Our Tbs

[kidzatheart]

So far we havent had an algae problem. There is some brown spots that are growning on the glass but it comes off very easy with the magnet. The algea is very light and not much at all. And the glass is the only place it is. Everyone seems to like the pics your camera takes Pat. Even i asked you what type of camera you have. I still dont like the macro mode on our gateway camera. It still wont take good clear pics up close. I have a polaroid digital camera i have packed up. We bought the gateway to replace the polaroid. I might unpack it and see how it does for close up pics. If it dont do any better i might put both of them for sale on ebay so i can buy a better camera..lol.

[Doggydog911]

Ok, well while I still save up for everything for my tank and tbs rock, can I keep

2 Ocellaris Clowns
1 Bicolor angel
3 firefish
1 mandarin in a 55g tank?

I made another list but somebody laughed at me (which i hate when people do that) so I guessed that would be a no

[patsan]

Originally posted by kidzatheart
So far we havent had an algae problem. There is some brown spots that are growning on the glass but it comes off very easy with the magnet. The algea is very light and not much at all. And the glass is the only place it is. Everyone seems to like the pics your camera takes Pat. Even i asked you what type of camera you have. I still dont like the macro mode on our gateway camera. It still wont take good clear pics up close. I have a polaroid digital camera i have packed up. We bought the gateway to replace the polaroid. I might unpack it and see how it does for close up pics. If it dont do any better i might put both of them for sale on ebay so i can buy a better camera..lol.

The brown on the glass is normal.
My camera isn't expensive at all. I got the camera, extra battery, card reader and larger memory card for about $400 total.
I buy all my digital cameras at www.buydig.com
and then I buy the accessories elsewhere, because I can find that stuff cheaper.

Originally posted by Doggydog911
Ok, well while I still save up for everything for my tank and tbs rock, can I keep
2 Ocellaris Clowns
1 Bicolor angel
3 firefish
1 mandarin in a 55g tank?
I made another list but somebody laughed at me (which i hate when people do that) so I guessed that would be a no

Probably everything except the mandarin. The firefish like to be kept in pairs. They also jump, so you'd have to have a cover on the tank. But what are you planning to use for filtration while you're saving up for everything you need?

[drk70]

I don't know how you can keep microbubbles out of the tank. I just sat and watch them go over the baffle into the skimmer area and then over, under, over and under another set of baffles. How do you stop them?

[Doggydog911]

Originally posted by patsan


Probably everything except the mandarin. The firefish like to be kept in pairs. They also jump, so you'd have to have a cover on the tank. But what are you planning to use for filtration while you're saving up for everything you need?

You mean if I had the tank now I can start putting in some fish before the lr and ls? I don't have anything at all yet, im trying to save up for everything because my parents aren't going to buy it for me because its $105 for a tank at petco. If I did put fish in the tank before lr wouldn't I have to let it cycle? It said you should put live rock and live sand before any live stock. There is alot of lives in a aquarium isn't there?

[lossman]

Originally posted by drk70
I don't know how you can keep microbubbles out of the tank. I just sat and watch them go over the baffle into the skimmer area and then over, under, over and under another set of baffles. How do you stop them?

Filter socks. That or some kind of micron filter over your intake, which I don't trust. After I did the mods on our sump I decided I needed to get the socks out of there due to our nitrate problems. I removed them and sat and watched the microbubbles go from the return sump, over the baffle, thru the fuge, over the next baffle, into the intake area then into the main tank. Microbubbles and all the detritus going from sump to main tank made me put the socks back on. I am sure the socks are not the cause of our high nitrates as I change them every other day, sometimes every day if they seem like they got overly dirty. Mostly they have just a light color to them before I change them.

[drk70]

Originally posted by Doggydog911
You mean if I had the tank now I can start putting in some fish before the lr and ls? I don't have anything at all yet, im trying to save up for everything because my parents aren't going to buy it for me because its $105 for a tank at petco. If I did put fish in the tank before lr wouldn't I have to let it cycle? It said you should put live rock and live sand before any live stock. There is alot of lives in a aquarium isn't there?

Fish are the last thing in the tank. Tank up and running first then rock and sand. The last is fish.

