so, as you can see I am new to all this. I have a small filter haning off the back, I wanted to know if that will be enough water movement in this small 2.5 tank. I really dont think I am going to beable to keep my lights on for 8 hours at a time either, the thing get way too hot, can some one cleaify the fan thing, and where I can get one. also the liht has I florecent light and a atinic light at the same time with no way to switch between the two, what can I do to seperate the two?
Water movement, light and temp Question
- Thread starter bmr33775
- Start date
funkngroovy
New Member
Can you start a thread in the Pico 2.5 and under section.
That way you can ask all of your questions and everyone (including yourself) can keep track of the progress from start to finish.
Check out my links for clarification.
Ok, I think that will be enough water movement, I actually have less that that in my little tank and it's going fine (although if I added a fish things would be different).
I forget what type of lights you have but it should be fine to keep them on. The heat will mostly rise, not transfer to your water.
As for the fan, it's really simple.
Go get yourself the smallest, and if you want crappiest small (like 4inch) desk fan and just work out a way that it can blow across the surface of the water.
The aim is to increase evaporation and therefore cool the tank..
YOu only need to do this when it is hot. Don't waste time setting it up until it is.
Where do you live? So we know if we should be speaking in imperial or metric.
That way you can ask all of your questions and everyone (including yourself) can keep track of the progress from start to finish.
Check out my links for clarification.
Ok, I think that will be enough water movement, I actually have less that that in my little tank and it's going fine (although if I added a fish things would be different).
I forget what type of lights you have but it should be fine to keep them on. The heat will mostly rise, not transfer to your water.
As for the fan, it's really simple.
Go get yourself the smallest, and if you want crappiest small (like 4inch) desk fan and just work out a way that it can blow across the surface of the water.
The aim is to increase evaporation and therefore cool the tank..
YOu only need to do this when it is hot. Don't waste time setting it up until it is.
Where do you live? So we know if we should be speaking in imperial or metric.
I live in the US, as for my posts, I thought I di post this one in pico section, if it didn't go there I'm sorry, I'm still new to this. I am watching my water temp I have a conversion for temp on my thermometer, so I can use what ever on that. I will leave my light on, but I am still worried you know, this is just a whole new thing for me. so here is another question for you, how long before I can get some more stuff in here, I am looking into getting more live rock today, but not sure yet. I will see what LFS has. also, I was just using tap water for top off's, don't realy want to spend money all the time, is there a better way to go with this?
funkngroovy
New Member
you can add more live rock whenever you want.
It will have to cycle of course but it's all part of the process.
Depending where you live, rain water is a much better option.
Tap water us usually not safe for reef aquariums and will generally cause lots of different problems. The biggest being algae due to the phosphate in tap water, closely followed by the build up of metals in your system.
An option is to purchase some RO (reverse osmosis water from a fellow reefer in your area or your LFS should have an RO system. this is very cheap for a system of your size.
As for the temp, you can leave your lights off during most of they cycle anyway..
When you have time and are going to be at home for most of the day, leave them on and note down the temp every hour. As long as it stays within 24-26C and doesn't go above 28C, you will be fine.
You have to do a fair bit of experementing at this point as there are not that many diffinative answers in this hobby when it comes to the environment you are putting your tank in and things like water wether it's tap or NSW, it is different in nearly any location around the world.
Sucks a bit but this hobby is fairly new,, so your a bit of a pioneer :!:
It will have to cycle of course but it's all part of the process.
Depending where you live, rain water is a much better option.
Tap water us usually not safe for reef aquariums and will generally cause lots of different problems. The biggest being algae due to the phosphate in tap water, closely followed by the build up of metals in your system.
An option is to purchase some RO (reverse osmosis water from a fellow reefer in your area or your LFS should have an RO system. this is very cheap for a system of your size.
As for the temp, you can leave your lights off during most of they cycle anyway..
When you have time and are going to be at home for most of the day, leave them on and note down the temp every hour. As long as it stays within 24-26C and doesn't go above 28C, you will be fine.
You have to do a fair bit of experementing at this point as there are not that many diffinative answers in this hobby when it comes to the environment you are putting your tank in and things like water wether it's tap or NSW, it is different in nearly any location around the world.
Sucks a bit but this hobby is fairly new,, so your a bit of a pioneer :!:
thanks for all the help, water in the tank is doing fine, the light has been on for about an hour now and not too high of a rise in temp, so thank you. so I want out to get some live rock and no one had any where I was at, and I really didn't feel like making a half hour long trip to the other LFS. so I will wait until the weekend I guess. so as of now, my stars have gone into hiding, i think it's because the light has been off most the day. well, thank again for all the help, I will post more as I see it popping up.
TimSchmidt
New Member
Looks like you have already been taken care of. I would either buy RO water or check out distilled. Normally tap water is not so good, but you can check it out via water test kits (almost a must in this hobby).