New to SW Aquarium

[tony1021]

hello all, i just want to get some information regarding everything that came with my purchase and what else i may need.

I have a 54 gallon tank. Filtration system is what I believe is your typical wet/dry tank.

I have a brand new "PhosBan Reactor 150" what is this for and do I need this?

I have a full bottle of PhosGuard and Black Diamond what are the for and when should I add this and to what?

Im assuming when you all use "PWC" it stands for periodic water change, just wanted to make sure.

Now when I do my pwc do i remove the water from inside the tank ONLY or do i remove all water from filter first and then take the remaining water from inside the tank?

I have 2 Goby's 1 chromy and about 5 4 blue leg crabs and 3 red leg crabs and 1 snail. Do you recommend having more snails/crabs?

I'll hold off all other questions for now, don't want to overwhelm everyone, lol...

Thanks,
Tony

 

[thominil]

For Pwc I just remove from tank and dump new mixed sw back into tank. Could probaly get a 5 more snails (guessing). I have a 20g high with 3 snails and 3 hermits.

 

[tony1021]

bump

 

[tony1021]

this is an image of my sump tank...

you can find my questions on the fancy captions, lol

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[CaptainAhab]

From what I can see you don't have a skimmer. It's hard to see from the picture but it appears you have your garden variety wet/dry filter which consists on water draining/dripping into the wetdry, thru the pads and onto the bioballs (where are they? or was there LR in there?). Then the water passes thru to where the pump is and is pumped back to the display.

With respect to parial water changes, doesn't matter where you take the water from just do it on a regular basis at a rate of 1-20% / week.

Phosban is for phosphate removal and goes in your Phosban reactor (go figure). It needs to be plumbed onto your tank so water can flow through the chamber (if you decide to use it). I'll take a guess that the 'Black Diamond' is activated carbon.

For now it sounds like your cleanup crew (CUC) is ok for fish waste removal. If (err when) algae starts to be an issue you can research the type of inverts that eat algae and get some of them.


Did you buy this new or used from someone?

 

[tony1021]

bought the setup used from someone. they told me that all i needed under the white pad with holes on it was just that white substance.

so you recommend i fill it with bio balls are lr rubbish instead?

 

[CaptainAhab]

I'm a fan of LR rubble. If it was me, I'd ditch the entire wet/dry setup and convert to a true sump.