Newcomer/First time saltwater enthusiast!

[Euclid]

Hey there MAAST!

My name is Cody (from Austin) and I've just gotten into my first saltwater setup! *applause*
I've had several freshwater tanks over the years and I just wasn't happy with them anymore, so naturally it was time to upgrade!
To be honest the only reason that it's taken this long for me to make the "Switch to the Dark Side" was the fact that saltwater setups and everything that goes along with them have been quite intimidating to me. Welp, today I found the perfect alternative. I bought a 55 gallon tank that had already been stocked and has been running for a couple years now. This eliminates several of the mistake-making opportunities associated with starting up a fresh tank, plus I get immediate satisfaction!

The tank is a 55 gallon acrylic tank made by Tenecor. It has a wet/dry system (http://www.tenecor.com/images3/fbhsimplicitypluss.jpg) built into the tank on the back side and it's sitting on a wooden stand/canopy which I plan on recoating/painting/touching up. Inside I've got a bed of crushed coral, several fake coral decorations, a 20" spotted eel, a 4.5" blue tang and a 12" Lionfish.

I met up with the former owner at his house at about 5pm today with 7 ozarka 5 gallon jugs and pumped up biceps, ready to rock! <_<
The previous owner no longer had the time/will to care for these fish and this tank so they were in pretty nasty condition when I got there.
First off I used a vacuum to get the gunk out of the gravel and threw away about 10 gallong worth of "muck". I got most of the water into the water jugs, sealed them and threw them in the back of the truck. I filled a large cooler with some of the water and put all 3 fish in the cooler, sealed it up and put it in the back of the truck. I left about an inch of water in the tank and packed up everything else and hit the road.
When I got home, I got the tank placed where I thought most fit and dumped all the ozarka bottles back into the tank. Then I introducted our little friends to thier new (extrememly mucky and stirred up) home. Yay! I dropped a powerhead in the tank and left it running to help get things running while I ran an errand to HEB and got 15 gallons of purified RO water. Got home, mixed up all the water with a heater and a powerhead and filled her up. I let it sit for a few minutes and then felt that it was time to go ahead and fire everything up! Everything's running smoothly now, about 2 hours later. Hooray!

I've never transported fish like this before so i don't really know what to expect, but these guys do NOT seem happy. The lionfish is just sitting on the bottom being angry, the eel is swimming around like a madman and the tang keeps playing dead... I even had to pull him off of a filter intake suction spot, poor little guy. The fish seem to be getting better as time passes and the water filters and everything settles in. Hopefully everything will be good. I'm rinsing out the sponge every hour or so and I've got the purple light on.

So there's my tale of the day, and here I am hoping to expand my horizons, ask lots of questions and broaden my mind! This really looks like a cool community and I'm so glad that I came across it!

So what do you guys(and girls) think about my experiences so far? Does it sound like I've done things correctly? If not, is there anything that I should do now in addition to the things that I've done? Does everything sound like it's going well?

Another question, right now I feel like the tank is pretty lonely. What kind of livestock additions would you reccomend? I was thinking along the lines of 2 larger angelfish, a white one and an emperor. What are your thoughts/opinions?

Thanks again everybody and Howdy from the newcomer!

~Cody

[MattK]

Welcome to MAAST

[discuspro]

Hope that tang does okay. I've never had fish play dead without finding them actually dead the next day or within hours.

What kind of light do you have on this thing? Also, are you south, north, east, west Austin? Someday I could meet with you and share some info in person. I'm around 45th street.

Welcome to MAAST!

[Euclid]

Is there anything that I can do with the tang? I'm scared for him too. Right now he's sitting sideways under a rock just kind of flapping his fins.

The light, I'm not sure what kind it is. It's a single fixture with a white light and a purple light. It's got 2 switches, 2 plugs, 2 bulbs and 2 ballasts.

You're close, cool! I'm in West Campus - MLK and San Gabriel.

[Jeff]

if he has wedged him self under a rock or between something this is ok. blue tangs do this a lot when they are scared.

[SGTDirk]

First off welcome to Maast. You will find the same as i did that everyone here is friendly and helpful.

As for the tang, in my limited experiance, I've noticed that tangs tend to be act like that when they get very stressed out.

I have no experiance with lion fish, but you do need to find exactly which eel you have. Some eels get quite large, up around 70 inches. At that size a 55 gallon tank won't be big enough.

