New Member New Marine Aquarium

[robincushing]

hello all, my name is robin and im both new to this forum and new to marine aquariums.
I used to have a fresh water but regretted it straight away as always wanted marine.
now im starting my marine aquarium and i just have a few questions if i may.

i have a fluval 120 tank wich is about 25gl.
came with an internal filter but have just got an external neo 301.
i have put in the correl gravel, fake plants (which im not sure will stay there) a few ornaments and filled with water as directed on the red sea salt pacxkaging.
has been running for only 3 days so dont expect to be able to put anything in it for some time.

i need to get new lighting and have read so many different things about what to go.
can any one advise.

i would like to get a little live rock and have a fowlr (is that the correct term) tank. in otherwords fish, invers, live rock.

i got some fake plants that are suposed to glow under black or 50/50 lighting but i read these are not good for fish.

gosh i have so many questions i dont know where to start.
ill try here.


what lighting do i need to get for a fish and live rock tank?
any thing to look for in live rock?
what are the best fish to get as a starter to mature the tank?

also another question is since i put salt water in ther tank, i appear to have a constatnt drop down one corner from under the hood (which is above the water line).
is my tank leaking or is it just condensation?

thanks all and please be gentle with me, lol

 

[nmonks]

I'm not a major expert on marine fish, mostly writing about freshwater, but I do know a bit. And what I will say is this: you need to read a lot more before you spend your money. My concern is that your questions are very basic ones, and if you go into this branch of the hobby without even the most critical facts under your belt, you're going to lose a lot of money (as well as fish and invertebrates).

Everyone here will have their favourite book, but I can't fault Bob Fenners' "Conscientious Aquarist" as being one of the best step-by-step guides to marine fishkeeping. If spending the $40 on this book is something that daunts you, there's no way you're going to be able to afford the lighting and filtration needed for corals, anemones and the like. Likewise, essential hardware like skimmers and reverse-osmosis pumps will be out of your price range too. Bob Fenner does describe how you can build a basic marine tank on a limited budget using an undergravel filter, but this will limit (severely) the range of fish and especially invertebrates you can keep.

A "little" live rock is missing the point. A FOWLR system works because live rock dramatically improves water quality, way above what a canister or undergravel filter can do. But for that to work, you'll need about a pound or two of rock per gallon of water (about 6-12 kg per 50 litres). That'll be a serious investment; again, making the point that the $40 spent on a book is trivial compared to what you'll be spending later on.

The other thing about live rock is that it automatically matures your tank, if used correctly. It is essentially verboten these days to use fish to mature marine aquaria because of this. Black mollies are sometimes used, but the old approach of using a damselfish is deprecated because damselfish become a problem once they mature. They're highly territorial and quite waspish. Mollies can either be left in as algae control or removed, as you prefer. Good marine aquarium shops will "lend out" mollies if you need them.

Cheers, Neale

 

[robincushing]

hi there, yes i have done hours upon hours of research and i know its not cheap.
i just wanted advice from experts so as to follw the right stuff.

 

[nmonks]

OK. My advice: buy a book. Read it.

Once you've read your book, you'll know that lighting doesn't matter much for live rock, though obviously algae won't grow without it. So reasonably good lighting is useful. You'll also know that when shopping for live rock, you want rock that is fully cured and at least reasonably porous (the more porous, the more surface area for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria). You can save money buy curing rock at home, but it's messy and time consuming. Finally, you'd also learn that you won't cycle the filter with a fish, though you certainly should add fish if you've also added fully cured live rock in sufficient quantity (not one or two bits, but 1-2 lb per gallon!). Clownfish are popular for this because they're both hardy and safe in communities, unlike most damselfish.

Cheers, Neale

i just wanted advice from experts so as to follw the right stuff.

 

[lyotim88]

i suggest picking up "marine fishes" by scott w. michael. If your tank is going to be fowlr and it's only 25 gallons you're pretty limited to the fish you can get however. what are the dimensions of your tank?

 

[seffieuk]

hello all, my name is robin and im both new to this forum and new to marine aquariums.
I used to have a fresh water but regretted it straight away as always wanted marine.
now im starting my marine aquarium and i just have a few questions if i may.

to the salty side Robin

i have a fluval 120 tank wich is about 25gl.
came with an internal filter but have just got an external neo 301.
i have put in the correl gravel, fake plants (which im not sure will stay there) a few ornaments and filled with water as directed on the red sea salt pacxkaging.
has been running for only 3 days so dont expect to be able to put anything in it for some time.

Well, if it was me i would, take out the internal filter and not use an external. Take out the fake plants and ornaments

i need to get new lighting and have read so many different things about what to go.
can any one advise.

T5 s or T8 will be fine for a fowlr, with the T5 you could have some soft corals and even a few hard ones

i would like to get a little live rock and have a fowlr (is that the correct term) tank. in otherwords fish, invers, live rock.

You will need approx 1.5lbs per gallon and yes, fowlr is correct

i got some fake plants that are suposed to glow under black or 50/50 lighting but i read these are not good for fish.

Get rid of

gosh i have so many questions i dont know where to start.

