Rio 180

[dave r]

I have just been given a rio 180l tank with stand, it comes with a external canister filter and heater. I will be making this my first marine tank and here is my plan. Fish only tank with some tufa rock just for effect, i will get a skimmer, use coral sand as substrate. so i would like comments (go easy it is my first one) but i really dont want to spend a fortune on things that are really only needed for keeping corals etc. Could my idea work. cheers guys

 

[demonmagus]

You would have to use live rock, as it is the filtiration, everything else sounds good, and you will need powerheads for flow, use the external for medecines or whatever and don't fill it with normal media. Lights, well, you will only need T-8s.

Hope I helped

 

[dave r]

Thanks alot, how much live rock would you suggest for my tank and can i just use tufa as a base with some live rock on top??

 

[demonmagus]

well, I think that it is probably best to just have Live rock

you need around 1kg per gallon I think, so maybe 40-50?

 

[dave r]

probably the most stupid question you have ever heared but can i use rock from the sea in the west country, i know it is coldwater and not tropical but would it work seeings the tank is starting from scratch?

 

[SkiFletch]

LIkely not. Coldwater species would probably perish in the tank and end up being more harm than they're worth. As for the LR on top of BR method. I tried this myself. It works, but ONLY if you're willing to fight a terrible battle with cyanobacteria and then duke it out with green hair algae. A tank with inssuficient LR is prone to massive instability in its first 3 months.