Cleaning up the skum...

After recommendations by Tony to clean up my act... I went ahead and purchased the Aqua C Remora Protein Skimmer with MJ1200 Pump from Marine Depot. So far, I have nothing but good things to say about this skimmer. Not only does it fit on my 29g setup even with a medium sized HOB CPR fuge in the back, it's also very cool looking and it looks like it belongs there.

Because a LOT of gunk was floating to the surface of my water, I decided to buy the pre-skimmer box that can be purchased and installed it into the tank. Unfortunately due to the size of the pre-skimmer box, I've had to re-arrange my rocks so this thing can fit; on the bright side, the surface of the water is now crystal clear!

I did the recommended warm water dip to rinse off chemicals that may be on the unit. This supposily helps break the system in as extraneous chemicals may prevent good foam from forming in the unit, which is understandable. It's only been in there for two days (without any sort of adjustment) and already the unit is pulling out a good amount of gunk from the water. The good news is that I can tell the difference! Most of my zoas that have been closed over the last few days are now opened up again. Just in time I guess.

Research is doing me good so far. All the equipment I bought can be upgraded when I upgrade the size of the tank, which is great. Plus getting the right stuff the first time around means I won't have to re-buy the equipment again.

On a sadder note, I had my first fatality. For whatever reason, my decorator arrow crab likes to hang out on the Seios. Unfortunately it seems he got too close to the inlet holes and got himself stuck there. By the time I pulled him off, he was already a corpse. Doh.