[mozartkt]

Welcome to MAAST! This has been a great place to find good information and friendly people!
My husband and I had a lion fish for a couple of years - and my advice for it would be to feed live fish to see if it will eat. Once it gets settled into the new environment, he should 'liven' up - reminding you that usually lion fish are slow swimmers and our's usually liked to "float" in one spot. We have a 55 gallon and I personally wouldn't recommend getting anymore fish for a bit - let things calm down plus keep in mind that lion fish can be aggressive and might think other fish are tasty! Best of luck!

[Euclid]

Thanks for the warm welcomes!
This morning the water is much more clear and everybody seems to be swimming around happily!
The eel is a Moray eel. He's white with black spots. He's about 18-20" long and 1-1.5" in diameter.

A couple of questions that I've run into.

1.) My light fixture has a white light and a purple light. How long should each of these be on every day? Is one for day and one for night? Should they overlap?

2.) What would be the best thing to feed these fish? Ghost shrimp, frozen krill, flakes? It'd be ncie to feed one kind of food for all 3 fish, but I don't want to neglect any of them.

3.) Is anybody familiar with this filtration system? There are 2 or 3 "shelves", the top one has the sponge for mechanical filtration. Right now the bottom shelves don't have anything on them.. should they? Another thing, there is a "tray" with holes in it above the bioballs and it has some kind of air fitting on it, what is this for?

4.) I noticed that the filtration system is quite dirty with lots of goop/muck. Do I want to clean this out? If so, what's the best route? Just frequent water changes or should I get in there and wipe everything down?

5.) I kind of already asked this question in my original post, but what kind of fish would be good companions for the fish already in this tank?

6.) Would you reccomend a "cleanup crew"? Would I benefit from them even though I only have artificial decorations? Would I have a problem with my lionfish or eel trying to eat them?

Thanks again for all your help! The only pictures that I have at the moment show the tank to be very very dirty, but I see it as a project that I've set out to make beautiful again. I'll post up some pictures momentarily.

[Euclid]

Pictures: :D
As far as this stand/canopy goes... what do you all reccomend? I was considering painting it all black, do you think that'd look better? Should I just pledge the stand and see how it turns out? I'm sure you've all got much more experience with this kind of thing than I.

Thanks again! :lol

[Bill S]

WOW! That's a BIG lion for that tank... As you now know, the tang's behavior was normal. They really freak when transported. If this were mine, I'd make a concerted effort to rid the tank of as much "muck" as you can. Snag some test kits - you might get an ammonia spike, and your nitrates are likely pretty high if the tank hasn't been well maintained. A series of BIG water changes should help. Go ahead and buy a bucket of salt.

In the long run, you will need some more rock - a bunch more. It's your tank's natural filtration. Your light's bulbs PROBABLY need to be replaced - they only last about 6 months or so. Try 8-12 hours per day.

Oh, and I like the wood.

[GaryP]

1.) My light fixture has a white light and a purple light. How long should each of these be on every day? Is one for day and one for night? Should they overlap?

2.) What would be the best thing to feed these fish? Ghost shrimp, frozen krill, flakes? It'd be ncie to feed one kind of food for all 3 fish, but I don't want to neglect any of them.

3.) Is anybody familiar with this filtration system? There are 2 or 3 "shelves", the top one has the sponge for mechanical filtration. Right now the bottom shelves don't have anything on them.. should they? Another thing, there is a "tray" with holes in it above the bioballs and it has some kind of air fitting on it, what is this for?

4.) I noticed that the filtration system is quite dirty with lots of goop/muck. Do I want to clean this out? If so, what's the best route? Just frequent water changes or should I get in there and wipe everything down?

5.) I kind of already asked this question in my original post, but what kind of fish would be good companions for the fish already in this tank?

6.) Would you reccomend a "cleanup crew"? Would I benefit from them even though I only have artificial decorations? Would I have a problem with my lionfish or eel trying to eat them?

Wow, that covers a lot of territory. First, welcome to MAAST. Let's see if we can get it all covered.

1. The purple light is an actinic bulb. It provides the blue & purple light wavelengths. The other bulb is probably more of a "daylight" bulb. There are all kinds of different bulbs. If you post the brand and bulb type that is printed on them we can probably be of more helpg. You should run both bulbs at the same time. I recommend putting them on a timer so they go on and off at the same time every day. Your fish will like that better.

2. I would find out what the previous owner was feeding them and stay with that. I prefer a mixture of things to add nutritional variety. The eel and lion can be feed mysid, ghost shrimp, and cut up chunks of table shrimp. Basically anything fleshy and small enough to get in their mouths. They can be finicky eaters if they are new to an aquarium. It can take a while to get them to start eating frozen if they are wild caught. Some of the predator folks here can help you out with more info on that.

