Starting Out, All Advice Welcome!

[cuticom]

So, I bought a marine tank on ebay, intending to sell of the marine equipment and use the money for new equipment, the tank had such an interesting shape, I just had to have it. So we picked it up today, and the amount of accessories the previous owner through in after we'd been chatting about fish, well now I wanna do marine LOL.

So what I have currently
1 tank 76 cm x 48 cm x 60 cm high, with a built in sump so the main tank is 42g the sump at the back when in use holds 10g,
Build in wet/dry filter with 9l of bioballs
hagen Aquaclear 402 powerhead
60 cm skimmer with airpump and wooden airstone
240w heater
100w metal halide bulb
twin two foot light, one blue, one white
20kg live rock
Half a bucket crushed coral substrate (barely covers the tank base)

Ummm I "think" that's it.

It was a fully functioning marine tank up until we picked it up, I've got the live rock and bioballs in separate containers in some of the original salt water with airstones to hopefully keep the water moving enough. On Wednesday I leave for Vietnam, so theres not much I can do now, plus I don't have marine salt, but I have filled the tank with freshwater to sterilise it and allow me to scrub of any marks inside.

But after seeing how good this looked as a marine tank, and all the work someone had put into it (custom build tank, hood and stand, electrics wired by an electrician etc) I really want to go marine, the reason I was always put off marine before was the sheer amount that had to be spent on all the bits and pieces, but in this, it's already been done.

So I'm just planning now, but please someone tell me if I'm being insane and should just stick to my freshwater tanks?

If I do get this going as a marine tank I just want to go FOWLR, with a fish or two, I really like clowns and puffers... so maybe a single puffer OR a pair of clowns, then just a few inverts.

 

[Lynden]

Well done, sounds like you found yourself a good setup. You will find that the maintainence level is a dream compared to FW, in my experience at least. In fact, I set up a small FW tank a few months ago and now plan to take it down as it's a real pain in the ass compared to SW.

A tank with a pair of clowns and puffer is highly feasible. For the clowns I would recommend Amphiprion clarkii, A frenatus or A. perideraion, or any of the larger, more robust species. Be sure to add them at the same time, preferably as a large and small specimen; avoid combining unpaired fish of a similar size, because while it can and often does work out, it's an unnecessary risk if you only want a pair.

As for the puffer, the brackish water Tetraodon nigroviridis makes a colourful tankmate. Any of the Canthigaster (tobies) are also recommendable, though as with the brackish water puffers they can occasionally be nippy.

As for invertebrates, most of the photosynthetic soft corals will likely thrive under your metal halide light. Hermit crabs, snails, and larger shrimp will fare equally well; make sure they are vegetarians and not corallivores (eat corals) unless you don't plan to stock corals.

Lastly, bioballs are often "freaked out upon" in marine setups; in truth they can be useful, but you must remember to rinse them often. A good method is, when a water change is done (25% biweekly is what I recommend), just rinse the bioballs thoroughly in the water you just took out, then replace them in the sump.

Other than that you should be good to go.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Go marine Also, that's a pretty good setup, I wouldnt change anything except maybe sell off some of the lighting if you're going FOWLR.

 

[cuticom]

The bioballs aren't actually able to catch debris, the way it's situated means all debris is caught by a "micropolishing" cloth long before it reaches the bioballs, any that gets to the bioballs falls through and into the sump water (bioballs are suspended), I think the bioballs are just for bacteria colonies.

I want to either go with a puffer or a pair of clowns not both, I learnt the merits of under stocking with my freshwater tanks, and see no reason why the same benefits wouldn't apply for saltwater (more stable, more room, fish are happier)

The clownish I really really really like are the tomato clowns, I don't actually know anything about them (as I said I wasn't planning on marine) but really love their colours otherwise the other sort I like are the ummm think their called perculas? or false perculas? their the ones that get called nemo fish...

Don't really want to do corals either, I want to try and keep the tank as low maintenance as possible, as I still need to divide my time between the freshwater tanks, and some of them take a lot of work, corals just seem like that add just that bit too much more work.

