silicon seals, when to add fish, micro bubbles, etc... :P

I just set up a 85 gallon Oceanic tank (3 holes drilled in back, 2
drain out with overflow boxes 1 return), with about a 15-20 gallon sump
with a Iwaki MD40RLXT return pump. I am using Instant Ocean salt. I
have had some experience in the sal****er tank setups before, but it
has been a great while. Anyway, I have a few questions.

This aquarium has been dry for ~2-3 years, I checked the silicon and it
still seemed ok so I went ahead and filled... hopefully I won't have
any problems.

I dropped in 2 shrimp, a couple days ago, this is supposed to make the
tank cycle quicker correct? Should I add bio-spira as well? How long
till I can add a fish or two? 3-4 wks maybe?

I'm getting microbubbles, any good way to fix this problem? I think it
might be caused by a split off the pumps output that gets returned to
the sump for water leveling reasons.

Thank you all and sorry for my newbness.

Also, I forgot to add that I put in softened water in to the aquarium.
I was going to add hard water from a faucet outside till I realized
that that was going to be hard water and I put in soft water. Now I
read that I should put in hard water and not soft. Is that true? Is
that a big mistake or am I ok for now with the soft water and from here
on out use the hard water. Any ideas??

Thanks!

What's used to soften the water?

Is it salt? If so, it works by giving off sodium ions into
the water. I'm personally not comfortable about free
sodium ions in the water, though it might not be a problem.

Hard water is not much of a problem, but exec nutrients
are, and if it is city water, you get to guess what they
might one day decide to ad to the water.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



nacree wrote on 10/10/2006 2:54 PM:
Also, I forgot to add that I put in softened water in to the aquarium.
I was going to add hard water from a faucet outside till I realized
that that was going to be hard water and I put in soft water. Now I
read that I should put in hard water and not soft. Is that true? Is
that a big mistake or am I ok for now with the soft water and from here
on out use the hard water. Any ideas??

Thanks!

Silicone dry for 2 to 3 years is not a problem.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



nacree wrote on 10/10/2006 2:37 PM:
I just set up a 85 gallon Oceanic tank (3 holes drilled in back, 2
drain out with overflow boxes 1 return), with about a 15-20 gallon sump
with a Iwaki MD40RLXT return pump. I am using Instant Ocean salt. I
have had some experience in the sal****er tank setups before, but it
has been a great while. Anyway, I have a few questions.

This aquarium has been dry for ~2-3 years, I checked the silicon and it
still seemed ok so I went ahead and filled... hopefully I won't have
any problems.

I dropped in 2 shrimp, a couple days ago, this is supposed to make the
tank cycle quicker correct? Should I add bio-spira as well? How long
till I can add a fish or two? 3-4 wks maybe?

I'm getting microbubbles, any good way to fix this problem? I think it
might be caused by a split off the pumps output that gets returned to
the sump for water leveling reasons.

Thank you all and sorry for my newbness.

"nacree" wrote in message ups.com...
I'm getting microbubbles, any good way to fix this problem? I think it
might be caused by a split off the pumps output that gets returned to
the sump for water leveling reasons.

What do you exactly mean by "water leveling reasons"?
Could you elaborate a little on this ?

"nacree" wrote in message oups.com...
Also, I forgot to add that I put in softened water in to the aquarium.
I was going to add hard water from a faucet outside till I realized
that that was going to be hard water and I put in soft water. Now I
read that I should put in hard water and not soft. Is that true? Is
that a big mistake or am I ok for now with the soft water and from here
on out use the hard water. Any ideas??

I would stay away from any chemically-treated water...
Get the RO/DI filter if you plan to have a healty reef tank.
They are cheap ($120-150) and produce purest water.
Just add salt and off you go...

nacree wrote:
Also, I forgot to add that I put in softened water in to the aquarium.
I was going to add hard water from a faucet outside till I realized
that that was going to be hard water and I put in soft water. Now I
read that I should put in hard water and not soft. Is that true? Is
that a big mistake or am I ok for now with the soft water and from here
on out use the hard water. Any ideas??

Thanks!

On the hard/soft water, yes use the hard water. A water softener
removes the hardness ions from the water and replaces them with sodium
chloride, this can through off the ionic balance in your aquarium. PLus
the softener does not remove any of the bad items from your water.

Kim