I have been running different fresh water set ups for a few years and I am thinking about taking a step into the unknown with marine set up. Any advice about minimum tank sizes, equipment and suitable fish ?
Hi,
I'd recommend looking around and seeing what you fancy. There's so many different set-ups, nano set-ups, reef set-ups, fish only and more.
The most important thing to remember though is how your budget can stretch, even the smalles of tanks can cost a lot of money just to set-up. The other thing to remember is how much will your initial set-up cost you and how long will you be happy with it?
The other thing is the bigger the tank, the less worry about tanks being polluted in instances it gives it a little buffer in time and space to deal with problems.
I'd do a serious bit of reading up on it before deciding anything.
Any more questions ask away.
FD
Thanks- still looking, reading and scouring the internet.
PS has anybody tried one of the Hydor external heaters which attach to the return pripe from the filter. They sound great cos the tank is less cluttered but are they any good??
Hi i have never used one but they sound perfect? Be interesting to see if any one has or used one?
Also as for the marines,i would do as much research as pos but it can become baffling,just remember you can tailor your tank to your own needs and experience{its just recognising your own ability and limitations}
I did research for 12 months before I comitted myself to setting up a reef and it certainly paid off when I took the plunge.
12 Months! Blimey i commend you for such rigourous patience but i could not do that, my motivation and enthusiasm comes from actually getting on with it and learning as i go. And boy do you learn quickly.
I think as long as you have an understanding of freshwater setups and more importantly the science behind water parimeters and research your corals and/or fish husbandry you are ok. Make sure you go for the setup which most suits you i.e sumped or not, halides or t5s, reef, fish only etc etc. Then go for it!!!
Good Luck
Matt
must admit a lot of the research involved saving up the correct ammount of pennies to sort it out
Hi Bad Kat,
I asked loads of dumb questions in this thread -
http://www.fishcrazy.co.uk/forums/t/7609.aspx
bit of a long thread but might help?
Also some great books out there as discussed in this thread:
http://www.fishcrazy.co.uk/forums/t/7825.aspx
1xTrigon 1903 Clown Loaches,14 Cardinal Tetras,8 Rummynose Tetras,6 Cory Trileneatus,6 Hatchetfish,4 otocinclus,1 SAE,1 Bristlenose,, 10 amano Shrimp
Anubius Barteri,Crinum thianum,Limnophilia sessiflora, Echinodorus Blehri, nymphaea lotus, Ammania Senegelis, Crinum calimustratum, java moss, 1xRekord 60Empty at Present
12 litre tank - 4 japonica shrimp, 4 Red crystal shrimp, 5 High Spot Rasbora
Anubias Barteri, Glossostigma Elatanoides, Ammania Senegalisis, Limnophilia Sessiflora, Bacopa amplexicaulis
Still researching and most things now make sense however the filtration issue is proving a bit more complicated.
My plan (at present) is to have a 50 gallon (ish) FOWLR tank and I don't have the space for a sump plus the addition of an inquisitive 2 year old daughter also rules one out.
I already have an external filter available and like most people I want to keep the amount of stuff in the tank to a minimum - although I will have to get a skimmer and tinker with power heads etc.
I don't want to go over the top with the live rock so that there is still plenty of swimming space so my question is what (if anything )do I put in the external and what would be the minimum mount of live rock?
Any views appreciated.
Hi there,
Stuff for your filter... phosphate remover (Rowaphos), activated carbon, possibly Polyfilter and maybe even some live rock rubble.
As for live rock, I reckon 20Kg should cover you for biological filtration. In terms of powerheads aim for about 10x tank volume per hour.
Wayne
Tank1: 125L Tropical. 1 male betta, 4 scissortail rasboras, 3 neon tetras, 4 glowlight danios, 1 candy stripe loach, 1 female bristlenose, 6 amano shrimp.Tank 2: 65L Nano reef. 6kg live rock, 96w T5 lighting, 3 x turbo snails, 5 x red-legged hermits, 1 x peppermint shrimp, 1 small pistol shrimp (hitch-hiker), two percula clowns, 1 neon goby, 1 sun coral, 1 clove coral & 1 tree coral
ditch the filter and let the LR do the work. Adding filters will reduce the efficiency of the LR and it can cause nitrate problems, I found this out from personal exoerience.All I ran after that was an empty canister with phosphate remover, protein skimmer and 3 good powerheads angled to get the best flow around the rock, plus a small powerhead running along the back of the rock at the bottom to remove dead spots.
forgot to add the normal ratio of rock to water volume is 1 kg per 2 gallons of water, dont go for cheap rock, the best you can buy is from a well established tank break down, mine came from a 10 year old reef and it was totally purple when I received it.
Will bear all of this in mind closer to set up time.
My next question is about a RO unit. The nearest fish supplier to me is 2 days camel ride away so buying water from them is a no-no. Having read up a fair bit it seems like they are easy to install and having scoured the net there is plenty of choice.
Any suggestions for a decentunit that won't need me to take out a second mortgage ??
I have always used ro-man, you can get a 50 gallon per day unit for about 70 quid. That was plenty for me with the reef as I was doing 10% change weekly plus daily top ups-worked out to about 15 gallons usage per week. Had to upgrade now I have gone back to discus, using 20 gallons daily.
If you are using RO get a TDS meter to check the efficiency as the pre filters will need replacing on the reccomended life spans to conserve the membrane.
I got a Deltec 50gpd RO Unit and it's great.
I actually got really lucky as I was dreading piercing holes in pipes, but you can get a tap connector, but I actually used my old Tap Water Purifier tap socket and it works a treat. Only downside is that the unit will have to be left out, but it ain't a big deal.