Orca Tl 450

[Truck]

after about 2 years of umming and arring ive decided im going marine! (again) but this time im going to be using an orca tl450.

can you list all the pros and cons.
and can you tell me how many plugs it needs.
does it have a skimmer?

before i used tap water as reef one said it would be ok
do i need to use RO water?
im planning on having 2 clowns a sixline wrasse and a cleaner shrimp. and various clean up crew. i might forget the sixline wrasse.
is the stand that comes with it any good as id hate to have a tank topple over as i would be in deep s**t.
not planning on keeping corals. maybe a few zoads or polyps but thats bout it.

i know ill need another power head aswell as the stock one.

i can turn the lights on and of maself not bothered about the timer buisness.

 

[ben1987]

they look decent, theres a couple of journals going round in the nano section using the 550.
Thought about D&D nanos?

dont think the 6-line would be a good idea in tehre though. Some turn out to be a tad aggressive

 

[xxBarneyxx]

The orca 450l is a fairly nice tank.

Out of the box it needs plugs for:
Skimmer
UV
Lights
Heater

The skimmer it comes with is pretty rubbish and I never got mine to work properly (took it out in the end and run without one). I think with some mods the skimmer could be made to work. The Stock lights are fine for most soft corals. You will need another powerhead in there like you said. I also removed the UV unit as I didnt trust the power supply for it. Also you might want to replace the fans in it at some point as mine ended up getting really loud.

The stand mine came with was ok but it was just a "pillar" type stand. There is another one you can get which has a cupboard under it which is better IMO. Other than this it is a nice tank. I removed everything out of the back compartments except for the heater and put a better pump in the left hand chamber with a pipe going to the spray bar. Then I covered the hole next to the spray bar so that pump pulled water through the back chambers. In the chamber to the right of the heater I had LR rubble and in the one on the far right I had polyfilter/chemical filtration.

 

[Jayarie]

Im might be buying one aswell people say the only bad thing is the loud fans and the skimmer. If you do get it where are you planning to get it from and how much please? Good Luck

Jay

 

[seffieuk]

If you can, go for the 550 - as soon as you are a few months into this hobby you will have wished you got the bigger tank I'm already looking at a bigger tank for next year, as is my sister and we have the 550

seffie x

 

[xxBarneyxx]

yeah that is true, if you can get a bigger tank go for it. The 450 really does limit your livestock choices. You can (barely) get a pair of perc clowns in there (and not everyone would agree that its big enough for them). I had a pair in mine but my plan was always to get a bigger tank (unfortunately I moved before I got my REALLY big tank but the clowns seem a lot happier in the 150l then they did in the orca).

 

[westiemarble]

I bought a 450 in August, have cycled the tank and just put my first fish in Yesterday (a purple fire fish and boy does she look smart!).
It would appear that the new 450's have been modifed/updated a little from some of the pictures you will see in posts in this and other forums. There is no longer a hole next to the spray bar and no slits in the tank back wall next to the third chamber (both of which have been blocked up in old posts). Some posts in forums talk about there not being a return pump to the spray bar and one internet site selling the 450 shows a cut away view of the chambers with no return pump fitted, however, there is a pump fitted and it is quite good as well.
My fans are very quiet - am I just lucky or have they been changed?
The day lights and the moon lights are on the same plug so you cannot use a timer to set them independently - unless you carry out a simple mod of running in a seperate supply - I've done it and it only took about an hour.
As you say, you will need an additional powerhead such as a Koralia 1. The skimmer is problematic - it can be controlled via its air input but I still have micro bubbles but controlled and not as bad as some people report. These are supposed to diminish with increasing bio-load so I can only wait to see what happens once my fish starts polluting its water.
The basic stand is an open pillar type which is very sturdy so no problems there. A stand with doors and hence storage for all the stuff you'll need to support this hobby would be better.
You need to read up a bit about the live stock you can put in a 450 though. I don't think many people would agree with putting a pair of percula clownfish in one of these tanks - one Ocellaris clown, one of the smaller Goby family such as a clown goby or yelow watchman and one other small fish and that's it. I say one Ocellaris clown because reading the internet, the tank is too small for a terratorial pair of clowns so the third small fish may end up getting bullied and stressed and spending his days stuck in one corner of the tank.
The 450 is a good starter tank but being only 12 us g (58litres to the real world!!) it is a relatively high maintance tank since any increase in pollutants/toxins in such a small volume of water will quickly become vary bad for your livestock. However, no one should go into this hobby with a fill and forget attitude no matter how large the tank so if you're serious and prepared to spend a small amount of time DAILY on your hobby to keep on top of your little eco-system then the tank will be just fine.
As you will read every where - get as big a tank as you can afford and house. The 550 is the better option (I now realise - damn!) and doesn't take up much more room than the 450.
If a 450 is all you can afford or is the biggest you can fit into your room then go for it, take your time and accept that you will only be able to keep a few fish from a limited selection (what's wrong with a purple firefish, a ocellaris clown and a citrus clown goby as well as mad DWARF blue hermits, crazy Trochus snails, weird Cerith snails and funny Nassarius snails as a CUC?).
Be prepared to spend at least another £100 on LR and substate and the same again on all the test kits, instruments and general equipment to do the job properly - but boy is it worth it!

