Our First Saltwater Experience Is Beginning!

[pirate monkey]

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking around here for a while now. My other half, Mikey, and I have always been fascinated by marine fish, but always thought it would be too much hard work, so never looked into it any more.

A few weeks ago we were in the lfs and Mikey had a chat with one of the guys there, he explained it and it didn't seem that hard. We started researching a little more and then we found a nice cheap 100l set up on fleabay someone was getting rid of - no brainer! Unfortunately we missed out on that but found a decent tropical tank for sale, also a bargain. The tank was in a right state covered in algae poor fish...

Anyway, we took the fish to the lfs and gave the tank a really good clean.

We have just finished filling it with live rock and saltwater this afternoon

We are both really excited at the thought of having a sw tank. We currently have 2 fw - a 21g community and a 77g with NW cichlids, so we are aware of cycling and stuff

So here's what we got so far:

Juwel (possibly rio?) 180l/40g
16 kg live rock will need at least another 4 kg
coral sand as a substrate
Aqua pro 1 external filter, came with the tank (empty - using as a powerhead)
1 heater but would I be better with 2 in the tank?

I have just bought a job lot of various sw equipment through the free ads which will be sent tomorrow. Amongst other things there is a protein skimmer, 2 heaters and 3 power heads. I believe I am looking for 20x turnover, so 800g/h?

We have also just bought a Hagen Glo T5 light system which sits on top of the tank. It was about £25 new and I just saw the same on in the LFS for about £80!

I can't post any pictures at the moment as I am having issues with my laptop and this one doesn't have bluetooth and I can't find my usb lead... Will get some soon though.

I'm pretty sure we both have a good idea of what we're doing, but any suggestions are much appreciated, and I'm sure we'll have lots of questions for you as we go along!

Katy

 

[Buddyboy67]

Welcome to the salty side...nice start there and feel free to ask away

 

[SkiFletch]

Pretty nice start indeed. What are you thinking as far as livestock is concerned? And how many T5 tubes does that hagen system have?

 

[pirate monkey]

Mmm not really sure about livestock yet... I think we will probably have a pair of tangerine clowns as they sound pretty bomb proof! I quite like the look of the flame angel too, and some boxfish. Neither of us are familiar with a lot of marine fish but we have a few weeks while our tank cycles to decide! My OH really likes triggerfish but we know they're not an option for this set up. We like the look of some tangs, I believe there maybe one or two species that would be happy in our tank. Oh I discovered a jam sandwich goby yesterday - marine creatures have such great names!!

The lfs told us about a goby/shrimp relationship which sounds cool, and we'd really like some red shrimps (not sure if they're fire shrimps or blood shrimps) and also hermit crabs, and perhaps a starfish but no idea which one. We saw a pin cushion urchin today which I found fascinating No corals yet, we'll see how we get on with the fish and inverts.

The hagen system has just 2 tubes, but we can't afford another just yet. I should think about it while they're so cheap though! Am I right in thinking for that size tank I should probably have 3 or 4 tubes?

Since we are using this hagen system, will we need condensation trays of some sort to stop evaporation? this is the light unit

We had a look around today but can't find any the right size for the tank...

 

[pirate monkey]

Oh I forgot to mention, after we put the live rock in and topped the water up, we noticed a little creature on the glass. Here is a picture (just realised I can text pics to photobucket)

sorry not great quality.

the creature is red and worm like, and about 0.5cm long when squished, maybe 1.5cm in the picture. Moved just like an earthworm. Any ideas? too bad if it's anything bad as it has gone now

 

[SkiFletch]

*shrug* on the worm, not sure. There's so many possibilities there...

As for the lights, if you want corals, I'd look into geting a second fixture. 4 lamps is really what you need to start keeping most corals. You can get away with some softies and only 2 tubes, but LPS and SPS will require at least 4 and maybe even 6 tubes respectively

 

[pirate monkey]

I gues we'll see how we go with the 2 for now!

What are SPS and LPS? Sorry not familiar with all the terms just yet.

