New Tank

[Simmo1]

Hello all

I have just inherited a huge 545L tank (150cmx65cmx50)!!!!! I have kept tropical fish for a while now and im planning turning this tank into a marine tank.

The wife is on side and has spent the evening looking at fish with me. I only let her list the fish that sad 'easy' reef compatable' and peaceful. This is the list that we came up with:

Blue Tang
Coral Beauty
Comman Clowns
Purple Fire Fish
Green Mandarin Fish x3
Randalls shrimp goby
Exsquisite wrasse
Fillamented flasher wrasse
Cleaner wrasse

Are all these fish OK for a begineer and suitible for a reef set up. I am not planing on buyin all the fish at once!!!! he he
Which fish would you add first?

I will post pictures once i get the ball rolling. I will start a new thread as it will be a couple of months before it all comes together.

Any other fish that would be good?
How big should the CUC be for a 545L tank? (Trying to work out cost)

Thankyou all

Simmo

 

[AK77]

545 Litre tank!! You lucky bugger lol.

The common clownfish are very simple fish to keep (ocellaris) and would suggest this to be your first fish once the tank is ready for livestock.

The blue tangs are easy too, but are very prone to whitespot (both mine have it at the moment)

The green Mandarin, so I have been told, can be very difficult to keep, so personally I'd leave that one off the list for now and research it fully.

The cleaner wrasse is another I would strike from the list as these can be extremely difficult to keep. This is largely due to the fact that in the wild they feed on parasites on other fish. In the aquarium this food source is (hopefully) non existent. Cleaner Wrasse link

Chromis are another hardy fish, with lovely blue/green colouration. Blue Damsels are another one I would recommend.

With a tank that size, I'd probably go with ocean/sea rock to form the insides of any rock formations, with live rock on the surface, otherwise you'll be spending an absolute fortune filling that baby up!! In time the bacteria will spread to the pourous dead rocks anyway.

Clean up crew - about 1 snail for every 8-12 litres (2-3 US gallons) and about the same for hermit crabs too. A good mix of Cerith, Astrea, Tronchus, etc, will be good. Same with the hermit crabs, although if you are planning on corals etc, you may be better off with the mexican red legs as they are regarded by many to be the best and safest. www.garf.org recommends them highly if I remember correctly. Peppermint shrimps, skunk cleaner shrimps, fire shirmps. I've seen some good deals on CUC's on ebay so have a look on there and shop around.

HTH

AK

 

[Simmo1]

Here is a picture of my new tank!!!!!!!




Want to build a sump for it any idea's?

 

[AK77]

Oooh a Rena!! Very nice. Lovely looking tanks And you were given it? Jammy git lol!!

As for a sump, personally, I'd have 3 seperate ones all interlinked. The first section can be placed in the right hand cupboard and contain the inlet and the protein skimmer. The middle section, which would be visible, could house the refugium. This could be made into a really nice feature, containing red and green macro algaes and live sand. You'll probably need to remove the middle shelf to do this and replace wit the a glass panel, above which you can fit some lighting for the algaes. The left hand cupboard could contain the return pump section in which you could house the heater etc.

Are you planning on getting the tank drilled or using a weir?

AK

 

[Simmo1]

Not sure I would have to get advice on both. I was thinking of drilling and using a syphon (is that what you mean). What is a weir?
Time not an issue so i can afford to do it bit by bit every month, want to get it right (FIRST TIME). Even if it costs a little!!

Cheers Simmo

 

[AK77]

Hi Simmo,

The weir/overflow box hangs on the back of the tank and once primed, syphons off the water as the level rises. It basically removes the need to have the tank drilled.

AK

Link here

 

[knigec28]

i'm by no means an expert and it sounds like ak77 knows a more about it than i do, but from what i understand clowns can become territorial as they mature, additionally all but the percula clowns ("fake clowns") are rather difficult to pair. so they might become snappy with your less aggressive fish...however, this is based on the little that i know about clowns...i know that not all clowns are the same, but i just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. Thx

 

[Simmo1]

If you have a weir and you have a power cut or return pump failure would you not end up with a big puddle, or is their a system in place to stop it syphoning. The weir sounds a good idea if so.

