Bear with me...

[sunshinegrl]

I am in the early stages of setting up my 28g nano Cube and have a few questions. First, I am slightly confused about the dual return pumps, should they be pointing down into the aquarium or up to cause movement on the surface? I know it sounds like a silly question, but please bear with me. Also, I have been reading that a lot of people add koralia powerheads (or some type of powerheads) and wonder where would be a good placement for one of these. Also what type of power would you suggest for a tank this size?

Second question, it seems that some of the salt did not dissolve and has settled at the bottom of the tank, any suggestions? Yet my salinity is still a little low...

I have also noticed that the water in my return pump chambers (in the back) seem to be going down. Is that regular? Do I need to adjust something? Please advise.

 

[ahullsb]

By return pumps do you mean what direction the nozzles should be pouring water back into the aquarium? If that is what you mean, you can do it either way. I point mine at 45 degree angels down the length of my tank. I have the return push water down towards the other end where my overflow is. You can point them down until the flow starts to disrupt the sandbed. You would point them up if you wanted more surface agitation. I think Koralia powerheads are great, especially in a tank your size. I think you could go with a Koralia 2 and have enough flow. I have the #3 in my 55 and I could see it being a little too powerful in a 28, but maybe not. You should make sure the salt is dissolved before ever pouring it into the tank. Undisolved salt can irritate both fish and corals. I'm guessing that if salt is staying at the bottom that you probably don't have enough flow yet. A powerhead will keep things like that suspended in the water column. Blow it around until it dissolves. You don't want to raise your salinity with that still at the bottom of your tank. In the future just mix the salt in a 5 gallon bucket of RO water. Throw a powerhead and a heater in it to dissolve all of the salt, and to make sure the temperature is similar to your tanks. Most people do this for a day or two in advance, but at least give it quite a few hours to dissolve. You shouldn't be able to tell it is saltwater by looking at. It should be perfectly clear. And lastly I'm not sure exactly what you mean about the return pump chambers in the back. I have never had a tank that size. Is the return chamber just something that is on the backside of the tank? You don't have a sump or anything right?

 

[ahullsb]

Oh and welcome to reefcentral PM me if you need more help. I'll try to check this thread again soon if I can

 

[sunshinegrl]

Wow

Wow

Wow, thanks for the help. Should place the powerhead towards the bottom of the tank (about inches from the bottom). Also, should i stick with the "stock" filter media and skimmer included or upgrade to something else? Should I add the live sand first or the LR?

 

[ahullsb]

I think you could place the powerheads in the upper half of the tank and be just fine. But you can keep them as low as you want until it starts kicking up sand. What is the stock filter media that it came with? And what kind of skimmer? If I were you I would place the rock down first, and pour the sand in around it. The rock will be more stable and you won't have dead zones between the bottom of the rock and the sand. If you have already done it the other way, just try and gently twist the rocks down towards the bottom of the glass. (carefully)

 

[cplklegg]

[Welcome]
Try checking out the Reefkeeping online magazine on the home page of reefcentral, go to Newbie Corner and you should find all the answers you need.
Namaste

 

[lfjewett]

Regarding the water level in the back. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the back tanks on those are fed via an overflow? If this is a the case then what your seeing in the back is evaporation. Since water is pumped from the sump area to the display when water evaporates only the level in the sump area will go down.