LR Pic's and Questions! HELP!

[zoalover34]

Heres a pic of some of the small rocks i got.

and the big one!

my question is the rock have quite abit of alge on them is this bad?! im not killing my poor rock am i?! there was abit on there when i picked them up but i think there may be a little more on em now?

2nd. question has anyone heard any reviews on the Visi-Jet Protein Skimmer? its only like 35.00?! and if its not half bad ill pick it up.. its for tanks up to 70gal..

anyways any info on my rocks would be great!!!! thanks again
~ Jim

 

[FishGeek]

You want Coraline Algae on the rocks. These algaes are the purples, reds, pinks, and bluish colors on the rocks. You dont really want the Red Slime algae or black algae, or too much of the green stuff (but algae eaters help with that).
Im not too sure on that specific skimmer but from my experience I wouldnt buy anything that cheap. This is what I have and IT FANTASTIC: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=8185&N=2004+113771 (Turboflotor Multi 1000) I was also told with skimmers to take the total number of gallons that you have sump and all and double it and then pick a skimmer going by that amount of gallonage. This way you are sure that your skimmer will handle your tank. Im not sure of details and specs and stuff but thats what we did and its working out great. Good Luck!!!

 

[zoalover34]

i don't have a sump.. not reall sure what it is to be honest.. i have a extra 10gal i think in the basment somewhere that i think still holds water? can anyone explain what a sump is or how it works? sorry im new to this game! any info is very very helpful!!! thanks once again
~ Jim

 

[kevin4052002]

You might want to read this, among other stickies..


http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19498

 

[zoalover34]

yea that's what i thought the sump.. do you just go to like wal-mart and buy a sump pump and put it in the tank? i was reading in the sticky that you can put your heaters in there? isn't the hose for a pump pretty thick? where would you hide that at?

 

[FishGeek]

Here are a few pics of mine. I thought that it might help some to have a visual.
We took a 29G tank and made our sump. We used plexiglass that my husband cut to size and we siliconed them into place. We used eggcrate to hold the rock. I the middle is live sand, miracle mud, seaweed and our heater. On the end is our pump.

Our pump is actually a pond pump. The others we were looking at didnt really do what we wanted.

Here you can see our skimmer and the light, which is on all night and off during the day.

This is the PVC tube that direct water into the sump from the tank.

This is the tubing that comes from the back of the tank into the sump. And you also see one of the lines that is going back into the tank from the sump.

This is the vavle that helps us control the flow rate from the sump to the tank.

See the black thing in the back (it a little blurry). That is our water current director. That nifty little thing keeps a nice flow in our tank. Before the water enters the tank it passes through this and it derects water to either side of the tank.

This is the right side of the tank. The two pipes with the holes in them is where the water leaves the tank to go into the sump. The other pipe is on of the two places that the water enters the tank. (sry 'bout the glare)

This is the left side of the tank and the other pipe where the water re-enters the tank.

I hope that this helped you out some. This is just one way to do a sump. Its working great for me.

 

[fish outa wata]

that's great step-by-step! thanks! Is that another pump in the refuge?

 

[fish outa wata]

Is it coming from the skimmer or leading into it? It really looks like you altered the output, but I can't tell.

 

[FishGeek]

Your Welcome. The part that you are talking about is part of my skimmer. This skimmer takes its water from the middle section, filters it and then dumps back into the same section. And no we never altered the skimmer, that is how it is.

 

[RockingCricket]

Very nice refugium you've got there guppy, though I don't believe it would be considered a sump.

A sump is simply a body of water connected to your main display which houses all of your equipment to keep them out of sight. When you add the partitioning and filter media, I believe I am correct in saying it becomes a refugium.

A sump can be very simple. You need another small tank (or even a rubbermaid container will do), some lengths of pvc pipe and the elbow-joint connectors, a couple of water bottles for the overflowbox and a small pump for the return, and that's it.

Here's a couple of pictures of the workings of mine. The whole thing cost me less than $25. It's nowhere near as sophisticated as Guppy's refug' but it still hides everything out of sight nicely.