David's First Reef- Red Sea Max S500

[David_CO]

 

[blaxsun]

Stop teasing already and get it setup!

 

[David_CO]

Stop teasing already and get it setup!

soon. my red sea dealer called me and said red sea decided the S500 needs a different fitting that will get shipped out this week. I set the rollermat in the sump to see how everything is laid out and the first thing I noticed is that the inlet runs almost directly above the media rack horizontally. It's kind of in the way. I wouldnt be surprised if its a 90 degree fitting so the flex tube can come in from the top. Other than that it seems well built and easy to maintain. Only complaint so far is the flex tube is shorter then it should be in a S500, there wouldnt be enough tube to cut the emergency overflow as they want you to do in the directions. I wasnt planning on cutting the emergency overview anyway so it doesnt affect me but I can see how some people might not be happy. The max S line seems to have suffered from engineering decision more than other reefers in regards to the reefmat.

The S400 cant take a reefmat at all and the s500 can only take the smaller one where IMO the large size would be more in alignment with water volume.

In other news the tank has been cycling along for about 2.5 weeks now. Ammonia is 0 and Nitrates are about 10. I just need to do a water change to bump my salinity then the clowns and CUC will go in from QT. I also threw in some pods. I ordered from Algae Barn and it was baiscally DOA so I grabbed some reef nutrition tiggers which were bottled 3 days prior to me picking them up from my LFS which is nice.

I picked up a baby hippo tang this weekend who is living in another QT tank I setup thats had been cycling for ~50 days. Probably not the best stocking decision as he will outgrow a 120G display but I figure I have a few yrs and knowing me i'll be upgraded by then anyway. He is eating like a pig but is very skittish. He has some white bump on his face not sure what it is but i'll continue to monitor. I've started to dose copper power and will work up to 2.5ppm over the next day or two.

pods not dirty glass

 

[David_CO]

so the lil blue tang in the above tang ended up dying within 3 days of going into QT. Within hrs of going to 1.0 of copper power from .5 he was struggling, I changed the water but he didnt recover. I dont know for sure it was the copper but was not a fun start to my QT process. Verified the copper levels 3-4 times with my hanna checker so idk what to really think. I took a water sample to the LFS I bought him from and they gave me credit and I picked up another blue tang who was much bigger ~3 inches or so. He came from a tank teardown the same day and I was able to speak with the guy who gave me confidence to throw him in my display directly. He's done well for over a week now.

The blue tang swims around at high speed like a psycho all day and eats like a pig. I put my clowns in today that have been in QT for a long while now. The tang initially tried to bully them, he's like 10x bigger but shortly after he was hiding in a cave lol. As i type this he is still swimming in and out of his sleeping cave, he's normally in bed 10 mins before the lights go out.

he sleeps in a terrible spot and i'm thinking i'll need to block it at some point, I feel like he is going to get stuck any day now.

I also picked up a v3 plank autofeeder and I love this thing after I sorted the apex code. I have the plank run for 20 seconds every 4 hrs during the lights on period. The pump starts with a 3 min delay then runs for 5 mins. the 3 mins allows the food to hydrate without the risk of getting blown down the pipe then floating straight to the top. I searched around to find code so if someone in the future comes across this is how you do it.

Plank

Fallback OFF
OSC 120:00/000:20/119:40 Then ON
If Time 21:30 to 09:59 Then OFF

Plank Pump

Fallback OFF
OSC 123:00/005:00/112:00 Then ON
If Time 21:30 to 09:59 Then OFF

the purple tang is very skittish and doesnt move around the 20G long QT much but he is eating well and otherwise seems okay. The "white spot" is on the glass its not on him.

yesterday I picked up a royal gramma, diamond goby and melanurus wrasse who are happily in QT together. the tentative plan is to get a good stocking of fish in the display before the purple tang goes in.

