Bitten by the reef bug again: RSM 130

kvans

kvans

Joined
21 Jul 2014
Posts
123
Reaction score
9
Location
Cape Town
After a few years with no marine tank running due to moving house, life, etc. My partner and I decided to once again get one up and running, but this time were going smaller as the maintenance on our previous tank was just too much hassle.

Managed to grab a great already setup and stocked AIO deal from the For Sale section thanks @rincewind98

Tank: RSM 130D
Lighting: 4x 24w t5
Skimmer: Tunze 9002
Return: ViaAqua 300A & Sobo-3300 (1700l/h)
Flow: Jebao RW-8
Includes a DIY media rack

About 14kg of Caribsea life rock
10kg red sea reef base aragonite

Live Stock:

Pair of clowns
Radiant Wrasse
Coral banded shrimp
Nassarius snail

Corals:

Pulsing xenia
Gsp
Mushrooms
Two leather corals
Kenya tree
Toadstool leather
Small zoa colony

Tank was moved from sellers and setup as is at my place. Pic of the current setup

IMG-20220110-WA0023.jpeg


Unfortunately the overflow comb was missing, currently using a plastic square cut from a ice-cream to control the water level in the display. But after searching online I found a 3d print file for a replacement and its currently being printed (PETG) by a friend, hope it fits!

IMG-20220110-WA0027.jpg


Having previously run a tank with a dedicated sump, I've been having some issues adapting to this new tank.

1) Water level in back chamber

This is driving me nuts, according to the user manual the water level should be about two points from the top of the water level window on the side of the tank, but this doesn't make sense to me in terms of keeping a consistent level in the tank. (see image). In my opinion the water level should be at the height of the baffle so that the water level only drops in the final pump chamber? The recommended optimal level and the baffle level are not the same from what I can see.

Anyone running this tank, please let me know where you are keeping your levels at

1641980801143.png
1641980911957.png


2) Lighting

I'm looking to purchase some new t5 blubs, the ATI ones are just too expensive, but I've seen some ReefTek ones that are a much better price. Anyone with experience with these bulbs? and which combination should I be using?

3) Media Rack

I'm unsure what options are best here, currently running a filterpad on top, followed by a bag of purigen. Others who have a similar setup - what are you using?

4) Next steps

The tank has quite a lot of cyno currently as well as what's looks to be green hair algae. This weekend I plan to setup the tank properly as I didn't have enough time to do it upon receiving the tank and was worried about the livestock.

1) Make a whole new batch of sea water
2) Drain water and place live stock in temp holding tank
3) Remove live rock, rinse off as much cyno as possible and place in temp holding tank
3) Completely drain tank, remove and rinse sand
4) Scrub tank clean, clean components
5) Setup power center properly
6) Glue live rock pieces into final placement positions using reef putty
7) Place cleaned sand back, place live rock back, fill tank with half old water - half new water, scape tank as needed
8) Return livestock back to display.

Hope this wont be too stressful for the critters!
 
Hope you enjoy it @kvans!There are quite a few threads on here with members rsm130d tanks. Otherwise nano reef.com, reefcentral and reef2reef are good places to browse for advice and build ideas!
 
That sounds like to much work. I'm a chemical guy. The more chemicals i can try the happier i get....lol
I would leave the tank and just dose chemiclean or eurithromycin. It will sort out the cyano quick quick
Once that is gone then do the waterchange and start the new battle with the gha.

Last year or the year before i had a cyano outbreak and gha problem. I dosed eurithromycin and in the same breath flucanozole for the gha. But i have a 750l tank. Not sure how your tank will behave if you do both at once.
 
Spent most of Saturday working on the tank, decided to go the long route and clean everything as apposed to adding chemicals.

First stop was the beach to pick up some new NSW, I used this water in my previous tanks for years with no issues, so I've decided to continue doing this, plus its free.

Once I got home I siphoned as much cyno as I could off the rocks and disposed of the dirty water, then I removed the rocks and corals and fish and placed into a large plastic tub, lastly I removed the sand into a separate container.

Once the tank was completely empty I went in and scraped off all the algae and cyno from the walls and rinsed the tank with fresh RO.

My partner and I then moved onto the corals and live rock, each of them was gently swished to try and remove any remining cyno and placed back into the holding tub. The sand was rinsed mutiple times until the water was clear and placed back into the tank.

I then filled the tank about half way and scaped the live rock, once scape was complete I filled the tank with fresh NSW and turned on all the pumps and other equipment.

After about an hour I added back the corals and livestock once the temp had reached 26.

233804


Corals all seemed happy and opened within 10 minutes of being added back, fish also seem fine.

Unfortunately the 3D printed overflow comb didn't fit - the design was way off. Instead I cut a piece of black PETG plastic into the correct shape and glued an old magnetic mount to the piece. I now have a fixed overflow comb that doesn't pop off whenever the pumps are shut down for feeding.

Gonna give the tank a week to settle in and maybe do another water change this coming weekend if the cyno looks like its coming back.
Also waiting for payday so I can go and pickup a new set of testing kits as well as a replacement pump for my Tunze ATU.

Still having trouble with where the water levels should be, but I'm sure ill figure it out with some trial and error
Also my Tunze 9002 skimmer only seems to have two modes - Crazy wet overflowing skimmate or nothing. This is another trial and error one which I'm sure ill get after some playing around.
 
It's looking good @kvans!I found that with the tunze 9002 the water level had to be just right otherwise it was temperamental. Try playing around with different levels doing small incremental changes and see if it doesn't help?
 
rincewind98 said:
It's looking good @kvans!I found that with the tunze 9002 the water level had to be just right otherwise it was temperamental. Try playing around with different levels doing small incremental changes and see if it doesn't help?
Click to expand...

Thanks so much! really loving the being back in the hobby. I suspected as much, will keep trying until I find that sweet spot
 
Looks like a completely different tank! Love the new scape, can’t wait to see how it progresses
 
Matt said:
Looks amazing! Did you do the 3D printing?
Click to expand...
Thanks Matt!

No I didn't, I asked a friend to print one for me. Unfortunately the design was flawed and it didn't fit. I've instead cut a black piece of plastic and its held in-place with a old magnet. Will try again in the future to modify the print to fit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom