New here, from WI. Sick GSP.

[sevenyearnight]

Maybe more garlic as well?

[LongGrain]

the clove of garlic soaked with the food/medicine overnight, I doubt there was a shortage of garlic haha.

so should I or should I not treat the water? some say yes, some say no. I don't want to make anything worse.

[Pufferpunk]

Med is cheap, go for it. He looks really bad, I'm afraid... I think even though he spits out the food, some meds are getting in him.

[LongGrain]

I treated the water and removed the filter cartridge as per the direction (since I can't remove my carbon separately), going to feed him more treated food tomorrow morning at his normal feeding time. Ugh I hope he gets better, I feel so bad for him.

I'm probably going to order a skimmer very soon here. I think I've decided on either a bak-pak 2 or bak-pak 2r, but I'm not sure which. The 2 has a biobale in it, which i THINK means I could get rid of my marineland 200 biowheel. The 2r doesn't have the bio bale and says that it is designed to use with reef aquariums without a mechanical filter, but I don't think I have enough live rock yet to completely eliminate my biowheel/mech filter. So should I get the bakpak 2 because it has a bio filter/bale in it? or go with the 2r and use both my current filter and the skimmer? This is all kind of confusing to me, I know I don't have enough live rock/sand to go completely sans mechanical filter, but I also need a good protein skimmer. SO! which one do I get? and should I run it in tandem with my current filter? or take my current filter out. I'm pretty much ready to order as soon as I get a clear answer.

[wagner7123]

ditch the bio bale viewtopic.php?f=23&t=29008

[LongGrain]

So I should just go with the 2r, which doesn't have a bio bale? And then run both the skimmer and my filter?

ordering now.

[wagner7123]

I have the 2 r, there is an extra baffle that is supposed to reduce the amount of micro bubbles in the tank, but I'm not sure it works that well. The regular 2 I think would be better, you can remove the bio bale and put a heater in the chamber. If you are having microbubble issues after that you can get the bubble trap. However, if the regular 2 releases any more bubbles than my 2r, I'd probably be pretty upset. If I were going to buy another I'd want the regular 2, but thats probably just because I have the 2r. either way, it really makes no difference as you won't be using the bio bale in any case.

[LongGrain]

So why do you think the 2 would be better? The 2r is cheaper (albeit 5 bucks), doesn't have the biobale, and has the extra baffle for bubble reduction. What advantage does the 2 have, since I would be removing the bio element anyway?

[wagner7123]

because you can fit a heater in the 2. I have a heater in my 2r but i had to modify it to get it to fit.

[LongGrain]

how big is your heater? mine is like 12-13"

is it common to put your heater in the protein skimmer?

[wagner7123]

The diameter is the issue, its about 1" or so and I have to wedge it between the wall and the return tube. I have no idea if others put them in their skimmer, but the less stuff in the tank the nicer it looks i think, also with it in the skimmer there is no chance of your fish getting burned by it.

[LongGrain]

I just ordered a bak pak 2, I still don't know whether to keep my marine land filter in the tank or not once I get it. Going to try to put my heater in there as well. From the pictures I've seen, it should easily fit.