New Tank

[Wordy]

Hi all.

Been out today and purchased my new reef tank, it's a Interpet River Reef 94, it's got the T5's and LED for moonlight in the hood a three stage filter built into the filter chamber at the back. Basically I was told it had everything I needed to set up a nano reef. The tank didn't come with a protein skimmer, are they essential for nano marine tanks?

I plan on using live rock as the main filteration method, but also to use the filtration that came with the tank aswell, this wouldn't cause a problem would it?

When it's fully up and running I'll be adding around 11kg of live rock, live sand some sails for the clean up crew. The fish I plan on keeping will probably be 2 seahorses, a mandarin dragonet and firefish or two. Probably a few corals aswell.

I'm assuming the cycling process will be pretty short as the live rock they sell is fully cured kept in a huge tank that is stocked up with fish.

I'm happy with the tank as they've got one on diplay at the LFS and it looks the picture of health.

Thanks for reading

 

[seffieuk]

Hi all.

Been out today and purchased my new reef tank, it's a Interpet River Reef 48, it's got the T5's and LED for moonlight in the hood a three stage filter built into the filter chamber at the back. Basically I was told it had everything I needed to set up a nano reef. The tank didn't come with a protein skimmer, are they essential for nano marine tanks?

Ah ha, my colleague BigRents has just bought one of those - is it the 96 litre version?

I plan on using live rock as the main filteration method, but also to use the filtration that came with the tank aswell, this wouldn't cause a problem would it?

Take out any bio balls etc and replace with LR rubble

When it's fully up and running I'll be adding around 11kg of live rock,

Yep, sounds good - might want to get slightly more

live sand

Don't buy live sand - its a rip off - just get aragonite sand

some sails for the clean up crew.



The fish I plan on keeping will probably be 2 seahorses, a mandarin dragonet and firefish or two.

Hold on ---- the marine rule is approx one inch of mature fish for every two gallons. Forget the Mandy unless you can get a juvie, tank bred one and you have a copepod culture going. You can have one firefish - seahorses require a specialist tank - go take a look t kelwo's thread in the Journel section

Probably a few corals aswell.

Oh indeed

I'm assuming the cycling process will be pretty short as the live rock they sell is fully cured kept in a huge tank that is stocked up with fish.

Never assume anything in this game, keep testing, it's the only way to be sure

I'm happy with the tank as they've got one on diplay at the LFS and it looks the picture of health.

Thanks for reading

No problem and to the salty side - remember, the only stupid question is the one not asked

Seffie x

 

[SkiFletch]

to the salty side Wordy. Sounds like you're off to a decent start acquiring a decent tank. I hate to be a party pooper here on your first thread, but you're gonna need to do a little more research on compatibility. Mandarin Dragonets are not really suitable for a tank as small as this. Their diet in the wild is copepods and similar microfauna. In captivity they RARELY accept frozen foods and will quickly over-predate all their natural food, killing the source, and ultimately starving. To live naturally they usually need a minimum tank size of ~90-100gallons. ~10 is far too small . Also, seahorses are not really compatible with most other fish. While they do accept frozen foods in captivity, they are VERY timid feeders, and will easily be scared away by more boisterous fish during feeding time. Even a mostly calm firefish is probably too active at feeding time for a seahorse.

Good luck with your decisions and keep asking questions, we're all here to help

 

[bagu]

hey seff

its the 48L, interpet River Reef 94 is 94Litres

 

[Wordy]

My mistake, it's the river reef 94

 

[Wordy]

Thanks for the replies ladies and gents.

I've been doing a bit of reading up and going by this site <a href="http/www.seahorse.org/library/articles/t...tankmates.shtml" target="_blank">http/www.seahorse.org/library/articles/t...tankmates.shtml</a> the choices I've made seem to be ok.

Agreed about testing, I'm paranoid about the water quality of my tropical planted tank so I'm assuming this tank won't be any different

The Dragonet I'll be aquiring it probably only just a juvie, the ones they have for sale are absolutley tiny. I was asking about stocking my tank at the shop and I didn't get the impression they were just trying to offload stock, I'd asked about cardinals and gobies to go with the seahorses and was told...bad idea, and they wouldn't sell them if they were to go in a seahorse tank.

So what about a protein skimmer, is it worth it getting one for my tank?

