Red Sea Max Owners Club

[Reefmack]

Arreola

to Reef Central and our RSM Owners Club! It looks like you're off to a good start and the rock looks great!

Is the rock you put in fully cured? If not any die-off on the rock will start generating ammonia, then nitrites and then finally nitrates. If you don't have them already you'll need test kits for those 3 things. If your rock is fully cured you may need to throw in a clean dead shrimp and that will start your cycle. You want something to increase the nitrogen cycle bacteria, and a dead shrimp is more practical than putting fish in to do this. After ammonia is being generated, other bacteria will multiply to convert the ammonia to nitrites, and eventually other bacteria will convert nitrites to nitrates. What you want is to end up with 0 ammonia and nitrites, and some amount of nitrates. Maybe you know all this already.

You rock looks very nice - is it stable, so that it won't fall down once you start trying to attach corals? I may be incorrect, but some of the rocks look like they are balanced on other and may fall off later? Just trying to be helpful, not criticize

 

[Reefmack]

Scraper & Lamp Comparison

Scraper & Lamp Comparison

Here's the before & after picture of 2 changes.

The first pic is before using the Aqua Medic razor scraper on the heavy coralline on the back & sides. It's also with my previous Current 20k 150 W HQI lamp (about 7 months old):

After using the razor blade scraper, and after putting in a new 150W HQI lamp - this time a Blueline 14k. The light is much brighter, and "whiter". I really like the look - it reminds me a lot of the original RSM lights. As I said above the 6 inch Aqua Medic is too wide to get the area to the right of the gate. I guess I could have removed the gate, but elected to order a heavy duty, long handle, small razor blade scraper from Ebay. That'll also let me get into a tight spot in the back corner of the left side.

To me, everything looks so much better without a layer of pink in the background.

 

[Arreola]

Reefmack Thank you for the advise.
The rock is fullky cured, and the placement are indeed one on the top of the other, but they have plenyt of support, I will put some weight on the top of the structure to be sure I can place the corales without problems.

About the water, seems that the Amonia and Nitrate levels are being increased, while the Nitrite has not changed much along with the PH.

Other thing I'm worried about is the water temperature, this afternoon was at 80° F :mad2:, Time to start looking for a solution.

I am going to pay attention in how the things evolve and do what you recommend about the dead shrimp.

BTW: Any criticism is well apreciated, if I'm doing things the wrong way and nobody tell me. How would I know how to correct this mistakes?

Regards
Arreola

 

[Reefmack]

Arreola - if your ammonia is still increasing I don't think you need the dead shrimp. You already have something in the tank generating ammonia. Even if the rock was fully cured you may have still had some die-off on it, resulting in the ammonia, nitrites & nitrates being generated. In my opinion just let the cycle continue as is - until you see the ammonia & nitrites get to zero. Nitrates are the end product of the cycle, and you already have those being created, so just keep testing until you see the ammonia & nitrite disappear. By the way - a temperature of 80F is OK. If it keeps increasing up to the mid 80s then you need to chill the tank. Do you have the little cooling fan in the back left side? You can also open that skimmer flap in back to get some heat released from under the hood.

 

[Arreola]

Reefmack - I had the fan installed but some how I forgot to plug the cord, I will see how the water temperature change with this little fan.

Also I might forgot to mention that there is a sumersible pump on the tank. Its conected to a PVC pipe with some small holes pinting in different directions with 1" (+ -) separation all arround the bottom. It has one extra pipe in the middle and one at the right side of the tank going up.
The idea is to have more water movement and promote the copepods proliferation. You can see he pipe on the picture at the back right corner of the tank.
It might me heating a little more than I would likt to.

Here are some pics

 

[martinphillip03]

Re: Scraper & Lamp Comparison

Re: Scraper & Lamp Comparison

Your tank looks nice. I like the 14K look better. It will be interesting to see if your corals grow any quicker.

Marty

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12985261#post12985261 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefmack
Here's the before & after picture of 2 changes.

The first pic is before using the Aqua Medic razor scraper on the heavy coralline on the back & sides. It's also with my previous Current 20k 150 W HQI lamp (about 7 months old):

After using the razor blade scraper, and after putting in a new 150W HQI lamp - this time a Blueline 14k. The light is much brighter, and "whiter". I really like the look - it reminds me a lot of the original RSM lights. As I said above the 6 inch Aqua Medic is too wide to get the area to the right of the gate. I guess I could have removed the gate, but elected to order a heavy duty, long handle, small razor blade scraper from Ebay. That'll also let me get into a tight spot in the back corner of the left side.

To me, everything looks so much better without a layer of pink in the background.

 

[Reefmack]

Arreaola - that pump idea and piping are very interesting. Nice modification! Is the pump in a location that you can easily get at it if it needs to be serviced/fixed? I like the idea of the extra flow locations.

Marty thanks! The tank looks totally different with the new 14k and a lot of coralline gone. I'm not sure if it's because of the new HQI bulb, or because so much "pink" has been removed from the sides & back - maybe both. I'm really anxious to get my new smaller razor scrapers to get the rest of the coralline off. It really increases the visibility of the corals without that overwhelming pink background!

 

[Arreola]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12987184#post12987184 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefmack
Arreaola - that pump idea and piping are very interesting. Nice modification! Is the pump in a location that you can easily get at it if it needs to be serviced/fixed? I like the idea of the extra flow locations.