I also installed my reefmat and without even having a roll in this thing its a total PITA for S500 owners. the pre-terminated side that screws into the rollermat leaked like crazy. I took it apart and it had ZERO sealant, major QC over site. I ended up using the sealant that came with the mat and its really ugly and still drips a drop every 6 seconds or so. I'll be going to my LFS tomorrow to get red sea to send me a new one. Also when you cut the main overflow you have to go above the sump line, there is no room to put pvc cutters in the pipe below the glass line. I was not willing to completely detach the overflow and cut it. Even with cutting above the sump its nearly impossible to cut the pvc with a normal scissor style pvc cutter. I ended up using one of those cable saw things that put a bunch of plastic into my sump which wasnt too bad to get out. I wish i had cut the pipe even higher up because the union is putting pressure on the back glass of the sump. Below you will also see the part red sea sent me to make the included hardware work with the reefmat on my tank, without this piece the reefmat will not work with Red Sea Max S line tanks without additional hardware/modifications!

I'm also not thrilled with how close the reefmat motor is to my sump. if the sump overflows this thing will 100% get wet. there is not enough room to put the motor on the other side of the unit in the Max S 500 sump.

 

[MECOMI]

so the lil blue tang in the above tang ended up dying within 3 days of going into QT. Within hrs of going to 1.0 of copper power from .5 he was struggling, I changed the water but he didnt recover. I dont know for sure it was the copper but was not a fun start to my QT process. Verified the copper levels 3-4 times with my hanna checker so idk what to really think. I took a water sample to the LFS I bought him from and they gave me credit and I picked up another blue tang who was much bigger ~3 inches or so. He came from a tank teardown the same day and I was able to speak with the guy who gave me confidence to throw him in my display directly. He's done well for over a week now.

The blue tang swims around at high speed like a psycho all day and eats like a pig. I put my clowns in today that have been in QT for a long while now. The tang initially tried to bully them, he's like 10x bigger but shortly after he was hiding in a cave lol. As i type this he is still swimming in and out of his sleeping cave, he's normally in bed 10 mins before the lights go out.

he sleeps in a terrible spot and i'm thinking i'll need to block it at some point, I feel like he is going to get stuck any day now.

I also picked up a v3 plank autofeeder and I love this thing after I sorted the apex code. I have the plank run for 20 seconds every 4 hrs during the lights on period. The pump starts with a 3 min delay then runs for 5 mins. the 3 mins allows the food to hydrate without the risk of getting blown down the pipe then floating straight to the top. I searched around to find code so if someone in the future comes across this is how you do it.

Plank

Fallback OFF
OSC 120:00/000:20/119:40 Then ON
If Time 21:30 to 09:59 Then OFF

Plank Pump

Fallback OFF
OSC 123:00/005:00/112:00 Then ON
If Time 21:30 to 09:59 Then OFF

the purple tang is very skittish and doesnt move around the 20G long QT much but he is eating well and otherwise seems okay. The "white spot" is on the glass its not on him.

yesterday I picked up a royal gramma, diamond goby and melanurus wrasse who are happily in QT together. the tentative plan is to get a good stocking of fish in the display before the purple tang goes in.

I also installed my reefmat and without even having a roll in this thing its a total PITA for S500 owners. the pre-terminated side that screws into the rollermat leaked like crazy. I took it apart and it had ZERO sealant, major QC over site. I ended up using the sealant that came with the mat and its really ugly and still drips a drop every 6 seconds or so. I'll be going to my LFS tomorrow to get red sea to send me a new one. Also when you cut the main overflow you have to go above the sump line, there is no room to put pvc cutters in the pipe below the glass line. I was not willing to completely detach the overflow and cut it. Even with cutting above the sump its nearly impossible to cut the pvc with a normal scissor style pvc cutter. I ended up using one of those cable saw things that put a bunch of plastic into my sump which wasnt too bad to get out. I wish i had cut the pipe even higher up because the union is putting pressure on the back glass of the sump. Below you will also see the part red sea sent me to make the included hardware work with the reefmat on my tank, without this piece the reefmat will not work with Red Sea Max S line tanks without additional hardware/modifications!

