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chris348

chris348

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Greetings to all !!!!! :hyper:

Having just bought our first tank this afternoon, along with the extra pumps and change of lighting. My wife and I are very very keen on learning how to setup the tank and the general upkeep etc. Look forward to asking you guys many many silly questions, so please in advance, accept my apologies :rolleyes:

Best wishes to all.

Chris and Shell.

p.s. would it help if i were to publish the tank size and equipment purchased? Perhaps some of you have better options or perhaps pointers ?
 
Hi and :hi: to the marine side.

It would help if you did tell us the equipment you are using. And what kind of live stock you want in your tank.

Hope you really get into this hobby. It's truly addicting. ;)
 
I knew it would help.,

Basically the tank is a Aqua One AR - 620T. With an additional filter fluval 205 and blue/white coral lighting tubes. Looking to put some Clown Fish and anemone. Also looking at other fish we can use as the tank is quite large and we are trying to creat the authentic coral reef effect. Looking at perhaps a yellow cucumber, condylactis bubble ultra long anemone, fan worms and some shrimp to roud it all off.. Your thoughts ?

And how is it best to buy ? Online or perhaps going to a dealer directly ?

Best regards

Chris
 
:hi: to the saltwater side of the hobby. Since you're considering a reef tank, make sure you check your wallet and kidneys at the door :lol:

You've started off with a demanding livestock choice there in anemones. I'd reccomend reading the pinned article in the Saltwater Invertebrates section to get you started. Also, condys are probably not the best first-nem choice. Much better would be a bubble tip anemone (E. quadricolor). Aside from pest nems, E. quadricolor are probably the hardiest decorative nem out there.

Remember, your most significant challenges when keeping reefs and anemones are: Sufficient flowrate, sufficient lighting, and proper STABLE chemistry. Compatibility and aggression will also come into play here, but those are a little more advanced topics :)

My reccomendation, start reading through the stickies and absorbing as much information as you can. When you get confused on a topic, come and ask questions for members' help/experience on the matter. For ordering, I find that hardware is almost ALWAYS cheaper online while livestock is another matter. If you have a good LFS you can trust, build a rapport and deal with them for stock, but if no such store exists in your locale, online orders are perfectly feasible.

Remember, disaster happens quickly but success takes time in reefing. So research, read, and learn first, add livestock later :good:
 
Ski Fletch,

Thank you for that very interesting post, truly thank you.

I am boudn sure to read through all the posts pertaining to my needs, perhaps I could poach your thoughts later on? I know its quite a drastic step to make when moving towards the marine option, but after seeing "clown fish" and anenome's moving in flowing water, my wife just thought it was the one to have. Shame she doesnt have the same in cars, im still in love with Ferraris and the 348 as is.

All i have done to date is fill the tank with tap water, covering the base of the tank in coral sand and now have the heaters on. 24 degress is the order of the day !! Or so i have been told. Watch this space.

My next quandry is whether or not to start putting the salt in and checking the ph levels prior to placing rocks and such like?

Your thoughts would be very very much prior to me flooding the living room and blowing up the plasma and kids !!!!!

Kindest of regards chris
 
Any idea of what other fish I could put into the aquarium, something along the lines of 2 x pairs of clown, different species. Perhaps seahorse although I have read that the current places them at a disadvantage to feed? Yellow tang, was another, although not my idea. Its basically the girl thing, its yellow its pretty it needs to be in ??

I am at a loss guys and look forward to some nurturing advice as we go from start to finish.

Chris
 
chris348 said:
All i have done to date is fill the tank with tap water, covering the base of the tank in coral sand and now have the heaters on. 24 degress is the order of the day !! Or so i have been told. Watch this space.

My next quandry is whether or not to start putting the salt in and checking the ph levels prior to placing rocks and such like?
Click to expand...

Hey :) I'm just getting into the marine hobby myself!

But from what I understand tap water shoudln't be used in the marine aquaria as it has too many chemicals/elements in it, the best to use would be RO (reverse osmosis) or DI (De-ionised) water as it takes out all impurities in the water like copper, phosphates, nitrates etc. This is good! :D Can't quite remember why though :( I believe that it kills most marine life? (sorry if that's wrong! Correct me if neccassary)

And if you're going to put live rock into the tank, putting the salt in first is a good idea lest you want all of the cool little critters you get on it to die! :D In a slightly more serious way of putting it - Adding salt to the water before putting in any live rock in has to be done, otherwise the liverock will uncure and all the life on it will be killed by the freshwater.

Hope that helped! :)
 
Splatter is right for sure. Especially when keeping nems, tapwater is a bigtime risk. Some locales have tapwater that is suitable for marine aquaria but many locales have dangerous things in the tap. Copper is deadly to invertebrates like nems, silicates are an algae fuel waiting to happen, not to mention that lots of tapwater is full of nitrates/phosphates (again, more algae fuel). Phosphates are another problem in that they will inhibit the growth of stony corals. There are others too, but if you're going reef, do yourself a favor and get a decent RO unit. Its not worth risking multiple hundreds worth of livestock for the cost of one RO unit. When you do purchase one, make sure the one you get has a flush valve/kit installed in it, this greatly prolongs membrane life. Also order a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter with it so you can diagnose it yourself.

How big is this tank Chris? Sorry I'm not very familiar with it.

Before you proceed too far with water in the tank, I'd reccomend taking a step back and figuring out your hardware now that you know you want a reef and anemones. Will you use a sump? Skimmer? Refugium? Phosphate reactor? Lighting? Flowrate? All questions that should be answered before plowing in with the water :).

