Filters, Power Heads and my new Fluval
- Thread starter JeffDubya
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Anonymous
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i don't do long acclimations because i feel it is unneccessary - to think that 15 minute or even two hours is an "acclimation" is IMO wrong - it could take days for fish or invert to truely acclimate (and months for corals) to its new environment when you consider all the elements in the acclimation process to their new environment......... my method works for me but i know others who are successfull using long acclimations. i do also do what you suggested about the lights i turn off the whites and leave the actinics on when i introduce fishidog said:
however what i said is i doubt that is what killed him. what if that fish had been in the bag for 2 more hours, would it have died anyway because of ammonia????? no. all i meant was that in an open top container for two hours dipping water back and forth, although not neccessary, did not kill that fish, something else is way wrong with his water to act that quickly. seeing his water params - i believe that it could be simply that the tank is not ready yet. if there is detectable nitrite in the water, the cycle is not complete and and he should wait a bit more. damsels are pretty tough so there has to be that either the ammonia consuming bacteria are not in place yet (as evidenced by the ammonia spike following the death), the nitrite (which is also bad) is too high, or something else like pH,salinity, or something is way out of wack.
anyway....... jeff, reach in there and find that damsel and that piece of shrimp and get them out of your tank. there is already plenty of nutrients available to get the bacteria going - you don't need them to decompose in there and cause a buildup of nutrients (phosphate in particular) in your tank which could result in an algae bloom a month or so from now - just be patient. give your tank more time before adding anything else and double check your test kits - maybe use your salinity tester on their water - see what that says
as for the cannister - proraptor - i don't like the idea of rubble in a cannister cause i think it is uneccessary. better to use that space for carbon or phosphate remover. you said you have 160lbs of live rock in your tank - do you really believe that 1 more pound in a cannister makes any dif??? no. tanks with sand and live rock have plenty of space for biologic filtration - if they are allowed to cycle completley and the buildup of critters in the system is slow. not that putting rubble in the cannister will hurt anything - just that a cannister filter if used at all is best used for chemical filtration, and a HOB makes for a better mech filter on a nano
flow - as i said, if you are blowing powerheads at criters (even an SPS) that is no good but properly placed flow will keep detritus from settling on or behind the rock , allowing the mech filter to remove it, and help to keep nutrients down. filtering detritus out rather then allowing it to settle behind rock and cycle will help to eliminate future algae problems
sorry for the long script and of course this is all JMO!!
JeffDubya
New Member
Follow up question... in order to get the damsel out, I am literally going to have to take the tank apart. Is the potential problem truly worth that degree of effort? Just had to ask. After all, the CUC is going to need food soon, right? And really, it was a very small fish. Less than an inch, probably .75 in. And he is NOWHERE to be seen. I even took apart the first rock layer.
I think you're confusing me with someone else. I have about 50 lbs of cured LR. Does this change your opinion?
However, there are several (4-5) compartments in there. I was only going to replace those with ceramic media with the rubble. I was going to leave one spot on top for occasional carbon. Or phosphate remover. Or whatever.
Waiting for the follow up!
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Anonymous
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as for the damsel if you can't find it, so be it - not a real big deal - but just as a thought to yourself - how many days of feeding fishfood is he equal to??? you see what i mean about it being a huge nutrient addition? and you don't need it in there for the cycle to occur
the second quote was in response to prorapter's comment to you about everyone agreeing that putting rubble in there is good - and no it doesn't change my opinion. not that putting rubble in there is bad, its just redundent.
3 types of filtration need to be aimed at -
1) bio = your live rock (50lbs is plenty on a "normal" bioload) and sand
2) mech = some sort of sponge or floss either in a HOB (easiest to maintain) overflows, sump, canister, whatever just so you have it and clean it often
3) chem = carbon, phosban ect. canisters are built for this and are by far the most effective at it, so if you are going to run a canister (many don't - they use HOBs with carbon pads, which is fine too) i just think use it for what its best at. run carbon 24/7 and phosphate remover if you need it. i run mine with 3 bags carbon, 1 bag phosban, the other chamber sits empty. to me someone saying remove ceramic and replace with rubble is just changing one form of bio for another - why??? i don't see the need is all...
and then you have protein skimmers which pull organics out before they are processed - i like skimmers but on nanos it is just hard to find a descent one. for your 29 though there are a few choices
the second quote was in response to prorapter's comment to you about everyone agreeing that putting rubble in there is good - and no it doesn't change my opinion. not that putting rubble in there is bad, its just redundent.
