Juwel Rio 300 Fowlr Or Coral?

[romprod]

Hey guys. Been reading several forums for quite a while and have decided to take the plunge... and buy a big tank. I've purchased a big Juwel Rio 300 Litre tank which comes with the lights, filter, heater and cabinet to store my dvd's in.. ahem fish things in...

I've a few questions before i need to put half the ocean into this big glass house.

1: I'm looking at keeping at least FOWLR and then making it a reef tank later, is this possible? or do i need to make it a reef tank from start? I've no preference over fish at the moment tho, so i have no aims as such.
2: Do i really need to fill it with RO water?
3: I relise there's alot of time involved in getting the water correct before i put fish in, but can i put water in and then add sand, live sand and the live rock in gradually over a month, then when i get paid next start adding fishies without there being a time limit on how i do things? (if the water is set up correctly that is) I plan on taking a few months in getting the tank ready to add my first fish so i'm in no great rush and would use LR to cycle the tank.


Thanks for any input you guys give. I may turn this into a journal when i get the tank so others can use this when first setting a tank up. I have read some of the starter guides on the forums and so far these are the only guestions i have, so please don't point me towards the same guides

Russ

 

[maestro]

You can start with fish only with live rock and then turn it into a reef later no probs, you'll need to upgrad the lights and make sure the water is spot on, also you won tbe able to use copper based meds on your fish if you plan to turn it into a reef.

You do need to fill it with ro water or you;ll end up with severe algae problems.

You need to put the water in and get that to the right temp or salinity and then you can add your liverock, if your using live sand add this know to or if its just dead reef sand then you can add that whenever you want, you add live rock gradually but everytime you add live rock even if its cured you still get a slight cycle so best to wait atleast a couple of weeks after youve added the last of your rock before adding your first fish

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Yeah making it a reef later would be better anyway because then the levels would be REALLY stable which is what corals need. About the copper, if you get ich [which hopefully you go the safe route by buying a quarantine tank and quarantining each new purchase for AT LEAST 2 weeks! Especially if you want ANY kind of tang, theyre ich magnets for some reason, but otherwise pretty hardy. You need to keep a close watch on each new fish{added 1 at a time} especially fins and make sure there are no white spots, or itching for 2 whole weeks.] You will probably end up putting all snails and hermits in a QT and treating the main tank with a copper treatment. So before adding any corals, make sure the copper level is 0 {copper is the treatment for ich} Copper is deadly to inverts.

 

[Lynden]

You do need to fill it with ro water or you;ll end up with severe algae problems.

I use dechlorinated tapwater and have never had any algae problems. You can even buy filter media that removes phosphates and nitrates.

Yeah making it a reef later would be better anyway because then the levels would be REALLY stable which is what corals need. About the copper, if you get ich [which hopefully you go the safe route by buying a quarantine tank and quarantining each new purchase for AT LEAST 2 weeks! Especially if you want ANY kind of tang, theyre ich magnets for some reason, but otherwise pretty hardy. You need to keep a close watch on each new fish{added 1 at a time} especially fins and make sure there are no white spots, or itching for 2 whole weeks.] You will probably end up putting all snails and hermits in a QT and treating the main tank with a copper treatment. So before adding any corals, make sure the copper level is 0 {copper is the treatment for ich} Copper is deadly to inverts.

Yes, copper is extremly deadly to inverts, as it is used to kill them (parasites).

Tangs are not very hardy, but they are not very difficult to keep. However, if you do not feed them for 24 hours, their liver will deteriorate, and they will die.

Using a quarantine tank is benefitial, but is in no way neccesary. I continuously feed my fish foods with spirulina. I can have a fish go down of ich, my bicolor angel, for instance, and have his tankmates unnafected, such as my yellow angel. When I first got my Koran, he had some ich, but it went away with feedings of spirulina.

