Euro reef RS 80 skimmer ?

[hbh]

I've never set this (or any other!)skimmer up before. So here goes for my newly started 20 L, I put in sand and ro/di water. It's expectedly cloudy. SO I want to know: 1. SHOULD I temporarily set up the RS 80 skimmer along with the littte HOB aqua filter to clear up the water and 2. if yes, HOW do I do this with a full tank of water? 3. This is only temporary so what recomendations for a HOB skimmer does anyone have? I'd like to have fish, mushrooms and softies and a nem in this tank. TIA to all!

Edited April 14, 2008 by hbh

[Brian Ward]

I've never set this (or any other!)skimmer up before. So here goes for my newly started 20 L, I put in sand and ro/di water. It's expectedly cloudy. SO I want to know: 1. SHOULD I set up the skimmer along with the litttle HOB fliter and 2. if yes, HOW do I do this with a full tank of water? 3. This is only temporary so what recomendations for a HOB skimmer does anyone have? I'd like to have fish, mushrooms and softies and a nem in this tank. TIA to all!

 

Last time I checked, the RS 80 was not a HOB skimmer. This one needs to be run in-sump in 6-9" of water unless it's been modified. leave all the pumps off until the sediment settles out of the water, then you can start running all the pumps. for a HOB skimmer, go with the deltec mce series. I think the 200 is the smaller one and will be more than enough.

[hbh]

So can I put a temporary shelf in to run it on? And should I run it or just let the cloudiness adjust on it's own? Some of the sand graciously came from another member and some is new as I wanted a 3" to 4'' sand bed in this 20 long. I do have the old aqua tfilter running and a tiny air pump for now. I think I'm going to look for a bigger pump. Any suggestions? Comments?

[Origami]

Did you rinse your sand well before putting it in the tank? It sounds like that may be the source of your cloudiness. If that's the case, the skimmer won't remove it. Wait a few days and it should settle out.

[phisigs79]

If you didnt rinse it, I would rinse it ASAP and start over. Its only 20g so its not that big of a deal. If its used sand there is going to be all kinds of stuff in it that you just mixed up. It will take you alot of water changes to get rid of the junk in the water. Its up to you but thats what i would do from experience and i did this with a 55g and it caused me alot of problems and money to fix it.

[hbh]

One bag of dry sand was new -it was supposed to be prerinsed- and the other sand was graciously given to me by another member. It had been kept wet but it was not necessarily live sand. It has cleared some already. But my main concern was to make sure the water was clean enough for the 3 fish going in there a tomatoe clown and 2 turbo damsels. I will be adding over time thier current pumps, water, live rock, chaeto, and CC too.

[Origami]

If it was dry sand, pre-rinsed or not, I probably would have rinsed it at the start. You still have the chance. If you've already seeded it with some live sand, you don't want to rinse it with tap water, though. Even with well rinsed sand, however, you'll still see some cloudiness in the water initially that will subside over a few days.

[hbh]

I think I'm going to wait until the weekend and see how it is. I'll stir it up on Thursday and if not clear by Sat. then out goes the water. I still have 1 bucket of ro/di water left and then it will be time to go begging again. That is begging for water and for my husband's help to empty and refill it.

[Brian Ward]

I think I'm going to wait until the weekend and see how it is. I'll stir it up on Thursday and if not clear by Sat. then out goes the water. I still have 1 bucket of ro/di water left and then it will be time to go begging again. That is begging for water and for my husband's help to empty and refill it.

 

You can also get a sediment filter from Lowe's. The housing is about $20 and pick up a 10 micron filter. Hook it up to a mag 5 or similar and let it circulate all the water through. it should clear your water overnight.

[hbh]

You can also get a sediment filter from Lowe's. The housing is about $20 and pick up a 10 micron filter. Hook it up to a mag 5 or similar and let it circulate all the water through. it should clear your water overnight.

Any one have one that I can borrow? It's clearing up nicely- unles it's stirred up - but I just want to be sure. Thanks for all the replies!

Edited April 17, 2008 by hbh

[hbh]

No one?

[Lee Stearns]

The way to settle down new sand is with some established sand form some ones tank- The bateria gets on the small particles and settles them. If you use the more expesive wet sand which already has live bacteria then you will not get the flare up at all- as your tank begins to cycle the sand will settle down by itself, and never be a problem again- just depends on whether you have more time than money.

[hbh]

LOL! I have niether! That's why I joined this hobby- to get more time and patience. I do have time and so I'll go ahead and begin to transfer some of my CC to that tank and hook up with Raf for some live sand.

Thanks for your encouraging post, Lee! It only flares when something really stirs it up.

[Grav]

Wait, back to the topic of the post.

 

Are you trying to put an ER RS80 into a 20 gallon display tank?

 

That just isn't going to work on any level. No amount of sand cleaning is going to solve that problem.

[hbh]

Grav,

I was wondering if the skimmer should be used to help with the cloudiness but I ended up hauling out the sand out of the 20long, washing it outside and resetting up the sand, the saved SW, et al. There is now 2 happy blue/green chromis and 1 baby clown in there. Now to figure out were to put my beloved turbos. HTH. Thanks!