The tang on the other hand will like smaller frozen foods like mysids and brine shrimp, dried green flake, and nori. Their diet in the wild is a mixture of plants and small invertebrates. They will also eat ghost shrimp and nibble at table shrimp. It really depends on exactly what species of tang it is. Some are detritus eaters, for example. Most tangs are not very finicky eaters.

3. The trays are probably for putting filtration media in such as activated carbon or phosphate absorber. I have no clue what the air line is for. Does this tank have a protein skimmer? You never mentioned it if it does. I had a system that sounds similar to this many years ago. It had a pretty worthless small skimmer built into the filtration system that was driven by an air pump. The filter that you mentioned needs to be cleaned at least once a week. The stuff caught in the filter will just sit there and decay and cause a resulting drop in water quality if it isn't removed. Water quality is going to be a major issue with a tank and livestock like you have.

4. I would try to remove as much of the "muck" out of the system as you can. This is probably detritus. Decaying fish waste and leftover food. Again, another water quality issue. From the pictures that you posted, this tank clearly has some water quality issues. I deally, it would have better to clean this out when you moved the tank, but there is no use worrying about that right now.

5. I would not recommend adding anymore fish to this tank. You already have a couple of "fish poop factories" in there. Again, we are back to water quality. Anything else that you put in there is going to have to be a large fish and you already have 3 big ones in there. This is a wait and see situation. Be paitent.

6. I'm afraid you are going to have a hard time keeping a clean up crew alive in this system. Invvertebrates like snails are sensitive to high nitrates and I guarantee you are going to have nitrate issues in this system. Most predator tanks do. I would suggest you consider replacing the artificial decorations with live rock. Live rock will help the water quality and still provide some structure and decoration to the tank. The pictures show a lot of cyanobacteria. Some hermits would probably help clean that up and they might be able to survive the high nitrates. DoninSA runs a very successful predator tank and he has become to a world expert on management of nitrates in a predator system. He is always trying something to reduce them and he has a much more elaborate set up then you do.

I think you need to take a hard look at upgrading the system for the type of livestock you are keeping. Some things I would suggest you consider are: Protein skimming, running activated carbon, running a phosphate absorber, replacing the crushed coral with a deep sand bed, adding live rock, and frequent large water changes. I have a feeling you are going to need help in managing the high nutrients and resulting nuisance algae blooms you will experience in this kind of system with the type of livestock you have in the tank.

I don't want to sound like its total gloom and doom. I just think the system is just underpowered for what you have in it. We'll help you get through this. Just don't be bashful and remember there is no such thing as a dumb question.

[GaryP]

I just noticed the Tang was a Hippo. They will eat just about anything. Flake, brine, mysids, nori, shrimp.

[Euclid]

Thanks so much Gary, that's a lot of info!
I'll post the bulb info when I get home today.
I think I have some test kits, but I have no idea how to use them. Maybe I'll be able to find a local Austinite to show me how.
The tank came with a craptastic bubbler-powered elementary skimmer. Should I use it?
I did remove a lot of the "muck" when i was moving the tank, about as much as I could easily get to without water in the system.
I won't add any more fish. I didn't realize how messy the lion and eel were.
I'll get a few hermits, how many do you think I should get?
As far as the sandbed and liverock go, how should I facilitate removing the old and introducing the new? Should I leave some of the coral and just mix it with the sand, or what? I was under the understanding that the coral contained many essential bacteria to keep the tank healthy.
Do you have any reccomendations as far as liverock goes? Any kind in particular?
Thanks again, y'all rock!

[weizer896]

When my husband and I got our hippos, one was playing dead and had me worried too. I pulled it out and put it in my nano overnight and then introduced it back to the main tank the next day and all is well. Welcome to MAAST Cody. :D

[MattK]

The stand and canopy look like they are in good condition. If you want to keep the wood look and bring back the luster, I would use a wipe on polyurethane. Min-wax make one, they have it in satin and semi gloss. Just take some steel wool to the surface to ruff it up. Then wipe off all the dust and other junk to get a clean surface. Finally, get a rag, put some wipe on poly it and start wiping. I would recommend doing 3 or more coats.

Or, you could paint it.

