Advice On Starting A Marine Tank?

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Hi, I've just got hold of a 175 litre tank, originally it was just an upgrade for my tropical tank, but I've thought about starting a marine tank for a while so am just interesting in any info I can get about how to go about it... such as what things I would need, and a rough idea on cost. I'm mostly interested in things like clown fish, tangs etc.... thanks to the kids and nemo! lol Any help would be appreciated!

 

[ben1987]

wont get away with tangs im afraid. They need a massive amount of swimming room

basically the most common way of doing a marine tank is with live rock. 1 kilo per 2 gallons roughly. Then with powerheads to circle he water around the rock. That makes up most of the filteration.

Read all the stickies on the top and peoples tank threads. Then ask as many questions as you like

Rough idea of cost? £300 to get all the stuff you need on top of that tank you have already. Thats for basic 2nd hand stuff from ebay and fish sites etc. Not including livestock.Then the skuy is the limit. There are people who spend thousands.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Ah right, so 175 litres is pretty small in terms of marine tanks then? Maybe I'll wait till I get a bigger one! I'll deffo read up on it all tho for the future, thanks.

 

[ben1987]

no there are plenty of nice fish you can get for 175l, thats a decent sized tank. Just tangs need a lot of room.

have a look here

http/www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquariu...pplies.cfm?c=15

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

I shouldn't have clicked that link, I want a marine tank even more now and already decided to keep my biggest one tropical! lol

I do have another couple of questions tho, firstly... would a 60L tank be suitable for something like 1 or 2 clowns or something like that, with some rock/coral? and secondly... I've been looking through the protein skimmers on ebay, and it seems they're all in the region of 10-20 quid, are any of them actually any good? Like this one... http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aquarium-Fish-Tank-E...A1%7C240%3A1318

 

[ben1987]

IMO your going to want something more along the lines of 100l to keep a happy pair of clowns. You could have a couple of gobies or a blenny in 60l
The skimemrs from hong kong and whatever for a tener are probably crap, they are usually air driven rather than pump. Look at tunze nano skimmers or TMC v2 120 nano. The tmc one is probably going to be more available.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Hmm, I do have a 100L tank too, I was considering cichlids for it, but clowns maybe a better idea!

I did notice they were mostly air priven ones, which didn't take my fancy too much.. tried an air driven filter once which was just useless! Theres an electric one I found, Specification:

Voltage: 220-240V
Frequency: 50/60Hz
Power: 8W
Flow Rate: 150 L/hr
Size: Approx W117 x L85 x H290mm

Dont know how suitable that would be for either of my tanks... 180L, 105L and 60L.. Maybe 2 of them in the bigger tank?

Also powerheads,
VOLT 220~240V
POWER 10W
FREQ 50/60Hz
QMAX 700 L / Hr 185GPH
HMAX 0.90m 2.95ft
PUMP OUTLET DIAMETER ￠16mm ￠5/8"

Same as the skimmer, I know nothing about them so no idea on suitablility for my tanks.

If they're not suitable I dont mind spending out extra money, but obviously I'd like to save money IF possible! I have opted for the more expensive filters/heaters for my freshwater tanks, just coz more expensive is usually better! I'll have a look for the ones you've mentioned aswell.

 

[ben1987]

150L/H through a skimmer is naff all tbh. I use a tmc skimmer, V2 400 and that takes 2000+ L/H. Deffinantly look for a TMC v2 120. I got one for under a tenner on ebay.

As for powerheads, if you eventually want corals. Which trust me you will. You want to be aiming for 20x turnover in flow. So 100l x 20 = 2,000L/h so your going to want two powerheads around 1,000L/H each. 10W for 700L/H is also crap. Hydor Koralias use 4.5w of power for 1500L/H. They may be more expensive to buy but in the long term cheaper to run and more reliable than some lower quality pump thats going to need replacing soon.

 

[ben1987]

150L/H through a skimmer is naff all tbh. I use a tmc skimmer, V2 400 and that takes 2000+ L/H. Deffinantly look for a TMC v2 120. I got one for under a tenner on ebay.

As for powerheads, if you eventually want corals. Which trust me you will. You want to be aiming for 20x turnover in flow. So 100l x 20 = 2,000L/h so your going to want two powerheads around 1,000L/H each. 10W for 700L/H is also crap. Hydor Koralias use 4.5w of power for 1500L/H. They may be more expensive to buy but in the long term cheaper to run and more reliable than some lower quality pump thats going to need replacing soon.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Great, thats exactly what I wanted to know! So we'll scrap Hong kong! lol. And yeah, I'll deffo want corals at some point! I'll have to keep an eye out on ebay... it's not something I want to rush so have plenty of time to sit and wait for bargains, I just want to know for sure what I'm looking out for before I go and spend a fortune on rubbish stuff, like I'd have done on the hong kong stuff.

As for the super huge return pump to go n the sump... what sort of flow rate would i be looking at on that for the 180L tank? the pinned guide says 750-800gph on a tank a lil bit smaller than mine so I'm guessing I'd need more in the region of 1000gph?

 

[ben1987]

5X volume of water through the sump. So what size sump will you run with the 180? You also have to take into account the head loss of a pump being used as a sump return. At 1m you will lose a fair bit of its flow rate. Good pumps will have the figures shown on the web for you to look at and come with a graph showing their head loss


I would go as big as possible, more options and as soon as your into your marines FW stuff will look dull and boring and take the back foot.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

What size sump would you recommend? Can you buy proper ones with the return in them already, rather than a pump in a bucket? I was understanding quite well till we got to the sump part!

 

[ben1987]

you can but they are expensive. Not hard to make. You want one as big as you can fit in the cabinet. Then split it into sections using baffles and away you go. The baffles make the water flow the length of the sump through each section. They usually work in pairs or 3's and the water will go over one then under the next

You could use the 180l tank as display and the 100 as a sump?

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Thats a good idea... but if I was to turn my big tank into marine, I'd ideally want to keep some of my FW fish in my 100! But.. if the 100 tank is an ok size to use a sump I could always get something else that size. I'll cross the making of it when the time comes, hopefully someone here will be able to guide me through it in a bit more detail when the time comes! I've been convinced now that marine is the way to go... so I'll start searching for the things you've suggested and gather them up one by one each time I have some spare cash!

Altho before I start making a sump, I have to make a cabinet! at the moment my tank is only about 4 inches off the floor, so no room for a sump there yet! Luckily I have left over metal from when i made the stand its on, so can easily lengthen the legs and make room for for a nice big sump. I've noticed the starting a marine tank guide says a plastic tub for a sump, since you've mentioned using my other tank... in your opinion would I be best off getting another tank for a sump, or a hefty plastic tub of some kind?

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Now this could be completely the wrong thing... but they're called buller powerhead water pumps,
VOLT 220~240V
POWER 25W
FREQ 50/60Hz
QMAX 1500 L / Hr 396GPH
HMAX 1.6m 5.3ft
PUMP OUTLET DIAMETER ￠16mm ￠5/8"

is that more like the kind of thing i need?