Salties New BC29

saltie

saltie

Member
Hey Gang,
I just set up my new BC29 last weekend. I bought the tank used, it was pretty rough around the edges but we got it back up and running and looking good. It has a lighting mod with 4 x 36W PCs.
I use 45lbs of rock form an established tank and 10 gallons of water from the same tank, all that so say, the cycle went fairly smooth, but I plan to hold off a few more weeks before adding anything. I have a skimmer coming later this week, I ordered the CPR-SR3. I want to give it a chance to start working before I add a bunch of critters.
At any rate, I wanted to post a couple pics to see what you guys think.

 
saltie

saltie

Member
Originally Posted by Bdhb12
http:///forum/post/2931204
How many pounds of sand did you use?
I used 40 pounds of LS and 45 pounds of LR. Plus I am putting a skimmer and fuge in the rear compartments (the skimmer and fuge stuff is on order, should be here this weekend).
 
saltie

saltie

Member
Originally Posted by Bdhb12
http:///forum/post/2931215
Thanks! I Want a nice sand bed like yours! any particular sand you used?
Not really, I used live reef sand from the LFS just make sure it is agronite (or what ever it is called). If you plan to have a high flow tank dont get the sugar fine sand, it will blow around too much.
 
saltie

saltie

Member
AAAHHHHH! the skimmer is here, and I made a pod condo!!!! The skimmer is looks to be working really well. Now all I hae to do is figure out how to make it stop blowing tiny bubbles all over the place.... any ideas? it is a CPR SR3
 
saltie

saltie

Member
Yes, the water is full over the return pump, I keep it close the max level in compartment 3. As you can see in the photo, I used some filter pads to catch the bubbles, it works a little but there are still a lot of bubbles in the display.
 
saltie

saltie

Member
Well, when I turn off the skimmer or close the air valve all the way, all the bubbles stop (as you would expect). I can actually see bubbles coming out of the skimmer (right in front of the white filter pad in the photo). Problem is that if you close the valve any more, it will stop producing foam.
Is there a trick to adjusting the SR3?
 
nissan577

nissan577

Active Member
yea. play with the air bubble till you see no more bubbles and it still making foam. i know skimmer have to break in. dik when it does though
 
jun_18t

jun_18t

New Member
hey saltie....nice tank
i have the same setup as you with the SR3 skimmer. i had it for about 4 weeks now and until now im having issues with the micro bubbles. its very frustrating as every time i do my water change massive amounts of micro bubbles comes out and they dont clear up for about a day or so. and most of the time it does not skim at all. tried a lot of different setups but still cant get it going. have you had any success at all??? how do you have your water level???
thanks!
 
saltie

saltie

Member
No, no luck at all yet, but I am determined to make this thing work. I tried placing a filter pad in the middle chamber of the skimmer and that worked a little and seemed to improved the foam production some how.... not sure how, but it did.
I keep the water level around the full mark on the site glass and top off every evening, I dont think that is the problem.
If it does not settle down by the weekend, I will try a couple of modification I have dreamed up:
1. I will try putting a longer air hose on the pump. Some peole have said that works on other skimmers so I figure it is cheap and worth a try. Plus it is difficult to adjust the air valve with such a short hose.
2. If # 1 does not work, I will try cutting a sheet of acrylic so it will fit snuggly in the bottom of the skimmers second compartment to extend the bubble barrier if you will. I think that should do the trick.
I am all ears if anyone has any ideas.....
 
saltie

saltie

Member
Well the skimmer has settled down quite a bit, but there are still a lot of tiny bubbles (isn’t that a song). I am going to tinker with it tomorrow.
I have a questions for you all. How do you keep your biocube cool? I have been between 78 & 80 F. More toward 80 on warm days. Are there any tricks to keeping the BC29 cool in the summer?
 
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