[GaryP]

Thanks so much Gary, that's a lot of info!
I'll post the bulb info when I get home today.
I think I have some test kits, but I have no idea how to use them. Maybe I'll be able to find a local Austinite to show me how.
The tank came with a craptastic bubbler-powered elementary skimmer. Should I use it?
I did remove a lot of the "muck" when i was moving the tank, about as much as I could easily get to without water in the system.
I won't add any more fish. I didn't realize how messy the lion and eel were.
I'll get a few hermits, how many do you think I should get?
As far as the sandbed and liverock go, how should I facilitate removing the old and introducing the new? Should I leave some of the coral and just mix it with the sand, or what? I was under the understanding that the coral contained many essential bacteria to keep the tank healthy.
Do you have any reccomendations as far as liverock goes? Any kind in particular?
Thanks again, y'all rock!

OK, just remember that the bulbs lose a lot of intensity way before they burn out. That's not a huge deal on your tank since you aren't doing a reef. I'm assuming you have power compact bulbs. In a reef we change them every 6 months. You can probably stretch that to a year on a fish only tank.

There are directions in the test kits, they are pretty simple and easy to understand.

I would use the skimmer until you can upgrade, but that would be one of the first things I did. I would see if someone in Austin has a Magnum filter you can borrow. Its basically a vacuum cleaner and you can use it to filter out a lot of the muck as well as get a lot out of the crushed coral. Not only does the skimmer help remove waste, but it also serves to create gas exchange. CO2 out, oxygen in. Its sorta like the lungs of the aquarium.

Predators like eels and lions eat a lot. As a result a lot comes out the other end of them. Fish aren't really that sensitive to high nitrates, its the invertebrates that are more of an issue. I would keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels though. That's where you may run into trouble.


Hopefully your wet dry will take care of that. A wt dry converts ammonia and nitrites into nitrates. If you don't have a way to remove the niutrates, they just build up. Nitrates are removed in a couple of ways from a tank. Algae (that's where the issue with nuisance algaes comes in), skimming (waste is removed before its converted into nitrate), filtering (same as nitrate), and by bacteria in a deep sand bed and live rock (which you don't either). The bacteria that remove nitrate (denitrification) like areas with low oxygen levels. The crushed coral is to course and porous for a low oxygen level to be created. The bacteria in live rock are located in the deeper pores of the rock. When I say a deep sand bed, Imean at least 4 inches of sugar fine sand. A lot of people put a layer of "special grade" sand (1-2 mm grain size) on top of that to help keep the sand from blowing around to much. You can also use the crushed coral for this to help "seed" the new sand bed, but ost people find that crushed coral is pretty hard to keep clean. Hair algae loves to grow on it. Some of the sand stirring critters don't like crushed coral either. Its a little to big for them to push through.

The new sand bed will be re-populated with bacteris very quickly. As a matter of fact the rapid growth phase they will go through will probably do a lot to clean up the water, at least temporarily. As they are rapidly growing to populate the new sand, they will be using up a lot of nutrients in the water. You can get at least one small bag of live sand (Caribsea aragalive) to add to the sand bed. It already contains many of the benefical bacteria and other critters the sand bed needs. You don't need to use this totally for the sand bed. Its a little more expensive and the critters in it will seed the "dead sand." In addition, ask some of the Austin folks to donate a cup of sand from their sand beds to help give your new sand bed added biological diversity. If you mix the sand with the crushed coral, the larger particles will eventually just seperate and come to the surface of the bed. It won't stay mixed.

I'd get ten hermits and see how they do. Add 10 at a time every week or two until your population is sufficient to handle the cyano and other problems you will encounter as the tank cycles. I just added 75 hermits to my 125 gal. yesterday. I'll probably add another 50-75 in a month or so. Hermits will also help clean up left over food and fish waste in the tank. They are a reef's scavengers.

OK, what did I miss?

[Dozer]

Yes Welcome!! GaryP covered everything perfectly- so I won't even attempt to add to that. I'll just add one additional piece of personal advice about the hobby in general. Take it SLOW and enjoy the ride without being in a hurry to get to an end goal. Too many of us have jumped too far too fast and you pretty much always end up going through failures. We've all been where you're at right now and I can promise you that you are going to find yourself quickly addicted to this site (and others like wetwebmedia.com and reefcentral, etc) and in a VERY short time you will get the urge to try a reef tank. I know if you get the bug bad enough nothing we say can sway you but if there's any way possible, take it slow and enjoy fish only for a while. There are times when those of us with reef tanks actually wish we could go back to fish only lol. Fish only tanks can be so rewarding. After some time has passed and you've tried some different things and are really ready for something else my suggestion would be a fish only with live rock system and some sort of sand bed (again, my preference- some people don't care for sandbeds. I'll leave that to your research to decide for yourself). You can then enjoy the tank with fish, live rock, sand bed and some "critters" for a while. Again, no need to hurry! Then later on it will be a natural progression to go to a full fledged, all out, stress inducing, waking in the middle of the night, thinking about it way too much all day, coral reef system of some kind. If you can resist the urge and make this a slow and steady process you will benefit greatly because:

1) you will gain experience along the way before diving into the more difficult things.
2) you will experience more success and be more confident and less heartbroken along the way.
3) you will save a LOT of money in the end because you won't kill so many things and you will allow yourself time to make smart decisions on equipment before buying things you later don't want and nobody else wants either.

