Let the games begin :) 130D - Yowzers so much to learn

[Hingis]

Good day fellow reefers,

Well my dream had finally come true, to own my very own tank setup, after years of procrastinating!!! Requirements, must be a small tank initially, just to make sure I can actually do this before hitting the big time, and then to be very neat and tidy, as it had to be part of the "furniture" so guests can admire it hopefully as much as I do.. So the suitable answer for me, was the amazing RSM 130D, what a beaut!!! Love this tank.

Anyway so let my journey begin ....

The tank was bought in about May this year 2014, and has certainly seen some great times and bad times... I am doing my best, but I travel a lot, so there is much catching up to do when I get back home each time giving everything a good clean..

I am taking it real slow, as there is so much to learn and I am trying to avoid the "learning the hard way story" although I have learned that already!!! Will explain later on

It was LOVE at first site!! .. That's right, just had to have it.. Could picture where it would go already!!!

Yes, just where I wanted!!! The perfect fit!!

Time for some aqua scapping... No idea what I'm doing at this point in time, but man, got to say, was one of my most favourite things at attempting to do... hehehe

Right lets see the results, of how it looks in the tank!!! Hmmmmm me likes!

My first "babies" in their new home...

Time for the first "corals" .. what a bonus!!! Scored a bubble tip in the center Mr. Venter hehehe PS... This is where the learning curve starting to kick in OVERDRIVE :auto:

Zoas opening up after a little while... Yeah they must be happy days in their new home

So story time AKA Learning curve!! , never heard of having to coral dip before inserting these babies into your new tank.. So I find some interesting lovely looking Nudi's !!!! Damn, did I learn quickly to get rid of those bad boys!! So had to move the bubble tip to do an urgent fresh water dip of the ZOAS....

So the bubble tip was placed there and ended up "walking" , cliffing hanging his way to the top... Picture to follow

The BTA, in his new location... Seems quite happy there

Woah!!! Hold the bus!!! Story time ... This little amazing coloured "beast" what a machine/terror... dammit he was a nightmare on my chromis... The whole tank dynamic changed just because of him... Was such a relaxed tank, and then could "feel" that things were kind of on "edge" after he was in place... So much so he took out my beautiful Royal Gamma.... Lesson learned... NO MORE Yellow/Blue Tail Damsels!!! In fact NO MORE DAMSELS EVER!!!

My first DIY mod to my tank... Didn't think the standard 4 led blue moonlights were bright enough, especially on the ZOAS... I could see some fluorescent on them at night with the standard setup, but I wanted them to pop more! without having to fork out huge dolleros for proper LED setup. So I did my own sortie to see if it made any difference whatsoever ... Excuse the camera pics of the before and after.. Night shots on the cellphone cameras are kuk to say the least, but hopefully you get an idea

So the mod... 2 strips of LED's to do some night time work..

The standard blue moon lights switched on that come in the lid of the RSM 130D

After with my DIY setup switched on as well.

Standard lighting of the blue moon LED's on in the tank...

The after with my LED strip lights on as well...In person, they came out amazing!!! The fluorescent just pops so amazingly well.. Even now I see fluorescent tips on the Bubble tip anemone !!! WOW!!! Great result!!


Well had my first crash about 2 weeks ago!!! So devastating... Went out and came home 5 hrs later.... Just about lost everything ... All my fish and beautiful cleaner shrimp, loved that guy!!! He had grown twice the size since I had him, and was in such good shape!!! Took me ages to figure out what went wrong and caused all my fish to die and cleaner shrimp.... Only survivers were, 2 hermit crabs, 2 turbo snails, my Zoas and BTA... It was heart wrenching having to scoop up the "babies"

Did water test on everything!!! The water was never better!!! So much frustration... all the hard work and effort.. Figured it had to be the temperature of the water, when Jozi experienced those 3 hot days in a row a couple weeks back... The temperature of the water was high and I think rose to quickly for the poor guys... So next on the list is a chiller!!! Need to find a descent one... But damn so expensive!!!

So the journey on fish will start over!! for now, have added some Pulsating Xenia, from a very nice and friendly follow forum member!!

Am going to think a little more carefully about which fish to stock going forward... Will try to keep this up to date as we go...

 

[Barlan]

Looking good man, yeah jhb heat can be a prob can look at getting a clip on fan for evoporation. Gotta open the hood though then.

When we had our RSM 130d running we needed to have the hood open pretty much all the time and even then we needed to get a chiller

GL with tank

 

[KyleJ]

Love the narration. Good luck with the new stocking

 

[Hingis]

Hehe thanks guys, going to be "using" you and your knowledge over the years for advice. @Barlan, I have hooked up the rear fan now that seems to help a bit, however it's amazing how much more evaporation there is, with the lid closed too!