This is the tank

The bit in the back with all the filter floss in it is the wet/dry for the bioballs, since theres only freshwater in the tank at the mo, I just stuck some clean filter floss in to lessen the noise. The main part is full, that line you can see is teh water level in the sump. The heater isn't in there at the mo, that's with the liverock, keeping it happy.

So that's enough liverock? the 20kg? Liverock is the hardest thing to get around here, so if I can just use what I have, and then maybe buy a kg of rubble from my LFS display tank to make sure it's all seeded, and coz it'd look cool, that'd be fine?

I ahve done research before but that was with the intent of buying a nano tank with just inverts, not a FOWLR.

So I do need to buy
Salt (10kg for $50)
Hydrometer (Bout $6)
Master test kit ($38)

Am I missing anything else?

 

[Lynden]

Sounds fine. Remember that corals can act as nutrient exports and will compete with algae. So, softies will if anything reduce the amount of maintainence, not add to it.

 

[chrissaysyes]

You've done your reading Starting off on a good foot too! Try out those bio balls for a while and see how you like them, most end up putting them in the garbage after a while...some love them though. Im one of the bio ball trashers myself Any other things you may want to purchase arent really necessary for a FOWLR or for any tank really, but they are still important items...things like uv sterilizers, skimmers, auto top off units, all good ideas and things to make your marine life a lot easier.

 

[cuticom]

Well I've got a skimmer already, and I thought I WAS an auto top off unit LOL, I'm always planning on getting a UV sterilizer, I never seem to end up getting one though LOL.

How much extra work would soft corals take? My problem is there is no way I can get an RO unit, and our water is really really good, it's collected rain water, and good enough for land hermit crabs just not sure if it's good enough for corals. I've never really researched corals, but always had the idea that they needed absolutely perfect water? As I said I've never researched them, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Lynden]

In my experience soft corals can be hardier than many fish, it's up to you really.

 

[cuticom]

Okies, will go and do some research. One more question, I'm just pricing things at the moment, red sea salt, good, bad? any comments? I know the tank was previously set up with red sea salt, and the guy said it was the best he'd ever used, but would love some more opinions...

Oh and also with crushed coral substrate, I did some reading, and it seems people either love it or hate it, I really like the look of it, it looks like one of the local beaches, theres not much there, barely enough to just cover the floor, can I still use it? plus from the looks of it, it's filled with critters...

 

[Lynden]

Instant ocean consistently ranks highest among those I've talked to, and as such I have never used anything but. So, I can't speak with any experience on the others.

Crushed coral is usually fine but if it is too coarse it can damage digging animals.

 

[cuticom]

Oky dokes, new question, water changes, how are they done for tanks, how much? how often? I always had this idea that water changes were pretty rare for established tanks, as in only every month or so, but that doesn't seem right...

 

[Lynden]

25% biweekly should do it.

 

[cuticom]

Oky dokes, so the basic plan now is

Leave the tank for the next two weeks while I'm away running with JUST freshwater to sterilise it, and loosen all the gunk so I can give it a good scrub
Then when i get back in two weeks time, refill with saltwater, add live rock and begin testing often to ensure every things running fine
Then spend lots of time researching and maybe adding some more LR
Then add a small clean up crew, maybe a few snails and hermits, not much...
Then once the tanks been running and stable for a few months, and I've had a chance to save some money add livestock.

Hows that sound? or will leaving it so long destroy the cycle?

 

[chrissaysyes]

Destroy what cycle? And it sounds like you're going to be waiting before adding your CUC so the tank will have plenty of time to cycle anyways. It all sounds good though, as long as you keep patient...you're experienced with fish so Im sure youve already played the waiting game enough times to know that patience is key

 

[cuticom]

LOL yah, what I meant was lose what bacteria is on the rocks, Mum will be "feeding" them while I'm away, which should hopefully keep them going and whatever is living on it, I'm just worried leaving it so long may lose the bacteria that exist on the live rock...