Pyro
New Member
Well I have taken the plunge and started my marine tank. Quite daunting really, not so much for the project itself but the cash investment. To all those starting their own tanks shortly - be prepared to spend.
I'll try to do a diary as I go and also add pics along the way.
Anways - my history of fishkeeping.
When I was around 19 or 20 I passed a LFS (local fish shop) and glanced at the window and noticed the fish tanks and thought "hmmm, that could look nice in my flat." Well a tank purchase followed very shortly which itself was then followed by 2 upgrades in size of tanks - I was hooked. I kept initially coldwater stock, nothing fancy just good ole goldfish. (To let you know - I've never got into the technical or scientific side of fishkeeping, I buy things I like the look of!)
At 22 I then joined the UK army and that was my fishkeeping over for about 4 years, the tank I had was given to a friend who later sold it!
My next tank I bought as room brightener when I based in Dorset for 18 months, it was quite small and I only kept Guppies in there. Turned out though it was a great chat-up line for the ladies. "Do you wanna go back to my place and see my fish?"
Again though that tank had to be donated to a friend as I was posted to Germany.
I then waited till I left the army before starting my hobby again which was around 2002. I bought a tropical set-up. The tank I bought then is the one I am using now for my marine project. So with that I will list the kit I have now and where I am at in the project.
(Also, have to point out that I am on a budget and have been buying bits and bobs for a while, waiting till I had all I required.)
The Set-up.
Tank - Juwel Rio 125 - this tank comes with a built in filter, heater and a light canopy. The heater is 100W which seems to be sufficient for me as I've had constant temps with it. The filter I have removed most of the media and replaced with some crushed coral/rock. The lights I replaced with an Aqua-medic 150W Metal Halide (MH.) The filter I am thinking of removing as its inside a large housing area though I've probably lost the opportunity to do this now with water in the tank. I also find the filter is a handy secondary pump and I have the flow from it pointing down the rear of the rock.
Pumps/Powerheads - I've got 2 in there, not branded but low power with a rating each off 1100Lph (litres per hour) which added to the filter pump seems to do a good job with keeping the water flowing. I've not noticed any dead spots yet.
Filtration - I added 14Kg's live rock to the system bought from 2 sources, a closing down lfs and an ebay shop seller. The rock from the ebay source was very, very good quality (I can PM anyone the sellers ebay ID) and it also had some nice hitch-hikers - I've noticed so far 2 hermit crabs, a small anemone and a couple of snails. It also has a small pulsing xenia on there. I also 20lb's of live sand; bought cheaply from the closing down lfs. (I'll post all my costs later.) I also have 8lbs of standard sand to add volume.
Other Stuff - I bought 25kg's salt from the lfs and I bought a Biostar protein skimmer second hand of ebay. Hydrometer bought from ebay.
Costs.
Tank - £175 my biggest investment so far.
Lights - £170
Pumps - £14 for the pair of ebay.
Live rock - 7kg's at £5kg from lfs and 7Kg's at £8.50kg of ebay.
Live sand - £15 for 22lbs. £2.50 for the plain sand.
Protein Skimmer - £45 of ebay.
Salt - £40 from lfs for 25Kg.
Hydrometer - £2.99 from ebay.
All equipment was scrubbed and cleaned prior to installing into the system and was tested quite thoroughly. I've not bought a test kit yet as I am going to use lfs for that and I'm bidding on refractometers on ebay as I type this.
Getting it going.
I started as I said a while back getting stuff togethor bit by bit and one of the 1st things I got was 7Kg's of rock. I placed this in a spare tank and it had been curing for several weeks before I placed into the main tank. I'd had water in the main tank for 4-5 days before I added that 1st rock. The lights, heater and filter pump were in place and in action.
I added the other pumps just before the next rock went in. After all the rock was in place I added all the sand putting the plain sand in 1st and the live sand on top. With all the pumps in place and running the tank was like one of those novelty glass snow toys. It took maybe 36hrs for it all to clear but was crystal clear and looked excellent. The skimmer was on from moment I added the water and the scum cup (not sure what its called) has some light brown liquid in it.
All the while I was monitoring specific gravity and temp. Other test results you will see this weekend as I take samples to my lfs. On that point - until I become more confident on my own testing I will use the lfs as its very cheap, £1/sample which covers all the tests I need.
The hitchhikers I had with the rock are all seemingly ok so it looks like I started ok, 1st tests will show more. I'm starting to get brown algae which I gather is normal and may mean its time to get the full clean-up crew in there. However I am waiting for test results before I think about that. I've already been offered a good deal for the crew off the seller from ebay.
I've also aquascaped the rock so that it hides some of the kit however on doing this I think I will want more rock as it does not hide all of the built-in filter but I'll wait and see for now. So far all looks ok and hopefully the weekend tests will confirm this or alternatively tell me where to improve or fix.
Hopefully I've not missed anything glaringly obvious. I'll also post a few pics later off the tank.
