Red Sea Max 130 Build Log

Reefing Madness

Doing water changes everyday will not harm the bacteria growing, unless your doing 75% or higher changes.

bigehugedome

Then thats my plan and Im sticking to it.

And my answer to this next time is.................

Reefing Madness

bigehugedome

Just ripped the tank apart. Every rock came out and was sprayed, dipped in peroxide, scrubbed and rinsed and they all went back in in a big pile. My aquascape is destroyed.....and i dont feel like redoing it lol..... so for the next few days there is just a big ol pile of rubble and I will montor for any re appearence of bryopsis. I cannot find one single strand as of right now.

If all is well Ill re do the scape on sunday and do my first in a series of multiple water changes to remove the tech m and peroxide and get my parameters back to normal.

Also got a $100 gift card to my LFS today for Christmas. I want zoas soooooooooooooooooo bad :) Soon Enough!

Reefing Madness

bigehugedome

OK I have a lighting/coral thoughts/questions:

Besides the skimmer, the only other mods I would want is for the lighting. I’m not really trying to upgrade it as much as to keep harder corals (although there are users online who have had luck with SPS and clams in a stock RSM 130) but rather address three things that I want.

1. Shimmer – I love the shimmer and the T5’s do not have it. I see some (or shadows due to the surface agitation) but I would really like some more.
2. Actinics – Right now with the 50/50 Bulbs, I see no blue. The tank just looks a bright white and I really don’t like it. Plus I do not have the option to run the actinics separate from the White so there is no dusk/dawn and the corals won’t have that fluorescent look.
3. Moon Lights – The current 130 Moon lights suck. The easiest thing to do would be to add a cheap blue LED strip. I could also add more LED’s to the existing setup, but the LED Driver also powers the fans and Since I have upgraded those I’m not sure how to do the math to figure out what bulbs I should add without causing an issue.

The default setup is 2 x 55 watt 10k/Actinic bulbs t5 power compact. Thanks to my LFS I’m using 2 x 65 watts as that’s what they ran their RSM 130 with so that’s 130 total watts. I would like to add something simple to archive my three goals and keep the corals I’d like to keep.

I was looking at the exotic Panorama Pros and stunner strips as they seem like a good way for budget upgrades. I have seen various combos online but I need help deciding on which ones to go with. I don’t want the T5s to drown out whatever I buy. I was thinking a 12k/453nm Blue Pro and one 453nm Blue stunner strip. They could both run with the T5’s so that is added light for coral, shimmer and hopefully more bluish color, and the stunner can run alone before and after the main lights. There is also magenta that people seem to like in combo with the blue. I would then just find a cheap way to add moonlights

I’m basically interested in keeping things like zoas and other polyps, mushrooms, softies like Kenya trees, and maybe some LPS like trumpet and brain and frogspawn.

Reefing Madness

Sounds like a plan to me. You've thought this one out, and what you have chosen should look really good with the T-5's. I've got friends with Stunners, and they love em.

bigehugedome

Here is my new aquascape. I think Ill stick with it. The top three rocks are not as stable as I would like them to be.

Also you can see that film on the surface. I believe thats from the sand. Is that because its a dead spot?

*edit* Pics........duh!

Reefing Madness

Yea, ya got a dead spot there, looks like your overflow will get it, slowly.
BUT LOOKS GREAT!!!!!!! New, cleaned rock always looks the bomb!! =)
You can always use alittle epoxy on the bottom of the rocks to keep them in place for you, just a little will keep em from moving on you. But you can just pop em up when you want to move them.
Epoxy Stick
HoldFast Epoxy Stick

bigehugedome

Thanks, I really hope the bryopsis is gone. I started the water changes as well so the levels should be starting to get back to normal. Because of the holiday my next one will not be until new years day then I hope to do them every few days until everything is right where I want it.

I want to add a few mushrooms from my qt first before I add the clowns. What do you suggest to use to dip corals, especially when coming from the LFS? And in this case, I dont want to bring over any cyano from the QT as its still pretty nasty in there.