Thinking About Taking The Plunge...

[wackystarfish]

Ive been reading an endless amount of your 'very desirable' tank journals to get me to this point where i can actually consider getting a marine tank, i just want to be sure of everything i am doing before i go ahead, for the welfare of the animals involved. For those who dont know, i have kept tropicals for four years allready, but am still very wary of the differences between salty and fresh. So heres hoping you guys can answer a few questions i have

1. What happens when you go on holiday? My family seem to always be going up to scotland for weekends to visit family during holidays, and then there is always the big summer holiday for two weeks. Now, what happens to the more delicate marine systems in my absence? What would i have to do to ensure there survival? Particularaly as the needs for marine tanks can be picky like feeding certain corals etc. Normally i give my friend a key and she pops in and feeds the tropicals, however she doesnt have fish and sometimes gets it wrong with the tropicals (overfeeding etc) so id worry Does my frequent holidaying mean that i should just forget about it?

2. How much does the RO water cost from Pet shops on average? I dont think my parents would like the idea of having to get a plumber in to fit the unit!

3. Is this a good deal?!!!! It has come to my attention that someone is selling a tank with these specs for £300, apparantly it has everything minus the live rock and sand so i think this might be an easy 'plug and play' tank for me.

My main intrests are deffinetly in corals and in the future i would LOVE to keep a mandarin dragonet once the tank had matured. Here is the tank spec:


Its Orca/Boyu TL 550 128l and comes with the cabinet
Tank with 4 hidden chambers at the back (to hide equipment like the heater, skimmer, light for chaeto etc)
-Hood which contains lighting and fans for cooling.
-Stand
-Stock Skimmer
-Stock 100w Heater
-Stock UV Steriliser
-Stock 750lph Return Pump
-V2 120 Nano Skimmer (~£50 new)
-Hydor Multi Light (Perfect for growing Chaeto in the back chambers) (~£18 new)
-2x Korallia 1's (~£35 new each)

Hopefully you can make some more sense of this than me!!!! XD
Thanks for taking the time to look
Finlay

 

[seffieuk]

Ive been reading an endless amount of your 'very desirable' tank journals to get me to this point where i can actually consider getting a marine tank, i just want to be sure of everything i am doing before i go ahead, for the welfare of the animals involved. For those who dont know, i have kept tropicals for four years allready, but am still very wary of the differences between salty and fresh. So heres hoping you guys can answer a few questions i have

to the salty side, jump on in

1. What happens when you go on holiday? My family seem to always be going up to scotland for weekends to visit family during holidays, and then there is always the big summer holiday for two weeks. Now, what happens to the more delicate marine systems in my absence? What would i have to do to ensure there survival? Particularaly as the needs for marine tanks can be picky like feeding certain corals etc. Normally i give my friend a key and she pops in and feeds the tropicals, however she doesnt have fish and sometimes gets it wrong with the tropicals (overfeeding etc) so id worry Does my frequent holidaying mean that i should just forget about it?

You teach your friend before you go away exactly what to do and leave very strict instructions

2. How much does the RO water cost from Pet shops on average? I dont think my parents would like the idea of having to get a plumber in to fit the unit!

You don't need a plumber to fit an ro unit, it's easy - think water is a bout £3.00 for 25 litres, sure someone who buys the stuff will confirm or deny - YF buys his so wait for him to answer

3. Is this a good deal?!!!! It has come to my attention that someone is selling a tank with these specs for £300, apparantly it has everything minus the live rock and sand so i think this might be an easy 'plug and play' tank for me.

Ok the orca 550 is a perfect tank for a beginner imho, but you can get a much better deal than that (oh hang on, is it the three month old one on UR?) You can buy a new 550 for approx £270, without a stand, the stand costs about £80. the Koralia 1 for approx £25 x2 £50, the light for £10 so: there is about four hundered pounds of kit there - if and only if the tank is really three months old (does he have a thread to prove when he started? or a receipt?) offer less and ask if he will throw anything else in, say testing kits etc

My main intrests are deffinetly in corals and in the future i would LOVE to keep a mandarin dragonet once the tank had matured. Here is the tank spec:

Possible


Its Orca/Boyu TL 550 128l and comes with the cabinet
Tank with 4 hidden chambers at the back (to hide equipment like the heater, skimmer, light for chaeto etc)
-Hood which contains lighting and fans for cooling.
-Stand
-Stock Skimmer
-Stock 100w Heater
-Stock UV Steriliser
-Stock 750lph Return Pump
-V2 120 Nano Skimmer (~£50 new)
-Hydor Multi Light (Perfect for growing Chaeto in the back chambers) (~£18 new)
-2x Korallia 1's (~£35 new each)

Hopefully you can make some more sense of this than me!!!! XD
Thanks for taking the time to look
Finlay

Seffie x



ps be aware though that there are some great second hand bargains to be had and that patience is a virtue on the salty side. When you get your tank please start a journel, we love to follow people's progress

 

[wackystarfish]

Thanks for such a warm welcome to the salty side!!
Interesting note about fitting the RO unit - i will have to research into that! Where does it plumb into though? Is it under a sink or something? xD sorry for bieng so clueless!
Thanks for the kind reply
Finlay
p.s il be sure to set up a journal!

