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Related Articles: Small Marine Livestocking by Bob Fenner Nano Reef Systems by Adam Jackson, It's a Small World, Pico Tanks, By Kirby Adams, Tom Walsh's Small Reefs, Moving AquariumsMarine Planning, Getting Started with a Marine Tank By Adam Blundell, MS, Marine Biotope, Marine LandscapingFishwatcher's Guides 

Yvonne Wilson’s 34 Gallon Red Sea MAX 130D System

 

By Bob Fenner

 
Small Marine Aquariums
Book 1:

Invertebrates, Algae
New Print and eBook on Amazon:
by Robert (Bob) Fenner
Small Marine Aquariums
B
ook 2:
Fishes

New Print and eBook on Amazon: by Robert (Bob) Fenner
Small Marine Aquariums
Book 3:
Systems

New Print and eBook on Amazon:
by Robert (Bob) Fenner

Yvonne and husband’s goal was simple for this Red Sea all-in-one system. Their plan was to develop a beautiful/peaceful reef habitat with live rock, corals, fish and invertebrates. As you can see and will read, they succeeded spectacularly.

 

 

Beginnings:

 

The development of this project is a story of events coming full circle; it all started when Yvonne read an article online about Nano reef systems (!). The Wilson’s at the time had no knowledge of the hobby and so decided to start small with a Nano system learning as they went. Initially they had purchased an Oceanic Biocube 29g and with the help of their cousin, Steve Revesz, who worked at Allquatics in Hamilton NJ, set the system up in their home. Steve brought the two of them to the store and introduced them to their long-time staff. He reviewed w/ them the importance in picking out healthy cured live rock for the tank; and after grabbing 30 pounds of live rock, one bag of Fiji pink live sand and 30 gallons of pre mixed salt water we went back to the house. The Wilson’s are fortunate to have a knowledgeable relation to help with setting the tank up. He further explained the cycling process, how to make up saltwater from synthetic mix Due to questions concerning their source water, Steve encouraged them to purchase their own RO/DI system. That very night they ordered a six stage RO/DI system from Bulk Reef Supply along with a refractometer. While the tank was cycling they installed the RO/DI system in the kitchen. Happily the system is in the kitchen next to the sink which makes maintenance convenient.

 

The Basics, History of the System Itself:
This is the sad part. After running the Oceanic Biocube 29G for six months the Wilson’s realized this system did not have any room for upgrades. On a sojourn to Hidden Reef in Lambertville PA and they espied a frag tank under LED lights. The colors of the corals were so amazing that they decided then and there that they wanted to get LEDs for their tank but there was no room to mount them, necessitating drilling holes in the lid to support the LEDs. Further, they wanted to add a skimmer but there was little to no room to add one let alone even a heater. One day during routine cleaning Yvonne found that the seal separating the main tank from the sump was coming apart. Water was bypassing the filter system altogether and just dumping into the sump area. This spurred her into action, going online, doing research on Nano tanks. She found many favorable write-ups re the RED SEA MAX 130D and fell in love with it. It had everything she was looking for: a skimmer, room for a heater and media bag. Also; importantly it was five gallons bigger. She purchased the 130D and when it arrived broke down the Oceanic Biocube and put all the live rock, corals and fish into a large Rubbermaid container. Then they set the RED SEA MAX up and transferred everything from the Rubbermaid container back into the RED SEA MAX 130D.

 

The basics of the RED SEA MAX 130D:
 The total volume is 34 gallons 29g for the tank and 5g for sump. The Wilson’s one has 38 pounds of live rock and they keep their salinity at 1.025. The sand bed is 50% mix of live sand and crushed coral mix at a depth of an inch and a half. The diurnal tank temperature fluctuates between 77 and 80 degrees. The tank lighting system is powered by 2 twin 55w T5 power compacts half actinic half 10,000 K white and 4 moon light blue LEDS. They’ve upgraded this lighting and augmented it with 1 blue LED stunner strip between both T5s. The light cycle for the tank is the moon light LEDS are on 24HRS. The Stunner strip runs from 12:00 P.M. to 12:01 A.M., The actinics run from 1:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M., and the 10,000K white runs from 2:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M...

 

The filtration system consists of water flowing through three media bags; one bag of carbon, one large bag of Seachem Seagel and one bag of Purigen. There is a stock turbo skimmer along with a hand full of floss that is placed right behind the sump intake to polish the water. Circulation for the tank is provided by two provided return pumps to which they’ve added one Koralia Nano 425 pump to the bottom rear of the tank to circulate water behind the live rock. The tank has an electrical power center that everything is conveniently plugged into. It is located on the right side of the tank, and each item has its own shut off switch that allows shutting off any component with ease. This is very useful during feeding, cleaning and water changes. You can turn the pumps off with a flick of a switch. For Yvonne, the best part of the tank is the hood. “The hood for this tank is like no other. It has a lid for easy access to the sump area. The front hood opens for easy feeding. Also the entire lid can open and support itself during cleaning.” This tank has be up and running for almost 7 months.