[patsan]

Originally posted by Doggydog911
You mean if I had the tank now I can start putting in some fish before the lr and ls? I don't have anything at all yet, im trying to save up for everything because my parents aren't going to buy it for me because its $105 for a tank at petco. If I did put fish in the tank before lr wouldn't I have to let it cycle? It said you should put live rock and live sand before any live stock. There is alot of lives in a aquarium isn't there?

Your BEST bet is to save for everything first before you begin so you can do it properly. Salt Water tanks are expensive to set up and maintain. I won't lie to you,...some people have salt water tanks with no live rock, but they also have a filter for it which is very expensive to buy and takes a lot more time to keep up with. I don't think that is what you're looking for, so my best recommendation would be to save your money, and keep reading and learning. This way, when you are ready to start up, you won't be dissapointed and you can do it the right way.
Many people are in a position like you and don't have the money to get everything all at once, so they buy their equipment a little at a time as they can afford it. They just keep learning and reading while they're getting all their equipment needed, and they sure do appreciate it when they're finally able to get it all going.

[drk70]

Originally posted by lossman
Filter socks. That or some kind of micron filter over your intake, which I don't trust. After I did the mods on our sump I decided I needed to get the socks out of there due to our nitrate problems. I removed them and sat and watched the microbubbles go from the return sump, over the baffle, thru the fuge, over the next baffle, into the intake area then into the main tank. Microbubbles and all the detritus going from sump to main tank made me put the socks back on. I am sure the socks are not the cause of our high nitrates as I change them every other day, sometimes every day if they seem like they got overly dirty. Mostly they have just a light color to them before I change them.

I figure that is about the only way to get rid of them. Maybe puts some rubble rock tight around the drain so the bubbles have something to attach themselves to.

[Doggydog911]

Ok, so you are saying buy a little at a time until you can get the aquarium started for real?

[drk70]

Originally posted by Doggydog911
Ok, so you are saying buy a little at a time until you can get the aquarium started for real?

Read, read, read while you are saving up your money. You will change your mind many times about different equipment before you actually decide what to get.

[patsan]

Originally posted by Doggydog911
Ok, so you are saying buy a little at a time until you can get the aquarium started for real?

Yes, that would be the best thing you could do!

[lossman]

Originally posted by drk70
I figure that is about the only way to get rid of them. Maybe puts some rubble rock tight around the drain so the bubbles have something to attach themselves to.

I'm not sure that will help. We have lr in the fuge as well as plants. We have the rock along the baffle that goes into the return area. It did not seem to do a thing to to stop the microbubbles. We even put one of those sponges along the outside edge of the baffle in the return area.....the kind that you put under the skimmer return to deaden the sound of the waterfall. That did not help at all either.

At this point in time, I would trade all the tank noise back if we could only get rid of the nitrates. Nothing we do seems to help. 5- 6 weeks with 40ppm and over. We have come to the conclusion that it may be our skimmer and are contemplating purchasing a Euroreef skimmer. There goes another few hundred bucks into the tank drain. We have once again come to a point where we swear at the lfs that we relied upon for expert help. The only purchase that we made there that we have never regreted is the tank itself.

[patsan]

What skimmer do you have now Sally? ASM is a heck of a lot cheaper than Euroreefs! They use the same pumps too. Only difference is the Euros are made from cast acrylic and the ASM is plastic. Since they sit in the sump, it's not going to make much of a difference...it won't be getting knocked around.

[AquAsylum]

Our camera just isn't going to cut it for all of this.

Durnit, condy is off of her rock again!! Just had our water tested at the LFS and our nitrites/trates are off the chart. Everything else is fine. We're adding our 40 gallons of ro water for the sump tonight, so hopefully between that and evening out the cycle. I've been saying "hopefully" way too much.

Here's something interesting- we have a cerith snail who is giving birth- she has been on the front glass all day and there's a trail of itty bitty snails behind her- a sign of life!

[kidzatheart]

Originally posted by Doggydog911
Ok, well while I still save up for everything for my tank and tbs rock, can I keep

2 Ocellaris Clowns
1 Bicolor angel
3 firefish
1 mandarin in a 55g tank?

I made another list but somebody laughed at me (which i hate when people do that) so I guessed that would be a no

A mandarin needs live rock to live from what i hear. They feed on the pods that come in live rock. I do have one in my 29 reef and he is kinda starting to look a little thin. He is still nice and fat but we can tell he has lost some of his weight so we are going to have to order some pods since i guess he has ate all we had. Floridapets.com sells the pods and they are not bad priced. If you have a good lfs, they will tell you that you need a well established tank to be able to keep a mandarin. When i put brine or mysis shrimp in the tank it looks like the mandarin might be eating some of it but its hard to tell.

