Hi everyone, + need your suggestions

[carsimex]

I do not usually post on forums because the question I may have was asked several times so usually I just search. However the amount of information here is just overwhelming so I will take a shoot and ask couple of things.
Here is my setup.
44g all glass tank
Cascade 1500 Canister Filter
On the 1st of July One bag of wet coral send and 25lb of LR was added.
At the end of the July another 20 lb of LR was added
End of July 4 Blue/Green Reef Chromis were added
Two had died in the couple of days, two still lives now.
Third of August we took a trip to the local LFS and brought some cleaning crew:
One Blood Red Fire Shrimp
One Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Two Sally Lightfoot Crab (one is small and one is kind of large)
Skunk shrimp changed his outfit the very next day and the red one in the couple of days. The skunk took residence in the middle of the Tank and the Red one deep inside one the back of the tank and we can see only his tentacles. Some one cut off big’s crab two legs on the right side and hi died (outside of the tank) and little one is still well.
Yesterday we added 5 turbo snails and 10 very small red legged hermit crabs
Also, I noticed couple of pods in the LR looking with a flash light at night.
Couple of things I can not identify:
1. In the send very little tubs near the glass and something goes through it. Like some kind of worm that passes its inside in one direction.
2. Very small things (I can barley see them) like fleas near the stripe shrimp Jumping around
3. Very small things swimming in the water and sometimes sticking to the glass. When it is in the water, it moves by pulsing its body. It is only one or two mm in diameter. Looks like jelly fish.
Couple of things I need suggestion on.
Reading the forum I see I need the skimmer badly and canister filters not a very good ether so I was looking at (75 GAL PRO WET/DRY FILTER W/ SKIMMER, PUMP)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... RK:MEWA:IT
and use my Cascade 1500 Canister Filter
Just for carbon and extra water flow.
So my questing is Do I really need W/Dry Filter with the amount of LR I have and adding skimmer only will do. Also, I was taking water to the store to do water test but it is getting old so I need a good water test kit, what would you recommend.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Anonymous]

Most will probably tell you that a wet/dry is nothing more than a "nitrate factory" same as a cannister..

I would consider another 10-20 lbs of rock myself, but thats just me.

Get a good skimmer, not a cheap one.

Again, welcome!

 

[ChrisRD]

So my questing is Do I really need W/Dry Filter with the amount of LR I have

No. You don't need the wet/dry, and IMO if you have good, porous rock, you've got enough of that too (more would be a personal preference thing IMO, but not necessary).

and adding skimmer only will do.

Yes, the skimmer and the live rock is all you will need (good idea to run carbon at least part time too IMO, but sounds like you'll be doing that with the canister filter). Also, make sure you've got plenty of random circulation in the tank.

Also, I was taking water to the store to do water test but it is getting old so I need a good water test kit, what would you recommend.

I would recommend monitoring pH, temp and salinity pretty closely. Initially you'll want to keep an eye on ammonia and nitrite, but you're probably past that by now (probably won't get any readings now). Check on your Nitrate periodically for the next few months - chances are you'll never get a reading if you're practicing good husbandry. Also, you'll eventually want to start checking calcium and alkalinity, especially if you're going to be adding stony corals.

HTH

 

[Brian5000]

I think the small things around your shrimp and on your glass are copepods. Completely benign, algae eating crusteseans about the size of a flea. Some fish like to eat them.

I haven't been doing this long (just over 2 months), but I just have a hang-off-the-back Aquaclear on my 29 gallon for circulation, and so far, so good. My live rock and skimmer seem to do the work, even when adding fish faster than I probably should.
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