Livestock assortment:

The Wilson’s really just wanted a stress-free reef aquarium where all the fishes, corals, and invertebrates could coexist. They started off with a pair of Ocellaris Clownfish, two peppermint shrimp, one fire shrimp, a handful of Nassarius snails, and 6 real small scarlet reef hermit crabs. They spent a good deal of time going to our local LFS (Allaquatics) and talking with their staff about different corals for future purchase. After a while both found it easier to bring our smart phones into the store and just look up what they had in stock online. They found one web site, Dr.s Foster & Smith’s Liveaquaria.com to be one of the best; giving quick, accurate stats on whatever coral or fish you typed in. These statistics include details on the care level, temperament, reef compatibility, water conditions, average maximum size, diet, origin, and family of most species available in the trade. This information is very helpful as a majority of fishes on offer get too large for small systems and are overly aggressive.

 

 

The actual species involved, any notes regarding their selection:

Most of the selection was narrowed down considering max. size and temperament. A few aggressive corals were selected and placed in their own sections of the tank. (Frogspawn/Torch) 

Fishes:

2 Ocellaris Clownfish, 1 Royal Gramma Basslet, 1 Bicolor Blenny, 1 Diamond Watchman Goby, 1 Kaudern's/Banggai Cardinal, and 1 Six Line Wrasse

Cnidarians:

1 Trumpet Coral, 1 Neon Green Frogspawn Coral, 1 Torch Coral, 1 Neon Orange short tentacle Plate Coral 3", 1 Neon Green Plate 1", 1 Candy Cane Coral,

1 Acan Brain Coral of approximately 20 heads,1 Sympodium colony, 1 Green Bulb Anemone, 1 green Leather Coral, 2 Ricordea Mushrooms, Numerous red and blue Mushrooms, numerous Heteroxenia Polyps, Numerous assorted Button Polyps, 1 green Blastomussa, 1 Dendrophyllia of approx.. 7 heads.

Other Invertebrates

 3 Electric Blue Hermits, 1 Red fire Shrimp, 8 Cerith snails, 6 Nassarius snails, 1 Porcelain Anemone Crab, 7 Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs, 1 Hard Tube CoCo Worm, 1 Hawaiian feather duster, 1 Mole Crab, Copepods, amphipods, 1 peanut worm, 5 Bumble Bee Snails,

1 Electric Blue Maxima Clam 1" <Shari, there are quite a few livestock pix to sort through>

 

Maintenance Schedule:

The Wilson’s perform a 5 gallon water change every week, using Seachem Reef salt mix with water made up the day before in a 5g bucket. Yvonne explains her MO: “The day of the water change I set everything up around the tank. 1 empty 5g bucket, 1 5g bucket with fresh salt water, siphon hose, power head, turkey baster, and tooth brush. I start off by topping the tank off with RO water and shut the pumps. I then change the floss in the sump and empty and wash the skimmer collection cup. Next I use the turkey baster and blow off all the corals, polyps and live rock. I use the tooth brush to brush away any start-up of hair algae or red slime. I then run my hands through the sand a few times to kick up any large detritus. After the tank is cleaned and I have a lot of debris and detritus floating I start to siphon the water into the empty bucket. After I take the 5G out I hook up the power head and pump in the 5g of fresh salt water. After everything is said and done I turn the pumps back on and make sure both of them are pushing water out.”

 

Issues: Things You’d Change

Yvonne changed the live rock layout in the tank, moving the foundation rocks two inches away from the back of the glass to improve water circulation. As mentioned above she also placed a circulation pump at the bottom left side of the tank to help with moving water behind the rocks. The second big change for this tank was the sand, instead of using just sand she went with a 50/50 mix half live sand and half crushed coral. “This to me made a big difference when doing my weekly five gallon water change. I would be able to move the substrate around to release the detritus and the coral mix would settle fairly quickly. Also when taking the water out I would take it from the bottom to pick up all the heavy detritus and before with just sand as a substrate a lot of it would be sucked up. And of course you know the detritus is there but with the coral mix it’s just not laying on the surface, it’s hidden amongst the crushed coral.”

A zoo colony purchased introduced little slugs of concern. Sure enough these turned out to be pest Nudibranchs. They chose to treat with Coral RX purchased online, dipping all their stinging-celled life; and could not believe all the hitchhikers that came out; Brittlestars, Asterina starfish, bristleworms, Nudibranchs and Aiptasia. Following this episode when they buy any new corals we dip them in Coral RX, using the 5 gallons of old water from a water change to make a dip-mix with the Coral RX..

 

Cloze:

The odyssey of one couple’s introduction to the marine hobby; happily one of success due to their taking their time, consulting w/ good staff at local fish stores, getting useful information from a large livestock etailer’s site to aid them in putting together a compatible assortment. Important lessons to be emphasized here: Patience, planning, and getting good help are important when starting out as novices in our hobby interest.

Small Marine Aquariums
Book 1:

Invertebrates, Algae
New Print and eBook on Amazon:
by Robert (Bob) Fenner
Small Marine Aquariums
B
ook 2:
Fishes

New Print and eBook on Amazon: by Robert (Bob) Fenner
Small Marine Aquariums
Book 3:
Systems

New Print and eBook on Amazon:
by Robert (Bob) Fenner
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