaters. The Trochus are better IMO as they can turn themselves over if they fall upside down - the Astrea snails often can't do that and end up as crab food. I once had a sand sifting star, but the tank was too new and it was short lived - these stars can starve easily once the eat everything out of the substrate. My banded serpent star does a great job of cleaning up excess food. IMO I'd avoid the spiny brittle stars as this type can catch and eat fish at night. Hope that helps. At the current time I'm guessing I have in my CUC:
2 Turbo snails
10 nassarius snails
3 Astrea snails
2 Trochus snails
1 fighting conch snail
1 serpent star
1 emerald crab
3-4 hermit crabs
brycek Take some pics as you set up and pipe in the refugium please. Are you still waiting for the Lifereef overflow box? EDIT - I guess you didn't get the Lifereef yet - bummer on them dropping the one they made for you. I'm not sure what other ones may fit in the back - probably none unless you want to cut that plastic off the back. If it was me I'd wait for the Lifereef. Could you post a pic of the refugium when you get it?
2 Turbo snails
10 nassarius snails
3 Astrea snails
2 Trochus snails
1 fighting conch snail
1 serpent star
1 emerald crab
3-4 hermit crabs
brycek Take some pics as you set up and pipe in the refugium please. Are you still waiting for the Lifereef overflow box? EDIT - I guess you didn't get the Lifereef yet - bummer on them dropping the one they made for you. I'm not sure what other ones may fit in the back - probably none unless you want to cut that plastic off the back. If it was me I'd wait for the Lifereef. Could you post a pic of the refugium when you get it?
Reefmack
In Memoriam
brycek yep - we posted at the same time, then I went back & edited my post to recognize what you said about Lifereef dropping & breaking the box. Is the fuge you have coming custom built to fit the cabinet or a stock item from someone? I've never had much luck finding one that would fit the dimensions of the cabinet, unless it was just a sump.
REEFMACK, it is a custom sump/refugium if you want to call it that I will post some pics a little later today. I bought it off of ebay but is actually made by a place in California called catalina aquarium http://www.catalinaaquarium.com/index.php. I don't have the dimension right now but will post them a little later with the pics. I got the set up for $200 shipped to my door which included the sump/fuge, 10lbs of mineral mud a return pump, overflow box, refugium light and a directional return flow nozzle set up. Now it was not supposed to include a protein skimmer but there was one also included in the 2 box shipment. Skimmer and venturi pump. Since it will now be atleast a week before I get my overflow from lifereef I am trying to figure out what to do in the mean time, it looks like the overflow box is to big and not deep enough to go in the back of the RSM, I guess I could put it in front with the lid flipped up? and get everything initially up and running.
Reefmack
In Memoriam
brycek - I checked out the link and sent them a question on the dimensions. I'm guessing it may be the size of a 10 gallon tank, but hard to tell. If you set it up in front you'll have to move everything when the Lifereef arrives - that might be a pain. I have an overflow and wet/dry sump that I haven't set up yet, but I can almost guarantee that you'll have to mount it on the front glass - there's that little bracket on the sides of the RSM hood that is unfortunately placed in a spot that would require that the hinge on one side would have to be cut off to mount the box on the side. I'd advise that you wait for the Lifereef unless you want the fuge sitting in front of the tank for a while? I'll be interested in seeing how you set it all up once you get everything. With the setup I have (sump + a larger autofill ATO container) it won't really fit in the cabinet and allow access to everything, so it has to go on the side of the tank. I'd much rather have something in the cabinet.
REEFMACK the dimension are 20"L x 8"W x 12"H. I do not have the totem cabinet. I have a wrought iron legged stand with a stone top that I have my RSM on. I will be putting the sump underneath it. Not the most aesthetically pleasing with the sump underneath but is what I will work with for now. So putting the overflow box on front for a week wouldn't be a major deal am planning on just plumbing with vinyl tubing for now, would have the tubing off the skimmer box and the return would be running to the back of the rsm through the opening for the chiller. My biggest reason for wanting to get it up and running is that I am still fighting this algae outbreak and am hoping this will help.
Have a question.... I am setting up this sump/refugium that I got today and was reading the directions on the carib-sea mineral mud it suggest adding a "cap" of 1/2 to 1" of live or dry aragonite sand. Do I really need to do that? It isn't a big deal I have a bucket of about 50+ pounds just sitting around. Since my lifereef overflow won't get here till sometime next week now I thought I would atleast get this thing all set up with the mud/sand? live rock and some chaeto and just put a powerhead in to circulate the water.
Reefmack
In Memoriam
brycek - I think the cap is to keep the mud from getting stirred up too easily - the stuff is pretty messy otherwise.
Shiveley Great to hear from you. I still have the Tunze, but when I lost the airscrew into my rocks and they were out of stock for a few weeks I got a Remora HOB and have been running it since. I still want to get the 9002 in one of these days, or into a sump maybe. I hope all is well with you. Still have the RSM or not?
Shiveley Great to hear from you. I still have the Tunze, but when I lost the airscrew into my rocks and they were out of stock for a few weeks I got a Remora HOB and have been running it since. I still want to get the 9002 in one of these days, or into a sump maybe. I hope all is well with you. Still have the RSM or not?
Reefmack
In Memoriam
brycek - the link worked - looks like a nice fuge. Good luck with it. Don't trust the overflow too much though - unless it will self start the siphon after a power outage, like the Lifereef will.
On posting, here's a link to a previous post with some older instructions on using Photobucket (free) to post images - part way down this page. The look of Photobucket has changed a bit, but the instructions should still help you figure it out:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1201445&perpage=25&pagenumber=8
Most folks use photobucket. Easy once you get the hang of it.
On posting, here's a link to a previous post with some older instructions on using Photobucket (free) to post images - part way down this page. The look of Photobucket has changed a bit, but the instructions should still help you figure it out:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1201445&perpage=25&pagenumber=8
Most folks use photobucket. Easy once you get the hang of it.
REEFMACK, thanks for the help on the pictures will try some here in a few. I am not going to be using that overflow box. I have decided to wait till the lifereef gets here. So now I have an overflow box and a protein skimmer they shipped with it by mistake for sale, guess I will put them up on ebay.
Looks like photbucket is down hard. Will try it later on.I want to get some photos up of my anemone that split last night. I have to add some more salt to my water I was making up thought I had enough for the last 5 gallons and was only able to get it to 1.014 so I had to run to the store.
trapper125
New member
Due to people looking at adding to/ upgrading the stock RSM lights I took it upon myself to do a serious mod. Hope you like it. It has been posted in the DIY section so I will link to it here.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1450445
-Trapper
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1450445
-Trapper
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