 

[rabbut]

Then they should have told you that the manderin was a bad idea and they wouldn't sell you it. They have appalling success rates in captivity, even as juvenile tank bred fish. Even when eating frozen food they almost always end up starving to death

Seahorses are a species only thing unfortunately, so you have a choice to make The shop would also refuse to sell these to a tank containing fish if they knew what they were doing or genuinely cared about their stock once through the door

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Wordy]

They haven't sold me a tank containing fish, I've bought the tank and stand, nothing else, not even live rock. I bought the tank because they were having a sale so I saved myself some money. I've gotta decorate the room before I set the tank up. I'm using the time from now until I buy my 1st fishes to do as much cramming as possible.

 

[-Nemo-]

Agree with the others here.

However a small goby, such as a greenbanded, may be ok with the seahorses or do others disagree?

 

[SkiFletch]

I'm using the time from now until I buy my 1st fishes to do as much cramming as possible.

Now I like that strategy

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Welcome to the salty side

I didn't see an answer to your skimmer question so no it is not needed but it would be a lot, lot better if you had one.

Any dragonet will die in this tank, I tried keeping one (which did eat frozen food) in a 130L tank and it still almost starved to death (he is now in someone else tank which has about 60kg of LR and is doing fine again). They really are not suitable for any tank that doesnt have a large amount of LR and a massive, mature, population of 'pods.

I would really recommend going for a species only tank if you want seahorses. They really wont be able to compete with pretty much any fish for food and they can be difficult enough to keep at the best of times.

As this is your first marine tank I would actually recommend going for a couple of fish to begin with. These will be easier to keep than seahorses and will give you some experience with keeping the tank stable (which is very important with seahorses) as well as giving the tank time to mature. Then is maybe 6 months time you can sell the fish and replace them with seahorses.

 

[Wordy]

Welcome to the salty side

I didn't see an answer to your skimmer question so no it is not needed but it would be a lot, lot better if you had one.

Any dragonet will die in this tank, I tried keeping one (which did eat frozen food) in a 130L tank and it still almost starved to death (he is now in someone else tank which has about 60kg of LR and is doing fine again). They really are not suitable for any tank that doesnt have a large amount of LR and a massive, mature, population of 'pods.

I would really recommend going for a species only tank if you want seahorses. They really wont be able to compete with pretty much any fish for food and they can be difficult enough to keep at the best of times.

As this is your first marine tank I would actually recommend going for a couple of fish to begin with. These will be easier to keep than seahorses and will give you some experience with keeping the tank stable (which is very important with seahorses) as well as giving the tank time to mature. Then is maybe 6 months time you can sell the fish and replace them with seahorses.

Thanks,

The more I'm reading the more I'm leaning away from getting Seahorses to start with(maybe a future project I think) I've been reading up about Dragonets, you can buy Copepod kits. Some more reading is in order I thnk.

Ok so if I was to postpone the Seahorse tank, and went with Fishes would the following be compaible. 2 Clownfish, 1 firefish & 1 Banggai Cardinalfish?

Could anyone recomend a good skimmer for a nano tank pleaese?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Yeah I would say that fish list would be fine for this tank (though some would argue it is over stocked).

I have a V2 120 nano skimmer which does the job really well but it can be a pain to get adjusted just right and it also chucks out a lot of micro bubbles (not ideal when its in the main display tank).

The Deltec MCE 300 is supposed to be very good. The added advantage is that is that the deltec one is a hang on the back skimmer so you dont have to have the whole thing in the tank taking up space.

 

[rabbut]

I agree with Barney, that stocking should be fine for the tank size, and dragonettes can be a royal pain. Copepod cultures can work in smaller tanks to support them, I've recently been forced to set one up after a certain well know LFS worker at a local LFS told me a pink scooter blenny (AKA pick scooter Dragonette) was an algea eater Still, that will teach me to research over taking his word for it next time...

I personally wouldn't touch TMC skimmers with a 10 foot wooden barge pole after the trouble with them a few mates have had. This said they get good write-up's on here Deltec, Tunze and AquaMedic do good skimmers IMO, and the MCE300 Barney recomends would be right on the money for your tank IMO.

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Wordy]

This thread is providing some great info so far, thanks all

Time for another question now. The lfs I got the tank and will be getting the live rock and fish/corals etc also sells saltwater quite cheaply and I was thinking of getting some to start off with, how long does it keep when stored?

I'd like to be able to mix my own saltwater as soon as possible really and would like to know if RO water is vital for saltwater or is normal de-chlorinated water ok? I take it the process is simple really, mix water and aquarium salt to until you get the specific gravity you want (1.021 - 1.024.) then leave it overnight before doing the water change?