Finally 20 Gallon Setup

[saltwater4life]

nice i'm thinking of doing something like yours trading in my fish and getting 2 clowns since i plan on breeding clowns and get a nice skimmer

 

[Panther28]

I need help with the bak pak 2 skimmer. Can anybody guide me? How to configure the skimmer so it can produce skimmate. I have set it up and it's running and making bubbles and all that. But how should it work. I mean how do you know its working? I tried to search on the net but came up with nothing? People with bakpaks can you help me out........

 

[Panther28]

I just checked and it has a little yellow water in the collection cup but the bubbles are all white

 

[aresgod]

that is normal...there is a break in period with new skimmers, can take a few days--two weeks before it really starts to produce.

 

[Panther28]

that is normal...there is a break in period with new skimmers, can take a few days--two weeks before it really starts to produce.

Actually it is not a new skimmer! I bought it used from some guy for $60. Will it still go through a break in period?

 

[saltwater4life]

i dont think it will if it's already gone through it once but i cant say for sure since i haven't had to go through it myself

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

a hint on the bakpak...do not put the biobale in especially if you are running a reef....run a piece of pvc down the outlet tube to about an inch off the bottom to reduce micro bubbles returning to the tank....also to make it more efficient run an air line with a wooden airstone down into the bubble chamber and your efficiency will increase immensely. I know these things as I also have a bakpak....

maybe you should try this and see if it helps.

 

[Panther28]

maybe you should try this and see if it helps.

I would try that but I could not find any wooden airstones at LFS so have ordered online and until then have to use it like this.

 

[Panther28]

Few pics

 

[Panther28]

Any Idea's on what is this.

 

[saltwater4life]

what the shell??

 

[Panther28]

what the shell??

LOL No. I guess I would know that its a shell. I am talking about the light green stuff on the sand bed. It even has bubbles comming out of it.

On a different note. The skimmer is working awesome. I have not added a wooden airstone(have ordered it already.) and it is working very good. Producing some good smelly gunk. The only problem is the tiny bubbles comeing back to the tank..

 

[saltwater4life]

is it slimy?
I'd think it's OK it could be what there talking about with the mini cycle from the skimmer but i'm not sure

 

[Panther28]

yup its slimy but it has been there even before the skimmer. I am not worried about it just wanted to know what it was. I like to know what actually is going on in my tank. How is your tank doing by the way?

 

[saltwater4life]

hmm it's probbly like what i had it was green-ish brown and slimy but my hermets ate it up with in a day or two.
My tank needs mower the hair algae is getting bad i tryed to starve it everyway i could think of... But i did get some new stuff a new Zoa like 50+ and some other frags on the LR

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

looks like you need more flow in that area. thats what mine does when i need to rearange the powerheads, because theres not enough water flow.

 

[aresgod]

it is diatoms....normal in a young tank, you are going to have various algae outbreaks over the next couple months as the tank settles in. Even if the skimmer was used originally it still needs a break in period depending on how long it had been dry for. A lawnmower blenny will not help with diatoms at all, hermits and snails and other crabs will though.

 

[Panther28]

looks like you need more flow in that area. thats what mine does when i need to rearange the powerheads, because theres not enough water flow.

AS for flow I think I have enough flow in the tank.

2 X 160 (power heads) - 320 GPH
1 x 350 (filter) - 350 GPH
1 x 295 (skimmer) - 295 GPH

So I have a total of 965 GPH.

I will still try to rearrange the power heads.

it is diatoms....normal in a young tank, you are going to have various algae outbreaks over the next couple months as the tank settles in. Even if the skimmer was used originally it still needs a break in period depending on how long it had been dry for. A lawnmower blenny will not help with diatoms at all, hermits and snails and other crabs will though.

Yeah you are right about the skimmer. I have it up and running for 4 days and its already producing some green gunk i can see on the walls of the cup and has some dark green liquid in the cup too. So looks like its doing good. I will be getting a wooden airstone for the skimmer on friday. So hopefully it will be doing a much better job soon. Thanks for the tip. Although could you help me out with the small bubbles coming in the tank. I had to add the bio bale to reduce the bubbles from coming in. Need some pointers on how to reduce the bubbles with the bio bale removed.

 

[YahooFishKeeper]

a hint on the bakpak...do not put the biobale in especially if you are running a reef....run a piece of pvc down the outlet tube to about an inch off the bottom to reduce micro bubbles returning to the tank....also to make it more efficient run an air line with a wooden airstone down into the bubble chamber and your efficiency will increase immensely. I know these things as I also have a bakpak....

there... thats how you reduce micro bubbles.

 

[Panther28]

there... thats how you reduce micro bubbles.

You keep quoting me that. But I don't know if you read my reply to that!

I did not get this part.

...run a piece of pvc down the outlet tube to about an inch off the bottom to reduce micro bubbles returning to the tank..

I searched the net to find a pic of it but did not. not trying to be rude but Its very easy to quote!