Honest opinion

Originally posted by cybball
Ray, I'm currently running without a skimmer. I'm curious about your tanks. Do you get "scum" on the surface of your water? I've really been building up quite a bit. I do water changes, which seems to help, but it seems to be right back a few days later. Just curious. I've ordered a surface skimmer for my Fluval but didn't know how you handled yours. thanks.
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No I do not see scum on the surface of tanks I run without skimmers. The Emperor 400 does a good job of keeping the water surface agitatied. One of the reasons I like the Emperor 400s over canister is the water return. On canisters the return is usually one opening about 1/2 inch in diameter. You can use a spray bar and the return is then better. With the Emperor 400 it is spread out over about 17 inches and breaks up the water surface. It also sets up a great flow pattern in the tank IMO.

By the way, I hate Fluvals. 2 years ago I pulled 9 of their 404s off tanks and throw them in the trash.

Ray
 
i took a supersize mcdonalds cup, cut the bottom off. taped a coffee filter around the top edge. stuck that cup into another mcdonalds cup, then i took one more cup and just barely put the lip under the surface of the water. youll be able to see the scum run in alot faster than the water. when that cups full you just dump it into the cup with the filter. filter catches scum. water runs into bottom cup. take out cup with filter and pour the cup with the clean water back into the tank. i used to have alot of scum on the surface before i got all of my live rock. i would buy lr from different lfs in about 6 pound chunks. so i had scum from time to time. i dont know if it was because i didnt have enough rock or because my tank wasnt matured yet. i tried to just use the cup with the coffe filter in it to skim the top. but when you accidentaly drop that cup into the tank, all the scum youve just spent 20 minutes on is now back in the tank.
 
Back to origional Question
I started my tank in Jan. of this year . I had kept FW in the past for many years but hadden't had any fish for about ten years.It is a bit expensive but I don't find it any harder than the FW tanks I used to keep. Mabye a little more time consuming but SW life is so much more interesting than fresh that you find yourself spending more time just looking at things in the tank anyway. THerer are things you can do to make it easier one is a large tank the more water volume the better for stability , two read everything you can ask lots of questions then try a few different methouds and see what works best for your tank.Third find a good LFS that will help you along the way .
Good Luck
IMHO a SW tank is far more interesting and far more beautiful than any FW, I will never regret starting up the tank I have.
 
A thought concerning water.

I have 3- 5 gallon buckets that I take to Wal-mart and fill with RO water. It cost me 1.50/5 gallons. It's convenient to mix with salt and for top offs.

It may sound like a lot of trouble, but Wal-mart is like my second home anyway.
 
From the original question.

With being a newbie to SW, I don't find it any harder than FW. It's just having to to learn things that didn't pertain to FW. So far, my new SW has been up for like 2-3 months and I haven't had any major problems that I couldn't handle. (knock on wood). Now I'm looking forward to be able to set up another SW in the future.

Dave
 
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