Help! I'm New Alone and Salt Water Challenged

[asonitez]

Hiya everyone. Though I have had quite a few aquarium setups in the past mostly dealing with african Cichlids I'm still fairly new to the game.

Currently I was able to purchase a 3 Month old 55 Gallon Bow Front Tank + Stand for 140 bucks on Craigs List. I immediately saw my chance to try my hand at a FOWLR salt water tank.

The Setup came with the following

RIO 600 Powerhead
RIO 1700 Pump
Aqua Clear Pro 75 Wet/Dry System
http://www.proclearaquatics.com/instructions.html
Its the Pro 75 Model
Ceramic BIO Media to replace the BIO Balls in the filter. A New polishing cloth and a new sponge.
I Purchased a Maxi Jet 900 Powerhead to help mix the Salt and Stuff.



I also Purchased 50 Lbs of live Sand, enough instant Sea Salt to make my tap salt water, some dechlorinating Equip and some new tubes for my wet dry system.


Ok Tonight I cleaned, scrubbed and setup the filter system. It has a built in skimmer that I was assured by the LFS that it would not work because they NEVER work and truth be told though its making a cyclone nothings happening at all in the skimmer.

I Had to figure out how to get the siphon going into the overflow from the Huge ass acrylic box in the tank collecting water. well once i got the siphoning going I hit the switch and it started working yay!!!!!!!!! Then it completely overflowed the filter box because the pump valve wasnt open. I spent the next 15 minutes monitoring the flow to see how it was siphoning and what hte water level was and whether or not I was in for some trouble. Everything thus far has been working ok.

MY question is... My tank is a corner tank and it has to stand about 5 inches from the wall to accomodate the over flow box and inside of the tank is this huge ass acrylic collecting box for the water. Frankly it looks ugly the tank can't be a TRUE corner tank. I'm thinking of using 2 HOB Filters to filter tank with a HOB Skimmer eventualy when I need it. Would you guys reccomend this?

How can I hide the HUGE acrylic box inside of the tank can I just remove it and leave the tube inside sucking up water?


I have NOT added the Live Sand, or ANYTHING other than pure tap water into the tank to check for leaks and to test out the FILTER system. I would be very appreciative of your help..

I don't know anything about powerheads other than the simple operation.
Ive heard the name VENTURI system thrown around with no idea what it is. The powerhead both of them have VENTURI systems.
I'm familiar with HOB Filter Systems because i prefer them more but I'm more than open to suggestions.

THANK YOU ALL!!
Aso-

 

[Len]

:welcome:

First off, invest in a RO filter for your freshwater They are cheap on ebay, and they provide you with awesome water. Tap water is hit and miss. Some tap is acceptable, but others will lead you to a water chemistry nightmare that is hard to correct.

There's no way to hide that internal box. You can buy a slimmer overflow box design such as what CPR Aquatics makes, but you will always have a box in your tank if you plan on using a sump. If you remove the internal box, your siphon is liable to suck down just about anything, including fish. It will also not surface skim anymore, and it will siphon too much water too fast. You need the box.

I'm in favor of your idea to go with a high quality HOB skimmer like a AquaC Remora or Deltec MCE ($$$). It simplifies the system and prevents any chance of overflowing/spillage; One problem with siphon-style overflows is that the siphon can break, causing your return pump to flood the tank and eventually your floors. With HOB skimmers, you still have some equipment dangling in the tank, but they should occupy much less space then your current internal box. No HOB filter is really necessary, although you can get one (or a canister filter) to hold some carbon media. Mechanical filtration is not necessary in reef/FOWLR tanks, and most people do not use them. Biological media is also often not used since sand and rock provide plenty of surface area.

Venturi is the effect of drawing in air due to pressure gradients. A pump with a venturi feature is simply a pump that will generate air bubbles by the venturi effect. You can choose not to use the venturi on these pumps by simply not attaching the airline hose that sucks in air. Don't use venturi in the tank. It creates a ton of tiny bubbles that is ugly and irritates your animals. Venturi is often used (or some variant of it) to create bubbles in protein skimmers.

A word about Rios: they suck I'd ditch them and get some Maxijet powerheads or Koralia pumps for water movement. Rios are prone to failure (sometimes catastrophic failure).

FWIW: Your current skimmer should work okay. It won't be great, but it will work. They take a little time to break in, and in a new tank without much nutrients, it won't produce skimmate (the waste product). A better skimmer is idea, but this one will have a positive effect and can tie you over until you are ready to invest more.

What kind of live sand did you get? Ocean-collected live sand will go stale pretty fast, so don't let it sit around too long. The commercially bagged "live sand" can be stored for quite some time.

Read this thread and the links provided within for a whole slew of good info. http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=33928

Welcome to this hobby and our community! 8)

 

[mr_X]

in addition to what len said, you can opt to get the tank drilled, and then you can do away with the overflow completely. you can do it yourself, or a local fish store would most likely do it for you.
i would seriously consider this option.