Rabbut Going Marine?

[rabbut]

OK, so I finaly have both time, space and money to set up a marine tank. Question is how to do it

I have spoken to my superisor at work (reef keeper of 25 years) and I think I now have the basic equipment list..

The tank I have in mind will be 2ftX1ftX1ft, holding about 60l without allowance for displacement. In the opinion of my supervisor, the Berlin method is best, requiring a minimum of 6kg live rock and 20X turnover flow and a decent protien skimmer. What is everyones thoughts on this, and what alternatives are there? Also, do these alternatives have any major advantages/dissadvantages?

My current list is as follows;

tank
6kg(min) of live rock(probibly more...)
2 maxijet MP1200 power heads (1200lph each giving 40X turn over I belive)
Coral gravel substrate
Living seas air driven protien skimmer
Tetratec 500 air pump for skimmer
Visitherm 100W heater
T5 luminare with minimum of 2 2ft tubes.

I want to keep soft corals and an anenomy(spelling?), along with a pair of tomarto clowns, a decorator crab and mebe some cleaner shrimp. Are any ot these jumpers, as I plan to have an open top? Also, does the equipment list look OK for these fish. How about stocking, will two clowns be OK?

Can someone also recomend an anenomy? I know they "walk" but I would like one that will be a centre-pice preferably that is less likely to walk and that the clowns are most likely to "nest" in. I know clowns often won't do this, but I would like to encorage this behavior if possible. I plan on Tank Bread clowns if that makes a difference Also, any tips to get an anenemy to stay put?

Cycling? Is there a mothod similar to fishless for marine? My supervisor said no, but he opposes fishless cycling for freshwater, so I'm not 100% inclined to belive him... Also, if there is a cycling process, how do I go about it? Any tips on stocking order?

All advise greatefully recived
Please don't feel like you need to answer all those questions, stagered advise would possibly be better, since there is a lot for me to take in before I attempt this
Rabbut

 

[SkiFletch]

He's right, Berlin is definitely the way to go if you want a reef tank with photosynthetic corals and inverts. One note, air driven skimmers work very well, but require a lot of tweaking and frequent replacing of the wooden air stones. So if you want a hands-on skimmer, go for it, otherwise consider something like a Deltec MCE300 or a Tunze 9002 if your pocket book can float it.

Tomato clowns are too big for a tank that small much past a couple years, you'd need to stick with Ocellaris or Percula to keep in there longterm. They're not known to be jumpers, but they CAN, so egg-crate or a home-made wide mesh nylon screen is a good thing to use to prevent this.

Anemones are very difficult creatures to keep, and I'd reccomend reading the anemone guide for beginners pinned in the Invertebrates section here before you attempt one. You'll find your answer of the easiest nems to keep in there . As for walking, make sure you use foam covers on your MJ intakes until it finds a place it likes. If it wanders on to one of those without foam it'll get diced up nicely. And no, there's no way to get it to stay WHERE you want, it stays where IT wants... Once it finds a spot though, unless you change something drastically with light/temp/flow/chemistry, it'll stay where it picks.

Cylcing with Berlin method is like taking your freswater filter off one tank and putting it on the other with a little bit of dieoff in between. The LR comes with bacteria on it already. Some of them and other organisms die off during transport to your home which may or may not result in a small ammonia/nitrite spike. Usually this lasts 1 week or less till ammonia and nitrite are gone and nitrate will be at some level (depending on how much dieoff there was). I's usually good at this point to do a BIG (100%) waterchange if nitrates are high (>20ppm) and then consider adding cleanup crew and your first fish to keep the rock alive. Get a handle on chemistry and how your tank handles for at least a couple months before attempting to add corals or anemones.

Lastly, if you want corals an nems, an RO unit will be a must

Read read read, there's a lot to learn and the curve is steep. Above all with saltwater remember; Beauty takes time and disaster happens quickly, so don't rush anything.

 

[rabbut]

Thanks SkiFletch, going to look through the pins over the next few days.

No tomartoes, thats a shame

Percula and Ocellaris, aren't they the "traditional" looking clowns? I was told my my supervisor that these grow too big for the tank... Interesting, I hope this marine lark doesn't become like discus, where everyones advise conflicts with everyone else

Looks like I'm going to have a few fun weeks of research. Still, no problem, the stand is still at least a forghtnight away from completion, then I have the tank to start building, so add another 3 weeks, then I'll be stating to think about setting up... You can tell I DIY slowly can't you

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Percula and Ocellaris, aren't they the "traditional" looking clowns? I was told my my supervisor that these grow too big for the tank... Interesting, I hope this marine lark doesn't become like discus, where everyones advise conflicts with everyone else

get yourself down to Cascade for some good marine advice

popped down to see Duncan t'other week...... their marine livestock's looking really impressive

 

[SkiFletch]

Oh yeah, there's plenty of conflicting advice out there, good luck sifting through it all . Percs and ocellaris are the "common" clownfish and do stay the smallest (3-4"). Tomatoes don't get too much bigger (mabe only an inch) same with skunks, but they do get larger. Next largest would be Clarkii, and Maroons can get HUGE.

You DIY slow too huh? Took me most of a summer to complete my tank . If I may suggest, since you seem into DIY, you may want to look into having a sump to hide all that equipment. Makes the display tank look much cleaner

 

[rabbut]

Making a sump.....Huh, need more space....

If I found space for a sump, would you drill and use overflows, drill and use weires or just use an overflow box?

Miss Wiggle, does Duncan have his own marine tank yet do you know? Last time I spoke to him, he'd only ever kept marines in the retail environment, not the home aqarium one.... I hear Chris of Reef Ranch is now with him...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[SkiFletch]

Drill with an internal weir and overflow piping depending on the drill location (bottom, back, or side)

 

[kj23502]

An awesome book is The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner....very very good book
Goes over all the basics of the tank setup plus, has great descriptions of the fish/corals/inverts n such. HIGHLY recommend.

It is expensive...I went to my local library to pick it up there before I decided if I want to buy it or not...but I think I'm going to buy myself a copy.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Making a sump.....Huh, need more space....

If I found space for a sump, would you drill and use overflows, drill and use weires or just use an overflow box?

Miss Wiggle, does Duncan have his own marine tank yet do you know? Last time I spoke to him, he'd only ever kept marines in the retail environment, not the home aqarium one.... I hear Chris of Reef Ranch is now with him...

All the best
Rabbut

Fairly sure he's got a tank at home now, think I remember him telling us about it.

didn't see Chris there when we went....... worth a trip out there though sometime, livestocks really good and also the garden centre it's in has got a cafe which does the most awesome cooked breakfast I've ever had!!

 

[rabbut]

LOL, yer, the livestock is good, but not a lot of freshwater... Marines are excellent and one of a few local shops that quarrenteen before sale. Nice shop, but slightly more expennsive than others, mind you know the fish you get are quality

I know he's got a trop tank now, I gave him mature media for it

I need to go out there again some time...

All the best
Rabbut