Seriosuly Thinking Of Starting A Reef Set Up?

[AK77]

On the whole Tunze are probably regarded as the one of the best manufacturers of marine pumps/powerheads. Hydor Koralias are another good make which I shall be investing in shortly.

Here's a link for the Koralias anyway. I've seen the K3's for £31.25 + £3 postage, which I didn't think was too bad. K4's are £47 delivered.

Deltec are a good make in protein skimmer. There are a lot of manufacturers out there but its well worth getting the best that you can afford. I've got a Rea Sea Prism. Its not the best, although it seems to work well enough, but they are renouned for being a pain in the ass sometimes.

The UV sterilizers greatly reduce the chances of bacterial and parasites harming your tanks inhabitants. There are no guarantees, but the benefits outway the costs imo. The best thing to do though is quarantine new arrivals. This is by far and away the best way to limit or all together remove the chances of unwanted ailents reaching your display tank.

A good tip is always get healthy, vibrant and active fish from LFS. If its a bottow dweller like a goby that tends to sit on its arse all day, this can be hard to judge, but always choose swimming fish that are free from obvious signs of stress (heavy panting or lying at an awkward angle) no obvious signs of fin or body damage and that look plump. Also, get to know your LFS, and observe how long fish are quarantined there for and the general standard of care they offer. Tanks with dead fish or the selling of new arrivals without quarantine is something to bear in mind. Its also a good time to mention that a lot of LFS keep their fish in hyposality. This is where the SG is kept at about 1.010 or below, whereas your tank is recommened to be kept about 1.024-1.026. This is also a treatment against whitespot and other parasites, as they cannot withstand the lower salt gravity in the water. It has its benefits, in that the fish has less chance of having something on them, but it does mean that acclimatizing the fish can take much, much longer. I usually allow mine about 2-3 hours of water mixing and temperature balancing (temp only takes about 20 mins or so).

 

[Ian H]

thanks for all the info so would i be better off getting 3 k3's or 2 k4's? thinking about it 3 k3's would create more water movment wouldnt they because there would be more of them? but the k4's would pump out more so i dunno so glad you mentioned them cheaper! just aswell you said before payday came too!

I will be popping down my LFS soonish (maybe tomorrow?) to see what they have to say/offer. all the F.W fish i have had from them have been in perfect condition so i would image the marine fish are in equal or better condition

 

[Ian H]

Right been thinking again, i could probably strech to the price of a 72" x 24" x 24" tank but im not sure if i can afford everything else (live rock being the main thing!)

how much am i going to need? i remember hearing 1kg per 2 gallons, so would i be right in assuming i would need 75kg of live rock??? didnt think that tank would even take that much weight! would all this need to be added at the same time or could it be over a few months?

also what size sump would i need for a tank this size?

 

[SkiFletch]

Could be added over several months, or you could mix base rock in and stock slowly. You'd prolly want something like a standard 75g tank for a sump (48x18x20) if you wanted to go the easy route.

 

[Ian H]

thats bigger than my current F.W tank!!

 

[AK77]

Personally I'd go with the 6ft tank. That's gonna be mammoth and like Ski says, live rock can be added over the course of time and the tank stocked slowly. I think this is by far the better option, as it will allow for ample room for virtually any marine fish stocked by your LFS as well as for corals etc. You could also utilize a deep sand bed to good effect too, therby lessening the amount of LR you would need.

Like Ski says, you could also place ocean rock (same as LR basically just dead lol) to make up a good portion of the display. This rock will seed eventually once LR is added. If you take your time this setup will be far more rewarding as you will not feel the need to upgrade in the future.

All I can say is... I am uber jealous and I hope you get bitten by a rabid hamster

 

[Ian H]

no need to be jelous! look at it this way - you have a marine set up and i dont! im the ones whos jelous!!

if i didnt add all the live rock at the same time wouldnt i need to add a filter until i had enough LR?

also with the sand is it the same as with F.W asin you can't have it too deep due to gasses ect creating?

 

[John_Auberry]

I have kept reefs for many years now. Its really easy. I trying to learn fresh water planted tants and that mind boggleing

 

[Ian H]

wow thats beautiful

although i wasnt planning on having anything like that! maybe a quater or so of that!

 

[Musho3210]

I have kept reefs for many years now. Its really easy. I trying to learn fresh water planted tants and that mind boggleing

eh i love planted tanks, im so lazy with mine since i know i have plants, i mean i can overfeed with no bad effects to water quality, my cycle took 18 hours, it looks natural, and there really easy to take care of, most of the time

 

[Ian H]

well popped down to one of my lfs earlier to see what they had to offer and what not. Live rock was £10.50/kg and base rock (dead live rock) was £3/kg is that the going rate?

the guy there also said you can add something to the water to help the coulours come out (the algae?) on the rocks but im not to sure on this!

when i was there i was having a look at corals and the like and he suggested a few. One of my favourite was a pulsing type, any ideas what it was?

 

[shibby]

10.50 is a fairly good price for live rock, betetr tehn alot of places!


he would be talking about tracesoft or corralineboost or calcium supplements to get the corraline algae to grow on the rocks theres loads out there i use tracesoft!


and google "pulsing xenia" they come in different varieties i believe.

 

[Ian H]

pretty sure it was this:

thanks for the name

the LR didnt look good though tbh just looked like rock, no colour to it really