Bit Of Help And Infomation

slick990

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Hi all, first post on here so be nice :blush:

I have a few FW tanks (2 x 2ft and a 4ft tank) but have recently been given a few other tanks and am looking to do somthing a bit differnt with them most likely a nano tank as really like the colours that you can get that i wouldnt have a chance of getting with my fresh water tanks.

Right here is the list of stuff i have just looking at what i need, oh and i am a student so most of the time i am skint :rolleyes:

1 x 2ft tank (a fluval tank with a built in hood and light)
1 x 3ft tank (no hood or lights though i can afford to get this for it)
plenty of heaters so thats no problem.
1 x Fluval 2 plus internal filter
Powerheads and undergravel filters
As well as some other various stuff. Got an internal filter as well with this job lot think its a fluval biolife never seen one before.

Would like to use the 2ft if i can as i have a ready place to stick that.
 
A big question you need to answer about the tanks is have they ever been treated with copper based medication? If so, you can really rule them out for any reef based system as copper is HIGHLY toxic to many marine creatures.

In terms of lighting, there is littl or no chance of the built in lights on the 2ft being up to the job. Best for you would probably be T5 power compacts.

The fluval 2 is pretty much useless for in the tank, but I use an old Fluval 4 to mix my water before adding it to the tank, so not a complete waste of time!

Powerheads are good (ideally you'll want 20x or more water turnover for a reef tank), underground filter is no use.

What would be ideall would be usin gthe 3ft with new lighting as the display and the 2ft as a sump / fuge (you could probably get away with the original lighting for this) if you have the space to do it.

The things you need to consider (including how much they'll cost if budget is tight, marines aren't cheap!) are live rock (minimum of 1lb for every gallon currently about £5 per lb in the UK), skimming (although a good water care regime with reduce the need for this), upgrading the lighting, water turnover, but firstly you need to find out about the history of the tanks.
 
Id like to give you a big welcom to TFF definately the friendliest forum on the net

firstly the fluval built in lighting will not support corals most probably so go for the 3 ft tank. This way you have more room, more variety of fish and you can create a more intersting aquascape. The general rule is undergravel filters are outdated for marine and arnt really useful. If you can create appproximately 10 - 20 x turnover using powereheads then that will be brill. Also for the lighting look into an over tank luminaire with 3- 4 ish T5 tubes or two powercompacts. Also the bulbs colour should be 50/50 between 10k (crisp white) and 14k- 20k (bluer lower scale replicates shallower waters) The internal filter will be good to use for phosphate binders such as rowaphos and things of that like and not much else except live rock. Also you will need 1lbs per gallon or 1kg per 10 litres of rock and this is usualy one of the biggest expense of a marine tank. Another valuable piece of equiptment to buy is a skimmer. The best ones in the uk are aqua medic, tunze and TMC v2.
so for the 3ft tank youll need :

lighting - will be quite pricey as lighitng isnt cheap
powerheads providing 10 - 20x turnover
heater
Live Rock
Skimmer (you can go without but would be good to have one. Could always be a later expense)
sand (dont bother with live sand as normal sand will become seeded from live rock)
salt (everyone uses things like instant ocean)
hydormeter (measures salt content in the water so you can keep it all stable)
test kits (much much more important than freshie )
thermometer

Also if you save up for all the equiptment you could possibly get a discount and also it gives you time to know if youstill really want to start up a tank

:good: rhysiboy
 
The two tanks are brand new and have never been used, the person that i got them off was looking at going in to marine and thats why i got them. Wanted them for the 6ft and 8ft tank for my other projects. The power heads have enough flow for both the tanks so thats at least one thing i wouldnt need to buy :hyper:

What about the biolife filters? cant find much infomation out on them but looks like they use a wet/dry filtration system. Live rock wont be to much of a problem as my LFS has plenty and my overdraft will stretch to that.

I see some people running 10g nano tanks quite intrested in somthing like that. Only want to have some live rock and a fish or two. More intresed in the shrimps etc.
 

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