 

[seffieuk]

No probem Finlay

Most people use one of two methods

A self tapping screw into the main cold water pipe under the sink (some have done this and it leaks - just have some plumbers tape handy, in case)

Use a y connector which goes into the washing machine pipes, somehow - think Trod did hers this way so she can help you out with that or hopefully the RO king will be along in the form of Rabbut

Have a look on roman, let us know if you decide to go that route and we will help you choose the most suitable one

Seffie x

 

[wackystarfish]

Will do!
Have just realised i was resident ghost on your marine diary Well all i can say is



Finlay
Will go and have a look on roman now!

 

[seffieuk]

Why thank you kind sir - are you talking about the nano?

Is the nano you are looking at the one from UR?

Seffie x

 

[wackystarfish]

Not sure what UR is to be honest!!!! Its on a very reputable auction site
Keep your eyes peeled for me though!!!

 

[wackystarfish]

Ok took a look at RO man, and i have come to the decision that allthough an RO unit will be an investment to think about in the future, id rather start off with LFS bought water, as it will have allready been mixed etc so it will save me some worry.
Also, the parents will get bored running me there so hopefully they will be alot more lenient with me getting it when the time comes!

Also, There is another idea that i am semi toying with. I allready have a planted rio 125 set up and running... What if i was to buy another smaller TROPICAL tank, which will be much cheaper and move everything over into it? Does anyone know about the Rio 125's suitability for marine? It still has the internal filter stuck inside which would need to be removed does anyone know how to do this?
Thanks seffie and future answerers, your a big help

 

[seffieuk]

The rio 125 is a very suitable tank imho and a good starter size

Do you have t8 or t5 lighting?

Seffie x



ps you could keep the internal and hide your nano skimmer and heater in there

 

[wackystarfish]

you could keep the internal and hide your nano skimmer and heater in there

Thats quite a good idea actually!

To be honest, i dont have a clue Cant believe you have the patience to keep checking up here! But thanks!!
The lights probably ARE needing replaced, they are 20 Watt Sunglo Lamps in the standard Juwel light Unit. I understand that i will probably need stronger for corals but any suggestions?

Also, if this was to be the plan - I would need to order all the indavidual parts, what skimmer and pump would you suggest?
a HUGE thankyou again
Finlay

 

[seffieuk]

Finlay if you are thinking of some soft corals and a few hard corals such as euphyllia just change the light bar to an t5 ibar from juwel and get marine tubes (the high lights are good, more expensive but give you more Kelvin )

A nano skimmer would be fine, the boyu one that i had in my nano worked fine and it's cheap!

I would get a koralia (or tunze nano), probably two, one for either end, you are aiming for 2200 flow or more so you could get 2 x K1 and have 3000 litres of flow

Seffie x



so I suppose you have to think about if it is more cost effective to buy the orca or change the rio 125? Can you put a link to the orca in please, then one of us will check for you

 

[wackystarfish]

Thanks seffie, i dont know what i would have done without you!
Link To Tank

Yes the big question Now that i know what i would have to buy for my Rio125 if i went that way, i will price it either way, it will be interesting to find out the result...
Finlay

 

[wackystarfish]

Whilst sourcing some of the stuff id need to get for the rio 125 plan - ive run into some stuff im unsure about.

1) Too good to be true surley??

2) ive seen some recomendations on this forum, for using an Arcadia T5 bar ? I cant find a price anywhere for upgrading the to teh juwel ibar, any ideas for cost?

 

[seffieuk]

PM sent

Seffie x



rio 125 light unit = approx £60
2 x hi light tubes = about £50
2 x reflectors = £10
2 x koralia 1 = £50 ish
1 boyu skimmer = £10

approx £180

or

sell the rio - £50 - to £120 all according how old and what you can offer with it

and buy a boyu 550 for approx £200

Then all you need is the sand, testing kits, salt, refractometer, magnet cleaner, buckets, syphon, salt, water and live rock..........woo hoo - good job its nearly Christmas!

Decisions, decisions..............................

 

[wackystarfish]

Indeed! unfortunatley the rio is virtually worthless as it is about four years old and has a few visible scratches to prove it! However my friend has always been interested in starting fishkeeping so maybe.... *cough*
Might be able to make a bit out of the plants inside it though, ever since they were put in have been growing like wildfire! Have Java fern stemming everywhere, pygmy chain swords stemming everywhere, tonnes of dwarf hairgrass etc... Also, the tank would come with liquid carbon and ferts so...
It seems that for the sake of £20 id rather have a brand new tank! hmm, lets get schmoozing my friend! Oh and im desperatley applying for jobs currently - ironically one of them at a fish and chip restaurant, which should bring in some wonga!
Good job spotting that deal!