hello all,

i just ordered the red sea max 34gallon tanks with the stand, i currently have a 30 gallon tank, but becuase i dont have room for a sump a refuigum i ahve all my equipment hanging on the back, and my two year old keeps on managing to get near it, so for the sake of safety and my sanity i decided on the 34 gallon red sea.

so the 30 gallon i ahve had a for a few months now and things seem to ahve been prospering well in there, i used the nutriwater, only because i ahve no room for a ro system as my apt is small enough to make me issues with that, and my wife doesnt want to see any more equipment, i ahve had my water tested at my lfs a few times i found a great one here in brooklyn and they have been very helpful, and as i am told by them all my elments and levels ar eperfect for my current tank.

i dont wat to start a whole cycle again, so i ws thinking of transferring the wate overfrom my 30 gallon tank and just get another bottle of the nutriwater and add that in, i ahve a whole cleaning crew and live rock the three original pieces o live rock i bought at the first lfs i went to i regret keeping the tank as its ugly and not showing any signs of making any progress, its basically all white im told that is not that bad but please advise, ia hve about 25lbs of live rock now so i want to get a fw more pieces and then make a nice setup in there so it can look nice, and id appreciate anyones input

the fish i currently have are way to big for what i ahve and im going to ask my lfs if they want to take it form me so i can get proper size fish for my tank is i can add coals etc.. if anyone here lives in ny and would want the fish just let me knowand id b more than happy to pass it on,

i posted my 30 gallon tank on ebay with all the equipment that i bought for it, i spent so much money but i gotta bite the ullet lets see what happens, again if anyone here would like to purchase any of the equipment or all of them just let me know.

i want to make a really nice system with a few clowns and damsles and have some really nice live rock and coal, and would love for anyones input here, as i see everyone here really has alot of knowledge, i know time will be the key factr here, but i ahve one good thing going for me i think is the fact that my 30 gallon water is already cycled so that will definitly help.

im sure over time there will be alot of questions and evyone here seems to be very helpful so please let me know what im doing right and what i am doing wrong.

thanks very much

If you're going to get more rock, I'd go ahead and do it now so it can cure in an established system before the move. A couple of pounds of additional rock shouldn't upset your current system, even if there is a little die off on them. I think using your current water and topping off with fresh saltwater will be fine.

Look forward to watching your progress. What gear are you selling?

eheim pro 2 canister filter,
protein skimmer i think its a remora hang on back,
power head simple one
heater the visitherm one i think,


those are the main items

also, i will hopefully ost some pics of my current tank tonight and of the new one when it comes and i move everything over

How exciting, a new Red Sea Max! Moving everything should be fine but you will have to closely monitor your water parameters as you may have a small cycle. Have extra water on hand to do a water change if the ammonia or nitrites go above zero.

I would suggest that you buy your own test kits. First, in an "emergency" you may need to know what the tank parameters are right now. Second, consistency is important and you don't really want your tank bouncing from the top of the safe range to the bottom. Yet, if the LFS is just telling you that your tank is "perfect" you don't know if it is fluctuating or not. You need to know what the numbers are. Third, even if they are giving you the numbers, in a situation like this where you need to test daily it is a pain to have to go to the LFS.

I agree the color on the rock does not affect it's ability as a biological filter. What lights do you have on the tank now? To get coralline growth you need something stronger than the basic fluorescent strip light.

the red sea max comes with a started kit that has a test system there otherwisei would have ordered one alread.

as for the live rock, i just nee some advise should i put the ones that i originally got that is basically all white at this point into my new tank or just get new ones.

as for lighting i ahve now a coralife 50/50 sytem 24 inch light. which seems to be doing the job. but so is what i know right now

thanks

i make this for the red sea max if you like to get one

Custume sumps (http://marinedesignsystems.com/csumps.aspx)

You will appreciate having your own test kits. It will make life more convenient for you. I know that it goes with out saying but keep them up from your little one as the reagents could be poisonous.

If I had a toddler and an aquarium I would consider adding a lock to the stand where I stored my test kits, additives and foods or keeping them on a high shelf. I have read many accounts of tanks getting wiped out from a child dumping in a whole can of food or additives. I would also recommend not storing a cleaning magnet in the tank. One of my friends has scratches on his 125 from his 6 year old deciding to use the Mag Float.

