A Few Steps Foward.

[sorgan]

So its come to the week i am due to rip out an interior wall in my home, once said wall is gone the new tank can be installed.
the tank is ordered and is one of these.

thats double the light i have in mine currently and with my 2 aquarays added should be plenty of light for my needs
now my local LFS has one of these going and it looks ace is almost silent and apparantly the filteration unit is top notch aswell (the owner has 8 fish in there aswell as many corals and over the months a total lack of problems have happened ((and it isnt W/C'd or maintained often due the the complete mental amount of work the chap has to do))
should be picking up this week but have a few questions.
having never run a filter on my marine tanks i have no mature media to pack into them but as i use plenty of LR the filter would just be a back up wouldnt it? will it seed in time or should i try and cycle it first?

next question is lighting, how well are my corals going to take having twice the light? am i going to have to shade them for a while or should i just jump straight in?

and lastly i have a few crabs (unwanted) that i intend to rid myslef of in the move, will pouring RO into the rock get em out? and will it damage my LR bacteria colony at all?

cheers guys and as soon as ive got the stuff i will start taking snaps.

 

[Harry1996]

i would put the corals a the bottom of the tank a move them up.
are the crabs living in holes in the rock?

 

[sorgan]

Aye Harry they live in little caves in the LR, one in particular (I've named him Ajax as he seems to of come out on top all the way through) is so big I could dress it and serve it with a few nice green leaves.

 

[Harry1996]

could you put the rocks in the a bucket with warm water and get some bacon/prawn in the bucket and wait for the hungry crab to come out, then take the rock out before the crab gets back?

 

[seffieuk]

What do you see as the advantages of this new tank?

Lighting, I don't think it will cause too many problems, its not as if you are jumping into halides, however, think I would do as Harry suggests and put the corals on the bottom for a few days and then move them slowly into place higher up in the tank.

Seffie x

 

[sorgan]

advantages is a few fold -
firstly the fish will have more 'swim' space as a large portion of the current tank (over 40lt) is the filter chambers that are not used
seconly the lighting is in the hood and far better then my current lighting
third is the skimmer is better and the addition of the filter (although of mixed opinion) will be of some benifit to the tank.
and finally its more pleasing to the eye to have a fully incorparated system (its longer aswell but not as deep) rather then my ragtag bodged together set up.

we where going to buy a new tank and spend £400 anyway so it came down to buying a tropival tank the same size and the marines staying as they are or putting the marines in a better system, having spares in case of emergencies and cleaning/renovating current tank for freshies.
ive opted for the posh tank

 

[sorgan]

BAH spent the day getting ready for new tank, went to the LFS to pay (he didn't have the tank in shop but as I'm a 'good' customer (lol) he was going to phone the tank wholesaler place so I could go and pick it up) to find he was shut! Shut in Tuesday, #128### when did he start doing that, could of sworn It was Wednesday he shut but alas I was mistaken, the sign did infact say Tuesday.
I could see people in there cleaning tanks and doing general maintenance looking thinks but I decided to leave them be. The tank will just have to wait.

 

[seffieuk]

Oh no, what a pain in the butt!!

Seffie x

 

[jameshughes1989]

Ah what a shame, when are you getting it then? tomorrow?

I like aquaone tanks, ive had a couple and have always found them to be good quality. Remember pics when you get it

James

 

[sorgan]

Unfortantly my partner is at work untill Saturday so no hope of picking it up for a while as I don't drive. The LFS is open late on Thursday as they have Julian Sprung doing an informal talk so I will pop along then.
May be as late as next Monday but hohum, because after all the only things that happen quickly on the salty side are problems

 

[jameshughes1989]

Fair enought, a shame though.

True, I suppose it gives you a little more time for planning. Have fun!

 

[seffieuk]

as they have Julian Sprung doing an informal talk

That might be interesting, be sure to let us know what he has to say

Seffie x

 

[sorgan]

sadly on thursday i had to skip julian as he was running late and i had to get away, LFS seem very positive about his visit though ans it seems like they had a blinding day

however to counter the bad news i have some good news, the very helpful assistant at LFS was kind enough to go pick my tank up from the wholesaler's for me on her day off talk about customer service eh (slung her a 20 as a thankyou)

so after 2 hours of swearing, grunting and being very hot and very bothered the stand is built, the tanks on top and i have pumbed the marisys in.
piccy time.

this is the tank, with hood up and lights on, ive yet to fit my LED's but will as soon as i can figure out how lol.

here is the posh marisys unit with skimmer and filter, the filter uses a layer of floss, an activated carbon pad, a layer of black spiky things, a carbon pillow then a bag of ceramic tubes all in there own very nifty basket. i intend to run the system as designed rather then replace with LR rubble for now, will change sections accordingly. (there is plenty of room to add some kind of phosphate removal.

last piccy is of the lighting ballast and timer unit.

all in all a very smart looking tank, i like the auto syphon pump idea (after a power out it automaticly restarts the syphon) and am loving all the extra light (2x36w and 2x24w compact T5's) and once my aquarays are in i should have plenty O light

getting some premix SW tommorow to fill and will top off with some water from the current tank, once its up to temp the move will begin (im guessing the filter will just run ok until it seeds, ive only ever used LR so mine is going to be mature enough for the current load (obviously) so i am not to worried about getting everything across, it will just be like an uber water change lol)

wish me luck guys.

 

[seffieuk]

Looks nice, I'm looking at in miniture on my phone which is very annoying!

Seffie x

 

[sorgan]

ok everything is in, tanks still a bit cloudy (new sand ahem) i am expecting a few casulties due to stress but i always say that lol.

had a couple of heartstoppers, i was taking the LR out piece by piece, putting it into a bucket and then putting it into the new tank. after a while a fair amount of water had built up in the bucket. so i look down to see our false gramma floating around dead in said bucket, obviously i was a bit cheesed off so i went to have a brew. came back the the blighter was swimming around right as rain, flipping playing dead wasnt it!!!
secong one was i cuaght our coral bueaty in a net (i know i know) and she decided to ram her spurs out, one CB became very stuck. 5 mins a pair of small scissors later the CB is swimming around my hand hoping to be fed as my net lay in tatters, flipping fish.

fingers crossed all is well tommorow.