newbie aquapod 24 gallon

[mcrbar910]

Lol. Hey newbies found a couple new things I thought someone else may need to know. 1st my aquapod has these little arms that hold the hood up. Really cool since I have been trying to do everything one handed. Second I did my water change today. I put the hose under the spray out the sump does to get it done. Then I went to putting the water back in and noticed the front of the tank was staying full and back chambers were running out of water. Since sump is not supposed to be ran dry probably not a good idea to do water change this way. Also there are 3 switches on this. Sump is plugged in directly to wall no switch. The fist switch I can not figure out what it controls. 2nd night lights. 3rd day lights. If anyone has any insight please let me know. Directions were not very detailed that came with the system. Learning as I go.

 

[icenine2005]

The first switch is your moonlights. Try it at night to see it work.
Yes, you should shut the pump off when you do your water change. Unplug it. If the pump runs dry you will damage it.

 

[smy168]

hahaa, same questions I had when I set up my system! I just turn off the complete tank when I do my weekly changes now. Are you using stock across the board or have you modded your system?

 

[mcrbar910]

stock so far. Are you stock or have you made some modifications?

 

[smy168]

I just replaced the stock return pump with a maxijet 900, it helps reduce heat and runs on lower wattage, everything else is pretty much stock but I think Ice made some changes to his system.

 

[maxcab]

I have a 24 AP up sience mid march, running stock only right now but I just ordered a M-J 1200 and 900 to replace the stock pump, also a Hydor wavemaker thing.

Here's a better manual from Current's website, it labels the switches and filter media, etc:
24 gallon Aquapod Manual

Good Luck,

 

[mcrbar910]

Thanks Max I found that manual online last night when I could not find the piece of junk manual it came with They should have put a note in that said online manual is much better Let me know how the mods go.

 

[maxcab]

No problem,
I got nothing from the manual that it came with and wouldn't have known about the ceramic rings w/o it.
What else are you planning to keep, if anything.
I have:
1 Chalk Bass
1 Ocelaris Clown
1 Pygmy Angel :thumbsup: love it!
1 Cleaner shrimp
? Crabs & Snails
Lost my Yellowheaded Jawfish
Going to get some corals when I get Phosphates and Silicate down, that stupid brown aglae :mad2:

Any glad I could help, and post some pics if you can.

 

[mcrbar910]

I have the 2 clowns (tank raised o's)
a cauliflower leather
a toadstool
pulsing zenia
candycane
green polyps
a shroom one single tiny
astrea snails
naussar snails
and cerith snails
I wanted more fish, but one of my clowns has lympho and I have been worried sick over it. I don't think I can handle the fear of bringing anymore fish into my tank and maybe making my clowns sick Looks like we are a 2 fish family.
I do want a pep and skunk shrimp. I just want healthy

[/IMG]

Max pm me your email address and I will send you more better pics, but I have dial up and photobucket is a pain

 

[mcrbar910]

Also guys I took the ceramic rings out like it said for a mini reef, but I left the bioballs in. Should those come out too? Also should I be running carbon and how do I do that?

 

[mcrbar910]

http://s70.photobucket.com/albums/i108/mcrbar910/

Here is my photobucket link to view more pics too. I am trying to add a couple corals right now, but this takes so long.

 

[mcrbar910]

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This was a week ago

 

[maxcab]

I also took the ceramic rings out and left the Bio-balls in anlong with the sponge, I'm thinking about carbon, but haven't tried it yet.

 

[mcrbar910]

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Here is a couple of pictures I took today of the corals

 

[mcrbar910]

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This is not my favorite part of the tank. This was actually a hitchiker on my live rock, but I thought it looked really pretty in this picture.

 

[smy168]

I took out the bioballs because of nitrate spike later on, I only used half of the sponge and liverock rubble for filtration. I've never been a fan of carbon so I don't use any of that either. My gallery has some pics of my system if you want to take a look.

I do water changes on a weekly basis of 5 gallons, I'm running a skimmerless system with a 4.5 inch sandbed. the funny thing about these Pods are that you can probably set it up to whatever you think would work best and it probably will work well in any set up.

I have aggressive water movement in the display running with a Maxijet 900, 600 and a Epik Thermo powerhead at about another 180gph. I keep my liverock rubble in a net bag placed in compartment 1 & 2 (for easier cleaning. i keep a sponge on the bottom of compartment 2 to catch large particles that come through from the first compartment.

Fish: dusky jawfish, sixline wrasse, bi-color blenny, red striped goby
Corals: zoas zoas zoas, frog spawn, star polyps, kenyan tree, rics, shrooms, orange and purple gorgonians
Inverts: hermits, snails, cleaner shrimp, pep shrimp, duster
LiveRock: 30lbs. DSB: 4.5-5 inches

 

[LaFishLover]

I have had my 24 AP since Feb. of this year. I am fully stock as of now but considering the Maxijet 900 and a Hydro. Will the Hydro really help? I have taken my bag of rock but have left my bio balls in and the two sponges in tank one. Would it work better if I just used one and put it in compartment 2 where in front of the pump. Will the 900 pump fit in compartment 2 as the stock does? So far I love my AP.

 

[mcrbar910]

I am also only using 1 sponge. Smy your tank looks beautiful

 

[mcrbar910]

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Here is a new pic today. If you look close in the cave you can see Jack our new cleaner shrimp.

 

[mcrbar910]

Hey guys did anyone do the switch so that the fan comes on with the blue lights? How do you rewire? Do you just swap the bulbs? I got a new digital therm and my tank is 82 I think I need to cool it down.