Amuze

Hey yeah thanks. I was reading about water flow adjustment when using one, depending on what you are trying to kill. It's worth it to try it, but for now I'm going to see how things are in a couple of weeks before I dip into that.

Ok, what I had to do was take the plate for the impeller off the old one since it had two ports to connect lines to and mate that with the new unit. Now I'm making bubbles. It's a bit more quiet too. Just the typical powerhead buzz, but no more rattle. I'm satisfied for today. Next step is to figure how to mount an inline UV. I also made a major water change and am only running my lights 2 hours daily for awhile to beat this dreaded algae bloom. I'll run it this way for a couple of weeks or so. Hopefully my water quality improves.

That goes where? The only port for any line in on the nozzle and that spits water out. The 600 had two ports by the propeller, this 800 does have any.

Ok, I replaced the powerhead on my skimmer with a Rio 800. Two things, it's a little noisy (more of a rattle than a hum) and the skimmer isn't foaming up. I've tried adjusting the cup with no luck. Are all Rio's noisy or should I go try another one? Am I supposed to hook any air lines up to the powerhead? Not sure why it's not making foam...

Lol, if you only knew how tempted I am to have the first aquatic gun range.

Thanks. I've given running a skimmer when I get home some thought. My only problem with a hang on (and I have one) is that it leaves a residue on the wall. Normally wouldn't be a big deal except for this place, painting it over would be expensive. So I decided in the future to try an run a sump underneath with a skimmer in the sump along with my heater. Less clutter above, the better. I had success with this before, just not this time around and not with the Canister. It was really quite and this is in a bedroom so I was hoping it would work out. I don't have a UV, but I will pick one up today or tomorrow. I will also research the skimmers you mentioned and try to source one of them. The skimmer I have now is a Bak-Pak (?) and it worked on my previous set up, just lef ta small mess on the wall as mentioned... What I can try to do is set up the protein in the back and let in run to see what improvements it makes. I'm sure it will, but I'll need to monitor it. Eventually I'd like to get rid of the tank and go back to one with a built in overflow. I'm about to run a syphon set up or a hang on overflow in a 2nd floor condo though. Lol. I've seen set ups runs very well on a protein skimmer alone for filtration and added carbon I guess. Sound right? For today and tommorrow I need to worry more about my Tangs though. Will dipping them in fresh water for 2 minutes rid them of the ich temporarily or is hope lost without the access to a QT (which I will also set up before adding livestock again)?

What would be a good price to pay for a 55G tank with a built in overflow? I'm thinking I should just pick up a better tank and run a sump with a skimmer underneath. I have a 20G I can use as a sump. I'd need to purchase a tank, pump and skimmer. Problem is can I use the live rock I have and let it run for a month before adding new livestock? I don't want the same micro organisms to remain. Would they die off without any live stock as the live rock cures again and the tank cycles? I'm also worried about any discoloration on my wall from the skimmer or evaporation... That has happened before. I'm trying to weigh out my costs to remedy this situation with it being a total loss. The fish are a loss. If they are still alive tomorrow I'll take them to a LFS. Or if anyone wants them and is local to Fairfax, they can PM me. Not sure on forum rules about price posting and what not. PM for price on all together. Need someone who can take all of the livestock mentioned at one time. Medium size Yellow Eyed Kole Tang, Medium size Yellow Tang, Lawnmower Blenny, Coral Beauty Angel, Blue Velvet Damsel, Green bubble tip anem and a Cleaner Shrimp.

