So Its Starting To Push A Year Now...

[razer121]

so now ive been doing tropical for a while im very tempted to go marine aswell of course not just yet....ive been slowly reading up as much as i can about keeping a marine tank and boy is there more work then i thought! ive got a spare 60litre tank, well it will be when the triops pass on. So back to what i was saying, ive managed to find a lfs in my town which was very well hidden!! i found it when walking back from a house party last weekend lol course it was not open but i went there yesterday and they have live rock and everything!!! i saw a couple of marine fish, a really bright blue guy and some orange one. very cool looking indeed! so anyways.....the live rock is £7 per kg...or kilo cannot remember im sure it was kg?? anyway would that sound like a fair price?? i want to do a tank witout a sump though....i know some people have done it on smaller tanks, i cannot remember who did it on here but someone used a fluval edge tank as a marine tank, if thats you please post how you did it! i want it to be cheap as possible but im willing to spend where its needed....thanks!

i just need the essentials...

 

[bae1994]

hi razor it was jennybugs that has that tank btw

also you dont need a sump you can have a live rock as your filteration

if your having a reef id suggest that you use the live rock as your filter




so heres what youd need


1. six kilos of live rock look on here for a local reef tank break down as you can get lr for as low as 5 pounds a kilo so lfs= £41 breakdown=£30(that will be the filter)
2. skimmer if you want corals
3. suetable lighting for the corals you want
4. powerheads
5. sand dont buy live sand its a rip off
6. ro machine or get it from your lfs
7. salt depends if your getting salted from your lfs
8. a heater
9. a uv unit (not neccasary)


however i may have missed some stuff but im sure another reefer will be along shortly (seffie) XD

 

[razer121]

thanks! so £7 is alot for some live rock then?? its really nice looking rock though, and it would mean i wouldnt get any die of if i get it from my lfs as its about 10 mins away from me so ive a choice really i can use the 60litre or the 90 litre tank which will become spare, i would prefer the 60litre due to me already having 5 tanks...really need to break them down to a smaller amount. Anyway so the RO unit, would you suggest one?? test kits aswell theres a fair few i can pick from lol

 

[AK77]

thanks! so £7 is alot for some live rock then?? its really nice looking rock though, and it would mean i wouldnt get any die of if i get it from my lfs as its about 10 mins away from me so ive a choice really i can use the 60litre or the 90 litre tank which will become spare, i would prefer the 60litre due to me already having 5 tanks...really need to break them down to a smaller amount. Anyway so the RO unit, would you suggest one?? test kits aswell theres a fair few i can pick from lol

£7 per kilo is a pretty decent price if it is cured live rock and not just live ocean rock, which tends to be heavier and not a porous and therefore you get less bang for your buck. Normally to get it at £7 a kilo, you'd have to purchase in bulk, like 15-20kg. If you could, I would recommend the 90L tank. It will give you that much more space, giving you better stocking options and due to the increase in water, slightly more stable parameters.

 

[seffieuk]

Fantastic, its only a short hop and skip over to the salty side Razer

Seffie x

 

[razer121]

got it and no it is £7 per piece, the little lfs is her own run bis, her prices are amazing! very impressed....the only thing that bothers me is the RO unit, ive no idea how it works or anything lol, i get what a skimmer is for, i understand i need the powerheads to move the water, basically ive got all the basics and really dont want to get some fish and put there lives at risk....got to make sure i do it right the first time, whats the benifits of a RO unit?? for instance if i didnt use one (im not going to dont worry!) what would happen?? whats its purpose?

 

[bae1994]

it removes all impuritys that can be harmfull

also they just plumb in

there pretty simple really however it depends on your lfs prices for ro and salted ro

 

[razer121]

ah....how would i be able to plumb it in?? i think that maybe a lfs is going to have to help me hear lol, how often do you do water changes in a marine tank?

 

[Reesy1989]

Water change is the same as tropical tanks. 20% - 25% every week is what I tend to do but other do slightly different percentages depending on the amount of water.

When your tank is cycling I did up to 50% water change to get the ammonia and the nitrites out of the water.

 

[karigupi]

welcome to the salty side i'm just starting out too, some of the terminology can be mind boggling.

you dont need an RO unit, its something that people buy because it can save money in the long run, but with a 90ltr tank, collecting RO water shouldnt be too much a problem.

An RO unit basically removes all the nasties which would harm a reef from our tap water, you can normally buy RO water from your LFS, you buy a 25ltr water container & they fill it for you for a set price, sometimes they will sell salted RO which can be handy so you dont have to buy the salt as well. But I found that didnt work so well for me last time as you have evaporation from the tank & you need to add unsalted RO to top up & sometimes the LFS water will be lower salinity than you want, so you end up buying salt to top up anyway.

