Interesting things about the 120 I'm setting up

[sam1174]

Sorry about the long post. Stop reading if you get bored...

I finally got the water in my 120, and I was fortunate enough to find some of that coral play sand that Home Depot used to sell (The stuff that looks like sugar). I poured the sand in, and the water turned an opaque white. I literally couldn't see one inch into the tank. I figured it would settle out, but a day later it was still so cloudy I could only see halfway into the tank.

I have a penguin filter that I hung on the side of the tank thinking it would help filter out the cloudiness. If helped a little, but the water was still very cloudy.

Earlier today I got my sump and protein skimmer working. The skimmer immediately started foaming up, and I was impressed by the amount of bubbles it was producing. It is a Via Aqua skimmer that other people on this board seem to love, and I see why. Within an hour I could see through to the other side of the tank, and within 3 hours the water was crystal clear. I had to empty the bowl of the skimmer three times in three hours! In any case, I was very suprised that the skimmer removed the cloudiness that the sand had caused. I thought it would only skim organic compounds.

My tank is not drilled so I made a home-made overflow out of PVC using this one as a guide. It works great! I had to play with the height of the three inlets in order to get the water height correct, but now it's perfect, and it only cost about $20. I have a tube running from the venturi inlet on one of my power heads to the little hole at the top of the overflow, so it should self-prime if the power goes out and comes back on.

That's all. I spent a lot of time reading everyone's advice here on RC, and your help was greatly appreciated.

[frederickk]

Just keep on reading that's the best advise I can give you