-Lynden

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

O sry yellow tangs are pretty hardy in general, but not most others. I never knew that certain nutritious foods could get rid of ich. I wanted to just let mine die off though and remove all the potential hosts because sometimes, you can have some fish in your aquarium that kind of build up an immunity to the ich in the tank because sometimes small amounts can survive, but then if any new inhabitants enter, they get it easily. Or if one gets stressed, they can get it. A QT if you have room makes everything easier, but if you dont, let the new purchase live in the LFS for 2 weeks before you bring it home.

 

[romprod]

You can start with fish only with live rock and then turn it into a reef later no probs, you'll need to upgrad the lights and make sure the water is spot on, also you won tbe able to use copper based meds on your fish if you plan to turn it into a reef.

You do need to fill it with ro water or you;ll end up with severe algae problems.

You need to put the water in and get that to the right temp or salinity and then you can add your liverock, if your using live sand add this know to or if its just dead reef sand then you can add that whenever you want, you add live rock gradually but everytime you add live rock even if its cured you still get a slight cycle so best to wait atleast a couple of weeks after youve added the last of your rock before adding your first fish

OK thanks.

Also, what depth should i fill the tank with sand? I hear putting 'dead' sand in at the bottom and then add layre with live sand?

 

[maestro]

Phosphate and nitrate removers are expensive and the nitrate ones arent that effective, much easier to start of with ro water.

Theres also other things in tap water such as silicates and mayve even traces of copper from the copper pipes.

Sure some people have used tap water and a large percentage of these have problems, much easier to start of properly.

You do need to fill it with ro water or you;ll end up with severe algae problems.

I use dechlorinated tapwater and have never had any algae problems. You can even buy filter media that removes phosphates and nitrates.

Yeah making it a reef later would be better anyway because then the levels would be REALLY stable which is what corals need. About the copper, if you get ich [which hopefully you go the safe route by buying a quarantine tank and quarantining each new purchase for AT LEAST 2 weeks! Especially if you want ANY kind of tang, theyre ich magnets for some reason, but otherwise pretty hardy. You need to keep a close watch on each new fish{added 1 at a time} especially fins and make sure there are no white spots, or itching for 2 whole weeks.] You will probably end up putting all snails and hermits in a QT and treating the main tank with a copper treatment. So before adding any corals, make sure the copper level is 0 {copper is the treatment for ich} Copper is deadly to inverts.

Yes, copper is extremly deadly to inverts, as it is used to kill them (parasites).

Tangs are not very hardy, but they are not very difficult to keep. However, if you do not feed them for 24 hours, their liver will deteriorate, and they will die.

Using a quarantine tank is benefitial, but is in no way neccesary. I continuously feed my fish foods with spirulina. I can have a fish go down of ich, my bicolor angel, for instance, and have his tankmates unnafected, such as my yellow angel. When I first got my Koran, he had some ich, but it went away with feedings of spirulina.

-Lynden

You can start with fish only with live rock and then turn it into a reef later no probs, you'll need to upgrad the lights and make sure the water is spot on, also you won tbe able to use copper based meds on your fish if you plan to turn it into a reef.

You do need to fill it with ro water or you;ll end up with severe algae problems.

You need to put the water in and get that to the right temp or salinity and then you can add your liverock, if your using live sand add this know to or if its just dead reef sand then you can add that whenever you want, you add live rock gradually but everytime you add live rock even if its cured you still get a slight cycle so best to wait atleast a couple of weeks after youve added the last of your rock before adding your first fish

OK thanks.

Also, what depth should i fill the tank with sand? I hear putting 'dead' sand in at the bottom and then add layre with live sand?

You want a shallow sand bed, about 1 inch or so off sand, teh best thing to do is used dead reef sand and then get a cup of 2 of sand from a mature tank if you knwo someone or even from a fish shop and mix this in with the dead stuff

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Also the inhabitatns from your LR will help make your dead sand liven up. But there are also bags of live sand you can buy.

 

[romprod]

Just looking at getting a RO system from ebay atm. What do you guys thik to the following unit?

Ebay Link

 

[maestro]

all the people I know have bought there ro systems from http/ro-man.co.uk/ apparently they are very helpfull an dthe prices are good