Advice On Starting A Marine Tank?

[ben1987]

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?

a galss tank is easier to section up i think but which ever is cheaper. You can get fish holding vats in loads of different sizes one of them could make a nice sump.

 

[ben1987]

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?

Thats a pretty terrible power consumption for not a lot of water moved.

[URL="http/www.thelivingseas.uk.com/p/474370/h...-koralia-1.html"]http/www.thelivingseas.uk.com/p/474370/h...-koralia-1.html[/URL]
Thats 1500l/h. Looks nice. Small design and only 4.5 W

Ideally if your using the 180 you want 3800l/h or more!

Thats the bigger model - [URL="http/www.thelivingseas.uk.com/p/474371/h...-koralia-2.html"]http/www.thelivingseas.uk.com/p/474371/h...-koralia-2.html[/URL]

Look on ebay for them though as there usually a bit cheaper. They may cost more to buy but they look nicer, hello of a lot cheaper to run and wont need to be replaced every 5 mins like low quality pumps. Trust me, i bough cheap pumps when i started and they were crap

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Those links dont seem to wnt to work! cant find that make on the site either.. I have found a koralia2 on ebay for bout 35 quid tho, which I guess is a lot cheper than other places? I'm right in thinking I'd need 2 of those for my 180L?

edit: I've just notived that a koralia 1 and a 2 would be enough flow, would tht be ok or is it better to have to the same?

 

[ben1987]

Im sure the number 2 was about 28 on that site. Google them and it comes up in teh shopping links.

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Yes, you're right! Lucky I didn't buy them off eby before I checked.. every penny helps as tesco say!
So am I best off going for both 2's or a 2 and 1?

Thank you for being patient with me btw

 

[ben1987]

depends what you want to keep. If you think you may want to go all the way and go for SPS hard corals in the future then go for both 2's as thoses corals need a lot of flow.
If you reckon you will be ok with soft corals then a 2 and a 1 should be fine. I would aim the 1 at the surface to disrupt that and then the 2 blasing water in and out your rocks

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

Ah right. think I'll go for the 1 and 2 for the moment then, I can always upgrade later if needs be... At the moment I just want the cheapest, most basic setup just to get things started. I havn't even looked into corals yet... as far as i know, ts only live rock I actually NEED at first, isn't it?

 

[ben1987]

yeah, you dont ever need coral. they just look cool/nice

 

[heavenly_d3vi1]

In that case then... I've bought a 2 and a 1 for now! And unfortunately the'll have to go and sit in the cupboard for a couple of months untill I can get the rest! I'm tempted to just order the lot now, but my sensible side is telling me with having 3 kids to play santa to in a month, and 2 of the kids who want birthday discos in jan, that I should wait a bit! lol

Thanks for all your help so far! I'll be keeping my eye out on ebay for a skimmer tho incase one comes up cheap in the mean time! And I might even make a start on building the stand, quite handy that the other half works in a metal factory, so hopefully he can weld me up a nice sturdy frame! As for the return pump... does the size of that depend on what size sump I have or is there a particular pump that will work with any size sump that I can look out for?

 

[ben1987]

Well depends what size plumbing you go for. What the volume of water will be and bits like that. Im not very good at working return pumps out.
I have a 120L display and 60L sump with a 2,000L/H pump. But that was a bit overkill so i put a tee piece on it aswel so some water is returned and some goes back round the sump.
Something like 2,000L/H might be ok for yours without the T though