[Doggydog911]

thats diffrent......

[Doggydog911]

do you have a picture of your whole sump? Im just looking around thinking of a type I want to build.

[jnb]

Your sump is new - right and I don't remember but it was not that long ago your tank was empty - you do have salt in it - right? Any live sand or liverock? The reason I ask is that sliming up of everything hoses, sump walls, baffles - everything - is what attributes to the demisnment of microbubbles - it takes time - I was running sponges, etc - then realized I did not want anything trapping stuff - just the skimmer pulling it out - removed the sponges and was shocked to see that microbubbles were no more - everytime I play changing something out microbubbles come a little and then go away - it just takes time - as far a noise - don't stress you will get it right soon. I used micrbags at first but would not stand trapping stuff. So I took them out. I think the biggest thing to contol noise is to eliminate the water and air falling into he sump water you have to let it hit something first - a T, a large strainer, I had mine hitting bioballs for a while, then later I had it hit a layer of floss - not to catch debris but just to baffle the sound - put your hand under the water outlet - the noise all but goes away - right - yuo have your water falling vertically too much

Originally posted by drk70
I don't know how you can keep microbubbles out of the tank. I just sat and watch them go over the baffle into the skimmer area and then over, under, over and under another set of baffles. How do you stop them?

[drk70]

Originally posted by jnick
Your sump is new - right and I don't remember but it was not that long ago your tank was empty - you do have salt in it - right? Any live sand or liverock? The reason I ask is that sliming up of everything hoses, sump walls, baffles - everything - is what attributes to the demisnment of microbubbles - it takes time - I was running sponges, etc - then realized I did not want anything trapping stuff - just the skimmer pulling it out - removed the sponges and was shocked to see that microbubbles were no more - everytime I play changing something out microbubbles come a little and then go away - it just takes time - as far a noise - don't stress you will get it right soon. I used micrbags at first but would not stand trapping stuff. So I took them out. I think the biggest thing to contol noise is to eliminate the water and air falling into he sump water you have to let it hit something first - a T, a large strainer, I had mine hitting bioballs for a while, then later I had it hit a layer of floss - not to catch debris but just to baffle the sound - put your hand under the water outlet - the noise all but goes away - right - yuo have your water falling vertically too much

Everything is new. Just salt water running through it now.

[jnb]

you have any life in it at all - it will slime when you do - noise wise - there is a wise, experienced sump builder on rc and here is a pic of one of his water coming into the sump designs below - see water is being caught before cascades hard into the sump

Originally posted by drk70
Everything is new. Just salt water running through it now.

[jnb]

show me an image of where your water is coming in

[jnb]

and the reefer with the hight nitrates or was it nitites - are you not running your lights for only 5 hrs - tsk,tsk how long has you life sand been established

if not long, and you are not letting any plants grow due to limits on lights and/or if you light cycle is letting other life expire (light loving stuff ) - .............

[lossman]

Originally posted by patsan
What skimmer do you have now Sally? ASM is a heck of a lot cheaper than Euroreefs! They use the same pumps too. Only difference is the Euros are made from cast acrylic and the ASM is plastic. Since they sit in the sump, it's not going to make much of a difference...it won't be getting knocked around.

skimmer is Sealife Systems 250. I understand the company went out of business last August......5 months before we purchased the thing. It's making barely any foam at all. We have taken it apart twice today to make sure that everything is clean and clear. It's just a piece of crud. Our consitently high nitrates attest to that fact.

I've been sitting here on the edge of tears all evening as I lost one of the small hitchiker anemones last week and I know I am losing the other one in the next couple of days. The condy still seems to be doing ok but the brain looks a bit rough. There has got to be an answer to getting rid of these nitrates! It's totally frustrating and unfortunately I seem to be taking my frustrations out on my best friend in the world....my dh.

[drk70]

Originally posted by jnick
show me an image of where your water is coming in

Here are the pics I posted earlier.