Considering Marines

[I Keep Fish]

Right. i've recently started up with trops again after keeping reptiles for 3 years, and i'v already grown bored of freshwater.
I have:
4ft Arcadia T5 Luminaire (2 working bulbs)
1 3ft pendant with 2 T8 tubes (one is marine blue)

Would this be enough light for a 24x24x18"deep tank?

I'd look at doing fish only tho at the moment, cannot afford to do full blown marines, although there is 20K of liverock locally for 4.50 a kilo.
Would i be better off buying a setup and transferring the contents into my tank? basically like an upgrade?

Have lots of time to do it so no rush

 

[seffieuk]

IKF

Sounds like you already have the basics for a nice little set-up and the lighting is just fine, you would only really need to upgrade if you went into sps corals or clams.

I can't urge you enough to consider going with a reef right from the start, it will be nicer to look at plus a better environment for your live stock. Live rock really is the heart and lungs of a good set-up imo

Seffie x

 

[I Keep Fish]

IKF

Sounds like you already have the basics for a nice little set-up and the lighting is just fine, you would only really need to upgrade if you went into sps corals or clams.

I can't urge you enough to consider going with a reef right from the start, it will be nicer to look at plus a better environment for your live stock. Live rock really is the heart and lungs of a good set-up imo

Seffie x

Hi.
Yeah i'd only want to keep softies and zoo's etc... just something that will look nice in my room
I'd love to go with a full on reef again, i miss my lido 120 set-up badly. How long should i expect it to take to cycle it if i didn't use LR? I'd use live sand for sure, just wouldn't be able to add liverock for a while unless i used christmas as an excuse

Do people still add mollies to their tank to help with the cycle?

Thanks alot, John

 

[seffieuk]

Hi John

We are the same as Trops, we dont add live fish to cycle a tank

Live sand is just a gimmick, how long do you think bacteria can live in a plastic bag without oxygen and flow!

I can't answer the 'how long to cycle' question - its almost like saying how long is a piece of string, sorry.

Again, I cant argue strongly enough for live rock in your tank

Seffie x