Any tips welcome.
I'll try to do a diary as I go and also add pics along the way.
Anways - my history of fishkeeping.
When I was around 19 or 20 I passed a LFS (local fish shop) and glanced at the window and noticed the fish tanks and thought "hmmm, that could look nice in my flat." Well a tank purchase followed very shortly which itself was then followed by 2 upgrades in size of tanks - I was hooked. I kept initially coldwater stock, nothing fancy just good ole goldfish. (To let you know - I've never got into the technical or scientific side of fishkeeping, I buy things I like the look of!)
At 22 I then joined the UK army and that was my fishkeeping over for about 4 years, the tank I had was given to a friend who later sold it!
My next tank I bought as room brightener when I based in Dorset for 18 months, it was quite small and I only kept Guppies in there. Turned out though it was a great chat-up line for the ladies. "Do you wanna go back to my place and see my fish?"
Again though that tank had to be donated to a friend as I was posted to Germany.
I then waited till I left the army before starting my hobby again which was around 2002. I bought a tropical set-up. The tank I bought then is the one I am using now for my marine project. So with that I will list the kit I have now and where I am at in the project.
(Also, have to point out that I am on a budget and have been buying bits and bobs for a while, waiting till I had all I required.)
The Set-up.
Tank - Juwel Rio 125 - this tank comes with a built in filter, heater and a light canopy. The heater is 100W which seems to be sufficient for me as I've had constant temps with it. The filter I have removed most of the media and replaced with some crushed coral/rock. The lights I replaced with an Aqua-medic 150W Metal Halide (MH.) The filter I am thinking of removing as its inside a large housing area though I've probably lost the opportunity to do this now with water in the tank. I also find the filter is a handy secondary pump and I have the flow from it pointing down the rear of the rock.
Pumps/Powerheads - I've got 2 in there, not branded but low power with a rating each off 1100Lph (litres per hour) which added to the filter pump seems to do a good job with keeping the water flowing. I've not noticed any dead spots yet.
Filtration - I added 14Kg's live rock to the system bought from 2 sources, a closing down lfs and an ebay shop seller. The rock from the ebay source was very, very good quality (I can PM anyone the sellers ebay ID) and it also had some nice hitch-hikers - I've noticed so far 2 hermit crabs, a small anemone and a couple of snails. It also has a small pulsing xenia on there.
I also 20lb's of live sand; bought cheaply from the closing down lfs. (I'll post all my costs later.) I also have 8lbs of standard sand to add volume.Other Stuff - I bought 25kg's salt from the lfs and I bought a Biostar protein skimmer second hand of ebay. Hydrometer bought from ebay.
Costs.
Tank - £175 my biggest investment so far.
Lights - £170
Pumps - £14 for the pair of ebay.
Live rock - 7kg's at £5kg from lfs and 7Kg's at £8.50kg of ebay.
Live sand - £15 for 22lbs. £2.50 for the plain sand.
Protein Skimmer - £45 of ebay.
Salt - £40 from lfs for 25Kg.
Hydrometer - £2.99 from ebay.
All equipment was scrubbed and cleaned prior to installing into the system and was tested quite thoroughly. I've not bought a test kit yet as I am going to use lfs for that and I'm bidding on refractometers on ebay as I type this.
Getting it going.
I started as I said a while back getting stuff togethor bit by bit and one of the 1st things I got was 7Kg's of rock. I placed this in a spare tank and it had been curing for several weeks before I placed into the main tank. I'd had water in the main tank for 4-5 days before I added that 1st rock. The lights, heater and filter pump were in place and in action.
I added the other pumps just before the next rock went in. After all the rock was in place I added all the sand putting the plain sand in 1st and the live sand on top. With all the pumps in place and running the tank was like one of those novelty glass snow toys. It took maybe 36hrs for it all to clear but was crystal clear and looked excellent. The skimmer was on from moment I added the water and the scum cup (not sure what its called) has some light brown liquid in it.
All the while I was monitoring specific gravity and temp. Other test results you will see this weekend as I take samples to my lfs. On that point - until I become more confident on my own testing I will use the lfs as its very cheap, £1/sample which covers all the tests I need.
The hitchhikers I had with the rock are all seemingly ok so it looks like I started ok, 1st tests will show more. I'm starting to get brown algae which I gather is normal and may mean its time to get the full clean-up crew in there. However I am waiting for test results before I think about that. I've already been offered a good deal for the crew off the seller from ebay.
I've also aquascaped the rock so that it hides some of the kit however on doing this I think I will want more rock as it does not hide all of the built-in filter but I'll wait and see for now. So far all looks ok and hopefully the weekend tests will confirm this or alternatively tell me where to improve or fix.
Hopefully I've not missed anything glaringly obvious. I'll also post a few pics later off the tank.
Any tips welcome.
Hey....welcome aboard and great to see you here. Nano reefing is a great hobby. As you probably already know, my only advice to you is:
