New Marine Tank

Im setting up a marine tank

Dimensions are:

90 x 48 x 48 cm
207 Litres/46 Gallons

Having a 1000 litres p/h external filter,protein skimmer with added UV and 200w heater

Obviously live rock and coral substrate and a powerhead for water movement.

No firm decision on fish or corals yet though,but am thinking of having SOME but NOT ALL of the following

Blue Reef Chromis
Coral Beauty
Yellow Watchman Goby
Neon Gold Goby
Firefish
Clarkei Clowns
Royal Gramma
Mandarinfish
and a Tang of sorts,

Have been visiting this forum and getting lots of advice from various sources so anything else you can tell me would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in Advance,
Mikk

I am sure everone would be more than willing to help you out


BUT





You may need to be more specific with you questions Mik

Just a couple of questions to get us started

You will need more filtration than the 1000lph
0.5kg per gallon of LR is the recommended amount
What Skimmer you thinking of
What you thinking of using the external for

Del

As i understand the living rock is the filter as such?
and that the external is to aid it,

Its an Aqua One Setup so its the skimmer that they suggest is what im getting i think.

Ive actually seen this setup in the LFS and its been going for a while now and there seems to be no problems as have watched it for a while,the owner has kept marines for many years so he seems to know what hes on about,

Im having 4 marine white and marine blue T5 lights,which i think should be sufficient.

Thanks,

Mikk

pm'd

Cheers Chac,interesting reading!

Am gonna press ahead with it,ive got the 1000 L p/h external filter in place and the heater is installed and tanks half full of R.O water,am getting my sand and rock on thursday hopefully with my skimmer and extra powerhead to increase water movement so by the end of the week all i should need is my additional lighting unit.

Been told also that my living rock could filter my tank without the need for an external filter-any truth in this?

Hi Mikk

Yeah that is true LIVE ROCK will take care of the BIOLOGICAL filtration for your tank, will need plenty of water movement thought

have a look at them link I pm ya - it goes in to this in further detail

Do you think i should avoid using the external filter then?

Surely if aerobic and anaerobic bacteria are both in the tank then the anaerobic dont need a water current?

Ive not connected my external up yet,just got a spare powerhead and a heater in at the mo,

Should get my skimmer and my 2nd lighting unit today as well and my last batch of R/O water which my LFS is providing....FREE!

Im not getting them yet but could you tell me if you have any experience with any of the fish i would like and if they are all compatable with each other?

Also like the look of blue starfish.....

Hi ya Mikk

You dont need to stay away from Externals, (althought a lot of reefers do) just be carefull what you put in them.

You will need somewhere to hose you Phosphate Removers, Carbon etc. so I would suggest to use an external for this (just remember to clean the bags out fortnightly in RO)

The reason you need a decent flow is to sustain the bacteria that colonise your live rock - without it you will end up with very expensive dead rock

I would also suggest investing in a RO Unit as you will need quiet a few gallons a week/fortnight to top up & do water changes in your tank & if your LFS is like mine and ends up either using all his RO himself etc. you may find your self with a problem

The only 2 fish that IMO may cause you a problem is the Manderin Fish (need quite a mature tank with a healthy amount of coceopods)
& the Tang - which one would you like - most peeps would say to steer clear as they are an open water fish but a small Yellow Tang may be OK (I know I am gonna get flamed for saying that)

The Blue Linkia starfish can be a PITA as again IMO they

A - Need to be acclimitised for at LEAST 10 hours or they will simply fall to pieces in a matter of days as they are incredibly sensitive to changes in waterparameters and osmotic shock (sg, ph, alk)
B - Need a mature system -w ith loads of LR
C - They also grow rather large (in excess of 8")
D - Minimum Tank Size - 100g (UK)

I would defo advice against buying this Star as they are one of the more difficult species to keep alive never mind thrive in a home aquarium

Hopefully this help you out and gives you more questions to ask

Thanks and Yes,more questions....

Ive got my 2nd Lighting unit made up and my skimmer,should get my salt today as well.

The skimmer is a ViaAqua multi skimmer deluxe with U/V sterilizer kit,the filter on it contains a polishing filter pad and activated carbon

http/www.commodityaxis.com/ProductData.aspx?id=58

Thats the one ive got ( Deluxe Version )

Shrimps,any idea wot the best sort is?

apart from R/O unit anything else you think I need?

Got my tank setup and running,also put 2 pieces of Live rock,

As soon as i put it in my skimmer went crazy and im a bit worried!

Should it be doing this or not?

Please help!!!

Hi..how much LR did you put n your 46 gallon? IMO, during initial setup, there is going to be some dieoff/organic junk that will probably come flying out of the skimmer. If you are able to adjust it, perhaps setting it to a 'dry skimmate' may help a bit. SH

Only 2 small pieces around £20 worth,it seems to have calmed down a bit now,just hope its ok when im sleeping 2nite but i will try and angle it so any run off goes back into the tank till tomorrow.

I can see small anemones and ive seen a wriggly small white worm!

do the anemonies look like this - if they do then they are Aiptasia - not good tbh

You can get rid of them using Joe's Juice or Viniger (beware of altering pH using this) or I have heard of peeps using Tabasco Sauce to kill them

Also dont worry about the skimmer - they need a few days to 'bed' in

No they not like that,they are about0.3 cm across and sort of protruding from a thin funnell,almost like a feather duster,and theres minute crawling white insects that seem to scurry over the rock as well.

Am gonna add some tufa rock as base rock today also,as this will mature into live rock in around 6 months i believe,this has been soaked in R.O water for a few days also.

I believe i need around 20 KG of live rock am i correct-tank is 207 litres.

Hi there

The standard rule fo thumb is 0.5kg per gallon so you are close

How much of the 20kg will be Live Rock

The little bugs are more than likely COCOPDS and your fish will love these
the other animals may be either Zoo's or Dusters can you get a pic