Sf05's Slow And Steady

[mantis147]

looks good bet you cant wait to get started!!!

 

[Fish Fingers]

Yay you got some pictures .BTW I love the under the bed pic, made me laugh (sorry).

 

[Fatty]

Looks like a cool little setup, and sounds like you got some good prices... apart from...

I have been looking for a 4ft overtank T5 lighting unit for ages and couldn't understand why they where so expensive.

Then i found one very similar to the arcadia but £40!, three 4ft T5 bulbs 28W, one blue and two white. I still can't believe it, but it seems to work fine.

And yes completley above board and brand new, and in birmingham.

Sorry if it's too late



maybe get a refund as you have a bit of time, free up the money for stock!

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

looks good bet you cant wait to get started!!!

Thanks Mantis. Too right im itching to get started

Yay you got some pictures .BTW I love the under the bed pic, made me laugh (sorry).

it's like an underbed monster, have the stuff just can't do anything with it

Looks like a cool little setup, and sounds like you got some good prices... apart from...

I have been looking for a 4ft overtank T5 lighting unit for ages and couldn't understand why they where so expensive.

Then i found one very similar to the arcadia but £40!, three 4ft T5 bulbs 28W, one blue and two white. I still can't believe it, but it seems to work fine.

And yes completley above board and brand new, and in birmingham.

Sorry if it's too late



maybe get a refund as you have a bit of time, free up the money for stock!

Hi Fatty

Thanks for your reply and thanks for your intended help My tank is only 2ft so i needed the 2ft version. Sounds like you got a good deal though! Not sure you can grow much with that light on a 4ft but it'lldo you nicely on a FOWLR tank

Thanks again for all your replies

 

[Fatty]

[/quote]
Hi Fatty

Thanks for your reply and thanks for your intended help My tank is only 2ft so i needed the 2ft version. Sounds like you got a good deal though! Not sure you can grow much with that light on a 4ft but it'lldo you nicely on a FOWLR tank

Thanks again for all your replies
[/quote]

Hi,

It's a 4ft wide but only 16" deep, so I think the light should be ok??, The 2ft lights must be around the £30 mark i think. To be honest you must be getting something more for your money with the arcadia.

If u can pay for the best, get the best!

I'll be keeping an eye out for those photos, good luck with the flooring!

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Thanks for your reply Fatty

Anyway i need everyone's opinion as to what i should do next!
My mum has said she's not having the flooring put down until summer which means i would have to wait months before i could get the tank setup
Tommorow i was planning on picking up the tank, 2 25litre containers and a net and cheapo thermometre as back up for the digi one. I'm ordering a RO/DI unit online and need to pick up adaptors from homebase. Then i will have absolutley everything i will need to get the cycle underway! I've been thinking about setting the tank up in my bedroom until the flooring is done in about 3-4months. The reason for this was that it would give my LR time to mature and try and get my tank stable. I was thinking of moving it when the flooring is down so everyone can enjoy it. I wouldn't put any corals in it just my first fish and let everything be. Then just transport everything downstairs and then start adding corals and so on. Do you think it's worth it or not?

Thanks Dan

 

[Chac]

you live in dudley? You should be going to MG Marines, meant to be a good shop. Run buy a nice guy called Bill.

Ben

Well i'm ten minutes from there. I'm lucky enough to have 6 fish shops within a 20mintue drive from my house so i have lots of choice. Hmmmmmm i'll have to find that place, sounds good. Thanks for the info

That sucks. But at least you have 2 months for more researching and stuff!

It sure does Yep i see your point with the extra research, just so dissapointing too have everything together but not being able to get it started.

I pay $10-$15 per kilo. Or roughly $5-$7.5 per pound.

Sounds like a good deal!

Cheapest I paid for Fijian LR was

15.00 (UK) for 10kg

I dont think the guy knew it's worth

and i thought i'd found a bargain! Was it good quality?

Dan

Sorry never noticed your question dan

The Fijian Rock was actaully better quality than my local Crappy LFS tbh, some cracking shapes

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Good for you mate! Hopefully when i go in they will have some interesting shapes and colours.

I've decided that the tank is going to be set up in my bedroom for those few months anyway everyone
I'm just waiting for my RO Unit and stuff to be sent out (Thanks very much to chach for helping me out with a unit and sending me some tubing for FREE! )

I get £130 at the end of the month so as soon as that comes pics with LR in tank should be here.
Watch this space

Dan

 

[Fish Fingers]

Sounds good . Looking forward to it!

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Hi Everyone

I'd always thought of a saltwater tank as miles too hard and costly for me to give it a try. When this sub-forum opened up i was amazed by some of the members beautiful tanks and realized you don't have to have a 6mile long tank to make it a success. So after starting a thread bombarding SH with lots of questions and then researching the net and other forums i've decided to give it a go.