 

[Hingis]

Well been a busy week, trying to get the tank up to next level standards after being away the last 2 weeks. Just before I left managed to get some pulsing xenia though from a very generous forum member WOW those things have grown like wild fire, unbelievable, they must be loving the tank, not to mention my BTA, he is a happy growing camper. Just amazed to see the pictures above when he was in the center of my Zoas and now he is on his own he is much bigger. Anyway have been dying to get some new fish after my tank crash from the temperature spike, and managed to finally get an awesome chiller for the tank. So the chiller was installed this morning and into the RSM cabinet, a little bid of modding on the cabinet has had to take place to fit the complete overkill on the chiller.. However it was bought with future planning in mind hence the overkill for this tank. Anyway here is some updated pics of the chiller installed and new livestock since my last pics.

NOTE : I am very well aware of the Tang that will outgrow my tank. He is very small at the moment and when he does outgrow it, I will trade in or swap with a fellow member when the time comes.

Current stock is now 2 clowns, Six line Wrasse and a tiny Regal Tang.

Getting all the plumbing sorted

In position, and it works

The new babies. :tt1:

Thanks for checking out my follow up.

Next mission - Try and kill those damn micro-bubbles from the skimmer!!! Driving me nuts!! :angry:

 

[tekkengal]

Looking great, I love your additions I also bought a regal when it was an itty bitty little thing with the view to sell it after it got too big. What happened instead was that hubby decided to get me a bigger tank instead for it because he got attached to the fish

For the micro bubbles, I used to add some vinegar to the air intake tube (not too much mind!) and found it used to help. The better route is to take the skimmer out and let it run in a bucket of fresh water with vinegar added to it (I used to mix about 10l water to 1l vinegar).

 

[Hingis]

Thanks @tekkengal, I think we can all appreciate the time and effort that goes into keeping these guys happy.

Thanks for the idea on the skimmer in a bucket of vinegar, I am definitely going to try that.. I have done everything else and has made no difference. So this is going to be my last resort. How is your 650 beastie coming on ?

PS: I need a hubby to get me a bigger tank for my tang when he/she grows up hehehe

 

[Hingis]

"Big Foot" this dude is a monster How big do they get?

 

[Fuzzy]

electric blue hermits are actually a dwarf species so doubt more than like 5cm or so ,really nice hermits,have three of them..

 

[Fuzzy]

loving the close up pic of it..really like these hermits ..

 

[Hingis]

electric blue hermits are actually a dwarf species so doubt more than like 5cm or so ,really nice hermits,have three of them..

Thanks Fuzzy, I got 2 of them, also like them a lot. Although the big one loves hanging around on top of my Zoas and drives me nuts.. The Zoas don't like it at all. I don't know if he is damaging them or not. I keep moving him off of them when I see it all happening.

 

[Fuzzy]

they suppose to be quite reef safe but you never know,keep an eye on it,chances are its finding food /algae in between the zoas ,but yeah with the zoas keep closing because they dont like it isnt good too.. keep an eye...

 

[Hingis]

Thanks definitely will keep a closer eye on it. Maybe he is a little underfed, so will drop a few more pellets and see if he is more satisfied and won't go hunting in my Zoas ;-)

 

[Fuzzy]

yeah try..

 

[Hingis]

Well some update picks again. Been a busy time restocking my tank. I am slowly getting some beautiful colours that's beginning to really mesmerise me some corals that has been added is, GSP, RFA, PLATE CORAL, ELEGANCE CORAL.

Shucks father Christmas is going to need to bring me a bigger tank soon

 

[TaahirS]

Nice looking tank.
What does your sixline eat?

 

[Hingis]

Thanks he is eating what ever I throw in the tank now. Was a little picky at first but now he has a fat belly after feeding sessions.. So basically frozen brine, mysis and blood worms, and pellets. Treated them to live shrimps the other day which went down well to. Haven't tried flakes yet.. Will do so when food stocks get low.

 

[TaahirS]

 

[Hingis]

Well the time has come.. The next level. Tank was getting taken over by pulsing xenia, elegance is massive, and just got the itch to get more corals and fish,... Well Ok truth be told I just wanted to upgrade to bigger Hehehe.. So I still have my 130 and it's running, perfect water parameters. Not sure to keep it running as a side tank or what, anyway for now got some stuff in there and will see how it goes. But needed a new home for the fishies hehe.. So on to the bigger brother RSM 250... New thread to follow.

 

[Hingis]

One of my last pics taken of the 130 before transferring some stuff across to the bigger brother 250.