geez louize...just spent fifteen minutes editing my reply and it's gone. basically just a lot of ranting about the lfs treating me like i'm an idiot and trying to sell me green damsels when i told them i was doing a fishless cycle. oh yeah, and www.customaquatic.com is across the freeway so they can have any orders waiting on their dock so i can pick up instead of paying for shipping. (but they still won't let me pick out my stuff.)
still have to take back the fluval, but i always feel bad returning stuff (worked at a return desk in a retail store long ago) so i have to really make myself do it. maybe this weekend.
think i'm going to go with the powerheads, they sound very simple to use and pretty inexpensive, too. as far as heat, keeping the temp stable can be controlled by varying the temp from the heater (and I'll have that down long before any fish or other sensitive animals are living in there).
one more thing, i've read that pvc pipe should be placed under the rock you are using so that once it becomes live, there are no dead spots. what exactly defines a dead spot? if that means an area that does not become live, i was thinking that as long as there is enough live rock in there (planning on adding 45 or 90 lbs), the rock is doing it's filtration. on the other hand, if a dead spot is an area where there is life that does not get the nutrients it needs, will the (good) bacteria from my other rockspread to these dead spots and cause it to become all gross and foul my tank? if either of you can clarify, cause i really wanna do this right with as little troubles cause my simple mistakes as possible. oh, a second one more thing (ha ha ha), sand is better than crushed coral for my sand bed if that's what i'm using for filtration, right?
thanks so much you guys for helping out with a newbie like me!!!
still have to take back the fluval, but i always feel bad returning stuff (worked at a return desk in a retail store long ago) so i have to really make myself do it. maybe this weekend.
think i'm going to go with the powerheads, they sound very simple to use and pretty inexpensive, too. as far as heat, keeping the temp stable can be controlled by varying the temp from the heater (and I'll have that down long before any fish or other sensitive animals are living in there).
one more thing, i've read that pvc pipe should be placed under the rock you are using so that once it becomes live, there are no dead spots. what exactly defines a dead spot? if that means an area that does not become live, i was thinking that as long as there is enough live rock in there (planning on adding 45 or 90 lbs), the rock is doing it's filtration. on the other hand, if a dead spot is an area where there is life that does not get the nutrients it needs, will the (good) bacteria from my other rockspread to these dead spots and cause it to become all gross and foul my tank? if either of you can clarify, cause i really wanna do this right with as little troubles cause my simple mistakes as possible. oh, a second one more thing (ha ha ha), sand is better than crushed coral for my sand bed if that's what i'm using for filtration, right?
thanks so much you guys for helping out with a newbie like me!!!
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