About To Take The Plunge

[andrew1986]

just emptied my freshwater the other day and cleaned it all out ready for my new marine setup
gonna get my ro water in a couple of days and my salt and put that in but what i want to know is
if i put 10kg base rock in then some live rock inbetween the base rock would 7kg suffice in a 120 l tank it is just so bloody expensive
and also alot of people have said that they get little critters in there live rock i have been to a few lfs
and there live rock just looks like live rock no critters that i can see and i was looking for quite some time


also i have a sump which is soon to be complete when my god damn pump arrives i will be putting maybe 2kg of live rock in this aswell for a bit of filtration along with some sand which will eventually seed of it, i will have some filter pads in thing in the sump and bio ball, small protein skimmer and the like would all this suffice for the filtration what do you recommend if not


this is my shopping list let me know of anything i might need

2 power head making 20times turn over in tank
ro water
aquarium salt
i have two 22w t8 bulb and a blue actinic t8 and a spare slot for another if needed dont know wattage also a small 15w for the sump


these are the fish i would like to keep
some sort of clown missus want one because of that god damn film (we all know which one)
some blue damsel
and any recommended

also i like those feather dusters (i think there also know as sea cucumber might be wrong please correct)

and i need a little info on corals i dont want anything to fancy just something nicer to look at than some wood water and some fish also known as freshwater

 

[ben1987]

just emptied my freshwater the other day and cleaned it all out ready for my new marine setup
gonna get my ro water in a couple of days and my salt and put that in but what i want to know is
if i put 10kg base rock in then some live rock inbetween the base rock would 7kg suffice in a 120 l tank it is just so bloody expensive
and also alot of people have said that they get little critters in there live rock i have been to a few lfs
and there live rock just looks like live rock no critters that i can see and i was looking for quite some time

If the rock is cured then there will be less little critter on the rock compared to un-cured. I would put money on there being loads of life on the rock at night though. Remember that not all the critters on the rock are good. So just because you cant see stuff walking round on it doesnt mean it isnt good rock. I have got 17-18KG of live rock in my 120L tank. If your looking to use a small amount of live rock then i would look at reef bones as it is more pourus than the base rock lfs' sell.


also i have a sump which is soon to be complete when my god damn pump arrives i will be putting maybe 2kg of live rock in this aswell for a bit of filtration along with some sand which will eventually seed of it, i will have some filter pads in thing in the sump and bio ball, small protein skimmer and the like would all this suffice for the filtration what do you recommend if not

I dont have any bio-balls and filter pads in my sump as there are may differeing opinions on the both, i also cant be bothered to clean the pads as the get dirty a lot quicker than in FW. I would look at using some cheato algae and a light. Then skimmer. Read up on deep sand beds if you want one and use live rock rubble in the sump.

this is my shopping list let me know of anything i might need

2 power head making 20times turn over in tank
ro water
aquarium salt
i have two 22w t8 bulb and a blue actinic t8 and a spare slot for another if needed dont know wattage also a small 15w for the sump

tests kits
refractometor

these are the fish i would like to keep
some sort of clown missus want one because of that god damn film (we all know which one)
some blue damsel
and any recommended

damsels can be highly aggressive and are usually not reccomended. More hastle than they are worth.
You could probably get 4-5 small fish in there if you add slowly and make sure the water is ok. Look at clowns, fire fish, small wrasse, blennies, chromis, dwarf angels.
look on here for ideas http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquariu...pplies.cfm?c=15

also i like those feather dusters (i think there also know as sea cucumber might be wrong please correct)

and i need a little info on corals i dont want anything to fancy just something nicer to look at than some wood water and some fish also known as freshwater
Look at softies such as xenia, leathers, zoo's, toadstools. Your lighting may not be strong enough to sustain corals though. If your going to ry i would reccomend startign with a small frag of xenia which is really cheap and gros like weeds.

