[mustangdonley]

Well I have been asking questions on this site for a couple of months now and reading allot. I just wanted to formally introduce myself. Well my name is Matt and my fiance is Kriston. We decided to get a saltwater tank up and going about 3-4 months ago.. Everything was going well until ICH killed about 5-7 fish.. We didn't give up we learned from our mistakes "I HOPE" and we got a 10 gallon qt going tonight but more on that later.
We are from Texas and Im in the military and we just wanted a little hobby on the side so we took this up. We enjoy messing with our tank and love it to death but there is so much to learn sometimes it is overwhelming. But anyways to the tank and some quick questions.
My Tank it is a 55gallon tank with around 50lbs of premium fiji live rock. 40lbs of arganite sand.
Equipment CPR BakPak 2r Skimmer and Penguin 330 Hang on Filter. 2 maxijet 1200 powerheads just got them tonight and a 200watt heater.
Livestock.
2 Snails, 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 1 yellow clown goby, 1 green goby, 1 dragon goby awesome sand sifter btw and 1 zebra hermit crab
Here is a picture of the tank and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if the position of the powerheads is wrong or anything in the picture looks wrong PLEASE PLEASE tell me. I will take it all as constructive critism.

Couple questions.
1. I just tonight we put on a new Rio 600 pump on my skimmer and doesnt seem to be skimming near as well as the old one? Set it at same position and everything just doesnt seem like the bubbles are comming up and over of the neck of the canisiter?
2. Do I need to change anything in my setup?
Now here is a picture of my QT tank that I just set up tonight as well it has my old Rio 600 powerhead a Little Hang on Filter that WAS on my dt for about 1.5 weeks. I did a water change tonight and put 5 gallons of my old DT water along with 5 fresh gallons of saltwater. We are going to try and get a fish for the QT on Saturday will this be a problem? BTW I am going to be adding some PVC pipe in my QT tommow. Now the Pic

If there is something wrong please let me know.
Sorry for such a long post but maybe this will help out other new people as well.. Again thank you guys for so many questions you have answered and being the best ReefAquarium site ever. Again thank you for any comments.

[Lowej82]

Looks good. Do you plan to add more LR? I would go for about 25-35 lbs more

Are the 2 maxi jets pointed at each other on back wall? if so I would try shooting them out to front corners from back corners making kind of a "X" pattern. Try to center your mechincal filter as much as possible so that you dont have such a dead spot on one side or the other..

Good Luck!

[e_baer]

if you are looking for more flow, look into the maxi jet mod at Aquarium supplies for your tropical fish tank, saltwater fish tank, saltwater aquarium fish, freshwater aquarium fish & reef aquarium. Aquarium filters, aquarium lighting, aquarium tanks, protein skimmers & more for your reef tank.

i also have a 55g reef, and recently got the mj400 and the mod. INCREDIBLE. it is the only powerhead i need in my tank now.

[plecosword]

ok, this is my picture of the perfect flow. it is kind of how i have my 20g running. it is also the cleanest one.

[mustangdonley]

LoweJ82 no niether one of them are on the back wall. They are on the each side. The one on the left is shooting upwards towards the right and the one on the right is in the middle of the side glass pointing strait over all the live rock. I will try what you said about the X pattern. But will I still get watermovent at the top?
Anyone have any comments on how I set up my QT? Im going to try and get some Fish on saturday so just making sure you guys think it will be alright. Again Thanks for any comments.

[rlcline76]

Yep, looks a lot like a QT. Glad you have one! It is best to do one fish at a time unless you are getting 2 or 3 of the same thing...easier to treat if necessary.
BakPak skimmer, did you mess with the airline? Try that if you have not.

[mustangdonley]

havent messed with the airline since I put on the new rio 600 I did take off the muffler and everything and still doesnt seem like it works as well as my old pump?

[plecosword]

Originally Posted by plecosword

ok, this is my picture of the perfect flow. it is kind of how i have my 20g running. it is also the cleanest one.

so what do you guys think of my Art work? lol is this the right idea, i hope it is not too hard to see.

[Lowej82]

I had thought about trying that figured that it would create a big whirlpool in the tank add start sucking up the sand, With my 2 pointed in the "X" pattern I get 2 surface whirlpools about 1" deep with outputs about 6" under water.

[Lowej82]

Originally Posted by mustangdonley

LoweJ82 no niether one of them are on the back wall. They are on the each side. The one on the left is shooting upwards towards the right and the one on the right is in the middle of the side glass pointing strait over all the live rock. I will try what you said about the X pattern. But will I still get watermovent at the top?

Try pointing 1 upwards to surface and other down.

[plecosword]

so does the x flow look like this? is there something wrong with flow in my first drawing?

[Lowej82]

yea thats how I was talking, Nothing wrong with what you had, I just didnt set mine up that way in fear of a big whirlpool

[mustangdonley]

Well I moved my powerheads. Both of them are now are the back glass the one on the right is pointing up a little and shooting diagonal to the left corner of the tank. And the one on the left is pointing diagonal to the right corner of the tank. Seems to be working.
One more newby question do you guys turn off all your filters and powerheads during feeding so stuff doesnt go flying everywhere? And one more a 200watt heater isnt enough for a 55 gallon is it? Seems to me like I need to buy another one cause when I woke up this morning my tank was at 76 I like it to be at 78? Again thank you for all the good art work

[mustangdonley]

Oh yeah one more thing going to go get some more live rock

[plecosword]

Originally Posted by mustangdonley

Well I moved my powerheads. Both of them are now are the back glass the one on the right is pointing up a little and shooting diagonal to the left corner of the tank. And the one on the left is pointing diagonal to the right corner of the tank. Seems to be working.
One more newby question do you guys turn off all your filters and powerheads during feeding so stuff doesnt go flying everywhere? And one more a 200watt heater isnt enough for a 55 gallon is it? Seems to me like I need to buy another one cause when I woke up this morning my tank was at 76 I like it to be at 78? Again thank you for all the good art work

well, 200w is enough for a 55g for sure!. just raise the temperature on it. what heater do you have? if you are going to buy a new one, i recommend the stealth, my favorite! They will never break. and just take a look for yourself: We're Sorry. . . The page you requested is no longer available

[plecosword]

opps, here is a new link:Aquarium Heaters: Visi-Therm Stealth Heater
ohh and about the feedind, you should not have the need to turn of the filters, you need to feed them bu very small amounts. if there is flake food all over the place, your probably overfeeding.

[mustangdonley]

Yeah im feeding brine and I just feed once every other day or so making sure not to over feed. It just seemed to work better with all the pumps and filters off, that way the brine doesnt go everywhere.
Well just got back from the LFS and we got a Nemo to put in the QT tank. LFS kept saying I need to throw in live rock in the QT? From everywhere Ive been reading they say no live rock? AHHH so many different opinons out there just wish there was one set way. Any information on the live rock in the QT would be great.

Thanks

[Lowej82]

Maybe he is thinking the LR will provide bacteria, so will a sponge.
Place to hide, PVC pipe will work for that. He is probally just trying to make a few extra $$$. I would say that there is no set way in this addiction everyone has there own opinions and beliefs, there for you will always get a mix feed on what to do in almost every case. Good Luck with your nemo.