Setting Up The Red Sea Max This Week!!
 

Wish Me Luck!!! its my first Reef!

Welcome to canreef. There are a lot of knowledgeable people here to help you if you run into problems. so Just ask.
pics would be nice.

Hey Welcome to Canreef hope you enjoy what you see here its great having new people joining our board and mini ocean.

WELCOME ABOARD>....:mrgreen:

ya and HOW COULD YOU NOT POST PICTURES OF THE TANK. SHAME ON YOU:lol:

welcome to canreef:) haha with out all the helpful people on here my tank wouldnt be working half as good as it is haha if you have questions ... which you will... ask away

Welcome To Canreef!
I love my Red Sea Max 130.
Do you have any livestock plans yet?

pet squirrel?

Happy To Be Here!! cant wait! but I will confess the Coward in me has thought of turning it into Freshwater like I did with my BioCube!:redface:

What can I Say? he is adorable afterall!
 

[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...eams/howdy.jpg[/IMG]

Welcome to Canreef! The Max has everything you need built in for an awsome reef tank it would be a waste of technology to turn it into a FW tank. I have kept FW tanks my whole life and still have a 55g in my daughters room but once I went to salt water I never turned back! Just add an aragonite sand bed (if you want), fill it with salt water and start cycling. I'm sure someone near you has some live rock they could sell you at a good price. Just take your time and don't get stressed about the cycling process, all new tanks go through it. What I like best about SW is that new creatures show up all the time, even a tank with just live rock in it is interesting. So overcome your fear and you won't regret it!

No Idea as to what to put in there yet but I love mushrooms and bubble coral the tank has been sitting in my living room for weeks and I hae finally decided to start unpacking items. I will take a pic of Max as soon as I put water in it.I think I will do a test run with regular water first just to get used to how things all work.I had a few growing pains with the BioCube and now it is a fresh water tank LOL but my Angels Love it and I am happy with the way it looks,so now on to Reef I Go!!

I believe you have RSM 34gallon. It is best to replace the stock skimmer witht the tunze 9002 (stock skimmer does not work).

I started not too long ago with a 29 gallon biocube.. it isn't as hard as you may think.. as long as you take your time...

I will be doing the same with a 90 gallon that i have (converting from fresh to salt..)

I'm probably going to get the sand in with some LR and just let it sit for a few months.. then once you get used to it.. you'll (I'll) add more and more...

There is no problem adding freshwater first, if you don't add any livestock you can add the salt directly to the tank when you are ready. A few notes on this however is I would start by adding RO/DI water right from the start, get a refractometer to measure salinity (JL's sells a vertex model for under $50) and buy a good quality salt. There is much debate on what salt is best but I have heard great things about DD salt and if you get a brand with all the right parameters you won't have to start dosing supplements.

While I have to agree that the tunze 9002 is a great skimmer I wouldn't consider it necessary to change out the stock skimmer if you do regular water changes. Many people run without a skimmer at all with proper husbandry and the stock skimmer works fairly well but yes, there are better skimmers.

Good luck with the RSM. Just go slow and you will be fine.

You realize that squirrel picture might cause nightmares for some people? I for one will never be able to get that image out of my brain pan.

take your time and do lots of research every step of the way :)

There are also lots of local reefers you can visit (if they're willing & they usually are) to see their setups first-hand. If you get to Burnaby, you're welcome to come by and we'll show you our fw & sw setups & I can try to answer any questions you may still have about setting up a sw tank. Most of the local reefers I know on here & on BCA are very happy to have others come over & talk about their addiction. I'm sure you can find someone in Richmond if you don't want to travel too far.

Just a thought.

Anthony

Yikes What to Do with all these cords!!
 

You guys are great! I cant wait to see some of your set ups! Mine however looks crazy right now,I have read my directions and cant figure out how to tuck in these cords? I added extra silicone to the inside chambers (didnt do a great job gee who would have thought it would be so hard to work with that goo.Any body have pic of their cord storage?

I have the 130D and the skimmer works great the i unbder stand the skimmer from the original 130 is not so great

well if you wanna see the setups just go to the tank journals :mrgreen:, and where are the pictures shame on you

OK I think My Salt Levels are Good!
 

So I tested my levels yesterday and they needed more salt which I mixed and added more last night.Asuming I am reading the refractometer right the readings on the left is what I want level with the blue line? if that is the case thn I am at 1.025! I still think I need more sand if I want to get a JawFish in the future.I will get more sand tomorrow and give it a good cleaning and the water should be clear before I add my Live Rock on Friday. I also have to buy a test Kit,any Suggstions?
:)

If you are looking at getting a jawfish for that size of tank, I would build him an enclosure out of PVC pipe. It is essentially a small square with a small piece of pipe coming out of one side that comes out of the sand. Here is a link to the forum on how to make it.
http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/inde...053&hl=jawfish
Otherwise, you are going to have to have 3-4 inches of sand for a minimum.
As for test kits, there are 2 really good ones. I use the Salifert brand, but I know a lot of people use Elos as well.

I Cant Wait To Build That!
 

Wow That is great with the PVC pipe! Thanks for letting me know,so I can have inplace before he Live rock goes in,I will post pics as soon as I make it!

Today Is Live Rock Day!!
 

I cant wait! my Jawfish Condo is done and planted and this afternoon I add live rock! Oh How I wish I would have just one fishy in there...

People have been really nice so far but I'm warning you...new users who don't post pics get flamed hard and then BANNED =)

Having said that...I remember my first time. It's a great feeling! Welcome!

Famous last words...

You have to go slow with this hobby. Once you get your LR in there you will find some critters crawling around and sprouting up to amuse you until you can add fish.

get a damsel or chromis, to accompany you in the wait:razz:

I don't know if I'd recommend a damsel, as you will want to get them out of there before adding other livestock. Most damsels get mean, while a single chromis wouldn't typically.

What ever you do make sure you DON'T get any fish before 3 month or more.
This will give your tank some time to stabilize, also remove phosphates from day one.
You can buy things that you don't have to feed earlier then 3 month like mushrooms etc.

I promise pics soon ive just been busy planning,I will add a Cromus because I used live rock from a friends amazing tank and live sand mixed in with the arronite.My live rock has lots of good things growing on it. Pics soon I Promise!!

Hi Fraggalrock, love the excitement of a hobbyist starting out each step of the way, we need pictures and more pictures. Regards Ken

Pics Of Max!
 

OK Now we are getting somewhere! Live sand and Rock in now in and all reading are good![IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...axwithsand.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...axsandrock.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...kwithrocks.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w...arwithrock.jpg[/IMG]

The button polyps and shrooms are of the almost bulletproof variety, in case anybody is wondering. All the rock is fully cured and transported in a bucket of tank water, so little or no die off is expected. Good start Sherry and it is fun to see such newbie enthusiasm.:lol:

Anthony

All tanks show good parameters at the start. I would monitor for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates for at least a week to make sure you don't get any spikes before adding any livestock as a peace of mind. Adding cured live rock/sand is the best way to go as it cuts down cycling time a lot. Damsels and Chromis are hardy but adding them to a new tank without testing isn't ethical IMO. The tank looks great and you were lucky to get rock already covered in polyps and mushrooms! You are definetly on the way to a beautiful aquarium!