Used $100 Red Sea Max 130 Reef Build

[rsmbudgetbuild2024]

Hi all,

Wanted to share my new RSM 130 behind-the-bar reef tank build here.
Just started it up it’s a used RSM 130. Saw a good deal online for one and could not pass it up, $100! Worried about it holding water but all my concerns were eliminated after filling with water. Restored function in 2 of the 12v cooling fans and replaced one that was totally rusted out. Opted to use the savings on the tank for upgraded filtration to make this 34g tank feel like 40-50g to the fish .

Upgraded Filtration:
- Tunze 9001 DOC Skimmer
- Steve’s media basket (running filter floss, CPE and activated carbon)
-return chamber has Fluval ceramic rings on top of sponge
- ATO w/ 5g reservoir.
- currently dosing Seachem Reef Advantage for Calcium which is also partially dosing magnesium and strontium. Very impressed with this product. Also dosed with their reef buffer 8.3. Most likely will add fluoride and iodine dosing in to the mix as well.



Biological Filtration:
- 60lbs+ of live rock/dry rock mix
- 12lbs Carib Sea Arag live black Hawaiian reef sand
- CUC: -1 large cleaner snail nicknamed “turbo”


Livestock
- clownfish pair
- RBTA
- Hammerhead LPS
- red and green monti caps
- SPS frags
- green carpet mushroom

Day 5 (today):

really want this RBTA to host the clowns. I will try the trick of taping a picture to the glass of another clownfish pair inside an rbta to see if it works:

Eventually I want this tank to become a FOWLR quarantine tank for new live stock for a larger 90-110g in-wall tank but for now it’s a display tank.


For now will keep it as a display tank.

Excited to be here and share my build with you.

 

[Rjukan]

It looks very clean, and a good looking setup! It's not literally day 5 from when you put water in it tho, right?
Oh what kind of light is that? Such a nice looking hammer coral, I'm jealous! I've been hesitant to try one again. I'm waiting for someone local to frag theirs.

 

[rsmbudgetbuild2024]

It looks very clean, and a good looking setup! It's not literally day 5 from when you put water in it tho, right?
Oh what kind of light is that? Such a nice looking hammer coral, I'm jealous! I've been hesitant to try one again. I'm waiting for someone local to frag theirs.

thanks! Yes it’s literally day 5. I waited nearly a month for all the different upgrades to come in. The lights are the stock T5 bulbs for this tank half actinic blue half daylight each are 10K x4 total of 40K With the Tunze 9001 DOC dialed in the surface is always crystal clear. The tank cleared up by day 3 but I still expect it to become clearer over time as I still see faint cloudiness. Getting the Tunze dialed in is a different story I probably give it more attention than I should with removing skimmate and adjusting its height on the water surface.

I tested for pH, dKH, salinity , nitrate, nitrate, and ammonia everyday for 4 days.

all levels were staying consistent and dKH right at 9.0. I was confident to add livestock.

Here was day 1 & 2:

 

[Dmmz]

Nice looking tank thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

[Rjukan]

thanks! Yes it’s literally day 5. I waited nearly a month for all the different upgrades to come in. The lights are the stock T5 bulbs for this tank half actinic blue half daylight each are 10K x4 total of 40K With the Tunze 9001 DOC dialed in the surface is always crystal clear. The tank cleared up by day 3 but I still expect it to become clearer over time as I still see faint cloudiness. Getting the Tunze dialed in is a different story I probably give it more attention than I should with removing skimmate and adjusting its height on the water surface.

I tested for pH, dKH, salinity , nitrate, nitrate, and ammonia everyday for 4 days.

all levels were staying consistent and dKH right at 9.0. I was confident to add livestock.

Here was day 1 & 2:

Wild. Did you use bottled bacteria or anything? Maybe those purple rocks are established live rock already? Or are they just painted purple life rock?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[rsmbudgetbuild2024]

Wild. Did you use bottled bacteria or anything? Maybe those purple rocks are established live rock already? Or are they just painted purple life rock?

Nope, nothing like that , the most I can think of was the guy that sold me coral (had some nice pieces and bought more than I originally intended LOL) so I ended up with 2 gallons worth of water in buckets.

His system was really dialed in and despite using different brands for certain things his had nearly exact same salinity as me and was dosing for all the same things I mentioned in the OP so I figured adding the water couldn’t hurt just to help corals get better adjusted.

I have yet to setup my ATO which I have in a box in the stand under the tank.

The purple rock was advertised by my LFS as live rock and the white rock as dry rock . They used to keep their purple rock in sw tubs but now it’s all in dry tubs in presume for hitchhikers

 

[kevgib67]

Came together quickly, very nice!

 

[Rjukan]

Nope, nothing like that , the most I can think of was the guy that sold me coral (had some nice pieces and bought more than I originally intended LOL) so I ended up with 2 gallons worth of water in buckets.

His system was really dialed in and despite using different brands for certain things his had nearly exact same salinity as me and was dosing for all the same things I mentioned in the OP so I figured adding the water couldn’t hurt just to help corals get better adjusted.

I have yet to setup my ATO which I have in a box in the stand under the tank.

