Marine Or Freshwater

[Melskt]

Hi all,
I've just been given a new aqua one 900 marine tank, now my problem is I'd rather keep discus or other cichlids in it once I persuade the wife and kids lol if I win could I keep the filter and lights as it is? Like the idea of marine fish but not expense and time I haven't got to maintain one, so is it worth using the filter that has comes with it or selling it and getting one for freshwater or is there no difference. thanks in advance for your advise

 

[KkAaNnEe]

What sort of filter is it, i thought it was normally skimmers used and the filter is the rock.

Unless its a sump in which case you coild use it like an external filter

The lighting might cause some algae issues to be honest, would again depend on what bulbs and how many. What size is the tank?

 

[Melskt]

What sort of filter is it, i thought it was normally skimmers used and the filter is the rock.

Unless its a sump in which case you coild use it like an external filter

The lighting might cause some algae issues to be honest, would again depend on what bulbs and how many. What size is the tank?

It's a MariSys 240 filter system
The overflow skimmer removes organic waste from the water surface improving the gaseous exchange through the atmosphee, resulting in better oxygenated water.

Once you have filled the priming venturi with water for the first time the peristaltic pump will restart the system automatically after any power cut

Combines the convience of a cannister filter with the effectivness of a wet/dryfilter.

separte filter baskets allow for individual media set up to your preference

Simple media access through the media filter lid

176lt plus 4.5lt in the filter sump

Could change the lamps

Looking to keep discus mainly

Thanks

 

[onidrase]

Looking to keep discus mainly

Thanks

Discus aren't all too easy to maintain correctly either. Though they can do okay weekly 20%-50% water changes, from what I've seen on the forums, they do a lot better with 20%-50% every other day water changes instead. They're pretty fragile and sensitive to poor water conditions and bad husbandry, and tend to be sensitive to hard water, which means a lot of discus keepers need a reverse osmosis system for part of their water changes. Live plants are also highly recommended to keep nitrate low, as well as real driftwood to help keep the water a tad softer and replicate natural environments.

Just throwing it in there before you jump from one relatively expensive and time consuming tank type to another pretty equally expensive and time consuming one.

 

[KkAaNnEe]

In all honesty discus would not be appropriate due to the tank size, its just a bit on the small side for discus who like to kept in groups.

I think your filter would be ok but no need to run the skimmer. With the media baskets you could put some new sponges or whatever your preference would be inside.

What other cichlids were you interested in?

 

[Melskt]

Oscars new world or african really. Not planning to keep live plants in it just rocks. Thanks for your advise been along time since I kept fish in a tank, got a 8000lt pond with koi now there messy. I'm winning the battle so far with the wife and kids for a freshwater set up as long as the fish I get are nice and colourful to look at that's why I said discus, they would much prefer marine but I'm the one that's going to have look after it. Our water isn't very hard here plus we have access to a water softener. Thanks again for any advice.

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Oscars would be out of the question really, they grow too big. At about a foot im sure you could understand it would be a big push.

New world cichlids i personallly think would be best for you. Maybe a pair of blue rams/electric blues, a pair of apistogrammas, a schoal of something like cardinal tetras or rummynose tetras, some cories and you would still have space for a centerpiece fish or a few more - depending on what you like the look of. Rams, apistos and tetras are really nice looking and colourful

African cichlids would take a lot of efffort if you have soft water, as they like hard water, you would need to buffer it, also you would need really more like 250L for a nice african setup as once you place all those rocks in, you lose even more volume.

Glad your finally getting your way! Lol but yes marine is pretty and colourful bit also time, money and patience consuming in comparison to freshwater.

Ps dont be scared of live plants, plenty of help available here and your fish would appreciate it

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Looking to keep discus mainly

Thanks

Discus aren't all too easy to maintain correctly either. Though they can do okay weekly 20%-50% water changes, from what I've seen on the forums, they do a lot better with 20%-50% every other day water changes instead. They're pretty fragile and sensitive to poor water conditions and bad husbandry, and tend to be sensitive to hard water, which means a lot of discus keepers need a reverse osmosis system for part of their water changes. Live plants are also highly recommended to keep nitrate low, as well as real driftwood to help keep the water a tad softer and replicate natural environments.

Just throwing it in there before you jump from one relatively expensive and time consuming tank type to another pretty equally expensive and time consuming one.

Not sure of your experince with discus but the above is not correct of modern day keeping. Discus now and very hardy compared to when they came into the hobby and people didt know know laot about them. Keeping discus is very simple and not hard at all. The books that are written about their care are old and go back when they died if you looked at them wrong lol. Pop on to the discus forum you will see the challange of discus is keeping the water A1 the fish will do look after themselfs. Dont be scared of discus there great fish

 

[Melskt]

Oscars would be out of the question really, they grow too big. At about a foot im sure you could understand it would be a big push.

New world cichlids i personallly think would be best for you. Maybe a pair of blue rams/electric blues, a pair of apistogrammas, a schoal of something like cardinal tetras or rummynose tetras, some cories and you would still have space for a centerpiece fish or a few more - depending on what you like the look of. Rams, apistos and tetras are really nice looking and colourful

African cichlids would take a lot of efffort if you have soft water, as they like hard water, you would need to buffer it, also you would need really more like 250L for a nice african setup as once you place all those rocks in, you lose even more volume.

