RSM 650S for Office

[fusilier]

Hello Everyone,

I've got the Saltwater bug and decided to add a tank to my office. Decided with the Red Sea Max line for its appearance, non-wood construction and size (fit perfectly in the space I have in the office). Its also appears to be a solid unit after a few upgrades but is a great start and fast to get setup.

I've been reading online alot in the last few months about all the accessory requirements.

I have a RO system setup in the office bathroom which will feed the RSM Auto Fill Sump via a Tunze 8555.

For control, I have an Apex Gold setup. Want to use Dosing control. Light control will be to a StevesLED RSM upgrade kit which I am putting in right now along with the 0-10V to PWM control. I'll keep the eight T5s in the RSM housing on the manual timer for peak daylight output until i'm 100% sure the LEDs are giving the coral what they need. The LEDs can do dawn/dusk and Lunar cycles. But I know the lights that came with the RSM are good healthy full spectrum its just they heat up the water a tonne.

The Apex will also control two Tunze 6095s in additional to the 4 powerheads in the RSM. I'm concerned about the heat deneration from the 6 powerheads. Don't want to add a chiller If I don't have to. I can unhook two RSM powerheads and use them for my planned waterchange setup

So this leads me to my questions. For water changes I plan on running a pump controlled by the Apex in the RSM's Glass sump through a check valve into the sink drain.

To refill the tank, I will need to install a saltwater mixing tank somewhere in the office thats filled up via a second Tunze 8555. I'll throw in a pump on a recirc to mix and a heater.. The size of that tank is a matter of what fits and that might effect the frequency of the water change and the percentage. Ideally its under a desk countertop.

1. Are there are places in Austin that sells Tanks suitable for this application? Preferably 30-50 gallons HPDE in a low height (sub 28" tall) Square tank? IF it has a large lid so I can insert the pump that would be better.?

2. For a 150 gallon tank with a few hard corals and medium fish load what would you guys recommend for the water change amount and frequency?

3. What is a good Bio Filter to use in the sump? The RSM comes with an Okayish Skimmer,(C-skim 1800) 2 socks and some carbon packs. There's plenty of room in the sump for Cheato or Biomass.

Thoughts?
James B.

Tarrytown

[jolt]

In my experience most hdpe tanks are drop shipped from a manufacturer and take 6-8 weeks. You could try calling tank depot in austin to see if they have something in stock. Alternatively, Tractor Supply has a 35 gallon leg-style tank that might work for you. And they have it in stock. Google: Tractor Supply leg style storage tank 35 gal

[fusilier]

Yes that is what I have found, and the cost of shipping exceeds the cost of the tank! Didn't realize Tank Depot has an Austin branch.. That might work well.

Thanks!

J

[fusilier]

So I got the 50G RO water tank from Tank Supply out on Hwy 620. Many thanks for that.

I have installed the StevesLED lights into the RSM lighting hood and have them working on the Apex Neptune controller.

Here they are installed in the RSM extruded aluminum center section. The 0-10V to PWM controller board is in there and I sealed the electronics up with Potting compound.

I'm still going to use the Plastic cover to prevent any saltwater splashing up into the assemply. The Lights are vented via two holes drilled in the top of the aluminum which exhaust the hot air.

So far the light colors are the default Steve's LED they recommend for hard corals. Very bright. The power supply makes considerable noise when running at full power.

Here's a general pic to compar with sunlight outside.

Very blinding.

The LED element back in the light array. The Four 5' long T5 bulbs in each side array are still functional.

[fusilier]

Started working on the Aquascape.

I'm using some Tonga Shelf rock and Fiji Rock.

Decided to anchor it with Cut up Milk Crate and zip ties and then bond it with Hydraulic Cement from Lowes and Crushed Oyster Shell from Tractor Supply.

Here is a few of the mockups.

[fusilier]

Corner Construction of the Tonga Shelf nearly construction. As the tank if really visible from the front and left side, I decided to do a corner piece that gives height and depth while maximizing swimming area.

Its built in two interlocking pieces that nestle together. Built the lower piece then laid down plastic wrap, then built the upper piece so they interlock.

The top shelf will be about 6" to 7" below top of water. I'll grind the backsides near smooth and set into the tank with a tiny dab of silicon to the glass

[fusilier]

You could try calling tank depot in austin to see if they have something in stock.

Jolt,

thanks for heads up on the tank.

Working perfectly.. Got Salt and RODI water mixing with a Eheim Recirc/Transfer pump inside the tank.

