Lighting

[nudy6969]

the aquapod does not come with power heads, they are just return nozzles from the pump in the back chamber. all you will need to buy is a powerhead and a heater and you are all set. make sure you remove all of the filter media in the back because it will only create problems.

what i have in my back chambers is

1st chamber: filter floss and carbon
middle chamber: live rock rubble and cheato
3rd chamber: maxijet 900 returnpump(replaced the old one because it is not efficient) and a stelth 50w heater

i also bought a korola nano powerhead for flow circulation.

to buy water just go to your lfs and buy premixed salt water or ro water.

what i used to do is have 2 six gallon jugs and 1 would be for salt and 1 for fresh water.

once you get the water just put it in your tank and let it sit there untill you get lr and sand.

 

[simpleman]

If you don't want to buy a RO unit. Buy a couple 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot, take them to a water shop/kiosk and fill them. Around here it $1.25 for 5 gallons.

 

[dustyboy316]

It is actually coming with 2 pumps. The one is the Hydor Koralia one and the other is a maxi jet.

I'll have to see the best course of action, because my LFS is an hour away (unless petsmart has some here, maybe they do?). But the onlyu place that has anything salt water related is out of town...

So basically, I just need a heater and I'm all set... Thanks for the idea simpleman, I might have to do that, beats driving an hour.

 

[Bifferwine]

temp: 72-80
salinity: 1.021-1.025
ph: 7.9-8.4
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: >25

Dustin means nitrate <25.

 

[dustin_P74]

yeah, thanks for the save biff

 

[dustyboy316]

haha yah, that;s how I read it, didn't really expect the Nitrate level to be high, dosen't sound too healthy haha.

 

[dustyboy316]

Ok guys, suggest a good cheaper test kit. Hopefully nothing over 40, but we'll see.

Aquapod will probably be in this week, and I'll have to go out and get some water. So they have distilled water at Home Depot, that I can fill into a Culligan container?

Oh and I''ve been reading some reviews of it and a lot of people have trouble maintaining the temp i nthe 70's, they say it gets too hot. So this means I shouldn't buy a heater? The guy said he modded it to cool it down, so I should probably wait a bit and see what the temp stabilizes at?

 

[dustin_P74]

if people are having trouble keeping the temp down when they run a heater, wait to get a heater and see what temps you get without it. as for test kits do you mean keep it under 40 total or keep it under 40 a kit?

 

[dustyboy316]

40 total, but if it has to be more that's fine. I won't be buying it until I'm ready to add fish in which should be around end of december near january.

I was thinking this: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754006

 

[dustin_P74]

thats fine for just a basic setup

 

[dustyboy316]

Ok sounds good. Thanks.

 

[nudy6969]

you need a heater to maintain a constant temperature.

When i had my stock hood on my aquapod, my temperature was 81-17 in the summer and in the 70s during the winter with a heater. i fixed the problem by taking off the hood and getting a sunpod 70w hqi. now it goes up to only 83 at the highest during the summer. it is still king of high so i will be getting a chiller to keep it at a constant 79.

 

[dustyboy316]

Ok, we'll see how it goes I guess. In the summer it shouldnt be a problem as I'm keeping it in the basement in a room with no windows, and it's usually cool down here.

The guy I bought it off of said he modded it to fit another fan for over heating, so we'll see if that solves anything in itself, but yah if the temp keeps moving up and down that's no good.

 

[nudy6969]

are you going to make it a fish only tank at first. if you are, make sure you buy fish that are reef safe and that don't exceed more than 3 inches.

 

[dustyboy316]

are you going to make it a fish only tank at first. if you are, make sure you buy fish that are reef safe and that don't exceed more than 3 inches.

Yup that's the plan. I'm thinking of getting a pair of clowns and a yellow watchman goby at first. Probably a shrimp too.

I will end up buying some cheaper corals too, but nothing crazy and probably nothing until 3-4 months into the tank.

 

[nudy6969]

those are fine, make sure your tank is stable before buying the shrimp.

 

[dustyboy316]

Yup, I plan on cycling it, then adding a clean up crew for a few weeks and see how they do. After I'll add fishies.

 

[dustyboy316]

Would it be alright to use tap water if I let it filter for a few days, or should I stick to distilled? (Reason being I want to save money, and effort :P)

 

[daugherty]

no you will still have the crap in the water (all the phosphates and heavy metels)

 

[yote]

You might be able to get cheap RO water from your local grocery store.I been getting mine from wal-mart for .33cents a gallon.