fish_fun
01/06/2013, 02:19 PM
First time poster. Not necessarily new to the hobby, but after a couple of years feel like I am just understanding what I should have done 2 years ago!
When I bought my 50 gallon set the store recommended I use an undergravel system with 2 powerheads, crushed coral bed and hang on the back filter (whisper 60). I constantly battled nitrate issues and simply could not keep anything alive. I ultimately left everything in place on the tank with just no fish in it until recently when I decided to give it another go.
I purchased a fluval 306 cannister filter to switch to that from the HOB. I hooked it up 3 weeks ago and left the HOB in place until good bacteria and everything takes place in the cannister. Water parameters are all great and I added 2 clowns and a sand sifting Gobi. They are all doing excellent. I then realized crushed coral/undergravel filters are a thing of the past and decided to change over to sand.
Reading many posts on how to do this, I believe I was successful at this switchover. Did it last week and the fish are still doing great and water is good.
Question now and any advice anyone wants to offer for next steps towards building an appropriate tank set up.
1. I feel it is okay for me to remove this nitrate factory HOB filter now. Anyone see any issues with this?
2. I now understand the benefit of live rock, but only have one piece. I am planning to purchase the appropriate amount of live rock in the next week to get the curing and what not going. Any recommendations on where to get that?
3. I do not and have never had a protein skimmer which does not seem good. I figured pulling the HOB off will give me a great area for a good HOB skimmer. Thoughts on that?
Anything else you all recommend would be great. I feel like everything is coming together and I am at least able to keep fish alive longer than a couple of weeks. On a side note we did just add a cleaner shrimp and 2 turbo snails yesterday. Shrimp seems to love it, but the snails have kinda shut down a little bit. I have read a ton of information on them and why this might have happened and will just keep a close eye on them.
Thanks,
Don
When I bought my 50 gallon set the store recommended I use an undergravel system with 2 powerheads, crushed coral bed and hang on the back filter (whisper 60). I constantly battled nitrate issues and simply could not keep anything alive. I ultimately left everything in place on the tank with just no fish in it until recently when I decided to give it another go.
I purchased a fluval 306 cannister filter to switch to that from the HOB. I hooked it up 3 weeks ago and left the HOB in place until good bacteria and everything takes place in the cannister. Water parameters are all great and I added 2 clowns and a sand sifting Gobi. They are all doing excellent. I then realized crushed coral/undergravel filters are a thing of the past and decided to change over to sand.
Reading many posts on how to do this, I believe I was successful at this switchover. Did it last week and the fish are still doing great and water is good.
Question now and any advice anyone wants to offer for next steps towards building an appropriate tank set up.
1. I feel it is okay for me to remove this nitrate factory HOB filter now. Anyone see any issues with this?
2. I now understand the benefit of live rock, but only have one piece. I am planning to purchase the appropriate amount of live rock in the next week to get the curing and what not going. Any recommendations on where to get that?
3. I do not and have never had a protein skimmer which does not seem good. I figured pulling the HOB off will give me a great area for a good HOB skimmer. Thoughts on that?
Anything else you all recommend would be great. I feel like everything is coming together and I am at least able to keep fish alive longer than a couple of weeks. On a side note we did just add a cleaner shrimp and 2 turbo snails yesterday. Shrimp seems to love it, but the snails have kinda shut down a little bit. I have read a ton of information on them and why this might have happened and will just keep a close eye on them.
Thanks,
Don