Cheers

 

[Simmo1]

If you have a weir and you have a power cut or return pump failure would you not end up with a big puddle, or is their a system in place to stop it syphoning. The weir sounds a good idea if so.

Cheers

Sorry AK if I had read you link i would have answered my own Question!!!!

 

[AK77]

Hi Simmo,

If designed and set up correctly, then no, it won't flood your floor. You have to allow enough space for the water in the inlet and return tubes to backflow in the event of a power outage. The real danger is in the weir. If its self made and the design doesn't allow for it to remain primed in the event of a power outage, when the power comes back on, the pump in the sump will pump the water in the sump into the tank and the weir won't drain it.. the tank will then overflow

HTH

AK

lol ah you posted again before I replied... but yeah its in that link. The site is really good and shows different designs and adaptations of the basic concepts. There is another good link on http/www.dursostandpipes.com/ on the use of durso's and how to modify them to reduce the slurping noise of the water going down the tubes. Happy reading

 

[Simmo1]

That would be a very wet day!!!!

How difficult is it to drill a tank? What would you use tube or a corner bit siliconed in?

cheers AK

 

[AK77]

I've never drilled one myself, so can't speak from experience. You can get them drilled professionally, then the onus is on them if they crack the glass, but this can run to a few quid. I have read of ceramic tile drills being used drill the tanks with little difficulty, requiring one person to hold the template and drill and the other to pour water on to keep the cutting bit cool.

The drills are more like hole saws, with diamond cutting edges. I think they are about £30 on ebay for the ones that are recommended. Normally the backs are drilled, although I have seen tanks with an internal weir and bottom drilled. The drilled backs are probably better for safety/access reasons. An internal weir with the bottom drilled could be an bit of a nightmare to access and clear any blockage that may occur.

Definitely something to take your time over and plan down to the last detail. As my dad used to say, "measure twice, cut once".

AK

 

[Ehudd]

Hey dude.
For a 500L tank if u pack that with liverock you can keep mandarins. They are actually quit hardy if they can eat readily. They should go in last and at the same time. I would suggest only 2, Male and Female. Males have a MUCH longer dorsal than the females. If your lucky they wil pair and its amazing to watch them dance up and down the tank. I have paired and bred 2 in a 20gal, i would deffinately not recommend it, but they are not as weak and fragile as people say. And if you wake up one morning and they are covered in spots or what ever, dont react straight away cos they are sticky little fish, mine woke up covered in detritis alot

Loads of care sheets around.

Sorry back to your tank drilling!!!

 

[SkiFletch]

Wow lots of good ideas here . Simmo, I'd also suggest going to melevsreef.com to help learn some concepts about sumps. Melev does all his stuff out of acrylic but you don't have to at all.

I too will reccomend using a 3-tank sump system here just like AK mentioned. You've been asking about drilling and no sweat, drilling is actually really easy. You just get a holesaw designed for glass (they're basically industrial diamond-studded abrasives), go slow with it, and don't push. You just let the holesaw do all the work and it'll slowly bite through the glass. Use water to keep the bit cool and clean. Its really quite easy.

As for protecting against wet-floors this is pretty simple once you get your head around the concepts. You basically have to protect the drain side and the return side from back siphon. When the sump is running the drain side is protected by the internal box/weir that you setup and the height of the durso standpipe. When running, the water level in the display tank will be slightly over the internal box. If there's a powercut, the pump stops pushing water up and the drain will empty that last volume of water until the level in the display tank gets to the level of the box. Then it stops overflowing over the top of the box and stops draining. The second-level of protection is the height of the durso standpipe. So if the box leaks/fails, water will only drain to the height of the durso, which if designed properly is only an inch or two below the top of the box.

On the return (pump) side of things you also have to protect against back-siphon. This is done two ways. First, with a check-valve. A check valve only lets water flow in one direction, if it tries to go the wrong way (back into the sump), the check-valve stops it. As a second level of protection, keep the return pipes near the surface of the tank and drill small holes in the pipes just under the waterline (at least two on opposite sides in case a snail crawls over one). That way if a powercut does happen and the check-valve malfunctions, the holes will encounter air as the display tank drains and break siphon.

Once those means of protection are in place you just make sure your final tank has enough volume to take up the extra in the display tank that comes down and you're all set.