Firestarter

Threw it in and observed how it floated inside the tank. Took about 3 mins for the bag to be caught in the overflow.

Testing the flow. Tore off a piece of red plastic bag.

Had to take out the skimmer again and tape the joints with white tape after I spotted one joint had a drop of water formed on it. Also, to connect the pump and skimmer properly.

Managed to quickly snap a pic of this. Skimmer started skimming out stuff!! And I thought its only supposed to work in SW?

Well, after a series of trial and error, managed to get the tank under control. Sorry no more pics of the disaster because I was too busy trying to prevent any floods, so no hands to take pics. After it got under control, next step is to tweak the skimmer. The air intake tube is kinda noisy, so I used an old trick I did before: Just place a air valve on it. Noise = Gone, Bubbles = Not affected.

To make matters worse, I spotted this!!! Almost had the thought of scrapping the whole idea of setting up a tank again.

The tank a mess after all problems started to surface all at once.

Turned on the seio. Thats when disaster began. The water level rose too high in the main tank. Had to remove the overflow 'comb' to reduce the height.

Tank is finally filled.

Checking the stand to make sure it doesn't warp.

Halfway there.

Filling the tank up with water.

3rd layer is the normal filter floss.

2nd layer is filter floss wrapped with some stuff inside, I think its charcoal. Not sure. But the packing says its suitable for both FW and SW tanks.

Placing the filter floss. First layer is some green wool. I think its for bacterial to colonize.

Cut out a small piece of acrylic. This is to cover the top of the seio to prevent bubbles from the overflow from being sucked in.

All equipment check and in place.

Time to update. I've got the tank running now, so far so good, just posting the pics I took before the problems began. As promised, pic to show how I connected my skimmer to the pump. Had to remove it in the end and add white tape, because water was still coming through a tiny gap.

After a couple of hours spent tweaking the system, I somehow got it under control. I think. I'm letting the system run now for another 30 mins or so to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Here are the problems identified, and how I managed to fix it. Problem 1. Seio wavemaker is too powerful, it sucked all the water from the IOS before water from the main could return into the IOS. Keep blowing out air bubbles.Tried increasing the water level up its almost to the brim! 2. There is no excess in the event the skimmer pump fails, the water in the skimmer will flow back into IOS, causing a flood. 3. There is a small leak situated at the brim of the tank, I think its at the bracing. Not really a problem unless the tank is filled to the brim, which in my case, yes. 4. Skimmer pump is making a loud humming noise. Soultion 1. Removed the overflow 'comb' so the overflow height would be reduced. Placed a container cover on top of the seio to prevent it from sucking air too quickly. 2. Because of the reduced height, there is excess for the skimmer now. 3. Small leak not occurring anymore because of deduced height. 4. Yet to be solved.

VERY VERY BAD DAY for me today. Filled up the tank with water, and tried running all the equipment. It was a disaster. Water got sucked from the seio from the IOS compartment too fast before it could flow back into the IOS. Tried to increase the water level and its just too high, almost to the brim of the tank. Got another headache when I found out the tank sprung a leak at the top. Hai just felt so demoralized. Months of planning and hard work down the drain. Really duno what to do. Pics will be posted soon. :cry2: :cry2:

The gap between the hole and the 'nose' of the seio is about 3mm wide. Its alright if water escapes through, but I don't think fishes will. Silicon the gap will make it impossible to remove the seio in the future.

Want to buy about 5-10kg of LR. Medium to palm size. Prefer to collect from the East, because of transport problems. Pls PM me if you have some to sell. Thanks.

You can buy those Rubbish Pickers at Mustafa. I came across it and bought one myself. Cost only about $2.40. Located at the top floor, next to the toilet.

As the name of the forum states, Marine Invertebrates forum Yamato shrimp is not SW but FW.

Full tank shot with equipment. Yeah I know its boring, next update will be filling the tank up, hopefully can get the LR by tomorrow night.