I would use the rock that you have. It should be full of good bacteria and if you start over you will loose all of that. You could add some rock that is more colorful and it will help color up the rock that you already have. The Coralife is a CF fixture and should grow coralline with no problem.

so, i did alot of reaserch in the past 2 days, except for when the giants kicked but yesterday woohoo!!!

and the main problem i had was that my three fish were huge, and that has been rectified, by bringing them to my lfs and getting a credit for them,

instead of adding fish i added some corals, as you can see in the pictures, and they seem to be happy in the tank so far, the big mushroom one im still not sure of the location but for now, till my new 34gallon tank comes in it will remian there, so now ia hev no fish, just 4 corals and lots of live rock.

the parameters of my tabk so far are as follows,

ph 7.8
temp 78
amonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite 25 which i need to lower
calcium 400
salinity 1.025

let me know what you guys think

You will enjoy the corals but you do need to get the nitrates down. Corals are more sensitive to nitrate than fish. I would do a series of water changes until they fall to <10 and preferably zero.

i shall do that, i changed the water today after the test so hopefully that will help.

The smaller bio-load will help by decreasing the waste products going into the tank and water changes will help by diluting what remains.

that is what he was telling me in the lfs, the guy was very nice, he couldnt test it on the spot, so he called me up afterwards and spoke to me for a while, and told me to keep on adding coral over time, and wait about two or three months before i add any fish, is he correct in saying this?

also, what coral do you guys suggest i put in there and how often?

thanks

I would wait to do anything else until you get the new tank. After you have it set up and stabilized you could add herbivores (snails mostly but ask about types some are not herbivores) to eat up the inevitable algae, other soft corals like xenia, leathers and mushrooms and appropriate size fish.

I have read quite a bit about letting nature take its course in your tank and not trying to add things out of order or too fast. With this philosophy you build your tank up slowly, progressing from simple organisms to more complex over the course of a few months. I will do this the next time I set a tank up.

i have a cleaning crewin my tank for a while now, so they will move over to the new tank, and yes i will wait till i gte my new tank to add anything else, and make sure it stable.

thanks

Hi

I am also new to a Red Sea Max. We purchased one about a month ago and all seems to be cycling well so far. You have provided some great info here. Thanks for that.

Have the live rock and cleaning crew all doing their jobs but was curious about water changes.

How often should I be doing a water change?

The LFS has tested the water and all is going well. I tried using the test kit that came with the unit and was not the most successful. I will keep trying on that to learn what I am doing.

thanks

Denise

Hi Denise and :welcome: to TR.

Do you know what the water parameters are? Keep on working on learning the testing parts. The kits can be a little difficult to read but usually the directions are pretty straight forward. I change 4 - 5 gallons of water a week in my nano.

Thanks for the Welcome and information.

I shall endeavour to get the hang of the kits. Is there a particular kit recommended or should I continue to use the Red Sea Max kit?

cheers
Denise

Hi Denise, Welcome to TR.

I'm not familiar with the test kits that come with the Red Sea Max but, many kits are hard to decipher or inaccurate. It's better for your learning curve if you get reliable test kits and do the testing yourself. Using a LFS for testing your water just isn't reliable enough. Salifert brand kits are regarded as being user friendly and accurate.

I see you are in FL. We live near Vero Beach, where in FL are you guys?

Dick

Hi Dick

Thanks for the welcome - I am now searching the web for the Salifert test kits. I am really enjoying our saltwater tanks and the entire learning experience.

We live in West Melbourne - not far away from Vero

cheers
Denise

OMG, we're like...neighbors :rotfl:

Seriously, are you aware of The Brevard Area Reef Society (BARS)? An informal group of reefers that meet in someones home every month. Good group of people, frag swaps and sales, no "club" structure, no dues. Just good times.

You'll have to take a trip South to my place some time. Would love to meet you guys.

Dick

hey
a trip south is definitely on the cards soon now!!! thanks for the heads up about BARS

cheers
denise

Denice,

Here's the BARS web address - Brevard Area Reef Society (http://www.reefers.org/) - sign up (free) and check when/where the next meeting is. I'm Amphibious there, too.

Hope to see you soon at a BARS meeting or call ahead if you want to come here.

Dick

Denise, I have API, Salifert, and SeaChem test kits. I only have one SeaChem, the ReefStatu Magnesium kit and and I like it a lot. It is more like a laboratory test. The Salifert kits are easy to use and seem to give good results. I bought the API set of pH, NH3, NO2 and NO3 when I started back in reefkeeping and think they are fine too.