Bought New Marine Setup - General Questions

[sophos9]

Hi all,

Well I have made the move! I still have my high-tec planted tank and have bought a 180ltr marine setup:

Juwel Rio 180ltr
Arcadia Ibar 2 x 39w T5
20kg live rock
Argonite sand
Seio Pump (not sure what output but should be more than adequate)
Juwel thermo and filtration
Deltec protein skimmer

I've spent a fair bit of time reading up on marine and have friends who have started - the LFS are absolutly superb! Understand the time taken before fishies can be added, I'm in no hurry and I'm looking to keep fish and inverts.

So far, I've only bought 2 x 25ltr water carriers to get RO water from the LFS to my house, can you advise on what else I need to get please - next thing on my list is a refractometer!

Cheers

 

[JoeDaPro]

Master test kit, for nitrate lvls etc.
the salt to mix with the Reverse Osmosis water.

 

[shibby]

hey

im just a beginer like you but have the same set up with the rio180.

the juwel filtration im guessing thats the black box that comes with the rio180? i ripped my internal out, and got an external filter which i then took all the media out off and put carbon and rowaphos type media in which i was adviced to do, im also planning to put some live rock in the cannister.

good to see your doing lots of reasearch non stop learning this marine, but i find the research rather fun!

and also good to see your getting a refractometer, hydrometers are pretty awful, mine broke after a few days it kept reading 1.015, which i knew wasnt true since the lfs pre mixed my salt and water for me.


if your doing a fowlr your have more choice fish wise, but reasearch all fish before you buy, and you may even eventually want a reef system in the future so best to plan ahead

your get lots of help from the people on this forum tooo, ive learnt alot from them! and read journals great for seeign set up proceses, and enjoy

 

[sophos9]

Thats cool, I have a master test kit for tropical - are they the same? I've got digital PH, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, GH, carbonite hardness and phosphate testers

He he, I'm going to be buying salted and fresh RO water from the LFS whilst looking into either nitrogen or RO machines

 

[shibby]

i think they differ slightly colour wise, well thats what they told me at the marine shop they may of just wanted to fleece another 5 pounds out of me for the marine test kit

ive see some RO machine for 70 pounds or something on ebay. which i think i may have to get, since 4.99 for 25 litres of salt RO is quite alot, and the 14 mile round trip is also a burden when you cant drive

 

[sophos9]

Think you are right fella, the test kit I have is for freshwater.... There goes a few more $$$

Def will end up getting something to create my own water

 

[AK77]

I'd recommend that you purchase a cheap little pump from eBay for mixing the water up in, otherwise you'll end up with forearms like Popeye. I've already got a forearm like Popeyes, but for a different reason

It also means that if you connect a hose up the pump, you don't have to pour the water into the aquarium and giving yourself a hernia in the process or slopping it everywhere. A cheap airpump is recommended too to oxygenate the water. This will help push the PH of the water up as well.

 

[sophos9]

I'd recommend that you purchase a cheap little pump from eBay for mixing the water up in, otherwise you'll end up with forearms like Popeye. I've already got a forearm like Popeyes, but for a different reason

Professional Writer?

Thats good matey, I've got a spare airpump and also a spare powerhead from my Juwel 180, just have to buy some pipe which is no problem

 

[mark7616]

Here is a post I made a while back now as to how I mix my salt and ill tell ya its a god send I just leave it all circulating and the do my water change and when it goes down low top it back up I have a rio 180 aswell and doing 10% weekly it lasts 5 weeks, anyways ill let you see and you can let me know what you think

I thought that mixing salt in a 25ltr salt bucket was a bit of a crap idea so I had a brain storm. I went to wicks (a local hardware shop) and I bought a rainwater collector. This holds 100ltrs of water for £30 so I thought blinding. So I have got home and set it up in the utility room. Now I have filled it up so far with 50ltrs of RO water and I have put in a small 50w heater to heat the water and I have placed a power head on the bottom facing up so its draws water in through the bottom and pushes it to the top so it mixes properly. The drum also has a tap on the bottom which is just the right height to fit a 10ltr bucket underneath ideal for top ups and water changes. I will fill this up to 100ltrs and bring the salinity up to 1.024 then all I need to do is as it gets low top it up and add more salt. So let me know what you think.

Here is the drum with the lid on. (sorry about my utility room its a bit of a state with purple and white walls but its more of an out house/shed)

Here is the tap to drain off the water

As you can see there is plenty of circulation.

 

[BigC]

Great minds think alike....I too am starting down the reef aquarium path and like you I am also using a 100ltr rainwater butt on the stand. I used it for my freshwater fish but now I'm going salty this is what I'll be using with the heater and the powerhead and also an airstone.
Regards
BigC

 

[sophos9]

Wow

That is groovy - wish I had the room to do that!! I'm just about to order a RO unit but trying to build a double edged sword... Trying to fit my 25ltr carriers somewhere and get RO to a special tap for drinking

just to appease the missus