 

[SkiFletch]

Small Polyped Stony and Large Polyped Stony. As a general rule of thumb (there are always exceptions), LPS require less light than SPS as they are typically more deper water corals and SPS are often more shallow water. Common exceptions are species like hydnophora, micromussa, and to a lesser extent acanthastrea which are all LPS that do better under higher light (hydnophora even requires it). Then there's the SPS like Millepora, Pocillipora and Stylophora which can tolerate some lower light conditions.

Bottom line, always research your corals and your light before you buy

 

[pirate monkey]

Don't worry, I'll do my research and I'll check here before we get anything too, just be sure

I'm a bit concerned we have too much sand in the tank. We put a nice layer of sand in yesterday morning, then we came home with the live rock,and moved the sand so the rock would be stable, now we appear to have too much sand

it looks like it varies from 1" to 6"! How much should we be aiming for ideally? I think I have got confused, I started reading about DSB, and also we were advised to have enough for burrowing creatures e.g. pistol shrimp. However I have just read that a DSB isn't a wise idea.

I'd like to sort this as early as possible.

On a good note, the live rock contains some life (please excuse me as I don't know what sort of creatures they are) there is something that pops out of a conical shape. It comes out after the light comes on and disappears when the light is off. It has sort of fans. I have also found some little worm type creatures, some seem to be attached to the rock, again with a fan that can appear and disappear, and other worm things on the glass also with fan-like heads (or tails?). I'm sure that's all normal, but for us it is ultra exciting! Who knew rock could be so interesting?!

 

[seffieuk]

Pirate, it's great to have you onboard

Looks like a great start and pet rocks are truly amazing sounds like you have got some very good second hand deals there, well done.

Looking forward to you starting your journel or you could ask Ski or Bigc to move this thread to the journel section for you

Seffie x

ps remember, the only stupid question is the one not asked

 

[pirate monkey]

Thank you Seffie, I had thought about a journal.

Can you give me any help with regards to my sand issue?

 

[Buddyboy67]

My filtration is based on twinned dsb's..what have you read to put you off these???

 

[pirate monkey]

I read that although they can trap potentially harmful gases and convert them to harmless, if you have burrowing creatures such as shrimps, brittle stars(?), snails that they can burrow into these pockets and release the harmful gases. Also that the DSB is only good for around 12 months to 24 months. (this is what I can remember, I am not quoting! I can't remember the site I read that on.

As I said I am confused as I initially thought they were a good thing. What is a twinned dsb? Does that mean you have a dsb in your tank and your sump?

The other point for us is our tank is only 180l so we obviously lose a fair volume with such a deep bed. What would be an ideal depth?

 

[Buddyboy67]

I use them in both tank and in rear chambers...if correctly maintained they are very effective i've found..
however I know what you mean about water head in a smaller tank...as long as you have around 2" of sand most burrowing species will be happy....remove some, dry it out and store it..then you always have spare to replace an old sand bed or if you ever upgrade it will always be on hand.

 

[pirate monkey]

Mr Pirate Monkey came home with 5kg of live rock today Along with it we got a little crab, and something else which I'll post a picture of soon. We have also noticed another creature on the rock which I' not sure what it is, good or bad. Unfortunately it gets startled whenever I try to take a picture of it. It looks like it is feathery, circular in shape, and retracts into a hole in the rock.

Oh I also found a tiny little starfish on the glass this afternoon so cute!

We have been thinking about a sump for our tank. Our issues are, the tank is not drilled, I'm guessing this would be difficult and costly, now we have water, rocks and sand in the tank?

Also the stand is split by a centre brace, so would only be able to fit one small sump, or 2 small but joined by way of a pipe. The last option is due to the postion of the tank in the hallway, we could have a sump in the porch, with the pipes going through a window (pane removed and replaced with mdf or similar). this would allow us room for a larger sump.

I need to look further into how sumps work, but hopefully we can get started with that soon.

Mods, would it be possible to have this moved to journals section please?