Having things die and wasting money are the biggest frustration points in the hobby by far. Again, we've all been there! Point is take advantage of a great resource like MAAST and minimize those type of mistakes. Your wallet will be happier and you will by much happier and more satisfied with this hobby! Hope any of that helps.

[Euclid]

Thanks guys!
Gary, I'll try to figure out how to install this skimmer when I get home from work tonight.
Should I wait until after I have a LSB and some LR to 'install' the hermits?
I really like the purple light, it makes the fish (especially the tang) look really nice. If it doesn't make a difference to the fish, would it be ok for me to run 2 purple lights, or do they need that variety in light?

[GaryP]

Here's what I do on my tanks with the light. Set one timer on the "purple" (actinic) lights to come on 30-60 min before, and go off after, the white lights. That also helps give the critters a sunrise and sunset effect that is better for them to get adjusted to their new schedule.

Wait until you see a big reef tank that is being blasted with a lot of actinic light. Every time I do I start having flashbacks to the 60's. Never mind, that's another story. My point is that a lot of things flouresce under the actinic lights. Actinic is very close to black light in its spectrum. Some of the "ugliest" corals I have under white light are spectacular under just actinic.

[Euclid]

Thanks!

Every time I do I start having flashbacks to the 60's. Never mind, that's another story.
:lol

[saltcreepette]

Hey there. No offense to Gary, but his advice sounds like it is gearing towards transforming your system into a reef tank, which I am not sure is your goal here. You currently have a fish only system which is a fine way to start out in saltwater. You are a beginning saltwater aquarist; therefore keep your system how it is now, do a lot of research and make your changes VERY GRADUALLY. There are many ways and methods to run a tank; you'll figure out what works best for you along with the help of everyone here. I will bring you some magazines with some great saltwater articles when I bring you your salt tonight to get you started. I'll also help you out with your test kits and take a look at that Tenecor system.

Keep the woodgrain. Wipe it off with a damp rag, then get another dry rag and some pledge. go into another room, spray some pledge on the dry rag, then come back into the room and wipe down your stand and canopy, being careful not to get the rag near the water. you definitely dont want any of the airborne pledge in the tank so spray it in a different room as mentioned before. Then if you are still not satisfied with the finish, you can always refinish it.

Go ahead and hook up your craptastic skimmer until you can get another one. Research and buy the best you can afford.

Dont add any more fish at this point. Definitely wait until your tank's biological state balances out before making any decisions to add more. I wouldnt add any personally because of the current fish load; but maybe if you get rid of the lion you would be able to. When you siphoned the crushed coral, you removed a lot of the beneficial biological/bacteria filter which is processing all that fish waste. Give it a week or two before you touch the gravel again. Go easy on feeding the fish too, so that they dont produce as much waste. Water changes would be okay though, if needed as per how your water tests out.

Well, talk to you later!

[Euclid]

Thanks so much Erin!
So you will be able to come over tonight? Awesome!
You have my number, just give me a call and let me know.
Thanks again!

[brieman]

Welcome to Maast, all I can say is research as much as possible, I lost a lot when I started out, but now everything has gotten a lot easier. Thanks to the people here on Maast.

[gjuarez]

Gary's explanation sounds very good to me. I think he is gearing more towards water quality rather than keeping a reef. WIth the livestock euclid keeps, being able to export and process nutrients is very important. I wouldnt steer away too much from it.

A deep sand bed here is very important, mainly because this system needs more filtration.

Euclid, here are my suggestions:

-Try to get more forms of filtration. IMO, I would add more live rock before I would add anymore livestock. LIverock is some of the best filtration you can get. Get your skimmer hooked up. Get a deep sand bed, chances are that the system will be underskimmed and a sand bed should help process nitrates.

-Dont add anymore fish for now. You have a high bio-load. The fish you have are pretty big and the tank can get overcrowded. Angel fish for the most part require a larger tank.

-Frequent water changes will be very important. This tank's success will depend a lot on your husbandry.

-Keep doing what you are doing. You are already ahead of most people by asking questions and learning. So far so good, good luck with the tank. Hope to see you here as a regular.

