New to this and needing advice

[Martin669]

Just starting out with Aqua Marine 900 set up with Marisys 240 Series 2, got 28kilo of live rock and 3-4" depth of live sand. Have 4 x 1600 circulation pumps going. Cannot seem to get rid of the micro bubbles and also totally confused by the mixed info given by different retailers. Already have carbon in the Marisys (came with), advised to remove the ceramic sub. Been told now to add phosphate by one retailer but told not to by another. Can anyone advise me which way is right. All advise gratefully received. Got to this point and now totally confused about how to move forwards. Although really enjoying rock watching and amazed to find that already have feather dusters appearing in abundance on one of the smaller rocks. Worried about doing the wrong thing and losing them! Can anyone help and talk me through the next stages?

 

[jtrasap]

Just starting out with set up with Marisys 240 Series 2, got 28kilo of live rock and 3-4" depth of live sand. Have 4 x 1600 circulation pumps going. Cannot seem to get rid of the micro bubbles and also totally confused by the mixed info given by different retailers. Already have carbon in the Marisys (came with), advised to remove the ceramic sub. Been told now to add phosphate by one retailer but told not to by another. Can anyone advise me which way is right. All advise gratefully received. Got to this point and now totally confused about how to move forwards. Although really enjoying rock watching and amazed to find that already have feather dusters appearing in abundance on one of the smaller rocks. Worried about doing the wrong thing and losing them! Can anyone help and talk me through the next stages?

Be very leery of anything told to you by a retailer. Many of them will sell you snake oil just to make a buck. I really don't know anything about the equipment that you mentioned but adding phosphate is a definite no no. If the Micro-bubbles are coming from a return line from a sump, make sure the return pump is not sitting near the skimmer outlet. It has to be picking up the bubbles somewhere. Feather dusters can be cool but they can also be a nuisance and can get out of hand very quickly if nutrients are high in the tank.

How long has the tank been up and running?

 

[Martin669]

Thank you for your reply..........Tank has been up and running for two weeks now, with the live rock and live sand in situ, added the four circulation pumps last week hoping that they would help clear the bubbles. They did reduce but still a lot there. Taken on board your comments about the feather dusters, thank you, will keep an eye on them. They are very small at the moment and only on one small rock.
Frustrating now as not sure how to move forward. Bought the algae testing kit and reef testing kit but confused about which one you use first and whether the bubbles will effect the results. Hoping to pick up some tips on here.

 

[cjbaker]

Hi Martin, I have the same set up as you and haven't changed a thing. It's been running for a few months and everything is great. I red lots of negative info about the filter system but mine seems fine and the skimmer works very well. Not sure about your micro bubbles tho. I've put my filter at the side of the unit outside. Loads less hassle when topping up and not as noisy either.