We plugged that hole and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!!! It is SO much quieter now. With the flow from the pump restricted a bit, it's so quiet now!!!

Thanks for the tip about the lockline, will do that.

We'll leave the overflow as is, so it drains.

Now I have a question about my skimmer. How long till the collection cup starts filling with skimmate? I've had it on since last night and the fine white bubbles are still swirling around in the main body of the skimmer but nothing is coming up through the neck or into the collection cup. Am I doing something wrong? Any suggestions? The water is murky.

I just finished aquascaping and I'm not going to touch another rock or I'll never be done!!! I made lots of caves & hiding spots and kept the rock away from the glass on the sides & front.

The water is extremely murky and my skimmer doesn't seem to be working?? I'm wondering should I do a water change. I cleaned the rocks as best I could but there's still some die-off, (even though the rock was cured, it was in transit to me, by bus, for almost 36 hours) which brings up another question... these cucumbers can't handle high nitrates so I'm thinking they're probably going to die with the curing/cycling process?

I have no experience with cucumbers, but I can vouch for a long break in period for skimmers. It can take anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks to start producing a decent load of skimmate.

I'm sort of wondering about that too. They might not do too well through the tank cycle. Is there someone who could put them in their sump for you in the meantime?

Thanks, you're too kind :) Yours is well on its way! :cool:

I spent the whole day looking for the cucumbers but couldn't see them anywhere, they had disappeared into my rockwork. But this evening, one of them came out, and it didn't look good. Half it's body was shriveled up and very dark, and shortly thereafter it began ejecting its inner organs. Looked like it was just opening up at the end. At which point I removed it from the tank. I really have to read up on holothrin. I'm guessing some has been released into my tank (the other cucumber must be dying as well, wherever it is). How long does this poison stay in the tank and what effect will it have on my clean up crew, corals, etc. I know it can be toxic to fish but what about other inverts? Anyhow, got some research to do.

Are you all in agreement about my skimmer? Does it really take days/weeks before it starts producing gunk, or should I have skimmate by now (after 24hrs).

I'm uncomfortable with all the debris in my tank so I'm mixing water right now for a 20% water change. For the heck of it I tested the water and here are my parameters:
ph 8.3
temp 80F
SG 1.026
NH4 non-detectable
NH3 non-detectable
NO2 0.05
NO3 20? ...

I am using Elos test kits. I had a hard time reading the NO3... just wasn't sure. It says to look through the vial from above, while the vial is placed on the white field next to the color card... when I do that, it looks to me to be about 20. But when I hold it up against the card and look through the solution, it's such a light pink... it matches a reading of 10. I'm guessing that doesn't matter and the color that matters is the color you see when you're looking straight down into the vial when the vial is placed on the surface, right? Duh, that's what they say so that must be it. I was just taken back by how light the color was in the vial when I held it up to look at it, and how much darker it is when I view it the other way (from the top when it's placed on a surface). Anyhow. Either way my nitrates are high.

When should the ammonia spike.. in about 3 days? Do you all think it's a good idea for me to do a 20% water change tomorrow? There is debris (die-off) on the bottom of the tank that I want to syphon out. Thanks.

MORE PICTURES PLEASE:biggrin:

Re: Skimmer
 

It's my understanding you have a H/S skimmer if so adjust it [ slow ] until it is about three quarters the way up neck of the collection cup.
I hope this helps

Melina,


Your ammonia/nitrites may not spike at all, depending on where the rock came from.
If it was already cured, likley you will avoid the cycle altogether.

The skimmer is different for everyone, ive seen them start skimming 10 minutes later, and ive seen them take a week to start.

Make sure the air intake for the skimmer is just about fully open, and the water level in the skimmer is adjusted to (usually) about the base of the cone.

Usually the skimmer is unstable in a new system as the water is pretty much sterile, so i wouldnt expect it to perform normally this soon.


Marc.

Hey Marc, the rock came from Hidden Reef :biggrin: but it came by bus and was in transit for almost 36 hours :sad: so when it got to me there was some die off on a couple of the rocks... I had to scrape some black stuff off and I know I didn't do as thorough a job as I should have done. (I asked for the rock to get here on Thursday because my husband was going to be home that day and I wanted him to watch the kids while I cleaned the rock. But instead of arriving in the morning like I had hoped, it only came in on the evening bus, 30 minutes before Patrick had to start his night shift. So, I was alone to clean the rock and take care of my two young kids, which was more than I could handle (my son is 5 months old)... so anyway, I swished the rock around in a bucket of saltwater and scraped off what I could with my fingers but I can see now that the rock is in the tank, there is still some stuff dying on the rock.. I was going to scrape it off with a new toothbrush and do a 20% waterchange... it's not a lot of die-off, just in the holes (pores) on a couple pieces of rock, there is still some greyish dying stuff. So I'm thinking I am going to have a cycle, maybe it just hasn't started yet? I'll check my ammonia/nitrites again today.

I see a thin brownish film forming in the neck of the skimmer now, I guess this coating is what's going to allow the skimmate to rise up through the tube... good sign. :biggrin:

couple pics.

Hey guys how do you know live rock is healthy? I look at mine and see no life in them (except for the cucumbers which are dead now)... I hear about people finding crabs, mantis shrimp, etc, all sort of critters in their rocks but I'm staring at mine and see no signs of life at all (not that I want a mantis shrimp, but you know, I just want to see something!)... the rock looks so barren & dead. Is this normal? How can you tell if live rock is "good" live rock, or if all the life in it is dead?