Questions are good

ill try here.


what lighting do i need to get for a fish and live rock tank?

As above

any thing to look for in live rock?

try to get lr from an established tank with coraline already growing

what are the best fish to get as a starter to mature the tank?

What sort of fish do you like?

also another question is since i put salt water in ther tank, i appear to have a constatnt drop down one corner from under the hood (which is above the water line).
is my tank leaking or is it just condensation?


Not a leak, condensation I expect - salt water tanks always have a condensation problem, that is why we have to top up in between water changes

thanks all and please be gentle with me, lol

We are always gentle

Read lots of the journels and pinned articles, enjoy the planning and just take things nice and slow ask as many questions as you like and don't forget to add some pictures

Seffie x

 

[ben1987]

Get live rock. Use RO water. Buy some powerheads for flow. Cycle that tank properly.

Then as for lights. In a FOWLR it doesnt make a difference, in fact lower powered lighting is quite good as you get less aglage. Doing it this way will also give you the chance to upgrade a couple of bits later and have a reef

 

[robincushing]

hi seffieuk, thank you, your answers are great. pictures ill add one now.

hi lyotim88, the tank is 80cm long, 35cm wide and 42.5cm high.

View attachment 55526

i plan to get rid if the bogwood (which was from my old freshwater tank.
i also want to get rid of the two pink ricks at the front, cant remember what they are called.
i quite like the little blue fake coral at the front so that will stay there till i get some real ones. but will probably get rid of the rest.

i cant wait to get some live rock in there.
this excite me almost as much as getting fish.
i do quite like the ruins and the plastic rock effect ornament on the right, just got those and they offer plenty of hiding places.

anyone else got any other sugestions i would greatly apreciate them thanks.

 

[robincushing]

also must note, the cloudyness cleared today, and i have a lovely brown algae bloom all over the bogwood and sand, and also coming out of the filter pipe at the top. this i guess will clear when things settle down.
and no matter how much time i spent leveling it all off before filling, the tank still has an annoying slight slant to the left. arggg

 

[bronzecat]

Hi and welcome

I would remove all the ornaments tbh. You're going to need the space for live rock anyway. So, i would personally - remove the things, get a couple of pumps/blowers like the koralia or Seio, and then get the LR in. Have the pumps blasting at the LR

You are going to need some testing gear if you haven't already got it. You need to be able to test - Salinity (a refractometer is best), ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, Phosphates, magnesium, calcium, Ph.

i may be wrong, but with the external filter i believe you can have LR rubble in it instead of the pads to increase the biological filteration. I will let someone else answer though cus i'm relatively new

Best of luck

P.S. I think the bog wood will mess the ph about.

 

[mutantbigman2000]

Welcome to the salty side.

Get that bogwood out of there and start scouting the classifieds and auction sites for live rock. Please don't pay shop price.

Seffie this is for you - i love the way you lay out the answers within the quote but the colour you use make it hard for me to read on my monitor. If you could use a lighter/more contrasting colour my ageing eyes would be grateful.

 

[robincushing]

does anyone have any ideas about the leak, drip i mentioned?
it is coming from right up under the factory sealed hood older, not sure if you can see from the pic.
top left corner.
its a constant drip, but the water line itself is below this.
i have noticed the tank does get a lot more moiture on the hood that it used to with fresh water so im guessing its just condensation.
is there any way i can stop this as it is getting increasingly annoying to have a salt water trail down the outside of the tank every morning.

when i take everything out for the live riock i think i will also get some more buckets, take out the water and re-level the tank as it appears to have sunk on the left side. this may also fix the leak maybe.

 

[nmonks]

Tanks do get leaky with age. It's nothing to do with one end being slightly lower than the other.

You can fix leaks, but than involves removing all the sealant from that side of the tank, and then sealing it up again. It's a chore, and has to be done with the tank empty (obviously) and preferably outdoors or in a shed so you can put water in the thing after the silicone has cured and see (safely) if it is working. Re-sealing a leaky tank is an incredibly fiddly job to do properly, though anyone can do a bad job. Because you will likely get it wrong the first couple times, its not really a job you can do indoors (unless you want water everywhere).

This said: why bother? If the tank is leaking, buy a new one. I cannot stress this point strongly enough: better replace an inexpensive tank NOW, than wait a few months and do it when the thing is filled with hundreds of pounds worth of livestock. A marine aquarium costs several hundred pounds to set up, and easily a couple of hundred to maintain each year. Spending a few tens of pounds on a new glass box is trivial.

Cheers, Neale

does anyone have any ideas about the leak, drip i mentioned?

 

[robincushing]

i couldnt agree more, thinking about it, it may still be under guarantee, ill have to check that out. thanks
though i still cant understand how it is leaking from the top above the actual water line.
strange one this

 

[Kizz]

Sorry to but it but it's regarding the "leak"...Have you checked your floor is level ? I've got the exact same problem thought tank was leakin slowly when i set it up then discovered that my floor isn't actually level you can put a marble on my floor and it will roll ...I can touch the ceiling at my window but can't reach it over the other side of the room!

Just thought you should check the floors before you go forking out for a new tank !