Tank Equipment - Lighting Help At The Moment!

[alexlark]

Hi,

Spent the last 4 hours reading all the marine guides etc. Absolutely awesome!!!

(This has probably been asked many times before!)

Quick question. If I was to convert my freshwater to a saltwater setup FOWLR, probably only a few fish - nothing substantial, have I GOT TO HAVE a skimmer? or is it possible to keep on top of things with weekly (RO) water changes and water tests?

I am a bit confused as I have seen people on here running perfectly good FOWLR setups without using a skimmer and with no problems at all.

My tank is 175 liters. (45 US Gallons)

Many thanks, Alex

 

[pengy666]

IMHO you gotta have a skimmer and UGF but you need a fairly large tank.

seriously consider what you want from keeping marine, Im talking the bigger picture! I spent over 5 months preparing my tank before starting out!

I did run a nano succesfuly (but I dont recommend it) so if you want a big tank and tangs or triggers then dont bother trying to save money and save for a new tank! sell the freshwater setup!

You cant scrimp on equipment it isnt fair on the fish you will/may kill.

I dont mean to sound rude or obnoxious I could have said "yeah go for it!" but then you would be more annoyed at being mislead!

and yeah you probably know bucket loads about freshwater so I dont mean to say you know nothing, but like I said the bigger picture!

its worth it in the end!

 

[rictheredneck]

Hi,

Spent the last 4 hours reading all the marine guides etc. Absolutely awesome!!!

(This has probably been asked many times before!)

Quick question. If I was to convert my freshwater to a saltwater setup FOWLR, probably only a few fish - nothing substantial, have I GOT TO HAVE a skimmer? or is it possible to keep on top of things with weekly (RO) water changes and water tests?

I am a bit confused as I have seen people on here running perfectly good FOWLR setups without using a skimmer and with no problems at all.

My tank is 175 liters. (45 US Gallons)

Many thanks, Alex

i wouldnt bother with a skimmer on a fowlr setup others would i wouldnt get an ugf either but i would get and external canister filter. fish only setups are real easy... just go slow and good luck

 

[Musho3210]

if your gonna do 10-15% water changes weekly with RO or RO/DI water than no, you dont need a skimmer.

 

[AK77]

Hi Alex.

So long as you stay on top of the nitrates then no, you don't need a skimmer, as long as you perform weekly water changes as others have already mentioned. Fish can take high nitrate levels.. even simply using dechlorinated tap water. However if you have invertebrates like starfish or shrimp, high nitrate levels will kill them.

If you don't have an RO machine, then I'd recommend you get one. Weekly water changes add up very quickly, if you are purchasing RO water from your LFS. I think 50L of water was running to the tune of £7.50. IMO, I think they are a great investment. I got mine a few months back and it has already paid for itself. You also have to add onto that, the price of fuel and the arse ache of having to go to the LFS every week just to get water.

You could also grow macro algaes like cheato in the tank to help reduce nitrates and if you have a deep sandbed, this can also help with nitrate levels too.

Again, skimmers aren't essential, but they do reduce the need for as frequent water changes, so it all depends on how you look at it. RO water and marine salt aren't inexpensive and if you look at the price long term, you can see the cost benefits.

Saltwater is about £5 for 25L. £5 x 52 = £260 a year (on 25L water change). (That's just for water changes, not top-ups which may also need to be performed too)

If you had a skimmer, you could cut this back to £60 a year on Saltwater. A good quality skimmer will cost around £120, although there are cheaper ones out there. You'd still be quids in and also have the hardware if you wanted to go to a reef tank setup. Skimmers can also indirectly help against nuisance algae growth by removing waste material dissolved in the water, before it can breakdown and add to the nitrates.

Food for thought anyway.

 

[WayneVT08]

But when you get into it, believe me I've seen many friends that start with a FOWLR and then convert it to a full blopwn reef. just prepare for it.

 

[alexlark]

Many thanks for your quick responses, you've given me a bit more of an idea and a bit more reassurance!!

