Looking To Turn Salty

[hanny93]

Now just to put everyones minds in the right place, im looking at in the distant future, e.g. 6 months to a year before ill have the tank alone.

I've just got a new job that pays pretty well, and with living at home etc it looks like I'll be able to support a marine system (YAY!)

I love marines, but I have a 64litre at the moment, and I know nano's are for the experienced marines only!

I've been reading through the resource thread, but I cant find a definitive list of equipment and the right way to go about setting one up.
I know I want a fairly large one (i.e at least 300 litre), with a sump, and FOWLR for now, although maybe some corals once everything has settled down, i do love some peoples zoas on here!!

I'll give a list of all the fish I like from the resource pages:
Niger Triggerfish
Firefish
Valentini Pufferfish
Tomato Clownfish.
Bangaii Cardinalfish
Lemonpeel angelfish
Bicolor Angelfish

Now I know these probably all hate each other and would make my tank implode, but I was just giving an idea of what I like

I also want cleaner shrimp and a good CUC.

I was just wondering if someone can give me a sort of newbies step by step on how to research, prepare and plan for setting up a new marine setup, including what equipment to get, good brands, general price ranges and where to get good deals Of course I know that tank breakdowns are the best but there doesnt seem to be many near me

Any help would be great, thankyou

 

[dayzofspeed]

welcome to the forum, my advice is, take your time, ask lots of questions about anything and everything and a good place to start researching is on here in the journal sections and t'internet. i spent many months just reading up before i ever took the plunge and even after 2 months i'm still at the early stage no livestock yet. but with the limited knowledge i have of the fish i would suspect that stock list maybe a no no.......esp the bangaii......boring buggers they are

 

[weezawoo]

You have to be careful with puffers I think they have specific requirements and some eat corals.

Bangaiis are an ok looking fish but as said they can be quite boring and just hang there in the tank. Hence why I wont be having one!

I would say a start up list would be:

Tank + stand
Lights - T5 should be good enough
Powerheads about 20x turnover in the tank at least
2 x Heaters in case one fails
Thermometer
Refractometer to measure the SG salinity of the water - ideally 1.025
RO unit for making your RO water (or buy from the lfs)
TDS meter to check the Total Dissolved Solids of any RO water before adding:
Salt - good make is Red Sea coral pro
Sand - dont buy live just get something like coral sand
Live Rock (LR) can be expensive from lfs
Return pump for the sump
Skimmer - optional but a good addition
Test kits - most recomend salifert

Also have a spare bucket, heater and powerhead for mixing salt.

I knew you would want to join us sooner or later haha

Oh and ZOAS RULE!!!!!

 

[weezawoo]

OH just to add, the Niger is a lovely fish but again will eat corals and the guy I got my LR from had one that ate his entire CUC.

Firefish
Tomato Clownfish.
Bangaii Cardinalfish
Lemonpeel angelfish
Bicolor Angelfish

They should be ok to my knowledge.

A good resource is everyones journals, full of great info from problems they have faced and from their setup start! May take a while to read them though haha

 

[hanny93]

looks like bangaii are out then! Haha as I said, all I did was look through the resource centre and choose which ones I liked
This is why I'm starting researching and saving this long before i even start seriously starting!

Thanks for that list weez, I already have two large (25L) buckets, salifert test kits for amm, nitrite, nitrate and ph, what else do i need? phospahte, calcium and magnesium at a guess?

With heaters am i still okay to use external heaters like hydor or am i better off with submerged ones in the sump?

Ive heard about buying normal coral sand and letting it seed by itself, and i know it can be expensive from lfs, id rather not buy it from my lfs anyway, i dont like their marine bit.

I've been sneaking around on the marine bits for a good couple of months, the tanks look amazing it just looks so interesting, and my OH prefers marines because theyre more colourful, he wants a psychedelic blenny or soemthing like that, i said no instantly after reading what PITA's they are to feed etc!


And zoas totally rule, theyre so colourful and pretty and strange looking!

Thanks for the help so far

Ps ive read pretty much every journal on here, some multiple times, i think thats why i want my own

 

[weezawoo]

I am more than happy to help

Yeh some fish can be annoying to feed like mandarins but the benfits from putting in the effort to feed them are a beautiful looking fish. When I heard about what people do to feed their mandy's I thought nah I wont want one. Until I saw one in my lfs and they are lovely!

The sand will seed itself from the LR. My bag of sand was 25kg and something under £25 for it. I only used half a bag. Will use the other half most likely for a DSB - deep sand bed - in the sump.

I had a thread on what fish to have in my tank and I changed my mind so often. I used a website and just flicked through fish that I liked and then researched (or aske Lewiss haha) whether they were any good or not.

A goby and pistol shrimp are a good pair to look at for the tank. Interesting to watch if you check youtube.

The easiest thing is to maybe treat yourself to one thing you need a month. Not even the tank first, but make sure if you buy equipment (if you wait for bargains) that you get stuff that will be powerful enough for the tank you buy in the end.

I'm not sure on heaters as I have never used an external heater.

Yup those are other good tests but not really essential until you have corals where those levels become more important.

Marine is lovely. I do love my planted tank too but the colours in a marine tank are fantastic, a larger range and also I love that on every inch of surface in the tank you can find something alive! You can't get that much diversity in freshwater tanks! Also none of this 'oh those fish you need at least 10 of' so you can have lots of different fish.

Im sure fishy will be along to defend the bangaii sooner or later

 

[ALW]

I'll give a list of all the fish I like from the resource pages:
Niger Triggerfish
Firefish
Valentini Pufferfish
Tomato Clownfish.
Bangaii Cardinalfish
Lemonpeel angelfish
Bicolor Angelfish

Now I know these probably all hate each other and would make my tank implode, but I was just giving an idea of what I like

I also want cleaner shrimp and a good CUC.

Niger = Can be kept in a reef aquarium, but liklyhood is that it will nip at coral and inverts. Can be kept with cleaner shrimp. The shrimp must be added first. A better option would be a Blue Throat (Xanthichthys auromarginatus. Mimimum tank size 75g
Firefish = Reef safe. Aquarium must be covered as these fish will jump out. Min tank 20g
Valentini = Same as the trigger, min tank 20g
Tomato Clowns = Reef safe, min tank 30g
Banggai = Reef safe, min tank 20g
Lemonpeel = Not reef safe, min tank 20g
Bicolor = Can be kept in a reef tank but add with caution. Min tank size 50g

All in all looks like a good stocking for a 300l tank. Everyone should get along with each other.

 

[hanny93]

Yay, glad someone likes to help
I was thinking about doing that, and then at least if it all falls through, i can just sell it all again. might have to start a journal!!

ive seen goby/shrimp pairs, not sure about them tbh.

and andy, thankyou

 

[weezawoo]

A journal is a great idea!

 

[dayzofspeed]

A journal is a great idea!

and a torch with a red winegum

 

[weezawoo]

I dont know where that is anymore

 

[dayzofspeed]

i thought you ate it

 

[weezawoo]

The torch haha

 

[fishy55599]

youve turned her against bangiis already, got excited when i saw another bangii lover

 

[hanny93]

Haha fishy I'm not turned against them completely, theyre on my yellow list in excel

Why do you like them so much?

Also do you guys think i should start a proper journal? Should be able to start buying stuffystuffs next month so I need advice on what to buy etcetc