Fandangos Rio 125 New Build (Kind Of) !need Help!

Hi All,

Im new to the hobby and would greatly appeciate all the help you can give.

First off im going in at the deep end and going for a marine reef setup from the start.. my dad used to keep freshwater fish when i was younger so always loved them, so ive decided to take up this new exciting and (expensive) hobby..lol so hello everyone

so far i have bought a secondhand RIO 125 to cut my teeth on . its had a sump and overflow fitted , which is good as i was after that from the start..
ive checked all seals, which look ok. (mabye one on sump could do with some sealant)

equipment i got with the tank and sump are:

Sump pump
heater
1 powerhead
(not a good one .. looks like it had a spray bar before although i didnt get that, going to get one though for behind the live rock)
some fish food (seaweed)
KH test kit
no lights as these were sold
tub of activated carbon

so after lugging that home ive set it up in a nice corner of the room with no direct sunlight..
and gave it a clean with a old credit card to get some of the gunk out and algea..
all looks clean now.

want to get the water and live rock in before end of november. but need a list of things ill post in a bit before i think..

Salt 22kg red sea salt £55
1x power head for water £10
2x power head for tank £ 75
spray bar £10
heater for mix bucket £10
Live Rock £100
test kits £50
refractometer £30
coral sand £100
live sand sugar fine aragonite £10
CUC £15
egg crate £5
cheato £10
led lamp £40
aquarium gloves £9
towels and sheeting £20
water carriers £24


just bought the jerry cans for the water runs every 3 weeks. luckly my lfs is only 1 mile away and they have salt and RO water on tap.. dont know the cost yet..
also bought the gloves and egg crate

Hello and welcome to the forum

You may find more people will help you better if you post this topic in the marine section. You could ask a moderator to move this thread.

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

I've moved your thread to the Marine journals section

Looks like you are on the right track so far! Others will have more input than me. I am interested in seeing some pictures! See what you start with to what you end up with.

-Tyler

yeah no worries ill get some pictures on tonight

going to pick up some lights tonight as i didnt get any with mine, found a rio 125 original ballast with to working t5's (white and blue) whihc should get me started.

also ordered some aragonite sand so just need to wait for it all to arrive..

pictures incoming.

also anyone know where i can get an inexpensive LED lamp for my sump so i can grow cheato.. cant find a small one anywhere..

cheers

Welcome to the forum! Sorry, I've been away performing (I'm a classical singer), but I've got a lazy Saturday today, and I thought I'd stop by and do some work here.

What kind of water do you plan on using? You really need to be mixing your Sea salt with RO/DI water.

luckly i live next to a LFS and they mix saltwater on tap and use the same for there tanks.. i bought 4 25ltr jerry cans and go and fill 3 with SW and 1 with RODI.. comes out at £20 which isnt bad. so i reckon on an average 3 weeks that should be the water bill..

Got the tank filled yesterday with saltwater and went and got 30kg of live rock from a tank breaker.
got a powerhead and heater thrown in with the £150 price..

ill get all the pictures up soon..

Filled the tank and set the heater going.. once it was heated i went and picked up the Live rock, transported in seawater from LFS in big contrainers.. (some of the live rock had toadstools on it)
once back they went straghtinto the tank and the sump..

the guy who i got it all off had a really bad hair algea problem.. so ive scrubbed it all off and left lights off for now..

i tested ammonia last night but the reading was just 0 as far as i could tell.. im using the salifert kit (so the water was just cloudy white which im taking as <0.25 ppm)

there must have been some die off but im not picking up anything.. any ideas as to why my cycle hasnt started.. should i go get a prawn and put it in just to make sure its ok:??

ok heres the first of the water test result

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
nitrate = 10ish

SG = 1022
ph = 8.4
kh alk = 11


im wondering if ive had a mini cycle.. i have loads of live rock in here..(possibly 2 much)

ok folks first of the tank pics.. now i will admit that some of the pictures coming up arnt mine.. the orignal owner of the tank (liam1285) who sumped the tank..
these two are mine
so on with the pics..!!

Looking good. What are you looking at stocking wise?

not 100% sure really

2 tangerine clowns
lots of cuc..

err not sure what else.. was thinking a manderin later but not for about a year..

lots of corals though...

heres the durso.. although it still sounds like a toilet sometimes.. but i have sorted the ball valve so i just need to keep readjusting it .. ill get it eventually.

so as mentioned earlier..

does it look like my cycle has finished.. ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and nitrate 10..

i never saw any ammonia or nitrite and its been on since tuesday.. possible mini cycle?? what should i do.. try some cuc??