Yes sr!! You can have easy access to the pump, Just have to remove the 3 top rocks and you have all the space needed for service / replace the pump.
Glad you like the concept.


My water keeps getting hotter, now is arround 87° F.
I will turn off the sumersible pump to see how much affect the temp.

 

[Reefmack]

Arreola - 87F is getting much too high for most life in the tank. Can you afford to buy a chiller? It sounds like you will need one! Keep that back flap open and maybe raise the main hood. Do you have a fan you can have blow over the water surface? That should help, but it will increase the amount of evaporation that you will need to make up for with RO/DI or distilled water. It looks like you're going to need a chiller, especially if the room the tank is in gets warm/hot.

 

[Arreola]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12987465#post12987465 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefmack
Arreola - 87F is getting much too high for most life in the tank. Can you afford to buy a chiller? It sounds like you will need one! Keep that back flap open and maybe raise the main hood. Do you have a fan you can have blow over the water surface? That should help, but it will increase the amount of evaporation that you will need to make up for with RO/DI or distilled water. It looks like you're going to need a chiller, especially if the room the tank is in gets warm/hot.

I don't think my wife will apreciate a fan blowing in the middle of our studio.
The room temp is at 68°, so My best guess is tha the pump is gererating way too much heat along wih the lamps.
About the chiller, do you have any brand/ model that you can recommend?
I will talk to the store owner that sold me the pump to see if there is possible to change the pump for one that do not generate too much heat.

Thank you agian
Arreola.

 

[rob911]

I am back after being away for along time. My tank went a month with nothing other than occasional RO/DI water additions and feeding about every 3 days by my wife. Went I finally came home after fighting fire all over California for 32 days straight my glass was covered in pink corralline but all is well.

It has been six months and I think it is probably time to replace the stock lighting. Any advice on where and what to get to replace the stock lighting and keep the stock hood.

Also my water temp is 84 to 85 which I think is probably too high so I have ordered a chiller ( the 1/15th HP Prime Mini Inline).

Nice to see not much has changed and the group seems to be doing well. I am really happy about the minimal maintenance and health of my tank. One of my emerald crabs got huge though and I think I may have to trade him back as he is getting too big for the tank.

 

[martinphillip03]

Why don't you unplug the pump and see what temperature your tank runs at.

Marty

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12988217#post12988217 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Arreola
I don't think my wife will apreciate a fan blowing in the middle of our studio.
The room temp is at 68°, so My best guess is tha the pump is gererating way too much heat along wih the lamps.
About the chiller, do you have any brand/ model that you can recommend?
I will talk to the store owner that sold me the pump to see if there is possible to change the pump for one that do not generate too much heat.

Thank you agian
Arreola.

 

[Arreola]

The tank has been running lights offf or about an hour.
The Temp still very high (87°F).
I will turn off the pump for 24 hours and see the results.
Thank you.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12988455#post12988455 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by martinphillip03
Why don't you unplug the pump and see what temperature your tank runs at.

Marty

 

[MPeer]

I am currently running a clip-on fan over the top of the tank. It, along with the stock fans, have kept my temperature at an average of 82.5 F during the day and 81 at night. If you're waiting to purchase a chiller, I recommend a clip-on fan for the time being. It's pretty inexpensive at around $8 at Wally World.

Of course, you have to compensate for the evaporative cooling with topping off with RO water.

 

[Reefmack]

Arreola - I don't use a chiller, but most here seem to use a Prime Mini - 1/15 or 1/10 hp chiller. If you expect to have heat problems the 1/10 hp might be best (rather than wishing you had got the larger one). Other brands are available - I'm not sure what you have available in Israel. Let us know what you saw after unplugging that pump - I would think with keeping the room at 68F you wouldn't need a chiller, unless that pump is generating a lot of heat.

 

[Timberwerks]

Where is the RSM made?

 

[Reefmack]

I've heard it's made in Israel, but I'm not sure if that's where it was originally designed, or if they are all produced there and then shipped to their global branches.

 

[Arreola]

Reefmack - I Live in Mexico City, and the price for a 1/10 HP Chiller is arround 700USD. So not an option at this time.

Aaron Peer - A small fan can be useful, but to lower 10 + degrees, I do not think it would make that much difference.


Last night I turned off the pump and after 12 hours without the pump and light the temperature got to 77°F. time to change the pump.
I will be checking the temp in an hourly basis, to see how the temperature change during the day with the lights on and the pump off.
Tomorrow, I will get a timer attached to the pump and check how much heat is gererated in a 6hr on x 1 off hour.

Can Any one suggest a sumersile pumo brand that does not generate much heat?

Regards
Arreola

 

[Brent F]

I added a clip on fan over an open top tank and the temperature dropped from 81 to 76. The downside is my evaporation went up by over a gallon a day.

Evaporation is very effective for pulling heat out of water.

 

[Reefmack]

Arreola my apologies - I somehow got you mixed up in my mind with ilcop - another new joiner to the club. I'll blame my mistake on my old age It does sound like the cause of the heat may be the pump. Run your day long test with the lights on, but no pump on, and let us know how that goes. I'll have to let someone else recommend a lower heat pump - I don't know enough to recommend one. What kind of gph flow are you wanting and what is the name & flow of the pump you have now? That might help someone else make a recommendation.