Aquamarine 900 'first Taste Of Salt'

[angelfishguy]

hey everyone,

after keeping freshwater for nearly 10yrs i decieded ill try my hand at marine..
im sure ill have very silly questions so treat me like a total noob lol

ok so we got a aquamarine 900 with the marisys 240 and two korila 1's for €150 secondhand.ive read about the marisys and all its bad reviews but ill have to stick with it as money is v.tight

we bought ready mixed saltwater from a well know marine lfs(well not so local 2 and a half hrs away) and 11kg of live rock

when we got home we set it up after messing with the marisys for about 3hrs to get it to work right and added the live rock..

the following day we drove for 2hrs to get 9kg of live rock and drove another 2hrs home and added that to the tank..

so its been running for about 3 days and have a few hitch hikers can anyone tell me what they are?

so a few questions..
1) should we have the skimmer on while cycling?
2) is 20kg of live rock enough.its 176litres but with the sand bed andd LR considerably less id imagine.
3) for it to cycle do i just leave it running and test? still have to get the test kits.
4) i really like the bangai cardinals any thoughts on them?
5) what CUC should we get considering im terrorfied of shrimp lol
6) the lighting has 2 x 36w and 2 x 24w one of each is white and one of each is blue. any comments on the lighting?

thanks for ready

advise and comments welcome

jay

 

[seffieuk]

to the salty side of the forum, what a great start to your adventure, i'm loving your journel

so a few questions..
1) should we have the skimmer on while cycling?
You can, but will not be much to skim yet

2) is 20kg of live rock enough.its 176litres but with the sand bed andd LR considerably less id imagine.
That is exactly what I would have put in

3) for it to cycle do i just leave it running and test? still have to get the test kits.
Yes indeed

4) i really like the bangai cardinals any thoughts on them?
Best not ask me about cardinals, they are boring!

5) what CUC should we get considering im terrorfied of shrimp lol
Dont get shrimp then, approx 3/4 mexican turbos, 3/4 small hermits

6) the lighting has 2 x 36w and 2 x 24w one of each is white and one of each is blue. any comments on the lighting?

How old are the tubes? I like a more blue tank, but when you have corals that like more light you might want to replace one of the blues with a white

Loving the aquascape and you have some nice hitch-hiker mushrooms there.

Move one of your powerheads to the other side



Seffie x

 

[angelfishguy]

to the salty side of the forum, what a great start to your adventure, i'm loving your journel

so a few questions..
1) should we have the skimmer on while cycling?
You can, but will not be much to skim yet

2) is 20kg of live rock enough.its 176litres but with the sand bed andd LR considerably less id imagine.
That is exactly what I would have put in

3) for it to cycle do i just leave it running and test? still have to get the test kits.
Yes indeed

4) i really like the bangai cardinals any thoughts on them?
Best not ask me about cardinals, they are boring!

5) what CUC should we get considering im terrorfied of shrimp lol
Dont get shrimp then, approx 3/4 mexican turbos, 3/4 small hermits

6) the lighting has 2 x 36w and 2 x 24w one of each is white and one of each is blue. any comments on the lighting?

How old are the tubes? I like a more blue tank, but when you have corals that like more light you might want to replace one of the blues with a white

Loving the aquascape and you have some nice hitch-hiker mushrooms there.

Move one of your powerheads to the other side



Seffie x

after reading loads of posts on the marine part of the forum i knew you would be the first to reply lol

ok ill move a power head over to the other side now..

not to sure how old the bulbs are as the tank is second hand but the lighting has two automatic timers so i can have the 2 blue on at once or the 2 white on at once or all 4 on at the same time.. what would be the best time to set these at?

do the mushrooms need anything to help them grow or will they be fine?

woke up this morning and the skimmer has collected some brown gunk so im guessing the cycle has started..is this correct?

thanks seffie

 

[seffieuk]

after reading loads of posts on the marine part of the forum i knew you would be the first to reply lol

Oh my goodness, I'm that predictable!!!!

ok ill move a power head over to the other side now..



not to sure how old the bulbs are as the tank is second hand

It is likely that the tubes are older than six months, so when you start getting more corals they will need replacing

but the lighting has two automatic timers so i can have the 2 blue on at once or the 2 white on at once or all 4 on at the same time.. what would be the best time to set these at?

Well...... people have them on at different times. I have mine on from 2:00 pm to approx 10:30 pm. I have all on at once - I turn my blues on first, to wake the fish and corals up and then the whites go on shortly after. On my other tank I used to have my lights on from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm and then have moonlights, but I prefer it the way I have it now on my bigger tank

do the mushrooms need anything to help them grow or will they be fine?

They will be fine, they dont like too much flow though!

woke up this morning and the skimmer has collected some brown gunk so im guessing the cycle has started..is this correct?

Cool, it means that the skimmer is working and collecting organics from the water - it doesnt have anything to do with the cycle, but I am sure your cycle will have started woo hoo.......

Seffie x

 

[sorgan]

I have one of these tanks and I love it, balls to the reviews I think the tank and filtration system is good for the money it costs

Light wise I've opted to stick to the 50/50 blues/whites but have also fitted 2 aquaray strips in te hood.

Do you have the filter media with the marisys? I ask as many people tend to dump all the bits (plastic balls and ceramic tubes) I've kept mine for the time being but if you decide to sling them I would reccomend you keep the carbon pads.

 

[angelfishguy]

I have one of these tanks and I love it, balls to the reviews I think the tank and filtration system is good for the money it costs

Light wise I've opted to stick to the 50/50 blues/whites but have also fitted 2 aquaray strips in te hood.

Do you have the filter media with the marisys? I ask as many people tend to dump all the bits (plastic balls and ceramic tubes) I've kept mine for the time being but if you decide to sling them I would reccomend you keep the carbon pads.

When we got the filter it didnt have any media with it just the blue baskets
We havent added anything to it yet its just running empty

 

[sorgan]

Ahh ok in that case LR rubble, rowaphos and carbon will be good things to put in the baskets.