My Red Sea Max 130

[Rattzreef]

I recently picked up a used Red Sea Max 130D 34 gallon AIO from a coworker who decided to get out of saltwater and sold me all his stuff. It was a little dirty and needed a few pieces of upgraded equipment but its all there including skimmer and doesn't leak. I did order the upgraded Red Sea pump since the two originals were recalled and both failed on him a few months ago and he lost most of his fish (the main reason he is getting out of the hobby). I did rehome his fish for him which were a 5"blue hippo and 12 years old clownfish. The tang went to a LFS but I kept the clown and purchased a second one. I figure I'll set this up as an anemone/clown tank. The two are currently in QT for the next 4-6 weeks being treated with copper and are doing fantastic. I plan on ordering a new heater this week to replace the one it came with. Also, I installed my Tunze Nano ATO in the back chamber. I added about 20# of dry sand that I rinsed out really well a few times to rid it of any fine particles and the like. The tank came along with about 15-20# of LR that I dried out for 2 weeks then hosed down to get rid of all the red colored algae that appeared to be all over it. Then I placed it in a tote in my garage with a heater and powerhead for the next few weeks to cure.

 

[Rattzreef]

A pic of the clowns

The tank came with a Cree LED mod with 12 LEDs Ill see how much I like these over the next few months. I may decide on better lighting down the road for an anemone I think an XR15 would fit well in this canopy.
I don't know how the skimmer on these perform but I see a lot of people have change to the Tunze 9001 a9002 skimmer in these tanks on YouTube. Perhaps that will be an upgrade in the future. until now though this light is perfect for fish.. I don't plan on adding an anemone for quite some time anyway

 

[408Dartfish]

Looks great cleaned up nice.

 

[Rattzreef]

yeah it was a little crusty when I first got it. but it was cheap.. LOL a few small scratches but I'm not gonna complain. when its filled most of practically disappear anyways.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looking good! So how many tanks do you have set up now?

 

[Rattzreef]

Looking good! So how many tanks do you have set up now?

Just two, the 29 and now the 34g.. well I do have a 10g QT also.. does that count as one also? Lol I have a 20g tall tank I was planning on setting up for a coral/ invert QT.
I guess one of the perks of buying my own home is that now I can have multiple tanks without the worry of having to tear them down to move again, which has been the issues for the last 10 years I've been keeping saltwater.

 

[Rattzreef]

 

[NY_Caveman]

Just two, the 29 and now the 34g.. well I do have a 10g QT also.. does that count as one also? Lol I have a 20g tall tank I was planning on setting up for a coral/ on her QT.
I guess one of the perks of buying my own home is that now I can have multiple tanks without the worry of having to tear them down to move again, which has been the issues for the last 10 years I've been keeping saltwater.

Owning a home does that. I am thinking of a third tank in the basement. I thought a 45 gallon would be doable, but in my head it already seems too full. LOL.

And yes, you have three tanks. Think of it this way, three potential big mop jobs.

 

[Rattzreef]

Thankfully none of these have sumps or it could be much worse disaster wise.. the only way they can overfill is if the auto top offs get stuck on or tank failure. I think my Tunze has an internal timer to preven't that.

 

[Rattzreef]

New reef goodies came today from BRS. Also decided on a small "bommie" style aquascape.. This IS a Red Sea tank after all. LOL I like a minimalistic look. Plus I want some LPS like a platygyra or another dragon soul favia.. I do miss that coral..

 

[Rattzreef]

I've been dosing Coppersafe in my QT since last week and slowly adding small doses each day. I started with 1.5ml for the first 4 days and 2ml on day 5-6. I was having difficulty with accurately judging the color phase of the API test kits so I decided to pick up the Hanna HR Copper tester. I did a 4g water change this last Sunday and added 2ml to the change water. Upon doing my first test with the Hanna I got a reading of .81. A little lower than I was anticipating but I figured I was well under what was recommended. I added 4ml and tested again a few hours later and got 1.6 reading. I did pose a question on Humble's Copper thread regarding the findings and it was suggested that I was possibly getting some absorption(month and a half old bag of GAC in HOB) and to test again today to either verify or disprove the theory. I ran another test this afternoon and got a 1.64ppm reading. So it would seem that I'm not getting any absorption issues and am within the dosage range necessary So I can start the 30 day clock.. I'll dose 1ml more and order more test packets this weekend.. the kit only comes with six but you can buy 25 for $10.
Their tank should be cycled properly by then.. I'm gonna pick up a bottle of Biospira this weekend and dose Ammonia for a week or two to kickstart the bacteria population.. I've always had great success doing things this way. I'm thinking I'd like to try getting pods from somewhere like AlgaeBarn. Has anyone dealt with them in the past? how was the experience?

 

[Rattzreef]

I decided too leave the lights off in the tank for the majority of the cycle.. The LEDS kick out no heat but I want to keep unwanted algae as long as I can.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I have used AlgaeBarn for Copepods, Phytoplankton and Clean Chaetomorpha. Satisfied with all purchases.

 

[Rattzreef]

I added a bottle of bacteria to the tank yesterday to get the cycle going and added about 100 drops of Dr. Tims Ammonium Chloride solution to the water. Then I did a NH3 test a few hours later to confirm it was at least 2ppm, which it was. I'll test again periodically to monitor the reduction in their and keep track of the cycle. I'm excited to see fish in the tank.

I was pretty surprised to come across a few online sources that still have parts and accessories for this tank.. in-Tank in particular has all kinds of accessories available for the 130D. I ordered their custom media basket for the back chamber and removed the stock skimmer.. It's overly loud and puts a ton of micro bubbles out but I see the Tunze 9001 fits in the chamber along side the basket so that may be a future upgrade as well. The Finnex heater I purchased for it is working well and the temp difference is on;y about 2.5 degrees off according to my inferred temp gun. I have been leaving the lights off most of the day and only put them on to observe how things are doing. My hope is that no light the first month will keep some of the early stage algae at bay.
I placed an order for more Copper Tests for my Hanna and got some Poly-filter to remove the copper from the QT after the 30 days are up.. I ran a copper test yesterday and got a reading of 1.54ppm. Lower than the previous days test so I decided to remove the carbon in the HOB filter and added about2 ml of Coppersafe as well as 5ml of the new bacteria that I added to the 130D for a little extra boost. Tested at 1.73ppm a few hours later. I'll test again tonight and see where things sit.
Hope everyone has a great Sunday and happy reefing.

 

[Rattzreef]

Ammonia tested 0ppm today. Not bad. the live bacteria I added on Saturday were able to process 2ppm ammonia that I added on Sunday. My media basket from In-tank should be here tomorrow in the mail. Otherwise all is well..