Upgrading from 16 gallon to 38 gallon reef tank.

[MBliss81]

The Protein Skimmer Is Here!

My new protein skimmer came this afternoon. It only took about an hour to set it up completely, and about 10 minutes of that was time taken to modify the tube in the intake to make it shorter so the intake box is the right level to skim the surface. The directions were pretty useless, just as I had read online in a number of reviews, but it was still pretty straightforward and went together quite easily.

It’s only been running about an hour, so the skimmate is still pretty clear since it’s not broken in at all yet, but I’m stoked that it’s already producing some pretty serious foam.

 

[MBliss81]

Some more pics

 

[Freshnoob1]

Subscribed! Sweet tank looks like you're gettin things done.

 

[zambono]

Looking good

 

[MBliss81]

Thanks guys.

 

[MBliss81]

I made a few modifications to set the skimmer up the way I wanted it.



Added a sponge filter to quiet down the return drain and reduce the amount of bubbles getting back into the tank.



I cut about an inch off the intake tube in order to raise the surface skimmer box up to the water level.

 

[MBliss81]

After a good dose of Reef Advantage Calcium the flower pot coral is showing some serious polyp extension!

 

[MBliss81]

I cut the outlet tube about an inch shorter so the top of the foam is now sticking out of the water. This makes the bubble trap work much more effectively.



I also rearranged my aqua scraping. I didn't like how bunched up it seemed before. Now it is spread across more of the tank and feels more open.

 

[TigerBarbs]

Aqua scape looks great!

 

[MBliss81]

Thanks!

 

[MBliss81]

I went to the fish store yesterday to pick up 10 more hermits for my CUC and found a new fish friend while I was at it. He's a little bi-color blenny.

He's found a little perch above his favorite cave.



Peeking out.



Occasionally he ventures out in the open.



And one of the hermits has a barnacle hitching a ride on his shell.

 

[MBliss81]

YouTube video I made to sort of review my protein skimmer and show how my tank is doing.

http://youtu.be/UYJLpeeo4jY?hd=1

 

[MBliss81]

What a difference a week makes! After a couple months of battling cyano in my tank by means of manual removal and adding filtration I finally gave in and decided to use Ultralife Red Slime Remover. I did my homework and found a lot of people recommended this product over others. Now, I can say I know exactly why. This stuff is a miracle-worker! It arrived on Wednesday, and I immediately added the first dose. As recommended on the box, the second dose was added 48 hours later, on Friday. By Sunday morning I had gleaming white sand, and practically no cyano to be found anywhere in the tank!

Water testing this morning all came out perfect, as it has for the last month since adding my Phosban Reactor.

Now comes the real test, waiting to see if it comes back again. I can't dose again for at least a week, so we'll see how at goes. I'll dose again if it comes back, until it's gone for good.

 

[MBliss81]

Here’s a before shot:



This is as bad as I let it get without manually removing as much as I could. I usually kept it a lot cleaner than this, but I wanted to see if the improved water quality would make it die off after I installed my Phosban Reactor and nitrates dropped to undetectable levels. Needless to say, it didn’t.

 

[MBliss81]

More shots of the tank looking so fresh and so clean:

 

[Hondachico]

Wow very nice tank hopefully mine comes out like that when the whole process is done.

 

[FreshwaterTropical]

Awesome tank, I wish I could afford a saltwater reef!

 

[MBliss81]

Went to the fish store today to get some chemi-pure elite, and found a really great deal on a nice looking Galaxia Coral. It fills out the empty space on the left side of my tank nicely, I think.

 

[MBliss81]

Added Chemi-pure Elite as a 2nd stage in my phosban reactor. It worked just like I had hoped.




A little side note: I might switch the order of the media in the reactor so that the chemi-pure elite is on the bottom to prevent any of the GFO from getting into the tank in the future. I had to adjust the valve to reduce flow a little, because there was GFO getting blasted up and into the tank. I had to syphon the GFO out of the tank and add some new salt water to replace the water I took out. Which actually works out well since I haven’t done a water change in about 6-8 weeks. I couldn’t be happier with how smoothly the tank is running now.

 

[MBliss81]

Galaxia coral looks much better today. Fully extended and waving in the current.