The purple rock was advertised by my LFS as live rock and the white rock as dry rock . They used to keep their purple rock in sw tubs but now it’s all in dry tubs in presume for hitchhikers

I mean, I really hope it continues to go as smoothly for you as it has so far! You're going against a lot of procedure with starting a new tank, and it's amazing to me that everything looks so good! Keep us posted with updates.

 

[rsmbudgetbuild2024]

I mean, I really hope it continues to go as smoothly for you as it has so far! You're going against a lot of procedure with starting a new tank, and it's amazing to me that everything looks so good! Keep us posted with updates.

Right now the biggest thing I’m trying to correct is micro bubbles in one of the return pumps. I thought I got rid of them earlier but they came back overnight. I’m reading through 10 year old threads but over time it seems like there’s a problem with the original dual pumps creating a vortex and lack anti-bubbling tech.

There is an upgrade that replaces the dual pump and promises anti-bubble tech as well.

I will keep an eye on it. For now the micro bubbles come and go and as I’m typing the post there isn’t any. And tbh I don’t mind the look of the bubbles when they come almost gives it a natural ocean like appearance.

The upgrade does look decent and the price isn’t too bad so may possibly upgrade to this :

Max 130D Circulation Pump Upgrade Kit - Red Sea

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

Also if anyone has any tips about securing this green carpet mushroom. It flys away in the place I originally wanted for it I found a hole for it but it’s mounting itself out of sight. Safe to glue these guys? I’d prefer to glue it to a small chunk of rock outside of the tank first but am lacking a small chunk of rock and don’t want to break any off the aqua scape.

Have to wait till I go to my LFS this Friday. They’re getting a shipment in that day for fish as I want to add a royal gramma and a yellowtail damsel.

Pics today day 6:

 

[Rjukan]

Right now the biggest thing I’m trying to correct is micro bubbles in one of the return pumps. I thought I got rid of them earlier but they came back overnight. I’m reading through 10 year old threads but over time it seems like there’s a problem with the original dual pumps creating a vortex and lack anti-bubbling tech.

There is an upgrade that replaces the dual pump and promises anti-bubble tech as well.

I will keep an eye on it. For now the micro bubbles come and go and as I’m typing the post there isn’t any. And tbh I don’t mind the look of the bubbles when they come almost gives it a natural ocean like appearance.

The upgrade does look decent and the price isn’t too bad so may possibly upgrade to this :

Max 130D Circulation Pump Upgrade Kit - Red Sea

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

Also if anyone has any tips about securing this green carpet mushroom. It flys away in the place I originally wanted for it I found a hole for it but it’s mounting itself out of sight. Safe to glue these guys? I’d prefer to glue it to a small chunk of rock outside of the tank first but am lacking a small chunk of rock and don’t want to break any off the aqua scape.

Have to wait till I go to my LFS this Friday. They’re getting a shipment in that day for fish as I want to add a royal gramma and a yellowtail damsel.

Pics today day 6:

Still going ok?

 

[rsmbudgetbuild2024]

Still going ok?

Added in the ATO yesterday. Very happy with how it fit , am still able to close canopy lid over top of it after slight modification.

2 days ago my skimmer stopped working properly I think. I adjusted it and it just stopped producing foam and bubbles like it normally did the 5 days before that. I could tell something was off, it wasn’t doing its thing anymore and the surface slime was increasing as a result.

Chalked it up to a defective unit probably was on the shelf for years. Started the Amazon return on it and the replacement unit comes tomorrow. For now just removing extra surface slime layer with paper towel till new one gets here and the old one is still attached and powered on despite the now-inadequate functionality.

Aside from that things seem to be going good touch wood. If all works out , I’m headed to the LFS this evening with my cousin to pick out 2 new fish. 1 of which is definitely gonna be a royal gramma. Possibly some corals.

 

[rsmbudgetbuild2024]

Added a couple new fish to the tank. Went to the LFS looking for a royal gramma and Chromis. They didn’t have any Chromis so was recommended a dwarf cb angel as an easier angel to keep.

So far I like the angel. I was hesitant at first but any of my larger colony stuff isn’t gonna taste good to him anyways after a small nip. I will start feeding him nori on a clip. He loves all the rock work and the dedicated cave that I made. Has claimed it as his own but super friendly model citizen for now touch wood.

All parameters testing good but nitrite tests a bit high at around 2ppm. I test everyday. Today I did a 25% wc and ditched the ceramic rings in the return chamber. Apparently they’re a nitrate factory and I added another bag of activated carbon there instead for now. As you can see from the photos I am getting a bit of brown/green algae growth in the rocks and back glass. My cb actually is doing a half decent job of eating algae of the glass I am surprised that they are not very recognized as a working fish I bet this fish can hold its own with lawnmower or starry Blenny.

will add some crushed live rock over top of the sponge once I get some more.

Any other tips for the nitrite and also the brown green algae on rocks? I’m considering a nice electric siphon . Fluval makes one , for the rocks during water changes. But I’m also considering progressively removing more and more of the substrate rock as the algae is unsightly. If it’s safe to siphon then I don’t mind doing it .

All other readings are good:
Salinity at 1.025
Ph 8.1
dKH 9
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 2ppm
Temp at 76F (does this affect the algae?)

I am using API saltwater master test kit and bought their KH test bottle that fits in the empty slot in the carry case.

Pics from today:

Thanks!