Thinking About Taking The Plunge...

[wackystarfish]

EDIT: Just seen your reply morri!
Seffie worked it out to be about £180 for the main stuff then there is the extras. Basically, i can end up with a bigger tank, without the rush, having to ship a tank yadda yadda... I will be getting most stuff second hand as im a cheapskate at heart! xD
Thanks for your reply!

Ok, Shopping list time! XD

1 X Heater - current one is inadequet and i am NOT having a heater killof hundreds of pounds!
2 X Koralia 1's
1 X Boyu Skimmer
1 Juwel IBar light Unit
2 X Bulbs (Can i fit a moonlight bulb to this?)
1 X Salt (Reccomendations?)
1 X Marine Test Kit (Salfert?)
! X Hydrometer (or is there a better alternative i have forgotten about? lol)

Eventually:
30lbs of live rock + some rubble that i can fit in the internal filter bit along with the skimmer and heater
125l RO water from the LFS 0___0 lol

Clean up crew: Reccomendations?

woohoo! All systems go!

Thanks again everyone for all your help!

Finlay

 

[daveo_irl]

Good stuff!
I think salt basically comes down to preference. I use TMC Pro Reef Salt and I like it.
Marine Tests - Go for Salifert. I bought Red Sea ones and they were a waste of money
Get a Refractometer instead of a Hydrometer as they are much more accurate.

As for CUC, I suppose once again it comes down to what you like really, but I think the general consensus is to have a good mix. That is you probably want critters that will take care of the various aspects of the tank (eg: glass, sand, rocks).

 

[Morri]

Hehe she is very helpful

you can save yourself a lot of money on LR if you can find someone close to you doing a tank break down UR is good for this also fleabay.

I need 10 kilos of LR for my current project

If i buy A grade fuji rock this will cost me roughly £125 from a shop.

If I can buy it second hand it will be half £60 + fuel costs

With water I buy mine already salted from the LFS £4.50 for 25L can save you the intial outlay of a bucket of salt.

Blue LED stribs should easily stick to the ballast part of the I bar if i rember correctly from my Trigon 350 days not sure on which bulbs to use

Are you planning on putting the skimmer in the internal filter box?

Hydrometers are not very accurate you might be better off getting a Refractometer (Fleabay is your best friend for this)

 

[wackystarfish]

Haha yeah she is We love you seffie!!!
Cool so some blue LED's to stick to the lid of the new hood. BTW does the new juwel i bar have the slots so the 'side pieces' can slot in just like they did in the old hood?
As for CUC, i have heard great things about turbo snails, would like some hermits and a brittle star, not sure if my tank is big enough for one though, if not, some other type of star? i just love them!!! i also like the big characters cleaner shrimp
Finlay

Getting excited nowwww!!!

 

[Morri]

Not sure on i bar but I think it will as it is designed for the tank

CUC

As far as I know and have read star fish are a no no for the first few months as there will be nothing for them to feed on but I do not know much about them

Hermits I have 4 dwarf blues in my 550 which would be the same volume these do a good job rember to add shells to the tank for hermits or they will evict your snails from there shells.

Shrimps Blood, Cleaner and Peppermints are all common options ( Cleaners I personaly will be avoiding in the future great shrimp out and about all the time but upsets my corals by climbing over them personal choice)

Blood shrimps are good I think both Seffie and T have a pair in each of their tanks
Peppermints from my understanding are rarely seen but kill off apista which is a good thing.

Snails

I have a mix of

Turbos,nass,cereiths and trochus

With your CUC start off slow once the stats are good in the tank and if I recall correctly mixing hermits can be a bad idea so stick with the same species if possible.

 

[wackystarfish]

Will do
I will go and do some research now!

Regards to the starfish, i completley understand. If i rush, i will make a mess of things, so if i have to wait, i will wait Also is going to be the case for the mandarin.

Will go do some researching now

Thanks!!!
Finlay

 

[daveo_irl]

I never heard about it being bad to mix hermits.
I have 2 red legged hermits, 1 halloween hermit and 1 orange claw hermit in my tank and haven't had any problems.

 

[Morri]

I never heard about it being bad to mix hermits.
I have 2 red legged hermits, 1 halloween hermit and 1 orange claw hermit in my tank and haven't had any problems.

Not had experience of mixing myself its just what I had been advised when I did my reasearch

Guess they might get shell envy

 

[Buddyboy67]

I keep various hermits mixed, true that blue legs and red legs can come to blows though, blues normally coming out tops..if enough food and spare empty shells are present this can help to stop this but..

This normally stops them ripping your snails apart too as they are normally only interested in their shells and regularly don't even eat the snail itself..

 

[daveo_irl]

I suppose that could happen!
To be honest I have never had trouble with my hermits harassing each other or the snails. In fact many times my snails will hitch a ride on the shell of the Halloween crab, or else my hermits will graze on any algae on the snails shells! lol

 

[River Dog]

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

Seffie x

At the risk of sounding daft, whats UR ? please.

Good luck with your project wackystarfish, its great to see so much research and thinking going into a project.

 

[Buddyboy67]

Another marine specific forum mate...often known as the dark side,lol...they take no prisoners in there and can rip a silly mistake to shreds very quickly,lol..
won't mention by name here as against forum rules I think but first word is ultimate,lol...

 

[wackystarfish]

Yes yes and i am talking about my soon to be reef tank, if you get what im meaning...

Thanks for the intrest guys Hopefully youl all be there to talk me through my inevital mistakes or questions like ''arg whats that coming out of the rock?!''
lol. And as for researching, its because i want the best for the tanks inhabitants

BTW Is my tank big enough to house a pair of clowns as well as the mandarin (which would be added in the future?)

 

[River Dog]

Another marine specific forum mate...often known as the dark side,lol...they take no prisoners in there and can rip a silly mistake to shreds very quickly,lol..
won't mention by name here as against forum rules I think but first word is ultimate,lol...

Thanks Buddyboy, doh! I should have worked that out really.

 

[Truck]

incase you need a refractometer i have one for sale...full working order and holds its calibration for ages...the topic is in the equipment section