Forward Planning?

[captinboomer23]

Hi all, Just reg with this forum as ive just spent 3hours reading alot of the posts, Ive been keeping tropical for about 2 years now, And thinking of doing is going from tropical to marine? At the moment im living with the old ones [mum+dad] and will be geting my own place [hopfully march 06] with me other half, Ive got a vision 450 set-up in spare room, Which im thinking of saleing soon. Which brings me to my first question.

Would it be worth keeping this tank for marine set-up or get rid and purchese at the time, The reason i want to get rid of the tank is that my bro is moving into spareroom and it will give him more space, But if it will make a good marine tank then he will have to live round it for awhile.

Plus can anyone suggest some good beginner marine books to read as ive got about 3-4 months of reseach, Im half way reading THE NEW MARINE AQUARIUM by michael s. paletta its from the states i think. Has anyone else read this book?

Thats all for now, Ive got loads to ask hope you all help.
rich
portsmouth
england

 

[macpegg]

hi. i think " Helmut Debelius, Hans A. Baensch: World Atlas" is a suberb book. Gives u eberything u need to know about setting one up. from the tank. right through from start to finish. its quite an old book prob around 15-20 yrs old. but give you everything you`ll everneed to know.

daz

 

[J-Money]

i don't know anything about a vision 450, but as long as it isn't a nano-tank (under 30g or so) it should be fine for a startup tank...assuming you've never put anything copperbased in it.

 

[captinboomer23]

Thanks for your quick replys

The juwel vision 450 is 100 imp gallons i think, I know the bigger the tank the better to keep water under control for the fish, But was looking at down sizing alittle to the juwel trigon 350 [70 gal]

As my partner is not keen on taking the vision 450, She thinks it takes up to much room and wants the trigon that fits nicely in the corner.

If i was wanting a sump under the tank how do i go about cuting the holes for pipe work or do i leave that for the pros to cut for me?

Plus i was in one of my lfs [maidanhead southamton] bloody good it is. And was talking to matey in there about buying the marine tank and accessories in one go, He recommended it, But then saying that we didnt get to how much it would all be?

Ive got my heart set on this marine set-up, I luv tropicals but now ive seen those marines in the flesh ive got to go for it. Money is not going to be a problem, Nor will time, I just want to make sure i do everything i can to make it as much like home for the fishes i keep [percula clowns hopfully].



thanks
rich

 

[Navarre]

HI and welcome to the forum.


Keep the 450, its a good size and with this you can keep most fish (even a tang ). It also means its one less expense when it comes to setting up the system. Unless of course you intend to go much larger or want a different size system then this is a very good volume indeed. I understand your other halfs concernes about available space but a corner tank (even though they look great) is not the easiest of tanks to work on and of course it holds less volume.
If you start out with a smaller system you might well rgret it later when you want that special fish and get told your tank is simply too small. )

Maidenhead aquatics is a great shop and you will get lots of sound advice from the also.

 

[captinboomer23]

Am i right in saying that doreen in finding nemo was a tang?

If i was to keep the 450 will i want to drill holes for a sump?


rich

 

[J-Money]

yes, she wuz a regal tang

if you use a sump then you probably would want to drill it. i've heard of people using pumps so they wouldn't have to drill and sometimes 1 pump works better than the other. meaning it could drain your tank all over your floor, or drain your sump and overflow your tank

 

[captinboomer23]

That dont sound good

Do you have a sump j-money? If not how do you keep all the goodies.

What would be the best thing to do if i want to give away tropical fish?

rich

 

[J-Money]

I don't have a sump, but i do have 2 canister filters. 1 i took all the media out so it's just for flow and copapods and such, thinking of doing the same with the other one. I don't know what you mean about keeping all the goodies in the sump...do you mean macroalgaes and such? I don't have any of those. My whole filtration is based on the 120lbs of LR i have.

ETA: the easiest way to get rid of your tropicals would prolly be to call your LFS and see if you can get any trade in value for them, that could help offset costs of wutever you buy. if that doesn't work, start asking your friends if they want them or tell them they really need a new tank and offer up your fish for inhabitants lol

 

[Chac]

Hi Rich

I have adapted a couple of Jewel Tank in the past & they make excellant Marine tanks

Have you looked into Skimmers & other equipment yet ?

 

[captinboomer23]

J-money Ive tried the old you could really do with a nice tank in here mate to finish the room off, and then, if so do you want all my fish.

But hasnt work YET.



Hi chac,


Ive looked at alot of equipment in the last couple of weeks [theres so much]

Am i right in saying i will need:

power heads [not sure the flow yet as not sure what tank ill have]
skimmer [i was looking at the pro priz i think its called]
live rock[filteration]
heater
lighting [ this is the one thing im in abit of a kufufull about]
the new juwel rock background [not sure if will work]
test kits [amm,nitrite,nitrate,ph,alk, plus hydrometer]
thats about all i can think of at the moment.

If theres anything else please let me know.

rich

 

[J-Money]

the lighting will depend on you. are you going to want a nice serene tank with a bunch of corals or big clams? if you do you will need lots of good lighting, if you're going for a F/O or FOWLER you won't need a lot of lighting

 

[captinboomer23]

I would like to go for the fowler look[does that stand for FISH ONLY WITH LIVE EARTH ROCK]

So that means lot of lighting, what would you use to cover the juwel vision 450 tank.

rich

 

[J-Money]

basically...yeah. I meant to spell it FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) lol )

You won't need lots of lighting for that. Your regular florecent lights should be fine.

 

[Chac]

Hi Rich

I would suggest the following

Powerheads -Seio Pumps Cheaper & almost as good as Tunze's

Skimmer - Please Please Please stay away from the Prizm's they are utter SH**, Have a look at either the Deltec MCE600 or the Aquamedic Turboflotor (Have a look on ebay as these skimmer do come up now & then

Live Rock - Defo the way to go (0.5kg per Gallon UK)

Heater - I would be inclined to go for 2 x 300w heaters

Lighting depends on what types of corals you plan on keeping (also how you want the overall tank to look) personally I hate the yellow tinge you get withe the T8 standard lighting & even if you are going for a Fish only set up I would be inclined to get some T5 Power Compact which will give the tank a crisp bright look to it

Background - Most people go with either a plain Black or Light Blue Background to make the tank look that bit more natural

Test Kits - IMO you cant beat Salifert

Also IMO I would get a hold of a Refractometer rather than a Swing arm hydrometer

Any questions give me a shout







Forgot about your Live rock

Have a look at both STM (I havent bought from here but on all the forums I am a member of STM is highly regarded)

& UDA (Have bought from here & again very good quality rock)



Ps. When I 1st started I went FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock), but that only lasted a couple of month until I seen my LFS's Display tank with his Actinics on, it was a full reef for me after that