[GaryP]

What I was gearing towards is what is going to happen when nuisance algae takes over the tank and Euclid becomes frustrated and throws up his hands in disgust.

As gjuarez said, the goal is how to manage water quality. No, you don't have to have perfect reef quality water for a FO tank. But what happens when some LFS "expert" with a week's experience tells him he needs snails to clean up the hair algae? Well, $50 worth of dead snails later and I'm Euclid's frustration factor is going to go through the roof. I've been there.

I'm just getting ready for the post that says, "I tested my nitrates and they are 100 ppm, what do I do now? Could all the dead snails have something to do with it?"

[thedude]

I'm going to agree with Gary on all aspects here. The tank houses VERY large fish and is using top of the line filtration equiptment... from the 80's. This will be a great tank in the future but as Euclid stated previously, the owner had ignored the tank and let it fall into disrepair.

Go slow, nothing happens quickly in this hobby. Try to get as much muck out as possible with your waterchanges to get any decaying matter out of the tank. Keep testing the tank (LFS's in Austin offer free water tests) and make sure that you aren't experiencing a spike. Get all the fish eating and adjusted to their relocated home and then we can slowly work on the tank from there.

And research as much as you can, a great deal of information can be learned from books as well as website such as www.reefcentral.com

Welcome to the hobby!

[Euclid]

Alrighty, updates as promised.
saltcreepette was kind enough to drop by and give me an intro/tour of the test kit world. The results were pretty bad, but nothing that several water changes won't fix. We went ahead and added another powerhead for waterflow/aeration for our little tang friend and pointed the jets upward on the fixture in the tank.
The lighting doesn't seem to be branded in any way shape or form. Just a fixture with some solid white bulbs.
I tried getting the craptastic skimmer working but I have no idea how this thing works! Could somebody please help me figure out how I need to set this thing up? Here is a picture of it (http://i4.tinypic.com/1620k85.jpg). Where should what go? Any ideas?

Thanks again everybody, I really appreciate it!

[Euclid]

Another quick question. I'm not using a heater at the moment.. should I be?

[GaryP]

OK, that looks like a Lee skimmer. I thought it was another 60's flash back for a minute. OK, maybe it was the 80's.

A wooden air disperser (like an air stone) but made from lime wood goes on the rigid tubing and down inside the skimmer. The flexible air hose attached to the rigid tubing is hooked up to an air pump. The suction cup hold it to the back of the tank.

They are called countercurrent skimmers. The water travels down and the air travels upwards. That's the "countercurrent."

[Euclid]

What's the purpose of the air hose that's attached to the skimmer now?

[GaryP]

Here you go!

http://www.aquariumguys.com/protein-skimmer-counter-current-small.html

[saltcreepette]

you want your tank temp to be somewhere in the range of 78-82, but pick one and make it stable. for a 55 gallon you need two 100 watt heaters placed on opposite sides of the tank. Lower wattage keeps the heater from kicking on and off and wasting energy and burning out the heater quickly. also to prevent boiling your tank in case it fails in the ON position, which most heaters these days dont do, but why take the chance. Also, it keeps one end of the tank from getting all the heat. Although if you have enough flow you wont have that problem, its still a better idea to have two. If you just have one higher watt one, and it fails, your screwed (if its winter/really cold in your house)

maybe if you know the brand of skimmer (Lee) they might have some info on their website? just a shot in the dark. gotta love google.....

[GaryP]

Another quick question. I'm not using a heater at the moment.. should I be?
Probably not. What's the temp of your water? Most tanks get enough heat from the lights. As a matter os fact, cooling is usually more of a problem.

[Euclid]

Awesome, thanks Gary!
I see two airhoses going into/out of this apparatus. Do both of them go to the airpump?

[GaryP]

What's the purpose of the air hose that's attached to the skimmer now?
If it has a flexible end and a rigid end, the rigid end goes inside the skimmer and the lime wood block goes on that end. The flexible end gets hooked up to an air pump. There should be a small hole at the top of the skimmer that the rigid tubing slides through.

[GaryP]

Awesome, thanks Gary!
I see two airhoses going into/out of this apparatus. Do both of them go to the airpump?

It may have two limewood blocks. I can't imagine what another tube would be for. Are they both rigid?

[GaryP]

Come on folks, somebody else out there is old enough to remember how to set one of these things up? Some of you other gray hairs jump in here.

[Euclid]

http://i3.tinypic.com/1624fes.jpg
See how there are two things to connect? There's the one that's attached to the block and the other goes into a fitting at the base of the small tube. Should I just buy a new one?