Put a 1/4" John Guest ball valve on the side and two 5/8" barbed bulkheads at each end.

The 1/4" RODI line continues to the Autofill of the Red Sea Max via the Tunze Solenoid. its all starting to take shape.

[fusilier]

Some good progress the last few days. Added the reef inserts in 5 different sections of interlocking stacking concrete and coral. Added some live sand and started to fill with 1.025 Saltwater from the mixing Tank. I didn't wash the sand so the water is cloudy (Doh).

Then mounted the Tunze autofill and filled the reservior with RODI water. Mixed up another 50Gallons of Saltwater and filled it, then another 50 gallons, etc. No hurry as I want to run this a few weeks anyways to get the fans and such setup before I add any living multi-cell creature to it.

While all that was going on, I Mounted all the electronics on the side of one compartment and kept room for a chiller in case I need. Rigged up some LED light strips. Threw my extra rock in the sump and fired the thing up.

Couple of observations so far.

The 4 powerheads+2 Tunze 6095 + return pump really creates alot of flow in the tank. The flow if not correct will dig in and create ruts in the sand bed down to the glass so thats going to take alot of adjusting. But I don't think Im going to have any dead spots.

Main pump & SKimmer work.. Hard to say if its going to work well with the fish load. The plumbing for the tank is a bit strange, The skimmer is fed off the main pump return which means the water has already passed through the sump. Then the skimmer dumps back into the sump.. So it loops, I'll probably go with this for awhile to see how it works. It reminds me alot of how fuel tank pre-filtering works where excess fuel is circulated back to the tank maintaining a constant pressure on the rail, in this case the return line to the tank.

Inside this cloudy haze is a pretty cool looking Reefscape. Cell Phone made the image alot more blue than it actually is. The Red Sea Max is very quiet in its as is operation. The Tunze 6095s are louder than the main tank, especially when they pulse on/off. I have the 6 T5 bulbs that came with it and the Steve's LED setup down the center. I like the LEDs but the 24V power supply fan from Steve is Way too loud. Its like a crappy hi speed 60mm fan from 10 years ago technology. I'll have to take it apart and install a lower speed whisper quiet higher CFM fan.

Now I need to setup the 4 sensors for the Apex and the dosing. This is 100% new so I hope I dont screw that up somehow.

[fusilier]

Water has cleared up nicely in a few hours.

[FarmerTy]

I like all the negative space you have in the aquascape!

[LarryD]

How tall is you stand because while I think the Aquascape looks awesome and you will probably get some neat interactions with fish in it, I would be worried about filling up the flat shelves with coral and then not having a good view of it.

[fusilier]

Hello, i didn't want to over rock the aquarium. I snorkel a bit and find the open sandy area a nice contrast with the rock formations. It also creates a dynamic. I don't know maybe it's the architect in me, but cantilevered rock and horizontal lines give it some nice proportions. I created multiple caves on the lower levels and the tonga rock is porous so it'll make nice light shadows through. The caves have holes in the roof for cleaning. I'll take more photos.

Regarding the height. Yes I snapped that photo as belt line level. I'll take a few more picture with a proper white balance and from standing eye level.

I have a tonne of questions about GFO, Refugiums, cheato.

Thanks,

James

[fusilier]

Woke up this morning and the water has cleared. one thing I noticed is that the water has exaggerated the slope of the rock by narrowing the depth of field. Thus I should have pitched everything slightly forward instead of using a bubble level. The effect is almost a 1:12 pitch to the front will be perceived as level when viewed through the glass.

Still need to break out my canon, iPad photos look horrible.

[fusilier]

So my question is about filtration before i get too far into this.

From the drains this system goes as follows:

1. into two mesh socks, don't their their seive size, but they're good capacity and seem fine mesh.

2. Then into a sump of about 25G size with fairly still water.

3. Then through about 4"x10"X2" of carbon packs (3 packs).

4. Then into the return pump.

5. The return pump powers a plenum which goes back to the tank, into the skimmer and to an optional chiller. The skimmer and chiller are fed via adjustable flow valves.

6. The skimmer skims and dumps back into the sump.

I already have some doubts about the way the skimmer bleeds off the return line.. I'll wait and see how that goes once i get a protein load on the tank. If it draws protein well, then okay.

The question I have is about the sump.

What do you guys recommend I put in the sump? I am going to run fish, soft coral and perhaps a few hard coral.

Cheato with lights and a few rocks?
Rocks only?
nothing at all and leave it a settling tank?

Something else?

Thanks

James