I'm also not thrilled with how close the reefmat motor is to my sump. if the sump overflows this thing will 100% get wet. there is not enough room to put the motor on the other side of the unit in the Max S 500 sump.

I booted up my second hand S-500 about a year ago and have definitely found some limitations for new technology in the sump compartment. The glass sump is great and has worked well but there is not a lot of wiggle room. Sorry about the fish loss, so many mysteries in this hobby.

Enjoy the process!

B-Kind

 

[Wyz1981]

so the lil blue tang in the above tang ended up dying within 3 days of going into QT. Within hrs of going to 1.0 of copper power from .5 he was struggling, I changed the water but he didnt recover. I dont know for sure it was the copper but was not a fun start to my QT process. Verified the copper levels 3-4 times with my hanna checker so idk what to really think. I took a water sample to the LFS I bought him from and they gave me credit and I picked up another blue tang who was much bigger ~3 inches or so. He came from a tank teardown the same day and I was able to speak with the guy who gave me confidence to throw him in my display directly. He's done well for over a week now.

The blue tang swims around at high speed like a psycho all day and eats like a pig. I put my clowns in today that have been in QT for a long while now. The tang initially tried to bully them, he's like 10x bigger but shortly after he was hiding in a cave lol. As i type this he is still swimming in and out of his sleeping cave, he's normally in bed 10 mins before the lights go out.

he sleeps in a terrible spot and i'm thinking i'll need to block it at some point, I feel like he is going to get stuck any day now.

I also picked up a v3 plank autofeeder and I love this thing after I sorted the apex code. I have the plank run for 20 seconds every 4 hrs during the lights on period. The pump starts with a 3 min delay then runs for 5 mins. the 3 mins allows the food to hydrate without the risk of getting blown down the pipe then floating straight to the top. I searched around to find code so if someone in the future comes across this is how you do it.

Plank

Fallback OFF
OSC 120:00/000:20/119:40 Then ON
If Time 21:30 to 09:59 Then OFF

Plank Pump

Fallback OFF
OSC 123:00/005:00/112:00 Then ON
If Time 21:30 to 09:59 Then OFF

the purple tang is very skittish and doesnt move around the 20G long QT much but he is eating well and otherwise seems okay. The "white spot" is on the glass its not on him.

yesterday I picked up a royal gramma, diamond goby and melanurus wrasse who are happily in QT together. the tentative plan is to get a good stocking of fish in the display before the purple tang goes in.

I also installed my reefmat and without even having a roll in this thing its a total PITA for S500 owners. the pre-terminated side that screws into the rollermat leaked like crazy. I took it apart and it had ZERO sealant, major QC over site. I ended up using the sealant that came with the mat and its really ugly and still drips a drop every 6 seconds or so. I'll be going to my LFS tomorrow to get red sea to send me a new one. Also when you cut the main overflow you have to go above the sump line, there is no room to put pvc cutters in the pipe below the glass line. I was not willing to completely detach the overflow and cut it. Even with cutting above the sump its nearly impossible to cut the pvc with a normal scissor style pvc cutter. I ended up using one of those cable saw things that put a bunch of plastic into my sump which wasnt too bad to get out. I wish i had cut the pipe even higher up because the union is putting pressure on the back glass of the sump. Below you will also see the part red sea sent me to make the included hardware work with the reefmat on my tank, without this piece the reefmat will not work with Red Sea Max S line tanks without additional hardware/modifications!

I'm also not thrilled with how close the reefmat motor is to my sump. if the sump overflows this thing will 100% get wet. there is not enough room to put the motor on the other side of the unit in the Max S 500 sump.

Looks like the nut going into the reef mat is cross threaded. Mine sealed perfectly

 

[dustinc]

Updates?