Here I Come Marine!

[electropunk06]

Hi, i have finaly decided my juwel rio 300 is to become a marine tank, i posted a few topics a month or two ago and have been doing lots of research since.
My only problem is that i have some tanganyika cichlids in my tank at the minute and i couldn't bring myself to take them back to the shop or sell them so they are moving into my 90L.
The fish from my 90L will be returned to the shop as the tank is a little small for them, and then my rio 300 is empty of fish and ready for the transformation to begin.

I have also just got a bonus from work which im sure will help in setting this up.

Where is a good place to start? I'm thinking RO filter first.

I want to have a full reef setup (one day) but quite happy with LR and fish at first.

I'm not sure if im going to have a sump as the cabinet is not the right shape to fit one, i could put one next to my tank, but will decide on this later.

Cheers,
Lloyd

 

[lewiss]

Woohoo!! A new marine man!



looking forward to your journey!! An RO unit is a good start! and some salt of course! Sand and LR after that! If your not doing a sump may i suggest a filter pump such as fluval? good for running media.

The resource centres worth a peak at - lots of info there.

Once again

Lewis

 

[fishy55599]

welcome

lewis-filter pump?

 

[MrLiam]

I think he meant external/canister.

 

[lewiss]

yes i did, filter pump cannister!

 

[fishy55599]

ahhh okay, i dont have one so i dont know.
mine is one of the most basic tanks-no sump, no skimmer (yet), or that thing

 

[HappyGeorge]

Welcome. As Lewis says have a look at the resource centre some useful stuff there. Sorting your RO source is a good start and try and decide what you want to keep. If you're going Fish Only the lights currently on your tank will be fine but you will need to upgrade for a lot of corals. May also want to consider stocking reef safe fish just in case you decide to go with corals earlier than you think.

 

[electropunk06]

Thanks guys.
Do you think a fluval fx5 would do? Also would the standard filter media be good to use?

The tank has 4x 54W T5 light i thought this would be enough for corals.

I have read quite a lot of the recourse centre (you guy have done a very good job of it, well done). But i will carry on looking at it.

I was looking at reef safe fish but not looked into stocking to much yet.

 

[MrLiam]

Thanks guys.
Do you think a fluval fx5 would do? Also would the standard filter media be good to use?

The tank has 4x 54W T5 light i thought this would be enough for corals.

I have read quite a lot of the recourse centre (you guy have done a very good job of it, well done). But i will carry on looking at it.

I was looking at reef safe fish but not looked into stocking to much yet.

The fx5 would be good im looking at one of those for my new tank and have heard good reviews.

Your lights should be good enough for some soft corals.

 

[lewiss]

4x T5's is ace! You can keep soft corals, most LPS corals, some SPS corals and possibly an anemone at a later date. good choice of lighting!

That filter looks fine!

Any questions, we could help you out with some easy fish, or you can tell us what your hoping for and we can advise whether they are possible??

 

[MrLiam]

You may even get away with a small tang in that tank I think.

 

[electropunk06]

4x T5's is ace! You can keep soft corals, most LPS corals, some SPS corals and possibly an anemone at a later date. good choice of lighting!

That filter looks fine!

Any questions, we could help you out with some easy fish, or you can tell us what your hoping for and we can advise whether they are possible??

Thanks

First question is what dose SPS and LPS mean?

i would like lots of brightly coloured corals, can you suggest some?

 

[fishy55599]

zoas

 

[electropunk06]

zoas

yeah i do like zoas

thanks

 

[lewiss]

Sorry! LPS is Large Polyp Stoney Coral, so this would be a maze coral, a trumpet coral, a cynarina coral, and the list goes on and on..

Soft corals include your toadstools, finger corals, zoas, mushrooms etc etc

SPS is Small Polyp Stoney Coral, these include acopora, montipora, etc etc.

Check out in the resource center, scroll down to 'photo gallery' then click coral photo gallery and there's some pictures of the corals avaiable with links to their page. It needs a bit of work but it should help you out. You can keep all of those with your lighting..

I like Trumpets as cheap coral, scolymia as expensive, and maze as moderately priced, but thats juts personal taste!

is the rio300, 300L?