A newbie question re skimmer, chiller, ozone

[wkopplin]

Hi all,

I just joined this board recently. Sent my check into MAAST earlier this week. I am in the process of setting up my first SW tank after years of keeping African Cichlids. I have been accumulating the equipment for quite some time and recently got everything up and running for my 55 reef tank. I have a nice wet/dry system with a CPR overflow (a little loud) and a magdrive 9 return pump flowing through two return lines. The whole system is controlled by a Neptune Aquacontroller II. Lighting is a pair of 250 W MH (to be installed shortly in a canopy I am having made). Water is RO/DI from a system I got from Premium Aquatics. Have not gotten a chiller yet, but will need one so I am open to suggestions as to what to get. At this point, I have already spent twice my budget, so I guess cost is out the window. If I could find a reasonably priced unit, that would be nice. I have a calcium reactor. Do I need an ozone machine?

My skimmer is a Prizm Pro Deluxe that I got from a friend. It has all the parts, but I am having some trouble adjusting the flow rate. Having never used a skimmer before, what does a properly working prizm skimmer look like (should I see foam in the collection cup? how high up the cup should it be?)? The instruction book was not included. The tank currently only has substrate and water in it. Rock is being put in tomorrow. Critters in 6 to 8 weeks.

Thanks!

Blake Kopplin

[robertpower3]

I would try to avoid a chiller. They are just 2 much money try installing a few fans they should keep the tempture below 82 as long as the lights are not on top of the water. There should be no foam in the collection cup just disolved organic waste. Try adjusting the foam to the black o-ring that connects the skimmer to the cllection cup. Don't know too much about ozonizers but I would not use one. Just more money that could be used else where. Sounds to me like you have an excellent set up! :D

[brewercm]

I have an open back canopy on my 75 with two 250 mh and am using a clip on 6 inch fan from walmart blowing into the back from one corner. It is keeping it plenty cool without the expense of a cooler.

Welcome to MAAST

[wkopplin]

That sounds like a much more economical way to go on the chiller. I will try that. My canopy has an open back and the lights sit way up in it. There are two fans in the canopy that I had installed on each side.

Is it normal on a skimmer to not have much foam with no bioload in the tank?

[GeoB]

You won't have foam until you have some kind of bioload. New live rock will give you plenty while it is cycling. One thing that took me a while to learn is that foam production is affected by different variables. When I first started using a skimmer I didn't get much foam. Then I started adjusting the alkalinity and calcium to get them up to the proper levels and all the sudden I was getting a lot of foam.

[alexwolf]

Hey Blake, you saw my setup? My lights are actually too close to the water, but with the 2 fans inb the canopy I stay right at 82 after a long day of lights.

[matt]

You can contact Red Sea in houston; they'll send you an owner's manual for that skimmer, I bet. They're good with customer service. As far as lights, it's entirely dependent on what kind of animals you're going to keep. If you're planning on a reef, I'd rethink the wet/dry filter and use a deep sand bed instead for filtration, this will help with nitrate reduction. You might have a problem with the CPR overflow; they're notorious flooders. If you don't mind temporarily draining, I'd suggest drilling it for an internal overlfow, you won't be sorry.

I'd also suggest a little book, called "The coral reef aquarium" by Ron Shimek. It's cheap and B.S. free, written by a leading Phd marine biologist and expert reefkeeper.

Most of all, WELCOME! to MAAST

Matt

[Instar]

Blake, welcome to MAAST. Nice to have you. A word on the skimmer -- shut that thing off and put it up for a while. You gotta cycle your tank and don't want to remove any larval shrimp or planktonic things that will come from the live rock to seed your tank. You want it all to remain in there. It will take out plankton as well as ammonia, but, you want the whole thing to cycle completely first. I never use a skimmer for the first several months. Its more detriment than good at first. Later on, it performs a great function and collects phosphates and ammonia before they get broken down and into the load in your filters or sand. Watch out when adding new water or vitamins. That will cause a foam flood. To avoid that, turn it back for a little while. Its a little trick to adjust the red sea skimmer, but, once you have it, its the greatest.
To adjust the Prism Pro Deluxe:
Turn the air valve (the one directly over the pump) down - closed.
Prime the system by putting water in the chamber with a cup. ( pour in the round part) Fill at least half way.
Open the water valve (the butterfly like valve in the middle of the inlet pipe)
The pump should be able to prime the air all out. Let the water get flowing good.
Turn the water valve about half way closed to slow it down a bit.
Open the air valve a little at a time. You will hear the air hit the turbo floater. Makes lots of noise.
Open the air just until the noise goes away, but the air is still flowing through there good.
Now look at the bubble/water level near the base of the collecting cup. You should see the water/air interface level,
probably lower than the neck of the cup. Open the water inlet valve and watch your air bubbles in the down-draft section don't go too far down and the air/water interface should rise into the bottom of the round area, not into the cup. Just about at the lowest bend as the water level rises. The book says you can bring it up a little farthur than that, to about one inch below the funnel. Too high and it will make really watery collection. You don't want a wet foam and lots of water. It will foam a lot with rich foods or some vitamins, so you will have to watch it and may have to cut back the water flow when using some foods and vitamins.

[wkopplin]

Larry, Thanks for the info. I shut down the skimmer for now. I did manage to find a pdf version of the manual on Red Sea's site.

Matt, I have a DSB in my tank and am planning on setting up a 20 gallon fuge. A friend of mine made me read the book you suggested before he would help me at all on my tank. Thanks for the heads up on the CPR. I have the water levels set right so if I losr power to the sump pump ot lose siphon in the overflow, nothing SHOULD (does not necessarily mean will) flood. I am having my 180 drilled, but having spent a fortune on my 55, I need to re-charge the bank account a little before setting out on that venture.

I really appreciate all of the help. I feel much better about the setup. I am going to Los Angeles today for the week and will try to post a pic when I get back.

Blake

[DeletedAccount]

I have to agree with the CPR. I bought one, along with the inline filter and air pump they recommended (to AVOID overflow) and I have now flooded my house 3 times, 15-20 gallons each. I have temporarily done away with the sump (it currently runs as its own low flow tank) until I can empty the tank and get it drilled!

[matt]

Sorry to disagree with Larry, but i would definitely use your skimmer during the cycling period, especially if you're using fresh, uncured liverock. The thing you want to do here is avoid, not create, a huge ammonia spike; this spike will kill much of the life on your rock. Believe me, your tank will still "cycle" just fine and you'll have a good innoculation of bacteria in the rock and sand. I think your Shimek book talks about this. There's a common misconception that having a big polluted mess of a cycle will somehow "charge" the tank with lots of extra bacteria. That's simply not the case; the bacteria population in any tank is directly dependent on substrate and available nutrients. IOW, assuming you have adequate rock/sand, the bacteria will increase and decrease in numbers according to your bioload. More importantly, though, you want to avoid killing all sorts of other micro-life that comes in on good quality liverock. These animals will form the basis of your sand bed fauna. Protein skimmers, especially a fairly low powered one like the prizm (even "pro") don't remove significant planktonic life, and what you mostly have at this point in your tank's life is rock/sand fauna anyways. Later on, much of the larval production of this fauna will be planktonic, but even then, studies have shown that most skimmers don't remove a high percentage of this life. This was shown by analizing skimmate; I think Shimek did that one, too.

Again, sorry to disagree; no offense intended :)