Chris' RSM C130 BUILD

[Fastcroc]

So I'm about 32 days into my zeovit based 130 build. Figured I'd start posting some pictures of what has been going on so others can follow along. Current list of the setup follows:

Equipment
RSM C130 Tank/stand
25lbs live rock
25lbs caribsea seaflor special grade reef sand (dry)
MP10QD
Tunze osmolator nano 3152
Phosban 150 reactor for zeolites
Success sync rate silent 0.5 (for reactor)
Aquamaxx WS-1 needle wheel protein skimmer
10 gallon tank in the stand for my AT0 reservoir
Rapid led diy kit (UV, lime, blue, royal blue, neutral white, and cool white)
Bluefish mini controller

Livestock

2 ORA Black Ocellaris clowns
Six line wrasse
Lawnmower blenny

Red plating monti cap
Green/blue encrusting monti
Red/green war coral
Skittles favia
Multiple zoas (fire and ice, rastas, green hornets and a few other named pieces)
Rock anemone
Acans (rainbow and purple/green)
Birdsnest (pink, green, and sour apple)
Purple stylo
ORA Red planet acro
Blue Cali tort acro
Orange Monti digi
Green slimer acro
Highlighter yellow millie
Random pastel green acro
Random reddish with green base acro

I might be missing stuff but this should be a good start. Pictures coming next!

[Fastcroc]

Time to sit and wait. Hardest part of a reef tank imo.

[Fastcroc]

Here is a pic of inside the stand where the phosban 150 hangs out on the side of my ato reservoir. +1 to Red sea for the cable management/power strip inside the stand. kinda wish it was mounted to the top and in the back tho so its not in the way so much. was a pain getting the 10 gallon tank in there. I still need to get a lid for it too. The lights are from rapid led (thanks Mike) and i couldn't be happier!! I decided to go with a 5 channel setup using the bluefish mini controller. I still haven't built my box for the power supply, coralux 5up board, and bluefish mini card yet so when that gets done Ill put up some more pictures of the installed product. If I could find someone in the Virginia Beach area with a PAR meter I'd like to get some readings soon too and see where i'm at.

[Fastcroc]

Here are a few pictures of the corals from this week. Going to try and keep current pictures to monitor growth while the tank matures.

[Fastcroc]

continued...

[Fastcroc]

last few for now.

[Fastcroc]

Here is the most recent FTS!

[BarryV]

Very nice tank, thanks for sharing.
Barry

[Quiverfull]

How do you like your Aquamaxx WS-1? I am thinking of putting one on my 37g Oceanic, sps only. I would go in my 20 gallon sump but I only have room for a 5 x 9 inch footprint. Heard good things about this skimmer and thought I would ask someone who actually is using it now. Thanks for your response.

[Fastcroc]

I like it, I was constantly adjusting it to begin with trying to get the perfect skim and eventually realized I was putting too much thought into it. I have it set at a good level and empty it about twice a week, usually clean on Sundays. It pulls some absolutely nasty stuff from my water, smells horrible. If I had to do it over again I would buy the same skimmer. Two thumbs up!

[bitwise]

Very nice start. What are you doing to replenish alk / cal? Are you doing anything to supplement mag?

[Fastcroc]

I'm balling with the Tropic Marin a b c, will soon be buying a jebao doser cause I'm tired of doing it manually haha

[educa]

Fastcroc, is there a reason why you didn't use the stock protein skimmer in the rsm c-130 ?

It is delivered by default with the aquarium.

Kind regards,
Bart

[Fastcroc]

Yeah the stock skimmer wouldn't act right for me. Couldn't get it to break in for some reason and all of the suggestions from red sea and other users on the forms didn't help out. I gave up and bought a really nice product from Aquamaxx

[educa]

Did it continue to overflow and so ?

I have the same problem (if your problem was also continuesly overflowing)

[Amatuer21]

Cool tank rock work!!

[Fastcroc]

Yeah it wouldn't stop overflowing. I tried the plastic restriction valve almost closed to the point that no air would get thru and it would still overflow. I gave up. Pump moved too much water and not enough air it seemed. I still have mine in the closet, wonder what it would do on my established tank now?

[Fastcroc]

Cool tank rock work!!

Thanks! I'll get some more recent pictures posted as well, just bought a few really nice corals from the MAMAS show here in Virginia Beach last weekend.

[educa]

And where did you mount the Aquamaxx WS-1 in the rear sump ? care to make a pic or describe it?

[Fastcroc]

i removed the stock skimmer in the back chamber on the left hand side (if standing in front of the tank). its just a tad too wide to sit where the stock skimmer fit so it just kinda hangs out on a portion of that glass ledge/shelf in there, and then i used one of the stock filter sponges as a wedge to hold it straight up. ill take a picture and get it posted in a few for you to better understand my crazy explanation.

[Fastcroc]

So here are two pics of the tank, its in the middle of reconstruction. I'm moving some frags around and have a ton of them just hanging out in the sand bed. Still trying to decide where some things should go.

[Fastcroc]

These are a few of the pieces I picked up over the weekend. Jason fox mille, JF boston bean monti digi, a forest fire monti digi, a sweet rainbow monti, and some frog in a blender monti spongodes. Nice picks from the show yes or no??

[Fastcroc]

Here is a view of the back chamber in the tank, maybe this will be more useful than my description haha.

[Fastcroc]

Here are a few more corals that I've had a while, they are just some better pictures of them. In one pic its a carpet anemone and the other pic has my nice birdsnest and a random green acro.

[Fastcroc]

growth is great from my red planet but the green isn't there really...makes me sad.

[Morfishlee]

I'm in VA beach. Hrrc.us is the local reef club. They have a par meter for club use.

[Fastcroc]

Hey there! yeah I'm a member on there too, I don't get on very often tho. I've heard that with leds, par meters can sometimes be a little inaccurate. I talked to a guy and taught me alot about my chips and gave me a recommendation to ditch my 10 cree NW and CW leds and replace them with 2 Bridgelux 90CRI 4000K Vero 10 chips. I'll be running them on a meanwell ldd-350h board. Hopefully this will solve my washed out colors issue!! Just placed the driver and 2 chips on order so they should be here middle of next week...will update progress soon!!