Helpful Dad

[S6TGP]

Hi all

Right I am being cheeky here, as my son is registered to the site so I am going to ask a few questions ( to try and help him in his marine tank)

I have kept discus in the past ( even had a breeding pair) so I am not a total newbie but I know nothing about keeping marines. My son has a good basic understanding but I think he might need a few pointers. So my questions are;

1. He has just bought a Percula 120 ( £200 bargain), and he wants to use live rock & live sand, so how does he set up the filtration at the back of his tank??? I see the skimmer goes in one place, but not sure what to put and where for the rest of it !!

2. I understand that it is a good idea to get all your live rock in at the beginning and let the tank settle (cycle?) but when do you add the live sand ??? How much Live rock will it take ( 30-40 kg)

3. How long will the "cycle" take before he can start adding fish ?? and what parameters should he be aiming for ph etc

4. I think he wishes to keep corals but the tank came with no lights, so what will be a good option for him. I think Metal halides are the option but the running costs are , any other suggestions.

Any other pointers will be greatly appreciated.

Regards

George

 

[rabbut]

Hi George,

1) I'm not formiliar with the tank, so you'll have to wait for other members on that one

2) Live sand is a rip-off, it's all dead by the time it gets to you Save some cash and buy plain argonite, it will seed of the live rock Live Rock will cycle off any die-off caurse by the move, so yes, it "self cycles" With LR, you want a minimum of 1KG per 10l of water, though more is better

3) The cycle duration time depends on transit time and the condition of the rock when purchased. For un-cured rock, expect a month or two, for cured rock thats moved within 1/2 an hour and kept damp, less than a week would be typical.

4) What type of corals does he want? The light he *needs* depends on the coral species. Some corals actually don't like bright light... With corals, you want a minimum turn-over of 20-30X an hour minimum, though you guessed it, more would be better

HTH
Rabbut

 

[S6TGP]

Hi George,

1) I'm not formiliar with the tank, so you'll have to wait for other members on that one

2) Live sand is a rip-off, it's all dead by the time it gets to you Save some cash and buy plain argonite, it will seed of the live rock Live Rock will cycle off any die-off caurse by the move, so yes, it "self cycles" With LR, you want a minimum of 1KG per 10l of water, though more is better

3) The cycle duration time depends on transit time and the condition of the rock when purchased. For un-cured rock, expect a month or two, for cured rock thats moved within 1/2 an hour and kept damp, less than a week would be typical.

4) What type of corals does he want? The light he *needs* depends on the coral species. Some corals actually don't like bright light... With corals, you want a minimum turn-over of 20-30X an hour minimum, though you guessed it, more would be better

HTH
Rabbut

Hi Rabbut

Thanks for the response

With regards to the live rock, the tank holds in excess of 400litres so looking at 40 kg of live rock !!! Is this safe to lump this all in at once or would it be better in small batches?? The rock will be bought from LFS that is only 20 minutes away.
Corals not sure what type, what is the general recommendation hard or soft

 

[seffieuk]

With regards to the live rock, the tank holds in excess of 400litres so looking at 40 kg of live rock !!! Is this safe to lump this all in at once or would it be better in small batches?? The rock will be bought from LFS that is only 20 minutes away.
Corals not sure what type, what is the general recommendation hard or soft
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, best to 'lump it all in at once then you will only have one cycle - I notice you live in Kent, Uk - unfortunatly there are many people breaking down their tanks at the moment which means you can pick up some really good bargains on lr. i got mine off ebay, cash on collection - funnily enough from Kent - I transported it in water, took me about forty five minutes to get home through the Dartford tunnel - it was well worth it, barely took any time to cycle, I mean just days and it had lovely coraline on it

Welcome to the TFF

Seffie x

 

[S6TGP]

With regards to the live rock, the tank holds in excess of 400litres so looking at 40 kg of live rock !!! Is this safe to lump this all in at once or would it be better in small batches?? The rock will be bought from LFS that is only 20 minutes away.
Corals not sure what type, what is the general recommendation hard or soft
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, best to 'lump it all in at once then you will only have one cycle - I notice you live in Kent, Uk - unfortunatly there are many people breaking down their tanks at the moment which means you can pick up some really good bargains on lr. i got mine off ebay, cash on collection - funnily enough from Kent - I transported it in water, took me about forty five minutes to get home through the Dartford tunnel - it was well worth it, barely took any time to cycle, I mean just days and it had lovely coraline on it

Welcome to the TFF

Seffie x

Thank you Seffie, glad about the LR what will be the best way to transport such a large amount?

Right I have had a quick chat with son, and he is looking at keeping hard & soft corals (using ledges/ rocks for those not liking too much light) and anemones as well.

So what light/s are we looking at??

 

[seffieuk]

I used empty salt containers and put them in the boot on a plastic sheet, luckily none of them leaked

Seffie x

 

[S6TGP]

Right going through the box of bits & peices that he got with the tank, and a UV (TMC) steriliser has been found. Would this be any use at all ? as he is using the live rock as his filtration.

 

[ben1987]

UV would probbaly be most useful when adding a new fish. Leave it on for a while after.
There are some arguments agianst UV's as they kill good guys aswel as bad ones

 

[seffieuk]

I leave my UV on all the time except when adding phytoplankton

Seffie x

 

[kj23502]

I have mixed feelings about anemones in reef tanks. Thing is, if they get unhappy they litterally roam around the tank potentially stinging/killing things in their path until they find a "happy spot". I'd recommed not having one, or doing a boat load of reading before embarking on that journey.

I'd go w/2 250 watt lights Metal Hallide since the tank is so deep.(if this is the tank ) The quality light for coral growing will go about 2 feet so the ends of the tank could be used for corals which require less intensity.

 

[Straydum]

you could try transporting the rock in water (submerged) using pails or styrofoam boxes etc but still 40kg is quite a bit to transport at the same time. buying rock off other keepers is your best option for quality rock, often full with life and coraline algae.

lights with the lowest running cost (and also the least heat output, saving you burns from halides ) would be LEDs but the initial price would set you back by a huge mile

 

[SkiFletch]

The Aquamedic Percula 120 is actually a pretty good tank and really the only large "all in one" tank I'd ever reccomend buying. Too bad we can't get them on my side of the pond . The tank comes with dual 150watt metal halide lamps which will allow you to keep a lot of different corals right off the bat on that footprint. Some of the significantly higher light SPS wouldn't be all that colorful under those lights, but they'd do OK. You could get into a lower light anemone like a bulb tip if you want, but stay away from the higher light gigantea and carpets. You could also have a lower light Tridacnid clam like a Derasa, or if you wanted something a little more light-demanding, you could put a Crocea high up in the rockwork.

They advertise the back part as using a trickle filter but since I've never seen one I can't really comment on how it works. Perhaps a visit to aquamedic and an email/phone call is in order there.

Lastly I would advise if he does want to get into corals, look into adding some additional powerheads for more flow. The stock pumps on the Percula 120 are nice, but you'll still need more. Look into Tunze stream or Hydor koralia models.

And nice work on gettin the thing for only 200, usually they retail for 5 times that