RedSea Max "My First Tank"

[RedSeaMac]

Hello I would like to introduce myself, my name is Ethan and this is my first saltwater tank. Thanks to my brother-in-law Rob Aka "Mr. Cob", I have caught the bug… lol. After seeing his tank progress over the years... I really started to get the itch to get a tank, so… Rob and I started looking for the best newbie solution for me to start off with and I decided to go with the Red Sea Max 35g.

The RSM was an all in-one solution for me as a beginner and I have to say that I’m very happy with the tank! When I began to set up my tank, Rob and I planned out everything we were going to mod on the tank. We first started out planning what was going to be the center piece of the tank and at first I was just going to stack live rock in the middle and go from there but I did not want to do that, I wanted something a little different. So… I went and bought about 5 good pieces of base rock and we tied them together with zip ties and used pond foam to seal the cracks between the base rock. The final product turned out to be one big artificial reef, made up of 5 pieces of base rock.

Next, we made it so that the whole structure was up off of the sand. We took some plastic grating and zip tied the structure to the grate and that created a foundation for the structure to sit on, so that it never touches the sand and it creates small caves under the structure for the fish and other sea life to live in.

The next mod that was done to the tank is that we took pond foam and sprayed the whole back wall and created a rock looking wall instead of the regular glass wall, just another small detail that makes the tank not look like a tank J. My tank has been going for over 5 months now and I was very fortunate to have my brother-in-law around because he started me out with some of his water and sand that I mixed with my water and sand so it was not a hard task getting the tank ready for livestock.


Right now here is a list of what is in the tank

Live Sand
Live Rock
2 Ocellaris Anemonefish
2 Blue Chromis
1 Royal Gramma
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Yellow Shrimp Goby
1 Randall’s Shrimp Goby
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Turbo Snail
1 White Bubble Tip Anemone

Various Zoa & Paly Frags

1 Plate Coral
1 Frog Spawn (with 3 heads)

many small crabs …
many snails ...




http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782647660.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782699377.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782768364.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782816418.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782838244.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782861009.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782884034.jpg



http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782923592.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782945311.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782970809.jpg

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m138/robart1208/Ethans%20RSM%20Reef/img1235782991777.jpg

http://blackskullstudios.com/bss/pics/tank/zoa1.jpg

http://blackskullstudios.com/bss/pics/tank/zoa2.jpg

http://blackskullstudios.com/bss/pics/tank/zoa3.jpg

http://blackskullstudios.com/bss/pics/tank/tank.jpg

http://blackskullstudios.com/bss/pics/tank/frogspawn.jpg

http://blackskullstudios.com/bss/pics/tank/monty.jpg

http://blackskullstudios.com/bss/pics/tank/mushroom.jpg

http://blackskullstudios.com/bss/pics/tank/ShrimpGoby.jpg

Next Mod will be a refugium that will fit into the bottom of the RedSea Max storage cabinet


Thank You

Ethan :)

[IS250]

looks really good.

[stoneroller]

Looks great. Watch out for those "blue" protopalys they'll take over your rock!

[Mr Cob]

Looks good bro! I love the clown shot and goby towards the end. Your coralline has really taken off!!!

Welocome to MAAST!!!

[DrMark]

Looks nice, I have one of these.
With the lid down in the summer, you will have trouble with high water temperature, unless you keep the house a/c low.
The small fan add on did little to help mine.
I ended up with a 1/10hp chiller in cabinet.
I like the system...........use mine as a pseudo-quarrantine tank for my other systems.
If you by addons cabinet fan (chiller), replacement lights, pumps, surface skimmer upgrade, etc. buy direct from Red Sea in Houston, cheaper than marine depot.

mark

[txav8r]

Looking great! You are lucky to have Rob helping you!

[JKLUSAF]

looks good RedSeaMac, i, myself am new to the saltwater hobby. been always stuck with freshwater for the last 5yrs. My 65gals been cycling for a month now

Justin

[tony]

welcome to maast ethan

i love the setup

[Goofball310]

thank is looking really good. you might want to look into upgrading to a regular tank in the future without the built in filtration in the back. they tend to a lot of volume away from your display and they provide dead spots for detritus to gather. i started with a clear 4 life all in one when i first got started but quickly upgraded because i wanted a tank with a lot more depth.

welcome to the hobby and to maast.!