New 28g nano build

[sittnon18s]

as soon as its cycled i will get some pics with my cuc any suggestions on what i should get.

thanks

 

[ange062]

In my tank I've got roughly:
- 15 nassarius snail
- 5 bumblebee snail
- 5 astraea snail
- 5 cerith snail
- 5 turbo snail
- 1 hermit crab
- 1 emerals crab

I have 2 shrimp but I really don't consider them CUC.

 

[sittnon18s]

thanks. what about a fire shrimp they are very cool to look at and i think they are a cleaner shrimp

 

[chad p]

Man that's a lot of snails ange. I'm planning on picking up some nassarius and bumblebees. For some reason I thought I remember hearing that they weren't completely reef safe but maybe not.

As for fire shrimp...they're beautiful but I had one years ago and that sucker never seemed to come out of hiding. My LFS has a couple right now though and I'm still considering picking one up.

I like the scape sittnon. Keep the pics coming.

 

[sittnon18s]

thanks, marco rocks are very nice rocks. i have 3 small live rocks from a buddys tank in there to seed my rock. im starting to get single strand algea growing all over my new rocks. its hard to see so i cant get a pic, just wondering if that is a good sign. it almost looks like hair algea but alot smaller and is only 1/4 inch long

 

[sittnon18s]

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this is the algea that is growing on my sand is this good

 

[sittnon18s]

well just a little update. just added a few snails and hermit crabs and they are going to work on the algea instantly. i am looking at getting a phosban reactor and wondering if i could use one of the stock pumps to power it and only run one return pump. i have plenty of flow with the mp-10 or should i buy the eheim 600 for the reactor. otherwise the tank is looking very good so far

 

[chad p]

I run the Eheim 300 for 1 reactor and it has to be restricted with the valve a little bit. I'd go with the 300 over the 600 unless you plan on adding a second reactor.

One of the stock pumps would provide way too much flow and need to be dialed way back.

 

[sittnon18s]

ok i think i will get the 300 can i just replace one of the stock pumps with the 300 and only have one return pump being i only run one at a time anyways. then they wont be turning on and off thus wearing out the pump quicker.

 

[LIBTECH]

thanks. what about a fire shrimp they are very cool to look at and i think they are a cleaner shrimp

I have one in my 28G, very beautiful and fun to watch. It's a love/hate relationship though, because every time I try and spot feed anything he is always right there to steal the food! Oh and mine is usually very active, might depend on the shrimp and number of hiding spaces.

 

[chad p]

ok i think i will get the 300 can i just replace one of the stock pumps with the 300 and only have one return pump being i only run one at a time anyways. then they wont be turning on and off thus wearing out the pump quicker.

Yeah you can set it up that way. That's how mine is set up.

 

[sittnon18s]

thanks, chad. so ive been searching for a while now and is there a way to swap out one bank of the white leds for blue so the advanced led hood is a bit more blue. i like the look of it but if it were a tad more blue it would really look sweet.

 

[chad p]

Not that I know of but I'm the wrong guy to ask. I had the HQI version so I'm not familiar with the advanced LED hood. You could always retrofit it with a blue stunner strip or their larger LED strip which I can't think of the name of right now.

 

[sittnon18s]

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just put together what ups dropped off today. Im running it in hot water to help the breakin period. This skimmer is very well built. Hopefully it will be up and pulling out some nasty stuff soon

 

[sittnon18s]

One question about it. Does the rubber O-ring just sit on top of the skimmer or is it supposed to side inside the skimmer chamber.

 

[sittnon18s]

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New skimmer is up and running. so far so good. does the water level look like its in the right place. i read some people had this skimmer keep overflowing on them. I hope this doesnt happen to me. I put a tube on the overflow back into the skimmer. hopefully it starts pulling some nasty stuff soon

 

[chad p]

Water level looks fine. You're gonna like it. Mine took a week or two to really break in but I didn't prime it with hot water first.

BTW, unless you're getting a bunch of wet stuff you're probably gonna lower the collection cup some.

 

[sittnon18s]

Yea i figured id let it break in for a bit just incase it would overflow. i have to go back to work tonite so i wont be home to keep an eye on it. maybe im just a bit paranoid, should i be worring about it overflowing??

 

[chad p]

Not from my experience. While mine was breaking in it wasn't producing anything to fill the cup with. The only time it goes crazy is when I change my filter pad. I just raise the cup for 5 or 10 minutes and then put it back where it was. Once you learn it's "personality" you can dial it in to get your skimmate just how you want it. I leave it pretty thick and dry because I don't like replacing a lot of salt water.

 

[sittnon18s]

the cup is still where it was and im starting to get a good foam head 3/4 up the cone. It looks like its starting to break in. i too like to run my skimmers with a very thick skimmate.

Thanks for the replies chad