3 types of filtration need to be aimed at -
1) bio = your live rock (50lbs is plenty on a "normal" bioload) and sand
2) mech = some sort of sponge or floss either in a HOB (easiest to maintain) overflows, sump, canister, whatever just so you have it and clean it often
3) chem = carbon, phosban ect. canisters are built for this and are by far the most effective at it, so if you are going to run a canister (many don't - they use HOBs with carbon pads, which is fine too) i just think use it for what its best at. run carbon 24/7 and phosphate remover if you need it. i run mine with 3 bags carbon, 1 bag phosban, the other chamber sits empty. to me someone saying remove ceramic and replace with rubble is just changing one form of bio for another - why??? i don't see the need is all...
and then you have protein skimmers which pull organics out before they are processed - i like skimmers but on nanos it is just hard to find a descent one. for your 29 though there are a few choices
JeffDubya
New Member
Plus check out this really wierd looking worm. I found it buried deep in the coral. My wife called it a "Penis Worm" cause of the little helmet-looking thing, my guess is that is some sort of burrowing device or possibly its mouth, which is one reason I didn't futz with it too much.
I put the large chunk with him in it back in the tank. If he only feeds on big chunks of calcium, it should be pretty harmless - provided the shock of my breaking open its home didn't kill it to start off with.
Live rock... it's alive!
I put the large chunk with him in it back in the tank. If he only feeds on big chunks of calcium, it should be pretty harmless - provided the shock of my breaking open its home didn't kill it to start off with.
Live rock... it's alive!
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TimSchmidt
New Member
One thing to keep in mind is everyone has a different way to do the same thing. It's your job to choose what will work best for you. I personally agree with john and dawn on the cannister being best for chemical filtration for one simple reason - the cannister filgter forces the water to travel through the media (carbon, phosban, etc...) instead of flowing around or over the bag. Any new pics?
JeffDubya
New Member
I'll take some in the next day or so.
And I would like to make a quickie clarification. I didn't reject your advice or john and dawn. I am keeping the carbon packs in the filter, so chemical filtration continues. Additionally, I am saving the foam pads, and may indeed run them from time to time (albiet a short time) If I need to, I can take the carbon out and run phosban, or whatever! Because of the modular nature of this cannister interior, making a change is really a snap - it's very easy to work with, great design.
I am simply setting this up this way... for the MAJORITY of run time. Average, everyday stuff. If at some point I need to reconfigure, it will take me about minutes to do. So trust me, I hear you and I agree with what you are saying.
Thanks for everyone's continued advice.
And I would like to make a quickie clarification. I didn't reject your advice or john and dawn. I am keeping the carbon packs in the filter, so chemical filtration continues. Additionally, I am saving the foam pads, and may indeed run them from time to time (albiet a short time) If I need to, I can take the carbon out and run phosban, or whatever! Because of the modular nature of this cannister interior, making a change is really a snap - it's very easy to work with, great design.
I am simply setting this up this way... for the MAJORITY of run time. Average, everyday stuff. If at some point I need to reconfigure, it will take me about minutes to do. So trust me, I hear you and I agree with what you are saying.
Thanks for everyone's continued advice.
JeffDubya
New Member
Well, I am a beginner at this. But here is some information provided to me by an enthusiast I really respect - who I think really seems to know his stuff. This was the reason I did what I did:johnanddawn said:
I'm not raising this as a point of contention, because as it has been mentioned so many times on this site, 10 different members can do things 10 different ways, and ALL BE CORRECT. This is just the direction I chose to go and why.
FWIW, after 2 days, my nitrites have already dropped to zero. Of course, that probably has more to do with pulling the sponge, but I really believe that over the long haul, this will be healthier for the tank.
TimSchmidt
New Member
Cool, no prob. If you get froggy, do a search here on remote dense sand beds (DSB). I'm not sure if you would be interested, it's just semi on topic for this entire filtration discusion. Seemed in