What am I doing?

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jlrupert909

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Aug 2, 2005
Messages
5
Location
California USA
Dragged out from the garage after a year (took that long to forget the trouble this tank caused me). Got some new gear on it. Apparently my trouble was linked to my 280 emperor and all white lighting system. Not sure if the new stuff is working properly. I have 4 fish (I thought I bought 5 hummm but daughter helped so 1 may be mia). One always hides under rock so I assume the other is doing the same some place. Assumption: 0 deaths so far.

30 lbs live rock, 2 bags of prepared sand. Here are the vitals: Temp 80, Salinity 33 (1.0245), PH 8.0, Amonia .1, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 2.5

1) CPR skimmer doesn't fill waste tank tube with bubbles except for 25%. Is this normal? Been up for 4 days. Demand too low maybe? The gizmo on the front of the pump where air is attached is clear (e.g. cpr says some have left-over plastic that plugs certain models).

2) Also, have JBJ 30" lighting I heard 9 hours on. It has two switches though, 1 for white, 1 for blue. Is that right? Do I need both on for the duration? Blue I was told was essential for coral, but live rock too? White I'm not sure about. I know with both on the fans kick in then that with the protein skimmer buzzing kinda makes me think I should have left it in the garage. :(
 
Welcome to AA.

How long has your tank been setup?
Skimmers can tape up to 2 weeks to break in.
Setup 2 timers for your lighting. Blue should come on first, then white, white goes off, then blue goes off. Simulate the day so there is less stress on the fish. I have mine set for 12 hours a day. Both lights are essential for LR. HTH

Mike
 
The tank has been setup for about 4 days now. I will take your recommendation for the lighting -- thanks. There is nothing wrong with the skimmer operation except I was expecting there would be more bubbles. But I have seen where the quality of the water has a big affect on the amount of bubbles. So I will wait and see how things go and keep track of the vitals. Thanks for the advice !!
 
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