Glad your finally getting your way! Lol but yes marine is pretty and colourful bit also time, money and patience consuming in comparison to freshwater.

Ps dont be scared of live plants, plenty of help available here and your fish would appreciate it

Thanks for your advice, I can by pass our water softener. What would u suggest as a centre piece? So I can just lose the skimmer and change the lamps that right?
.

 

[KkAaNnEe]

You would need to check your PH with and without the water softener - new world cichlids will love the soft water, new worlds would like something around 6.5ph

I think angelfish mix well with the other species i mentioned and I have successfully kept them all together. Maybe others could advise on some other suitable fish


Do you know what bulbs they are? It might say it on them...

Whats in the filter right now? Could you describe it?

 

[Melskt]

Looking to keep discus mainly

Thanks

Discus aren't all too easy to maintain correctly either. Though they can do okay weekly 20%-50% water changes, from what I've seen on the forums, they do a lot better with 20%-50% every other day water changes instead. They're pretty fragile and sensitive to poor water conditions and bad husbandry, and tend to be sensitive to hard water, which means a lot of discus keepers need a reverse osmosis system for part of their water changes. Live plants are also highly recommended to keep nitrate low, as well as real driftwood to help keep the water a tad softer and replicate natural environments.

Just throwing it in there before you jump from one relatively expensive and time consuming tank type to another pretty equally expensive and time consuming one.

Not sure of your experince with discus but the above is not correct of modern day keeping. Discus now and very hardy compared to when they came into the hobby and people didt know know laot about them. Keeping discus is very simple and not hard at all. The books that are written about their care are old and go back when they died if you looked at them wrong lol. Pop on to the discus forum you will see the challange of discus is keeping the water A1 the fish will do look after themselfs. Dont be scared of discus there great fish

Thanks for your advice, what would I need to change on the tank/filter if i decided discus. tank size 90cm x 40cm x 58cm 176lt


the MariSys 240 Pro Series 2. Exciting new features on this model now
include a slimmer profile grey self priming weir box without the need of a
peristaltic pump. The skimmer has also been upgraded to a more
efficient and powerful pump driven protein skimmer. The MariSys Pro
Series 2 is a universal full marine filtration system, allowing fish keepers
progress into the magical world of marine fish keeping, with the weir
box hanging over the back of the aquarium and sump and skimmer
situated in the aquarium cabinet.

New slimmer, self priming universal fit weir box in smoked grey finish
New pump powered protein skimmer
All filter media including Poly & coarse pads, bio balls, ceramic
rings & sintered glass in individual chambers
Universal fit surface skimmer hang-on weir box

The AquaMarine 900 is essentially a larger version of the extremely popular AquaStart.
It has been specially modified to accommodate the unique MariSys 240, an all-in-one
filtration system for seawater aquaria. The specialist cabinet is extremely well ventilated
and has multiple outlets to accommodate not only the MariSys, but also a Chiller if
required. Apart from excellent filtration performance, the surface skimmer with return flow
module is self priming due to the integrated peristaltic pump, thus ensuring that if power
is lost the filter does not overflow and will automatically restart when power is restored.

 http/www.aquaone.co.uk/aquamarine_900.php


 

 

[Melskt]

You would need to check your PH with and without the water softener - new world cichlids will love the soft water, new worlds would like something around 6.5ph

I think angelfish mix well with the other species i mentioned and I have successfully kept them all together. Maybe others could advise on some other suitable fish


Do you know what bulbs they are? It might say it on them...

Whats in the filter right now? Could you describe it?

the MariSys 240 Pro Series 2. Exciting new features on this model now
include a slimmer profile grey self priming weir box without the need of a
peristaltic pump. The skimmer has also been upgraded to a more
efficient and powerful pump driven protein skimmer. The MariSys Pro
Series 2 is a universal full marine filtration system, allowing fish keepers
progress into the magical world of marine fish keeping, with the weir
box hanging over the back of the aquarium and sump and skimmer
situated in the aquarium cabinet.

New slimmer, self priming universal fit weir box in smoked grey finish
New pump powered protein skimmer
All filter media including Poly & coarse pads, bio balls, ceramic
rings & sintered glass in individual chambers
Universal fit surface skimmer hang-on weir box

Lamps are 2 x 36w pl
2 x 24w pl
Marine blue and sunlight

Thanks

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Yes keep all the filter media, but i would remove the bio balls as im not really a fan of them, they get dirty and clogged up. Put some sponge in to replace

Are the bulbs labelled possibly T5 or T8? I would at least swap out the blue and get another day/sunlight

You would prob only need the 2 36w, it might be too mich light, depending on if its t5 or t8 etc

 

[Melskt]

Keep the protein skimmer or not? T5 lamps. Thanks for your help. Just need for the wife to decide what fish she likes the look of. She likes yellow labs, tetras and discus but isn't keen on angel fish.

 

[gregswimm]

For a well stocked African great lake tank, the protein skimmer would be great to have and a calcium reactor might be useful. If you have the tank and sump I would say use it also for fresh. I think that most people who do fresh water over salt is mostly cost(this is not always true as there are plenty of very expensive freshwater tanks).

So ya keep the skimmer and lamps!