My kit at present:

Eheim Professional 2224 external filter
Maxijet 600 powerhead
300W Visitherm Heater
T5 balast
Internal glass thermometer

I think a may hold off getting a skimmer for the time being and just get the RO filter, additional powerheads, another T5 balast, marine lighting tubes, salidity tester (cant think of the name of it at the mo) and a saltwater testing kit.

My plans at present (once I have bought the additional equipment to get started) are probably gonna be to:

1. Empty the tank (once I find a new home for fish!)
2. Give it a bit of a clean!
3. Take off the black backround and paint it black instead (looks so much better)
4. Add another 1 or 2 powerheads and the additional balast & tubes
5. Put in a deep bed
6. Add salted water to the correct salidity
7. keep a check on all the parameters and once they are spot on start adding small amounts of live rock.

I've got a few questions:

Im currently using Eheim Substrat Pro filter media. Is it ok to give this a rinse and continue to use it? I will be changing the filter wool as ive got a brond new box of Eheim Ehfisynth Filter Wool.

What type of bed would you recommend and how deep?

Are 2 Maxijet 600 powerheads ok to start with or would you recommend 3? (or 3 smaller / larger output ones)?

Is it ok to use de-chloranised tap water (adding salt to that) to start the whole set up (bearing in mind that live rock will not be going in for a good few weeks) as long as the perameters are spot on? I would then obveously use RO water for all future water changes.

Many thanks!! I will be back online tonight after work Hav a good afternoon!

 

[SkiFletch]

Well Alex, firstly regarding the sand bed, I wouldn't get into a dep sand bed, not the greatest idea in a display tank. Consider a 1-2" layer of sand.

For powerheads you want to shoot for about 20 times your tank volume in flowrate per hour. So qith a 175L tank you want 3500 liters per hour of flowrate. The maxijet and the eheim prolly total up to around 1000L/hr so you need an extra 2500L/hr of flowrate. I'd look into stream propeller-driven powerheads like Hydor Koralis, Tunze Streams, or Seio Superflows. Much better in terms of creating lots of flowrate for very little energy used.

 

[alexlark]

@ SkiFletch

Thanks v.much for the info. I will do a bit of research on the powerheads you mention. I always try and go for the best kit if I can. Buy quality - Buy once!!.

What type of sand bed do you recommend? What is the technical name of the sand?

Thanks!

 

[pengy666]

Its your choice but a black background will look pants with marine fish, You need light lots of light, they arent quite the same as tropical, But thats just my opinion!

NO dont use tap water, buy RO waterr if you cant get an RO unit straight away?

I think you could have problems without a skimmer all for the sake of saving what 100 dollars???

How you gonna airiate the water??

Dont bother with a dsb m8 too much hassle!

 

[alexlark]

Hi,

Cos I aint gonna rush into things I will buy the RO unit and do things propper from the start. My problem with the skimmer is that ideally I would have a sump (I hate the hang on skimmers) but cos I want a FOWLR setup at the mo and also take it slow I think that it's something for down the line. Others may dissagree. Looks like i'll be getting the SEIO M620 powerheads. Great value for the output!

I guess I will be relying on surface water movement to airiate the water (as I have always done). I have lots of movement at the moment using the spraybar and the maxijet powerhead. Shouldn't be a problem.

Any ideas of the sand bed? (the tecky name)

PS. What colour backround would any of you recommend for marine?

 

[WayneVT08]

I won't have one, just for the fact that the wall behind it is a deep blue.


But I wouldn't bother with a background, coraline algae will cover all of it up after the tank gets a little established.

 

[AK77]

Get a calcium carbonate sandbed, like Aragonite. It will help act as a PH buffer. If you intend to add a sump, you could have refugium in it with a deep sand bed.

 

[alexlark]

Many thanks guys!

Will my Eheim Substrat Pro filter media be ok to carry on using with a salt water setup?

 

[pengy666]

I would get down to B and Q or focus and buy about 5 pots of the bathroom testers in a nice shade of marine blue colour or whichever colour blue takes your fancy

Wilkinsons have a range of bathroom tester paints dulux brand or crown I forget for 79p each!

take a look at my background

Its just an aqua marine blue I used two tester pots from 50p bargain basket to cover my 4 x 2 x 2 (just about anyway)