Couple easy questions...

[hellfire]

Alright, so I have a few simple questions..

1. I have my skimmer set to skim very wet for now, just to clean out all the crud from the old sand swapped over. I've probably gotten half a 5gal bucket already of nasty stuff. So, just so I don't have to wait and figure out myself. Does the water that is skimmed, contain salt? Basically what I'm asking, is do I need to fill with fresh, or salt water from skimmate?

I know evaporation is pure fresh, but I'm not so sure with this. And I've never had it skim so wet before I actually had to topoff from the skimmer, haha.

2. Can carbon go bad? I have some that has probably been sitting a year, and another bucket that is the same. I tried to use some in a filter sock last night, and even after washing it out very well, it still left my tank black this morning. So I took it back out, and I'm kinda skeptical about using some from the other bucket now..

3. What lights do you guys use in your fuge? I was thinking of picking up one of those plants lights from HD or something. Just so the Macro can grow.

Tyler

 

[coolsurf]

Ok..here we go!

Yes, the water is still salt. Salt in, salt out.

Yes, carbon really only last about 2 weeks. The pores fill in quick.

I really cannot reccommend a loight. I simply use one of those energy saving flourescent bulbs but that is me. It works but I don't know how it will do in your situation. Maybe others can fill you in.

 

[hellfire]

^^ Ok.

I know carbon goes bad IN the tank. I'm talking about out of the tank. In the container it is sold in. Possibly it wasn't sealed tightly.

Thanks,
Tyler

 

[seedless reefer]

I used the light recommended here and have had terrific macro growth:

http://melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html">http://melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html</a>

Read the entire article as the bulb choice changes near the end.

I give this choice of lights 5 stars.

 

[hellfire]

Awesome, thanks!

Tyler

 

[coolsurf]

Hellfire;348718 wrote: ^^ Ok.

I know carbon goes bad IN the tank. I'm talking about out of the tank. In the container it is sold in. Possibly it wasn't sealed tightly.

Thanks,
Tyler

I believe it should be OK provided it's not 20 years old!! LOL

 

[dakota9]

Put as much saltwater in the tank as your skimmer is pulling out, but replace evaporation water with freshwater......

Carbon should be just fine, as long as its never gotten wet, just rinse it very, very well as it has probably gotten a little more ground up over time

A fuge light, IMO is best in the 5000k to 6000K range which closely matches natural sunlight. Search Walmart, they have such CF bulbs in that K range, I know, thats where I got mine