Anne's 65g RSM Reef

Well I went from a year-old nano cube to a 65gallon RedSea Max about a month ago. I just got the rest of the rock I needed to create a better aquascape yesterday, and finished it up last night. Currently there are 2 oscellaris clownfish, 1 Red Sea Sailfin Tang, 1 Powder Blue Tang, and 1 Yellow-Eyed Tang. For now the only "decorative" inverts I have are a peppermint shrimp, a cleaner shrimp, and a RBTA. Obviously there is a CUC and some nice corals, many of which are from awesome people around here. Thanks everyone for your help and contributions! :)


Full Tank Shot


Red Sea Sailfin Tang


Anemone Crab


Cleaner Shrimp


Peppermint Shrimp


Red Bubble Tip Anemone


Red Acan


Blue Candy Cane Coral


Red Candy Cane Coral


Hammer Coral-Green Tip/Pink Stem


Torch Coral


Watermelon Zoanthids


Pink Birdsnest, Zoanthids, and Green Montipora Capricornis


View the Full Album Here





Edited by Ann_A - January 03 2014 at 7:05pm

I love mine so far, although the protein skimmer doesn't seem to adjust well for me; it's either foaming so bad that it's sucking water out of the tank and overflowing within 5 minutes, or it's not foaming at all. I'm probably going to through some other skimmer in, or convert that space into a refugium, haven't decided which though.

griffith wrote: Sweet! I too just set up a Red Sea Max 250 two weeks ago and love it. Linn

Awesome!

Have you had trouble adjusting your skimmer? If not, I'd like some advice to see if I can get mine to work better.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I did move 30lbs of rock, lots of corals, and the 2 clowns over from a 28 gallon nano cube, but I guess that really isn't enough of a bioload for the skimmer to start pulling stuff out of the water.

I recently lost the Powder Blue and Yellow Eye to ich, but the Sailfin is making a great recovery. I don't think the clowns were affected by the ich, and they're still doing great, so I'm not worried.

I've also acquired a bit more coral, and changed the aquascaping slighting. I will try to post pics later.

Oh, and the skimmer is now working great, so I guess I did just need to wait a little longer.

Yesterday I installed an AquaUV 15 watt UV sterilizer using the accessory kit, and just plumbing it using the return pump. I'm hoping to add a media reactor and chiller into this line soon. Since feeding using garlic to feed, the ich is all but gone from the Sailfin, but the clowns have a little bit on them, although it has decreased over the past few days since I added a cleaner wrasse. I've also collected a few more corals over the past little while, as well as a large green bubble tip anemone that I got today. I'll be posting new pictures tomorrow, which will also be added to my original album on photobucket located here.

Edited by Ann_A - February 26 2012 at 8:44pm

The cleaner shots are so cool. Great lookin tank.

I uploaded over 300 new photos to the photobucket album today, so if you want to see more of the tank, there's lots more here.
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Feeding Schedule:
Frozen Mysis Shrimp (target feed corals)
Pellet Food 2 days
Frozen Cyclopeeze (target feed corals)
Pellet Food 2 days


Current Parameters:
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5ppm
Phosphates 0ppm
Ph 8.0
Day Temperature 79-80F
Night Temperature 77-78F
Specific Gravity 1.025
Calcium 480ppm
Alk/dKh 7.9


I have also stopped running the skimmer over the last 3 days since it was adding a ton of heat to my tank, and even with the cooling fans running my daytime temperature was a good 84F. I already know that I am going to need a chiller, come summer. That will be plumbed in line with the UV sterilizer, and hopefully a carbon reactor.

DLindquist wrote: While the pump for the skimmer may run a little warm, it should not be heating up your tank. If it is really contributing that much heat to the system- there may be something wrong with the pump. I would also venture to say you should be able to get by without a chiller. I am running 400G, almost 1600W of light and currently four 250W heaters. With two fans in the display, my temp has not risen above 77.5. Just a thought as a chiller and operating costs will add up.

Ok, thanks. I'll have to look into that, and what might be causing it to heat the water so much. I know the heater is not the issue here, since I didn't run it for almost a month to see if it was causing the rise in temperature, and the temperature was still high. I really don't want to have to get a chiller since they are so expensive, so thank you for pointing this out.

Haha. Thanks. I got them under those names, so thats probably why.

edit; fixed the labeling above

Edited by Ann_A - February 26 2012 at 8:45pm

Just tested my water tonight, after doing a water change a few days ago...

Specific Gravity 1.025
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 5ppm
Phosphate 0ppm
Ph 7.9
Calcium 410ppm
dKH 14

I know the KH is high, and I'm working on that. Other than that, the tank is doing great and is progressing quite nicely. I have noticed a little cyano in a corner of the tank, and after readjusting the return nozzles it has since decreased, and flow looks to be very nice throughout the tank.

Edited by Ann_A - March 05 2012 at 9:50am