Noob-ee, New Tank

[Dan5.0]

After 6 weeks Im ready to add to my tank. Ive been holding out for the Frag Farmers Market in Ct. this weekend.

Its a 14 gal BB, LED's, with about 8-10lbs of Pukani dry rock, been doing weekly water changes, also running a skimmer, Im using an Aquaclear30 for my carbon when I had first put in the dry rock, now the Aquaclear is just running with the media fliter . Im thinking no need for the Aquaclear anymore and maybe invest in a reactor, especially for GFO? Or leave the Aquaclear to break the surface tension? It does get dirty every week. Im open to suggestions...

 

[nanoreefer22]

WElcome to the MR!

Tank looks great so far. If your tank is developing film on the surface of the water, there isn't enough movement at the surface. Maybe you could try reconfiguring your powerhead to point a bit more towards the surface, it will help a ton.

 

[Dan5.0]

Thanks, I will try that.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with the tank. Like the rockwork.

 

[nanoreefer22]

To address your other concerns, an HOB should do a great job a lot of the guys on here run Chemi pure Elite, I believe it has a bit of GFO in it.

Make sure any filter pads/sponges are tended to weekly, as the crap that builds up in them will start breaking down and will affect the tank negatively.

 

[nanoreefer22]

Oh and just out of curiosity what kind of tank is that?

 

[Dan5.0]

Yes I do clean it out weekly with every wc.

The tank was given to me about 7 years ago and I had used it for fresh water in my apartment and always wanted it for a reef tank. its nice with the stand, its made by All Glass and it was built in the mid 90's. Heres a better pic...

So what kind of corals have I limited myself too by going BB?

 

[nanoreefer22]

What kind of lighting? I know you said LED's but what specifically and how tall is the tank?

Did you ever use medication in the tank when you had it running as a freshwater tank? If you used medication containing copper, the tank may be useless since it gets into everything including the silicone and is deadly to a reef tank.

BB won't necessarily limit the types of corals you can keep, they'll just grow onto the glass

 

[Dan5.0]

No, no meds...

Just got back from the CT frag swap, awesome! Everything's opening up beautifully, I've been taking pics, I'll post em tomorrow.

 

[jcs11236]

tank looks good. how do you like that skimmer? was looking into that same one

 

[Dan5.0]

I didn't like it at first. It simply wouldnt work. A friend of mine bought the same one and when he installed it on a established,tank it made his other skimmer stop working. We came to a conclusion that the skimmer was releasing some kind of oily substance that wouldn't let it get a good foamy skim, just fizz. I took it all apart and soaked in white vinegar and scrubbed the o ring that the skim cup seats on and now it works great.

 

[jcs11236]

cool-good to know. i like it because its small and fits perfectly in back chamber of my jbj but i have heard mix reviews. i am going to order one and do what you stated and go from there.
thanks again for reply