Few Questions

[indir-emir]

Hi everyone,
Im going to be starting my reef tank in the next few days (have done quite a bit of research). The future marine tank (in place at the moment, journal coming soon hehe) is a 4ft x 18inch x 18inch tank. About ~67USG or ~250L tank, according to the TFF calculator. So after rock and what not im expecting it to be closer to 200L. It has a 2 ft x 16inch x 16inch sump with refugium. My return pump will be a 3000L/h pump.

Just have a few questions. They are as follows:

1- What is the best way to transport live rock? I am making approximately 45-60 minute drive (depends on traffic) to pick up 30kg of live rock (and 10kg of live sand for the refugium DSB), (at $4 a kilo of rock, 1/3 to 1/4 of LFS price!! ) and was thinking about just putting them into my 25L drums with wide tops (hoping they fit!) of which i have 2 and am gettin 2 more tomorrow. So a total of 4 x 25L drums. Would it be ok to just leave them in the drum without water? Or am i better of filling the bucket up (not sure if i can pick it up after this tho haha) after i put the rock into the drum? If this wont work, can i get a suggestion on the best way?

2- How badly affected will the rock be if they go a day or two without a power head in the tank? Ive ordered a wave maker which should arrive monday (or tuesday if the post office is slow ). Will this have a terrible effect on the rock?

3- I have sold my other tank but the guy buying did not want my lights so ive kept them for myself. The lights are 4 ft - 4 x 55Watt PL power compact lights. Would these be ok on the marine tank for a while? I do intend on upgrading to 6 x 54 watt T5 in the near future.

4- Is a 3000L/h wave maker enough flow for the tank? Or should i go for 1 more? I intend on keeping clowns, mandarin dragonet, maybe a royal gramma, and all types of corals (no specific ones yet) and hopefully an anonome. These ofcourse will be added slowly and according to tank age

Sorry for all the questions but im very excited and need the information

Cheers,
Indir

 

[nick87]

Hi everyone,
Im going to be starting my reef tank in the next few days (have done quite a bit of research). The future marine tank (in place at the moment, journal coming soon hehe) is a 4ft x 18inch x 18inch tank. About ~67USG or ~250L tank, according to the TFF calculator. So after rock and what not im expecting it to be closer to 200L. It has a 2 ft x 16inch x 16inch sump with refugium. My return pump will be a 3000L/h pump.

Just have a few questions. They are as follows:

1- What is the best way to transport live rock? I am making approximately 45-60 minute drive (depends on traffic) to pick up 30kg of live rock (and 10kg of live sand for the refugium DSB), (at $4 a kilo of rock, 1/3 to 1/4 of LFS price!! ) and was thinking about just putting them into my 25L drums with wide tops (hoping they fit!) of which i have 2 and am gettin 2 more tomorrow. So a total of 4 x 25L drums. Would it be ok to just leave them in the drum without water? Or am i better of filling the bucket up (not sure if i can pick it up after this tho haha) after i put the rock into the drum? If this wont work, can i get a suggestion on the best way?

2- How badly affected will the rock be if they go a day or two without a power head in the tank? Ive ordered a wave maker which should arrive monday (or tuesday if the post office is slow ). Will this have a terrible effect on the rock?

3- I have sold my other tank but the guy buying did not want my lights so ive kept them for myself. The lights are 4 ft - 4 x 55Watt PL power compact lights. Would these be ok on the marine tank for a while? I do intend on upgrading to 6 x 54 watt T5 in the near future.

4- Is a 3000L/h wave maker enough flow for the tank? Or should i go for 1 more? I intend on keeping clowns, mandarin dragonet, maybe a royal gramma, and all types of corals (no specific ones yet) and hopefully an anonome. These ofcourse will be added slowly and according to tank age

Sorry for all the questions but im very excited and need the information

Cheers,
Indir

Hey Indir.

When collecting the rock don't worry about filling the buckets with water, it will be fine for a hour.

Ideally you want flow in the tank with rocks, but again i can't see much problem for a day or two.

The light you have will be fine, and you will be able to keep a good selection of soft corals under them.

Ideally you want a minimum of 20x flow, so in your tank 4000lph.

HTH

Nick

 

[seffieuk]

Hi everyone,
Im going to be starting my reef tank in the next few days (have done quite a bit of research). The future marine tank (in place at the moment, journal coming soon hehe) is a 4ft x 18inch x 18inch tank. About ~67USG or ~250L tank, according to the TFF calculator. So after rock and what not im expecting it to be closer to 200L. It has a 2 ft x 16inch x 16inch sump with refugium. My return pump will be a 3000L/h pump.

What a great size tank to start with



1- What is the best way to transport live rock?

The best way to transport would be in the buckets with water, you will have less die off that way

2- How badly affected will the rock be if they go a day or two without a power head in the tank?

Well, the simple answer to that is you should have everything ready before you get the live rock to avoid die off

3- Would these be ok on the marine tank for a while? I do intend on upgrading to 6 x 54 watt T5 in the near future.

For now they are fine

4- Is a 3000L/h wave maker enough flow for the tank?