You need to use RO water in a saltwater tank, its just up to you whether you decide to buy the water from your LFS every few weeks, or if you want to buy an RO unit to make it yourself.

oh & water changes, on my nano & did 10-20% each week, the tricky part is that the new water has to be the same temp & salinity as the water in the tank, so you will need a container, heater & powerhead to mix your salt water for water changes.

Good luck & have fun!

 

[AK77]

An RO machine is a really worthwhile addition to your marine equipment. As mentioned earlier, they do save a lot of money in the long run and it also means that you aren't restricted to shop opening times or having to go out in all kinds of weather to get it either. Its also bloody heavy, carting 25L containers back and forth too. Its also handy for emergency water changes too.

The RO machine removes virtually all impurities such as heavy metals, chemicals, bacteria and viruses. You essentially have 3 pipes connected to the machine. One is the in feed from your mains water supply. This goes into the prefilters which remove sediment and things like chlorine. Then comes the RO membrane. Here some of the water passes through the membrane and is filtered to make it pure (95-99%) and comes out of a pipe to be collected in a container. The remaining impurities are flushed away with the water that does not pass through the filter, via a waste pipe.

You can plumb then in very easily. With an adapter you can fit them to your garden tap (provided it has the 1/2" bsp screw thread on it) or you can put a Y splitter (essentially a tee piece but shaped like a y) onto your washing machine cold feed, under the kitchen sink. You plumb the washing machine into that and the RO machine infeed into the other end. The waste water can be fed directly into the drain or outside onto a flower bed or pond. The RO water can be collected in a plastic jerry can.

Here's what mine looks like. Its wall mounted in the shed/utility room, which is where the washing machines is located.

Y- Splitter from mains water supply. Washing machine hose at the back. Adapter with 1/4" red hose is the RO machine in feed

Mine is a 6 stage unit, with 3 pre-filters (big white ones at the bottom), the RO membrane (just above that), A DI unit (one with the gold beads in it) and a post membrane carbon filter (little one on top). The red pipe first gets fed into a ball valve. This turns the machine on or off. After this it connects to the first sensor of an in-line TDS meter (note the two black leads that run from the pipes to the LCD screen). This reads the Total Dissolved Salts of the water going into the machine. The red pipe then connects to the first pre-filter on the bottom left. The water passes through the 3 pre-filters and then into the RO membrane.

Note the two pipes coming out of the RO membrane. The yellow is the waste pipe connected to a restrictor valve. The valve, when closed (its doesn't actually close it just restricts the amount of water) increases the pressure inside the membrane, forcing water through it. The pure filtered water then comes out the blue pipe, which then goes through the DI unit and the post carbon filter on top. Note the other black lead. This reads the TDS of the pure water. The remaining water that does not get filtered, carrys away all the pollutants through the yellow pipe outside. The white pipe is the pure RO water (one going through the wall)

 

[razer121]

wow that cleared alot of things up thanks!! so....how much is one fo this RO units going to set me back....ive seen some go for £30 and some reaching past £150!! lol ive got the money to spend but! it might take some time to save if this thing will cost so much lol...then theres the plumbing, i did a course at my college only 1 course and i was 16 back then....now im 21 (22 soon yay!) and well to be honest ive not got the slightest idea anymore, the room under our sink wouldnt alow us to attach the RO unit under there, is it not possible for me to connect/disconnect it to a hose pipe fitting when i need it???

 

[AK77]

wow that cleared alot of things up thanks!! so....how much is one fo this RO units going to set me back....ive seen some go for £30 and some reaching past £150!! lol ive got the money to spend but! it might take some time to save if this thing will cost so much lol...then theres the plumbing, i did a course at my college only 1 course and i was 16 back then....now im 21 (22 soon yay!) and well to be honest ive not got the slightest idea anymore, the room under our sink wouldnt alow us to attach the RO unit under there, is it not possible for me to connect/disconnect it to a hose pipe fitting when i need it???

Hi Razer,

You don't need a unit with as many filters as mine. A 3 stage RO machine with 2 prefilters and an RO membrane is perfectly fine to use. You can connect the RO machine to the garden hose tap with one of the adapters pictured above, provided your hose tap has a 1/2" BSP thread on it like the one pictured below. Some times they have the hose barb fitted that can be unscrewed.

 

[razer121]

ok, next qeustion! are there any products i can use that will turn the water safe?? and powerheads.......how would i need these set out in a roma 90 litre tank? would 1 be enough?? the tank is pretty tall

 

[AK77]

You can, if you so wish, use dechlorinated tap water mixed with the salt. This is suitable for a FO or FOWLR tank only. If you are planning on keeping corals in the future, then I'd urge you to go the route of using RO water. Even if you were to remove all of the dechlorinated tap water, you run the risk or traces of copper and other heavy metals being present, which may inhibit you from keeping corals or invertebrates. For the sake of £30-£40, I'd get a 3 stage RO machine.