New with some questions (photos too)

[ltkenbo]

Anyone?

 

[Ted]

It's about 100 miles so about and hour and a half maybe. Yeah that's why I'm trying to figure this out so I could go get it as soon as possible. So you think the wet newspaper thing would work all right? Let me know ASAP I might go pick this up tonight, the guy is going to email me a picture.

So I guess I should go ahead and mix salt in my aquarium, how much water do you think I should remove for 75 lbs. of live rock, you know with the displacement and everything? I've got the heater going and powerheads so that should be good for just the live rock right?

If it was me I would fill the tank between half and three quarters full. For the rock if you use wet newspaper and put the rock in a cooler you should be good. Another thing you could use would be wet towels would hold the water I would think a little better. Either way if you use a cooler or a couple of coolers and keep them closed you should be good for the trip.

 

[ltkenbo]

All right cool well I am mixing the saltwater now so I will siphon off some of the water first.

 

[Ted]

dont forget to have some on hand for after the rock goes in for top off.

 

[dcantucson]

Also put the wet rock covered with wet newspaper or towels (I like big white beach towels as newspaper breaks apart) in heavy duty doubled trash bags if you don't have any coolers. That will keep the rock wet enough for a couple hours.

 

[ltkenbo]

Yeah what I did already was siphoned off 5 gallons and dumped it, so now with this next 5 gallons I'm gonna use as the saltwater solution and then mix the solution put it into the tank stir around let powerheads run, check the salinity etc. and so the tank will only be 5 gallons less including that saltwater, then I will fill that bucket back up with the 5 gallons and bring that with me to soak the rocks in and such.

 

[ltkenbo]

So I mixed as directed but once I dissolved most of it I found out the salinity was a little high so I'm topping it off with some more RO/DI water.

 

[Ted]

Whats the temp of the water? Are you using a refractometer or a swingarm hydrometer? If the later then water temp can effect the reading.

 

[ltkenbo]

Using a standard bob in the water thermometer/hydrometer. Water is about 76 degrees. I decided to go pick it up on tuesday instead, which will give me time to get the salinity right. But here's the pics of the live rock:

He told me there is also more base live rock buried under the sand a little bit. I'm bringing my digital scale to be sure though.

Also here is the picture of my protein skimmer's clearance problem:

It will fit with the hood closed but not when opening the hood. How should I fix this?

 

[Ted]

nice looking rock. The top hinges in the back huh. Well unless you want to go with out the top then you are gonna have to install the skimmer in a different location or get another skimmer. Or go through the hassle of removing the cup every time you want to open the top.

 

[dcantucson]

Of course there is the obvious solution. :lol: Never open the hood?
Okay not very practical. Sorry.

Can you add or modify the plumbing to extend it a little more away from the tank.

 

[Bifferwine]

Or can you cut a little bit of the hood on that side off?

 

[ltkenbo]

Yeah I thought about cutting it but I don't want to have to cut it, besides I'm probably gonna add a custom sump/trickle filter eventually but until then I don't know, I'll have to email the guy I bought all this from and ask him how he did it. So, I think I got the salinity right on the dot now, but the tank is all the way full again haha so what I'm probably going to do is empty a lot of the water into several buckets which I could take with me when I pick up the live rock.

I did put the protein skimmer on there and test it and it has started collecting some gunk, I don't know what from though but at least I know it works.

 

[Ted]

um if you take the collection cup off can you then open the top?

 

[Ted]

the other thing is I guess you figured out how it got cracked in the first place.

 

[ltkenbo]

Correct, still kind of annoying though, but I might have to do that until I get a sump or whatever.

 

[Ted]

ya very. Well at least you can get it to work until then. That model can be used in sump also so at least you can use it when you do get a sump.

 

[ltkenbo]

So just wondering how come the protein skimmer still collects a little bit of stuff even though I don't have any fish or anything in yet?

 

[Ted]

well could be lots of things. Are you using ro water? If not then its the water conditioner. Or could be oils from your hands being in the water or additives in the salt. How long was the fresh water in the tank? If it was in their for a few days it could have picked up dust and stuff from the air or even some algae that was growing in the water.

 

[dcantucson]

I would guess it's not water conditioner since a RODI unit is being used.

:lol: Edited after next post :lol: