startup questions about noisy skimmer, etc.

[fixed]

Got my 55 gallon set up with sand and liverock, with a Bak-Pak 2 protein skimmer (no fish, yet). A few questions:
1. Any way to get the skimmer to be quieter? This is sitting 6 feet away from me in a quiet office, and it's a little intrusive. I can handle the water and bubble noises, but the buzzing is a little much. Seems to resonate more with the wood cap in place.
2. A guy at the store said they sometimes pull the blue Bio Bale stuff out of the skimmer and put the heater in there. Would this be ok for fish only? This would seem to give a much cleaner look to the tank mechanicals and wiring.
3. Anyone use a mirror for a background, rather than painting or a photo-type background? Any downside to this?
4. I had a pro set it up, and he offers regular service, too. Good idea to have him do it for a few months, at least, and learn from him as he goes?
Thanks again.

 

[tinmanny]

you could wrap your skimmer with foam to quiet it down some it may be even making noise off the tank so try some under it too just a thin pc will do it.
As far as a mirror background it will intimmidate the fish and they will fight with there reflections.
Good luck

Manny

 

[airforceb2]

Well for the first few weeks you should be fine as the skimmer shouldn't be running. Only run the skimmer after the cycle has completed.
p.s. I wouldn't trust anyone with my tank. Your best bet is to get a book (The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner is the best I have seen) and teach yourself. If the pro set up the tank and plugged in the skimmer right off the bat, he doesn't sound very pro to me.
p.p.s. Make sure you don't add any fish till the cycle is over.

 

[fixed]

>Well for the first few weeks you should be fine as the skimmer shouldn't be running. Only run the skimmer after the cycle has completed.
>p.s. I wouldn't trust anyone with my tank. Your best bet is to get a book (The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert Fenner is the best I have seen) and teach yourself. If the pro set up the tank and plugged in the skimmer right off the bat, he doesn't sound very pro to me.
> p.p.s. Make sure you don't add any fish till the cycle is over.
He did plug in right away, but then we started with live rock and water from an existing tank. He is going to add live sand in a day or so, too. He told me I'd be up and running, fish ready, within a week. Hmm.

 

[airforceb2]

Using stuff from an existing tank will help a lot but you should still see a cycle. Your tank just needs to adapt to a bio load.

 

[fixed]

I decided the skimmer was just too loud for when I'm in the office, so I'm going to try keeping it, but putting it on a timer to run from 5 pm to 7 am the next morning, plus adding a XP2 canister filter to run 24 hours; it seems to be much quieter, especially when it will be under my cabinet. That sound doable?