DT's Phytoplankton

[yote]

I dont know any thing about the Fission skimmer,but I personaly wouldnt even think of a saltwater tank without a skimmer.
If you still have ammonia,then i'd say go ahead and use a dose of ammo-lock.I've never used that stuff so I cant say if works or not.
The way to get surface aggation going it point a power head toward the surface.I personaly like having 2 on opposite ends of the tank where the surface current will meet in the middle.That give break in the surface tension,plus makes for random flow through out the tank. The more you can break the surface without causing big water splashes,the better off your system will be.

 

[reeffreak]

Protein Skimming pros and cons??? I was thinking about the Current USA Fission skimmer. Any thoughts with this one? I had already done about 35% water change in the days prior to yesterday and about 25 or so last night. Levels are still falling... Should I use API AmmoLock?? Good strong surface agitation... How is that achieved???? I have a Hydor Flo Deflecting wavemaker with a Maxi-Jet 900 powerhead capable of 230g/hr. Do I need more suface agitation??

If I'm not mistaken I believe you have a Nano tank.I don't know how good the Fission skimmer is,but it has to be better than no skimmer.Skimmers remove nutrients from the water but also removes the the good(iodine,trace elements,etc.).Trust me on this,the good out weighs the bad.in my opinion it sounds like you already have good surface agitation.,just make sure your powerhead is near the surface.I don't know what your stock list is(fish,coral)but it sounds like your system is stablilizing.Try the ammolock but it will probably normalize on its own.
I hope things get better.Good luck.

 

[Tazer5000]

I would like to give a " Thanks " to all of you helped me here. I think all is good. Tested today and came up with Nitrate 30, I know it is high still but falling quickly. Nitrite is about .1, Alkalinity is 3.5, PH is 8.3 and Ammonia is down to .3. No protein skimmer yet, gonna have to wait till the weekend when I can get either a Sapphire or the Aqua C Remora. Any ideas would be awesome. I would like one that isn't very picky with water levels. I have massive evap of about 4 cups or so a day. Again Thank you all.

 

[yote]

Glad to hear your levels are coming back down.
Ive never heard of the Sapphire,but ive only heard good things on the Aqua C skimmers.

 

[reeffreak]

Glad to see things are getting better.
Make sure The Remora will fit before you make the buy.PremiumAquatics.com have some other nano skimmers that may work for you.

 

[55king]

i use a home made one i made about 3 years ago skimmer that is and yea it tok a long long long time to get it just right so i would say bye one don't build one

 

[bjohanson1234]

I would personally avoid the fission skimmer. I have one for my 10G hospital tank and all it does is fill the cup with water within an hour or so. You raise it alittle and just gives micro bubbles. I havent used the other two skimmers though

Brian

 

[Theo]

Hopefully you have properly refrigerated the product and it hasn't expired yet

 

[Tazer5000]

I am now in the brown algae stage of my RE-cycle after the power outage. I have done some reading and I think it is diatoms which are supposed to be a good sign. Is it?? Still have not received my AquaC Nano. I purchased the fission and it did nothing. I can buy a SeaClone or a Prizm at LFS but both are so much larger than my tank needs would this hurt??? They are both rated at about 100-115G tank size.

 

[Bifferwine]

In my opinion don't waste your money on either the Prizm or especially the Sea Clone. Neither of them do a very good job.

 

[reeffreak]

I think the Prizm is a decent skimmer for the money.Its finicky and takes time to get it set right,but once broken in,it works pretty good.I would definitely not get the Seaclone.

Either case I think both will take up to much space on a 12 nano.
(Well maybe the smaller prizm might,but not sure)

 

[bdejong]

There is something in this post that I think we all forgot to mention. The power outage was blamed for the event. Am I the only one that runs a battery backup on my skimmer and one of my power heads? I do not run the lights, but I do run my skimmer and one of the power heads on the battery backup. this ensures that my tank can survive almost 12 full hours without power before the battery runs dry. When looking at the specs remember that the run time quoted is at full load. A power head for the skimmer and the tank flow is no where near the full load draw. I do not feel that it is necessary to run the lights since I am fairly certain that more damage is done in a day without flow than a day without lights.

CDW Product Specifications: APC Back-UPS RS 800VA 120V Black