New Guy, New Guy Problems, and Hello

[Baxter5]

Hello,

I am the new guy, nice to meet you all.

I purchased a 90 Gal bowfront Oceanic tank, with 30 Gallon Sump, G3 Skimmer, a Tunz, 2 sea Swirls and few other things. A complete setup, the system was used and found it on Ebay. I also have a metal Halide lighting set up with 3 metal halide lamps, two on the blue side and one 20k in the center. All my Live Rock and Live Sand was established prior to me putting it together. I am having a few issues that maybe some of you could offer some insight on since this is my first Saltwater tank. I filled it with Water last tuesday 3/7.

- My skimmer is overflowing even on the lowest level. On my first fill I used tap water to make the sea water and used some water conditioners because it was tap water. I plan on doing several water changes once I get my RO/DI set up. I suspected (and still do) that the reason the skimmer is overflowing with a lot of foam was because of the water conditioners, however after almost a week it doesnt seem to be getting better. How long should I continue to suspect that the water conditioning is causing the problem?

- Im getting a lot of bubbles in the water. I think part of this might be attributed to the skimmer issue, are there other ways to get better control of bubbles in the tank? Will raising or lowering the return pipe or restricting the return flow help solve this problem? It seems that combination of the return into the sump and the overflowing skimmer is creating "suds" in the sump.

- All my Amonia/Nitrate/Nitrite test are reading 0, and the Ph is just a bit lower than ideal. I expected the "cycle" to start already since the rock and sand were live and well to start with, also Ive been priming the tank with Biozyme. Is it even remotely possible that since the tank was already established days before I set it up (all I theoretically did was put water in it) that I am actually towards the end of the intial cyle instead of the beginning? Am I correct to expect that the Amonia should have shot up by now (6 days) as an indication that the cycle is starting?

- Ive read very different things on how much "light time" the tank should get during this stage, ranging from 5 hours a day to 12. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any helpful insight on my skimmer, bubbles, and the biological filter cycle. I also put 3 cheap $1.50 each crabs in the tank on thursday just for kicks (writing them off as expendable), but to my surprise they are very active and still alive. I have also noticed a couple tube worms on the rock that are sticking their "feathers" out (a sign of healthyness?).

Baxter

[golfish]

Hows the water in the skimmer body look? Lots of bubbles?

[Baxter5]

Yes, almost looks like foam. I put this post on the reef forum becuase it didnt look like anyone watched this forum

[spankerbob]

I have a g3, the first thing you want to look in to is the venturi, it sound like it is clogged in some manner. You may need to take a drill bit that is the size of the air intake on the venturi and clean it out by hand, some times calcium or other stuff gets in that area not allowing enough air to be pulled through and causing the skimmer to overflow. The skimmer should be filled with micro bubbles in all but the bottom 3" of the reaction chamber, otherwise your venturi is probaly not working to great. Then as far as the bubbles gettinng in to the tank, that should fix it self when get the overflowing problem tammed down, becuase you then can raise the water leveling tube and the degassing foam to an acceptable level, where you can create a nice foam head.

[optical]

hey baxter,
not sure if i replied to this yet but...
as far as your skimmer goes, it could be overflowing due to a number of reasons. one is that biozyme your using. certian chemicals will make too much foam and you will have to just turn it off for a while. even if you put your hand in the tank could make the skimmer produce too much or too little. you just have to watch it and adjust the venturi or the return pipe to get it right. the lower the return the less water, the less air intake the less bubbles.

about your nitrogen cycle... you dont really have anything to produce ammonia yet so it will tank longer to cycle. add a few damsels, that should help the cycle. with my reef tank, i barely had a cycle when i first set it up.
the live rock/sand really helps.

as far as the light...i go 11 on and 13 off. seems to be working great fo me.
the tube worms coming out is a good sign. you might find the population of them will come and go depending on how much nutrients are available for them in the water.