[Euclid]

And for the curious at heart, here's a picture of mr antisocial.
http://i3.tinypic.com/1624isw.jpg
and here's a pic of the tank for the timebeing
http://i3.tinypic.com/1624n5l.jpg

[brewercm]

Wish I could help but I can't see the pictures from work and I've never used this particular skimmer myself. The net nazis don't allow certain sites to come through here so links to pics sometimes work but most don't.

BTW, welcom to MAAST.

[SGTDirk]

Thats not a Moray Eel, it's a Snowflake Eel. Here is a little info on it:

Maximum Size: the Echidna nebulosa grows up to 30 inches.
Minimum Tank Size: The Snowflake Eel prefers a tank of at least 30 gallons with plenty of places to hide & swim.
Diet: The Echidna nebulosa is a carnivore and likes to eat meaty treats (like live feeder, fiddler crabs, small fish & grass shrimp).
Level of Care: The Snowflake Eel is a low maintenance fish.
Behavior: The Snowflake Eel may act aggressively toward other fish.
Water Conditions: Keep water quality high (SG 1.020 - 1.025, pH 8.1 - 8.4, Temp. 75 - 82° F).
Range: Indo-Pacific.
General Notes: Needs plenty of places to hide. PVC pipe may help. Known to jump from open top tanks. The Snowflake, Starry, or Diamond-Backed Moray, Echidna nebulosa is a fabulous aquarium species; small, compatible with other fish species and adaptable to captivity. It is certainly the most peaceful, outgoing and desirable moray species. Base color of silver gray with black and yellow "snowflakes" randomly sprinkled over the lower body. May sometimes eat very small fish. Needs plenty of places to hide (substrate). Known to jump from open top tanks.
Snowflake Eels are virtually blind, but have incredible ability to smell.

Hope that helps. I know it can get frustrating tryig to sort stuff out. If you asked 50 diff. people on here how to do things, you would get 50 dif. answers. There isn't one way of doing things. Some ways work better than others. And while my wife has a reef tank, and I have a shark tank. Both tanks are set up completely different. With a preditor tank, you need lots of filtration. And protien skimming is a huge part. Thanks to my sharks, my skimmer is working over time. Just keep that in mind.

[Euclid]

Thanks y'all!
Anybody have a skimmer that I could buy off of them if I can't get this one figured out?

[saltcreepette]

here is a couple links on the skimmer you have, with description and diagram:

http://www.leesaqpet.com/PICCAT/product_index/item/17100-10/

http://saltaquarium.about.com/library/weekly/fpr/aafprleeskimmer.htm

So I guess you stick this directly inside the tank. the little U-shaped holes go at water level and the collection cup stays above the water, I would guess. from looking at yours, you are probably going to have to go get another wood airstone for it because yours doesnt have the correct connector (it said Coralife on it, not Lee's. the Lee's probably comes with the right size connector). take your skimmer with you when you go. call around to see who even carries them. see this site's list of petstores and phone numbers. hope this helps!

real quick, take a picture of the top/back of your tank and post it here, thanks. (thisll help some of us knowing which hang-on skimmers will fit your tank)

[Euclid]

I think I'm just going to buy a real skimmer. This thing doesn't look like it'd be much help. It is, after all, craptastic. Anybody here have a spare skimmer that they could let go pretty soon?
I'll get some pictures of the tank when i get home this evening. In the meantime, here is a picture of my filtration system:
http://www.aquamazing.com/large-aquariums/large-aquarium-pictures/DSC01896.JPG

[tony]

I think I'm just going to buy a real skimmer. This thing doesn't look like it'd be much help. It is, after all, craptastic. Anybody here have a spare skimmer that they could let go pretty soon?

welcome to MAAST!!!

drop rudy a line, this is a steal if he still has it

ive dealt with him in the past and he is good people


http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=19730

[Euclid]

Thanks Tony! PM Sent!

[Euclid]

I got the skimmer working!

I also bought a new test kit today and some activated carbon and a mesh sack. I went ahead and put the carbon in the tank - how long should I wait before I change it out? How can I tell if it's all used up?

I also took the time today to level my tank. That was a total pain.

Another thing, turns out I had probably 4 gallons too much water in my tank so I went ahead and emptied that out.

After about 4 hours of running the carbon the tank is quite noticably clearer!