I Have Drawn up all the costs of EVERYTHING i can think of that i will need to get my nano-reef Ready for fish. Please mention anything else i have missed...
Here Goes:

basics
18g Tank - Got already
100W Heater - Got already
Powerhead - £24 (Ordered)
Lights (Enough for most corals) - £157.50 (Ordered)
Digital thermometre - £7 (Ordered)
Refractometer - £40 (Ordered)
Master Kit - £35
8kg Salt - £20

Water Changes
Fill tank +RO Drum - £20.10
Mixed Powerhead - Got already
Mixer heater - Got already
2.5 gal bucket - Got already
Weekly water change - £1.10

Then

10kg (22lbs) LR - £75
20lbs Live arog sand - £22
Cleaner Crew - £40
Fish Food - £10

Hopefully that is EVERYTHING i need to be able to house some fish and then later on - corals.

Total (Estimate) -
Total - £451.70
Total Left to pay - £223.20

A bit nasty looking When it's in black and white but when everything comes together it should look good. I've got another £120 coming on the 27th January and about £90 more just before. After that i'll have to save up weekly while paying for driving lessons and a phone bill

Hopefully Livestock will be a true perc and maybe a firefish. Trying to get Samsung to send out a replacement installer disc for the Digi-Cam

Thanks Dan

Ps: This will be a slow nano-diary but hopefully it will be another great tank to add to the great collection we have here already

Hi everyone

Kind of a pointless update but ah well. I thought i'd update you on the costs of everything (Kind of increased a little from the intended price ) Due to replacement items and things being more expensive than expected.

18gallon Tank - £21.50
100W Heater - Free
Powerhead - £20.99
Lights (Enough for most corals) - £169.99
Digital thermometre - £9.99
Refractometer - £36.43
Master Kit - £34.99
8kg Salt - £19.99

Water Changes
2 25litre RO Drum - £9.98
Mixed Powerhead - Free
Mixer heater - Free
2.5 gal bucket - Free
Weekly water change - Free (Kind Of)
RO unit and tap fittings - £95

10kg (22lbs) LR - £108 (More than anticpated but still got a decent discount )
20lbs Live arog sand - £21.99
Cleaner Crew - £35
Fish Food - £10
Misc (To date) £12
P&P - 20

Still to get:
LR
2x light timers (Tommorow)
last fitting for Ro Unit Can't find anywhere!

Total = £625.85 (Don't tell mum!) Something like $800?

The plan: Buy light timers tommorow, look for final RO tap fitting or try and special order off Ro-man. Go and get RO Unit setup by LFS (hopefully wednesyday if i can find the pieces) . Fill tank on thursday and bring temp up. Friday add salt to 1.025 add all other bits PH etc. Let tank set until next saturday and hopefully money will be in to pick up my LR. LR will be out of water 20mins MAX so hoping for minimal die-off. Could mean pick cleaner crew one week later.

Thanks alot to Chac for helping me with the RO Unit

Dan

 

[steelhealr]

Make sure you run the tank with all equipment going and run it for a few days before adding salt or LR. Check carefully for leaks, temp, pumps functioning etc. I'd change the water out also to make sure any dust/dirt,chemicals are out, hence, you can water test with tap water. Don't laugh, but, this is a critical step to prevent a total early loss. WTG...you're on your way. SH

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Make sure you run the tank with all equipment going and run it for a few days before adding salt or LR. Check carefully for leaks, temp, pumps functioning etc. I'd change the water out also to make sure any dust/dirt,chemicals are out, hence, you can water test with tap water. Don't laugh, but, this is a critical step to prevent a total early loss. WTG...you're on your way. SH

Thanks again SH,

It's you i have to thank for getting me into saltwater. If you hadn't of replied constantly to my questions in the other thread i would never have been here. So thanks alot Oh and by the way that also means if everything goes wrong....I'll blame you! JK

Thanks for the advice i'll run the tank on trial for a few more days then, just incase. I've got all the equipment to do the trial run, so i might set everything up tommorow Hmmmmm....


Thanks again

Hopefully i will have an e-mail from ro man in the morning saying that they have ordered the fittin

Edit: The shop i spoke about earlier (Marine-land) is actually called MG Marines and damn it's an amazing shop....The LR is beautiful so i have no worries in that department. Thanks for clearing that up for me Bunjiweb

Re-Edit: Just thought i'd let you in on an idea i've been having. As the tank will be in my room for a few months. I've been thinking about when i move it downstairs, that i will move everything into a 48"x12"x15" tank divided in the middle. So i would have my nano-reef there and then the other half i could start a planted FW tank....Saw it by that japanese guy and thought it looked nice....

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

The tank is running on trial. I set everything up about 1hour ago and so far no leaks. The temp is rising and PH is kicking out a good flow. Going out now to pick up the last pieces. May have to wait 2weeks before RO-man can special order my piece

Fingers crossed i can find it today...

Dan

 

[steelhealr]

No problemo. SH

 

[Siamese Fighter05]

Ok after a nightmare with the RO Unit It's now working and im filling containers to add my RO/DI to the tank.
Heat the tank tank up tonight with the 2 100w heater and hopefully add salt tommorow
LR in wednesday hopefully, LFS doesn't have much LR left in and i don't want to rush in and take pieces im not neccessarily happy with. So i may have to wait until they bring more from the curing tank.
Pics will be added
Ps: Ro/DI water reads at:
Phosphate - 0
Nitrate - 0
PH - 7
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0

Will do calcium when i've added salt and live arog, to give a more realistic answer
Many thanks to those who helped me with RO unit espicially Chac

Dan