 

[bae1994]

how about a valintine puffer

 

[andrew1986]

oh yeah i do have a test kit but it is for freshwater i will need the extra ones for saltwater which one will i need
how much should i be paying for ro water the only place around here that sell it is £2 for a gallon even the biggest lfs doesnt sell it but they say when they move
they will be doing but dunno how much judging by the rest of their prices it will be expensive


ben i have been following your tank post it seems to be coming along most of the aquarium shops round here all have little signs saying once the fish leaves the shop it cannot be brought back they wont even let you bring them back for a trade you got given a coral because a fish died i hate living up here there is just no trust sorry bout the rant just seems you are so lucky

i was reading on the link that you gave me and it says that the blue damsel with the yellow tail which is the one that i like wasnt that aggresive
i have been told that blennies can be really hard to look after if i am thinking of the right fish is a mandarin fish one?

where can i get reef bones from is this just dead live rock and then this will seed from my live when it have been established for so long if i am right how long would it take for the live rock to seed the bones

i was thinking for my sump where the inlet come in i was gonna have my filter pads and bio balls and then after my first baffle i will then add my sand and then some live rock rubble dependant on how much this will cost and then a protein skimmer then there is a bubble trap and then it goes in to my return pump back into my tank



is tere any test kits iut there that are accurate not matching it to five colours

 

[ben1987]

oh yeah i do have a test kit but it is for freshwater i will need the extra ones for saltwater which one will i need
how much should i be paying for ro water the only place around here that sell it is £2 for a gallon even the biggest lfs doesnt sell it but they say when they move
they will be doing but dunno how much judging by the rest of their prices it will be expensive

£2 per gallon is a lot. i get 25 liters for that

ben i have been following your tank post it seems to be coming along most of the aquarium shops round here all have little signs saying once the fish leaves the shop it cannot be brought back they wont even let you bring them back for a trade you got given a coral because a fish died i hate living up here there is just no trust sorry bout the rant just seems you are so lucky

the thing is you need to get a good relationship with the shop. i got to mine once or twice a week, buy stuff and have a chat. they are a very good little shop though and great blokes

i was reading on the link that you gave me and it says that the blue damsel with the yellow tail which is the one that i like wasnt that aggresive
i have been told that blennies can be really hard to look after if i am thinking of the right fish is a mandarin fish one?

quite a lot of sites say that they arent aggressive but they grow up to be nasty little gits 80% of the time, just not worth risking imo as they would be damn near impossible to catch without takibng everything out the tank


sccoter blennies are dragonets, same as mandarins and they are hard to keep. My bi-colour blenny is not tohugh, he eats anything and has a really fun charictor. i would reccomend one

where can i get reef bones from is this just dead live rock and then this will seed from my live when it have been established for so long if i am right how long would it take for the live rock to seed the bones

thats right yeah, google it, the best site is a german one. loads of people use their stuff. il try find a linky

i was thinking for my sump where the inlet come in i was gonna have my filter pads and bio balls and then after my first baffle i will then add my sand and then some live rock rubble dependant on how much this will cost and then a protein skimmer then there is a bubble trap and then it goes in to my return pump back into my tank

try it, you might be ok with the maintainance you have to do. They will just clog up a lot fater than on FW. You can scrub the filter media clean though as the bacteria will live in the rock not the filter like in FW

is tere any test kits iut there that are accurate not matching it to five colours
Sailfert seem to be the favoured bran in marine kits

 

[andrew1986]

cheers for the input will let you know how im getting along defo wont get damsels then they just looked so pretty lol

 

[ben1987]

 

[andrew1986]

hi just another quick question as i have said prev i am going for a small amount of lr but want to add more if i put this in a barrel with water and salt then test it to make sure it is cycled ican then just add it straight to my tank and this will not make any fluctuations i my parameters ie ammonia nitrite nitrate

 

[SkiFletch]

You can, but you'll also need to provide water movement either via a small powerhead or sponge filter and a heater to keep it relatively warm. This time of year room temp is often far to low