Wow, it's been one of those evenings where you run all over town.
I picked up two 20 gallon long aquariums, a pair of heaters and a twelve pound piece of "reef bone" at my
LFS. That's the piece of rock I plan to test and crack up to add to my sump (discussed a few posts back). I'll do the vinegar thing later and report back.
The two 20's are for the pair of
QT tanks I've been discussing with everyone's help in this thread.
Next stop was Petsmart down the road where I snagged a pair of Marineland Penguin 200 Bio-Wheel
HOB filter kits. They are rated for 200
GPH, so I figure I'll get decent circulation in these 20's.
The box looked like it had one of those polyfilter/carbon inserts and a sponge insert. I got home and found out the sponge part is optional and not included (gggrrr), so I'll try to find some here at the house that is unused or go out (yet again) for that tomorrow. Dangit. I might just cut this one and empty out the carbon bits.
I also bought a 60 pound tub of Instant Ocean salt since I'm going through it pretty fast with my main and now the QTs.
I stopped by Lowes next and snagged a few 2" and 3"
PVC fittings of various types to distribute between the tanks.
Last stop was Wal-Mart (gggrrrr again) to get a buttload of water. I've been buying their "Drinking Water" (
RO/
DI/Carbon/etc) water in 1 gallon jugs lately for my water changes while I work out a booster pump arrangement for my Kent
RO unit. I set a new record by getting 42 jugs in one shopping cart and endured all the strange looks while I carefully steered several hundred pounds of water to the checkout lane.
My car was sitting a bit low in the back on the way home from this trip.
Anyway, I'm setting up the tanks now in a spare bathroom in the back of the house. I'll send some pictures later for those interested in seeing the festivities (if you want to call them that).
I'm about to mix up 22 or so gallons of water in my usual mixing trashcan to prepare it for tomorrow. I'll pull 20 gallons out of the main and put the new water in its place (effectively a water change for the main) and move the removed main water to the first
QT tank. I'll repeat this process again later in the weekend to fill the second
QT tank. I'll also throw as many bio-balls in the
HOB filter as I can fit from my wet/dry.
I had a thought while I was out, though. Some years ago when I thought I might be getting back into saltwater I jumped on a deal on eBay and bought a Tidepool-2 BioWheel system (unused) from somebody. Got a great price on it. At the time, biowheels were still something of the rage. It's rated for 80 - 200 gallon tanks.
Needless to say, I never used it and it's still sitting in my attic in the box.
Anybody see any application for it in this
QT setup? I'd think I could run both tanks off this thing rather easily with a little basic plumbing and a not too expensive pump. Too much trouble or stick with the HOBs I already bought? Just a thought...
I'll have some photos and questions later. The Cupramine should arrive tomorrow from Marinedepot so I can start the treatment process.
Thanks!
- Aaron