 

[Truck]

ive been looking around on sites and there is a shop near me that sells it for £115 with food hydrometer and an extra power head 600 lph. i cant go any bigger than the 450 as thats pushing it as it is.(mums)

stand looks good. ive decided im just going with a pair of false percula tank breed clowns which rarely exceed 2 inches in the wild.(would some sort of goby be ok with clowns) is it best to get a pair of males , females or one of each? and is there anyway of telling the gender of the fish?

i think ill go with the cabinet.

yes live rock 10 kilos at £100. didnt realise it was that expensive. but im in no rush so will add 2 lots of 5 kilos and leave it to cycle for 4 weeks add CUC and leave another 4 weeks. what will the CUC feed on? and will i be able to get a peppermint or cleaner shrimp

so stocking is definatly 2 tank breed clowns. maybe a goby (probs not) or a cleaner shrimp.

with my biorb i had a tank breed species of false perculas with a cleaner shrimp and a yellow watchman goby. i did 10% water changes each week

 

[Truck]

been looking at cardinal fish.( i like them )

so how does the stocking sound
1 clown occeloris? or 2
1 cardinal fish
1 yellow clown goby

thoughts?

 

[Truck]

what would you say is a generall stocking guide to marines, because in fresh water its 1" to 1 gallon. what is it in marine

 

[westiemarble]

ive been looking around on sites and there is a shop near me that sells it for £115 with food hydrometer and an extra power head 600 lph. i cant go any bigger than the 450 as thats pushing it as it is.(mums)

stand looks good. ive decided im just going with a pair of false percula tank breed clowns which rarely exceed 2 inches in the wild.(would some sort of goby be ok with clowns) is it best to get a pair of males , females or one of each? and is there anyway of telling the gender of the fish?

i think ill go with the cabinet.

yes live rock 10 kilos at £100. didnt realise it was that expensive. but im in no rush so will add 2 lots of 5 kilos and leave it to cycle for 4 weeks add CUC and leave another 4 weeks. what will the CUC feed on? and will i be able to get a peppermint or cleaner shrimp

so stocking is definatly 2 tank breed clowns. maybe a goby (probs not) or a cleaner shrimp.

with my biorb i had a tank breed species of false perculas with a cleaner shrimp and a yellow watchman goby. i did 10% water changes each week

Clown fish do not have a sex until they pair. Once paired the most dominant one will become female and grow larger than the male.
A small goby would be fine with a clown - whether a clown pair would be too aggressive in a small tank is up for debate.
7.5Kg of LR would be enough along with 1-2Kg of LR rubble in one of the rear chambers. Best to put all of your LR in the tank at once otherwise your cycle will start again when you put the second lot in (unless it's fully cured and bought from a LFS and not posted). The cycle will not take a specific time - it will take what it takes and will be complete when both Ammonia and Nitrites have dopped to zero and stayed there (My tank took 3 weeks).
CUC will feed on algae which will have grown all throughout the tank and LR.

 

[Truck]

what do you reckon to a pair of occeloris juviniles, and a cardinal fish? or shall i go with the clowns and a goby or just the clowns?.

i also like firefish but dont want anymore than 3 fish

but definatly a pair of clowns. with either a fire fish (read they can be aggresive) a bangai cardinal or a yellow clown goby. im drawn more to eitehr the goby or cardinal.

thoughts welcome

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I cant really advise one the cardinal a I haven't kept them or watched them to any extent so dont really know what their behaviour is like. From what I have read though you do need a larger tank (90l min) so personally I wouldnt.

I did keep a pair of perc clowns in my 450 but only because I knew that I was going to be upgrading in the future. Some people will say they are ok in there others wont. Having had clowns in there and then moving them to a bigger tank I would say it is probably too small for a pair (in the nano they just hung around in one spot most of the time, in the bigger tank they are almost always on the go, they are a LOT less aggressive in the bigger tank too).

A single firefish should be ok, also most gobies would be fine as well. Maybe go for a purple fire fish and a goby/pistol shrimp pairing which would be really interesting (I'm planning on setting my orca up again at some point just with a goby/pistol shrimp pair ).

 

[Truck]

well ive decided to go with 2 perc clowns (tank breed species that rarely exceed 2 inches). and maybe a yellow clown goby/cardinal

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I would pick the goby over the cardinal just because then its not going to be in the same swim areas as the clowns. When selecting your clowns try to pick the biggest one and the smallest one out of the bunch. It should help the bigger one establish dominance quicker which is important in the smaller tank because the "loser" wont have many places to get away while they are working it out (and if they are both similar sizes it could go on long enough to stress them to the point of death). Also doing it this way means you dont accidently get 2 females (the dominate fish always turns into a female, You dont know how many groups your LFS has so it is possible that they have more than 1 female in there from different groups).