[saltcreepette]

wow, glad to see that craptastic skimmer ;) is going to get a little more use before going into the trash. Let us know if it pulls anything out of the water for you. your 'skimmate' should be stinky and dark (the darker the better/more efficient your skimmer is working....er, or the dirtier your tank is ;)

I would leave, in your case, the carbon in for four or five days then change it out, leave it in for a week, and do that once more a third time. then once your tank's a little cleaner, change it out once every two weeks. you dont HAVE to run carbon constantly if you feel your water is clean (but with a predator tank like you have, you'd probably benefit from it). I'm not sure if there are tests out there to tell if your carbon is used up or not. anyone else know?

Have you tried feeding yet? how did that go?

[Euclid]

Yep, fed them the other day. The lion ate 4 or 5 krill, the eel didn't eat any and the tang ate all the little pieces.

[SaltyJim]

Have you checked to see what the previous owner was feeding? In my experience with eels, you may have to start with something live (live feeder goldfish/guppies) to get them to start eating. The eel has really poor eyesight and may have difficulty finding the food if it is not moving. If that is the case, you can devise some sort of feeding prong to spear krill (my eel loved frozen squid btw) and shake it right in front of the eel's nose. This might help too. But if the previous owner only feed the eel live foods, then you need to start the process of switching over yourself.

Good luck.

[GaryP]

There is a test for carbon, but from what Richard said, I wouldn't recommend it. Its basically a dissolved organic (DO) test. I just change mine out once a week or every other week. I used a powered carbon filter but what you are doing is probably ok. I assume you put the carbon in one of the chemical trays in the back of your tank. If so, that's good. As long as you have flow going through it.

Running carbon will help you manage the cyano (the red slimy stuff) you have in the tank. Cyano likes water with high DO and low flow. I know you already added an extra pump. As I mentioned, my first tank was very similar to your's, and looking back on it now (with a lot more experience) I realize that the biggest problem I had with it was a lack of flow and a weak protein skimmer.

[Euclid]

Have you checked to see what the previous owner was feeding? In my experience with eels, you may have to start with something live (live feeder goldfish/guppies) to get them to start eating. The eel has really poor eyesight and may have difficulty finding the food if it is not moving. If that is the case, you can devise some sort of feeding prong to spear krill (my eel loved frozen squid btw) and shake it right in front of the eel's nose. This might help too. But if the previous owner only feed the eel live foods, then you need to start the process of switching over yourself.

Good luck.
Previous owner said that he only fed the tank frozen krill.
I'll try the spear thing. Should a coathanger work?

[SaltyJim]

Previous owner said that he only fed the tank frozen krill.
I'll try the spear thing. Should a coathanger work?

I'd go to the LFS and get a length of Rigid Airline tubing. Heat it up about 1-2 inches from the end, and bend it there to give it an angle. Try not to give it a sharp end, just asking for trouble. You should be able to spear a thawed krill with that.

BTW...when you fed the tank...did the eel even look like it was hungry. Try swimming around or anything...maybe not hungry yet.

[Euclid]

Eel didn't look hungry. He came out for a minute when I dropped the food in there, im guessing he sensed the lion's activity, but then he went right back in. There was a shrimp like right next to his face and it didn't phase him.

[GaryP]

You can also use the wooden skewers that you get at HEB to make shish kabobs.

[gjuarez]

Gary, I dont have gray hairs but I did have a Lee's skimmer at one point. It was my first skimmer. Euclid, make sure you dont let too much air go into the wooden air stone, the bubbles should be very small. The other one is sort of like a bubble counter. It controls the bubbles coming out of the tube and they should be about an inch apart from each other. Hope this helps.

[Euclid]

For those interested, here are some updated pictures of my setup.
The water quality is at 0/0/0/8pH and the fish are eating great! The tang seems to have developed a bit of ick from the move, but I'm in the process of treating that. I've also added about 40 pounds of liverock to start.
I plan on getting rid of the 2 ugly fake corals, upgrading my lighting and then hopefully adding some real corals/invertebrates. I'm not very satisfied with the tank's stand right now, does anybody have any suggestions as to something that I could do to make it look better? It's pine and pledge doesn't help.
Let me know what y'all think and please shower me in criticisms/suggestions/reccomendations!!

Thanks again MAAST!!

https://webspace.utexas.edu/cd699/pics/Picture%20774.jpg
https://webspace.utexas.edu/cd699/pics/Picture%20775.jpg
https://webspace.utexas.edu/cd699/pics/Picture%20778.jpg
https://webspace.utexas.edu/cd699/pics/Picture%20777.jpg
https://webspace.utexas.edu/cd699/pics/Picture%20781.jpg

[Bill S]

Oh, your tang doesn't look THAT bad. It's so typical of them...