Quinton
Smarty-pants Newbie
Howzit Shane
I have exactlly the same tank - great buy! There are a few mods you probably want to make (although beware - I'm also a newbie - so what do I know ;-)
1. Toss the feeding flap, or at least leave it open at all times, to improve air circulation over the water surface, otherwise the water tends to overheat (even when the fan's on).
2. Before filling, seal up all the water inlets into the rightmost filter chamber, except the top (surface skimmer) one. The gates on those inlets don't work at all, and unless you close them some how, surface skimming is pretty awful. PVC weld is probably the best thing to use for sealing the gates.
3. Toss the bioballs (good for golf practise) and ceramic rings (make a pretty necklace) which are supplied in the filter chamber, and possibly replace them with live rock, although make sure it's in a in a course mesh bag that you can easily remove, as...
4. You'll want to regularly wash the sponge located at the bottom of the second chamber under the biobollocks (weekly, at least), and possibly consider moving it somewhere that it's easier to get out and clean.
5. Seriously consider adding some sort of phosphate sponge. I've only tried the
Kent Marine granules, which seems to work fine. I'm sure others will have suggestions here. I just filled up a stocking with the granules, and tossed it on top sponge in the filter compartment.
6. Make sure you get enough live rock. I started off with 10kg, but aesthetically that was not enough, so I added another 7kg, and now it looks about right. Also, because you don't have a sump or deep sand bed, you can use the additional natural filtration. It's too soon to tell yet, but it seems that since I added the extra live rock, the rate of accumulation of nitrates and phosphates in my tank has reduced.
7. Make sure that you understand how the water flow through the various chambers works (perhaps look inside the chambers with a torch before filling), as the flow scheme is quite wierd. Lotsa holes in strange places to thwart your best attempts to manage where the water flows.
Feel free to come around to my place to compare notes if you like. I'm in Newlands. Drop me a private message and I'll give you my number.
I have exactlly the same tank - great buy! There are a few mods you probably want to make (although beware - I'm also a newbie - so what do I know ;-)
1. Toss the feeding flap, or at least leave it open at all times, to improve air circulation over the water surface, otherwise the water tends to overheat (even when the fan's on).
2. Before filling, seal up all the water inlets into the rightmost filter chamber, except the top (surface skimmer) one. The gates on those inlets don't work at all, and unless you close them some how, surface skimming is pretty awful. PVC weld is probably the best thing to use for sealing the gates.
3. Toss the bioballs (good for golf practise) and ceramic rings (make a pretty necklace) which are supplied in the filter chamber, and possibly replace them with live rock, although make sure it's in a in a course mesh bag that you can easily remove, as...
4. You'll want to regularly wash the sponge located at the bottom of the second chamber under the biobollocks (weekly, at least), and possibly consider moving it somewhere that it's easier to get out and clean.
5. Seriously consider adding some sort of phosphate sponge. I've only tried the
Kent Marine granules, which seems to work fine. I'm sure others will have suggestions here. I just filled up a stocking with the granules, and tossed it on top sponge in the filter compartment.
6. Make sure you get enough live rock. I started off with 10kg, but aesthetically that was not enough, so I added another 7kg, and now it looks about right. Also, because you don't have a sump or deep sand bed, you can use the additional natural filtration. It's too soon to tell yet, but it seems that since I added the extra live rock, the rate of accumulation of nitrates and phosphates in my tank has reduced.
7. Make sure that you understand how the water flow through the various chambers works (perhaps look inside the chambers with a torch before filling), as the flow scheme is quite wierd. Lotsa holes in strange places to thwart your best attempts to manage where the water flows.
Feel free to come around to my place to compare notes if you like. I'm in Newlands. Drop me a private message and I'll give you my number.
