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04-04-2006, 02:24 AM
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#1
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Athens. Greece
Posts: 63
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Lighting and Skimmer general questions
Hi Guys,
I have a 20g nano that has been running for a while with a Prizm skimmer, and 3 24w flourecent lights. We recently upgraded to the 20g from a 10g, so we have only a lawnmower blenny, a ghost gobie, and a featherduster. We plan on adding some corals after the tank is settled, but I live in Athens, Greece so the weather is already getting hot, and it is almost impossible to find chillers here. Our tank is already averaging between 78 to 82. Before we used to just use a makeshift holder to lift the lights about 5" higher and added a fan to cool the water, but I read in a book recently that setting the lights for 4 hours on, 4 hours off, 4 hours on again is an easy way to keep the temperature from getting too high. Is this a reasonable move? We have done it for a few days now, and the tanks temperature has been staying below 80 so for now it is working. Anyone else have any other ideas?
Also we live in an apartment and my wife is complaining the skimmer is making too much noise at night. Would it cause much of a problem to turn it off at night?
Thanks,
Rob
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__________________
24g tank, 3x24w VHOs 1 Lawnmower blenny, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Cardinalfish 1 Leather Coral, 1 star polyps, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1" sand bed, 30lbs LR Prizm Skimmer
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04-04-2006, 08:20 AM
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#2
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Ya ne rozumiyu
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Ephrata, Pennsylvania
Posts: 282
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Do you have a sump for your nano? Also what kind of skimmer do you have?
URJ
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04-04-2006, 10:00 AM
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#3
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I've got the REEF rash!
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 25,604
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Buy a better skimmer,that's one of the worse.
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04-04-2006, 10:10 AM
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#4
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Athens. Greece
Posts: 63
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The skimmer isn't my problem, it is a Prism Skimmer and I don't have a sump. It has been working fine for me, and since it is the only non- sump Skimmer any of the stores have, I don't have much of a choice.
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24g tank, 3x24w VHOs 1 Lawnmower blenny, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Cardinalfish 1 Leather Coral, 1 star polyps, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1" sand bed, 30lbs LR Prizm Skimmer
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04-04-2006, 01:05 PM
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#5
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shark
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: PA
Posts: 1,845
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i was thinkinkg about the prizm, do they leak out bubbles in the tank?
im skimmerless due to high bubble outflow. but i wanted to try the prizm
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04-04-2006, 01:15 PM
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#6
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Montana
Posts: 5,479
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It wouldn't be necessarily bad to turn it off, the only problem is you're not skimming. 
On your skimmer, there is the chamber that the intake pipe goes into then twists into the pump. Fill that with some RO water (or tap, doesn't matter since it wont come in contact with the tank water). That should help cut down on a lot of noise. Another solution would be to splice a longer tube onto the air intake tube and run that to a nearby window; or even just leave it coild up to help muffle the sound.
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~Vince
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04-04-2006, 02:34 PM
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#7
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Little Fishy
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Athens. Greece
Posts: 63
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Hey, I will try those ideas, thanks!
As for the Prizm, it was originally leaking bubbles into the tank, but I tuned down the inflow and now there is no more bubble leakage.
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24g tank, 3x24w VHOs 1 Lawnmower blenny, 1 Yellow Tang, 1 Cardinalfish 1 Leather Coral, 1 star polyps, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1" sand bed, 30lbs LR Prizm Skimmer
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04-04-2006, 03:00 PM
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#8
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shark
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: PA
Posts: 1,845
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i havent been using a skimmer at all
i think every hob skimmer out there leaks bubbles back into the tank
so far my tank has been fine skimmerless, of course i do 10% water changes every week though  |
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04-04-2006, 03:39 PM
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#9
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Shark
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Yuma, Arizona
Posts: 1,472
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You could put the skimmer on a timer, I had mine set to turn off when I knew my wife was ususlly ready to go to sleep; the complaints stopped.
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55gal... BB of course! 
Love the 
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04-04-2006, 04:33 PM
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#10
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Ya ne rozumiyu
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Ephrata, Pennsylvania
Posts: 282
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You could consider a sump, even through you only have a 20gal, sumps can be very good. It will help with heat and also you could open options for different skimmers. (maybe a quite one)
URJ
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