Well, it wasn't my first choice, but it's what I had to do with, so I made an attempt. I've run sumps before with skimmers and biological filtration only. I'm in a condo now and that's really not an option for me to do here. I was hoping the canister would work, I've seen them work on others tanks and I do keep it clean of trapped food and such. My only concern with it was if the one I had provides enough water flow. The plan was to finish setting up a 125G I have in my dining room and move the tangs over to that tank once it's cycled. I definitely don't plan to keep them in a 55G when they grow larger. They are small to medium now. Maybe they don't have enough swimming room as it is in a 4 foot wide tank? There are 90G's that are only 4 feet wide with larger Tangs, so I don't know how much of that to really consider as fact. I know if they don't have enough swimming room they can get stressed, but 4 feet is 4 feet besides the depth, but how often have you observed your tangs swimming front to back? Now if we're talking about the amount of water verses the amount of waste, I can understand that. Wouldn't keeping a clean tank, filtration, and water changes combat that? I was applying the same thought to having an overstocked tank. They work for people who keep up with them. Wouldn't the same apply to a smaller set up? I'm afraid you're absolutely right and I was skepitcal about trying this filtration... Either way, this is another failed attempt at having a saltwater tank. My last one sprung a leak in the back at the overflow, which is part of the reason I do not want to run a sump in a condo. Another reason is my glass can't be drilled. I would have to buy another tank. This was the last attempt at it. Thinking about breaking everything down tomorrow when I can take the rest of the livestock to an LFS. I love this hobby and I want to learn more, but now may not be the right time. Thanks for the help.

55G Rena Filstar xP2 canister filter (No sump and no skimmer can be used for now). I'm using Biomax in the filter last. Koralia 2 powerheads (x2) up top. These along with the return from the Rena create plenty of turbulence. GLO T5 HO lighting (dual strip). One anitic bulb and one 18000K bulb. The GLO puts out a lot of light and doesn't get very hot, but they are very limited on anything else. No luner. Not sure what UV to get as far as wattage goes. I know one amount is good to kill off algae and another higher amount kills of micro-organisms, but you can't accomplish both at the same time from what I've read. MY main concern is the ich my Tangs have at the moment and what to do about it. I was thinking of dipping them in fresh water for a couple of minutes, but this really seems like it would only stress them out more and make it worse? Either way, the Kole will die soon (if not already before I get home). I'm also considering breaking the tank down, sterilizing it and selling the lights off to go with a different set up. Marine Scene is the only place I can take the livestock to and get credit for them though. They are closed today. I am also running carbon in the filter, and have done 2 water changes, the last one being yesterday. I will try running the lights for only 2 hours a day. Will that harm my anemone? Trying to figure it out properly as I want this set up to work out, but I don't want to loose livestock in the process. May be too late for the Tangs though. Bummer... Thanks, I will try these things. I was also thinking the Rena isn't providing enough flow and if I'm going ot use a canister filter I should maybe switch to a larger one. Any thoughts?

I knew a part owner of The Reef awhile back. It was an okay place the last time I was in there, but that was a few years ago. I haven't even been to Adams Morgan in 2 years at least so I can't speak on how it is doing now. Hope it's doing well.

Hello, My tank recently went developed a bloom of green algae which accumilates rather quickly on my glass. Cleaning it only results in it returning to cover the glass within 30 minutes or so. I assume this is because it's not being removed from the water and only reattaching itself to the glass, sand and rocks. Today I woke up so see my Kole Tang suffering from ich and my Yellow Tang is starting to develop white spots as well. I did not have time to set a quarantine tank this morning, I'm hoping to do so once I get home. I'm limited on what I have and my LFS is closed today. Could the ich be a result of the blooming algae? Perhaps the fish were stressed from too much algae? Also, one of my T5 bulbs is an 18,000K bulb. Do you think lowering the bulb to a 10,000K bulb will help deter the algae and still be enough light for some inverts/anemones? I noticed that when the lights are off at night, the algae does not form to the glass. My last questions are will a UV sterilizer and chemi-pure help this? I'm running a larger canister filter (Rena) and am not able to run a sump below for an overflow set up or a protien skimmer in my condo. This limits my filtration, so I'm relying purely on flow, mechanical filtration, live rock and live sand. Water quality is good, Nitrate and Nitrite are zero, salinity is 1.023, PH is around 8.0 - 8.2 I believe, hard to tell with the test kit I have and/or strips. I raised my lighting hoping to deter the algae, we'll see when I return home. Not sure what to do about the ich though. I don't want to use copper. Any thoughts? Thanks.