You will need at least 5000 litres an hour in flow for a tank your size and at least 2 powerheads, one either end

Sorry for all the questions but im very excited and need the information

Never be sorry for asking questions - and yes, setting up is very exciting, you wait till the pet rock watching starts, even more exciting

Cheers,
Indir

Seffie x

 

[nick87]

^^^^ I agree with what you are saying about die off, but as this is a new system it should be too much of a problem.

 

[seffieuk]

^^^^ I agree with what you are saying about die off, but as this is a new system it should be too much of a problem.

Nope, wouldn't be a huge problem, but I would like to keep as much alive as possible

Seffie x

 

[indir-emir]

Firstly, thank you all for your replies. It is very appreciated.

Yeah i figured that best i submerged for that exact reason. But as i dont want to end up with a broken back before the tank is set up so i can atleast stare at it, i think it will have to do without being submurged and do a bit of die off. It is new tank and the cycle will need to happen either way.

Should i cover the rock in wet newspaper or just put it in the water drums, shut the lid and hurry home?

Will the globes that my current lights have be ok? Would they be ok for a while? Or better of changing ASAP? I think the globes are PL lights.. So im guessing around the 6700kelvin mark?

The power head is actualy on its way and should arrive monday morning very bright and early hehe. That was my mistake however. But the person im buying the rock from is moving in a few days and therefore does not wish to wait to shut down their tank further. So I wanted to ensure the deal was mine!

Thanks again,
Indir

 

[nick87]

Firstly, thank you all for your replies. It is very appreciated.

Yeah i figured that best i submerged for that exact reason. But as i dont want to end up with a broken back before the tank is set up so i can atleast stare at it, i think it will have to do without being submurged and do a bit of die off. It is new tank and the cycle will need to happen either way.

Should i cover the rock in wet newspaper or just put it in the water drums, shut the lid and hurry home?

Keeping it damp could't hurt

Will the globes that my current lights have be ok? Would they be ok for a while? Or better of changing ASAP? I think the globes are PL lights.. So im guessing around the 6700kelvin mark?

I can't see your light being a problem, what corals are you planning to keep?, you may only have to change the bulbs and not the whole unit.


Thanks again,
Indir

 

[indir-emir]

Well at some point I would like an anonome (spelling? ). Hence why im leaning to the T5s. Globes seem to cost 2/3 of a better t5 unit. So i figure if i gota change globes im getting the T5s lol.

How good are power compacts at keeping things like anonomies? Not really set on corals yet

 

[nick87]

Well at some point I would like an anonome (spelling? ). Hence why im leaning to the T5s. Globes seem to cost 2/3 of a better t5 unit. So i figure if i gota change globes im getting the T5s lol.

How good are power compacts at keeping things like anonomies? Not really set on corals yet

Hmm, nems need strong lighting and mature (1yr+) setups, i always advise on halides if you going to keep them.

Bubble tips are one of the easier species to keep, but still very hard compared to most of things.

 

[drsquirrel]

Mandarins need a very mature system, and are apparently very hard/expensive to feed.


If you can get a bit of water in the bucket, it can't be bad, even if you only have half.

"Wave maker" is usually a pump(powerhead)+controller that pulses on and off to create "waves" but what they really mean is the motion in the water, the surface won't be swishing around without much effort to make it do so.

If your pump turns on and off, you should half the throughput when you make your calculations, so 3,000lph would really be 1,500lph.


I would want someone else to confirm this - but I don't think it's a good idea to use someone else's sand (that has been moved).

 

[indir-emir]

Wait, its not good to use live sand in my sump DSB? Would i just use normal sand/crushed coral and wait for it to become live?

The nem and te clownfish are later down the track but i REALLY want them hehe.

Cheers,
Indir

 

[GAB99]

anemone lol i wish it was called anonome makes me hungry

 

[seffieuk]

Mandarins need at least 90lbs of live rock or a copepod culture - cultures are easy to do though

Drsquiral you are right, its not a good idea to use sand from another system - when you move the sand it tends to release loads of phosphates etc this = many problems

Bubbletips do not require metal halides, they are perfectly happy and healthy under T5s

Seffie x

 

[indir-emir]

Ok got the live rock in the tank the way i like it. Still got some things to get and some things are on their way already

I put the sand into the refugium :\ now im regretting it after seeing the posts! Will have to geti t out and replace with something. What should go in its place? Crushed coral like what will be in the tank?

Pics will come soon as i get the tank actually going with all the parts In a journal.

I think i found a small coral of some sort! Cannot get a picture of it for the life of me Going to give a description adn see if anyone has any idea on the type I know its a long shot. It is like a dark red/pink colour, it is very small at the moment, about 5mm "body" attached to rock with 3 or 4 little "spikes" which are a few mm long also. (trying to get a picture lol). Any guesses?

Im going to be ordering 6 x 54 watt T5 unit for the reef set up

Thanks everyone

EDIT: Any links to the cultures? Will google soon

 

[seffieuk]

Yep, get that sand out asap and replace with good old aragonite

The lighting unit sounds perfect for your plans. And I have bumped the Mandarin thread up to the top for you

Seffie x