Going to be quite the journey for you, and feel free to pick the brains of any member here :)
 
Splatter :flowers:

Thank you for that info, you have probably saved me a whole world of pain and heartache.

Bought the tank from a local dealership, who gave me the following instructions prior to placing anything into the tank. Basically fill the tank with water and set the filters running for a while. Once the temp has settled around 24, start putting your salt into the water, testing for the balance as you go.

So far I have literally done nothing apart from assembling the filter units - bought an extra one as the filter on the tank was sufficient for tropical but not sufficient for salt. More info to follow on details. So now I am sitting in front of a warm tank full of tap water and the filters going well. Going to be about a week before I would have started putting rocks and corals in (after the salt obviously).

Not sure what to do now, so I shall speak with a very local company who specialise in RO filters for both house and Aquatic users.

Thanks again though Splatter, you may have saved me going just that bit too far.

Chris
 
SkiFletch said:
Splatter is right for sure. Especially when keeping nems, tapwater is a bigtime risk. Some locales have tapwater that is suitable for marine aquaria but many locales have dangerous things in the tap. Copper is deadly to invertebrates like nems, silicates are an algae fuel waiting to happen, not to mention that lots of tapwater is full of nitrates/phosphates (again, more algae fuel). Phosphates are another problem in that they will inhibit the growth of stony corals. There are others too, but if you're going reef, do yourself a favor and get a decent RO unit. Its not worth risking multiple hundreds worth of livestock for the cost of one RO unit. When you do purchase one, make sure the one you get has a flush valve/kit installed in it, this greatly prolongs membrane life. Also order a TDS (total dissolved solids) meter with it so you can diagnose it yourself.

How big is this tank Chris? Sorry I'm not very familiar with it.

Tank is AquaStyle 620T from the Aqua One company. Dims are 62 x 72 x 39cm (5 mm glass)
Volume is 130L
The fitted filter flow rate is 550l/hr - so have subsequently purchased a Haga fluval 205 that is good for tank capacity of 200 litres. Output from the pump is 680 litres.

The aquarium - got to stop calling it a tank !!!! is quite deep so the standard lighting I know is not going to be good enough - 2 x 18 watt. So I have already changed the lights to those suitable for Marine Life (white and blue) and it looks quite good. Although I will need to fit another light myself, so some home diy coming up :) :hyper:

I have taken the libery and tried to post a pic of it as it stands now. Hopefully get an idea of how I am doing, each step of the way. Would that be of any use to anyone else do you think?

Kindest regards and thanks for the extremely interesting comments/suggestions.

Chris

Oh before I close, I was asking about a skimmer, and have decided to wait till I am in a position to actually start putting corals etc into the tank. I dont really have any worries about the type etc, as I shall use the local dealer again or possibly Internet sources.
Click to expand...
 

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As stated before, Id go with the RO water definately. Add the salt whenever you want. Smaller amount than you think you need, let it sit, test it. Add small amounts until it comes up to the correct level. Let that sit a few hours again and retest. Once its constant at the right level you can add your rock.

What filter/media did your tank come with?
 
Hi timpetty,

filtrationon the stystem as standard is as follows:

ceramic noodles and carbon cartridges. Is this enough to help ?

I have actually just found a local dealership who specialise in RO filters, but I am not really looking to have directly fed water into the tank, thus leaving me with the option of collecting the water in tubs, so to speak.

Just really getting ready for the next step now, in as rocks for the bottom of the tank and then adding the water / salt solution and letting it settle. This is the right step to take for now surely?

Thanks in advance.

Chris
 
Ok so we're working with a large nano here, this is going to be a challenge :) Doesn't look like you have much room for a sump in or around the tank's location? One thing you'll NEED is more flowrate. Right now your powerfilters are only turning over about 10 times the tank volume in an hour. A mixed reef tank with anemones should have at LEAST 20 times per hour, and I personally prefer more like 30. I'd reccomend looking into purchasing a Tunze Nanostream, or a smaller model Hydor Koralia to add the extra 1000-2000LPH worth of flow you'll need. I'd also consider running an HOB refugium either DIY'ed, or purchased retail to help out with nutrient export. And to hide all this equipment, consider painting the back of your tank black with some kind of enamel paint. Better we caught this now before salt is in :)
 
chris348 said:
Just really getting ready for the next step now, in as rocks for the bottom of the tank and then adding the water / salt solution and letting it settle. This is the right step to take for now surely
Click to expand...

If this rock is "live" (and I assume it is) You will want to have the salt water mixed in your tank first. This will keep it "live." If you submerse it in regular water it will kill off all the living organisms.
 
SkiFletch said:
Ok so we're working with a large nano here, this is going to be a challenge :) Doesn't look like you have much room for a sump in or around the tank's location? One thing you'll NEED is more flowrate. Right now your powerfilters are only turning over about 10 times the tank volume in an hour. A mixed reef tank with anemones should have at LEAST 20 times per hour, and I personally prefer more like 30. I'd reccomend looking into purchasing a Tunze Nanostream, or a smaller model Hydor Koralia to add the extra 1000-2000LPH worth of flow you'll need. I'd also consider running an HOB refugium either DIY'ed, or purchased retail to help out with nutrient export. And to hide all this equipment, consider painting the back of your tank black with some kind of enamel paint. Better we caught this now before salt is in :)
Click to expand...


Me thinks I have created a monster !!! :drool:
 
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