Wanting To Start A Nano

[BigC]

Hi BiB,
I have a preference of shops like Kip says.
EA is expensive and IMHO stock, staff and price puts me off.
but I will patronise them only if I'm stuck.
GT has good fish and friendly staff (most of the time) and their prices are cheaper.
There is another shop in its infancy in Glengormley who is now into marines, but I havn't been there yet.
Have you got freshwater in the tank at the moment

There are a few things you'll need before you can work out your running costs.

First things you need to buy are

A bucket of salt
A refractometer
Koralia 1 pump
A small RO unit (but not essential) as you can buy this from the LFS (IMHO go for your own RO unit)
Spare powerhead and heater/stat
then
Liverock (4-5 kgs)
Test kits (Salifert)
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
pH
Magnesium
Alkalinity and KH
Calcium.

I would get all the above in place first then we can progress
Regards
BigC

 

[Blueirishbloke]

Hi BiB,
I have a preference of shops like Kip says.
EA is expensive and IMHO stock, staff and price puts me off.
but I will patronise them only if I'm stuck.
GT has good fish and friendly staff (most of the time) and their prices are cheaper.
There is another shop in its infancy in Glengormley who is now into marines, but I havn't been there yet.
Have you got freshwater in the tank at the moment

There are a few things you'll need before you can work out your running costs.

First things you need to buy are

A bucket of salt
A refractometer
Koralia 1 pump
A small RO unit (but not essential) as you can buy this from the LFS (IMHO go for your own RO unit)
Spare powerhead and heater/stat
then
Liverock (4-5 kgs)
Test kits (Salifert)
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
pH
Magnesium
Alkalinity and KH
Calcium.

I would get all the above in place first then we can progress
Regards
BigC

Hi BigC

Thanks for your reply!

I have a Juwel Trigon 190 freshwater tank at the moment but that is staying as it is.
This tank is in my living room and I love it.

I'm hoping to buy a Buyo tl550 from GT and I do think I will go for a FOWLR tank to begin with and go from there. I do like my fish to be honest so although I am not ruling out adding corals eventually I think I would rather go for the rock and fish option first.

Good to hear your opinions on EA and GT, I have bought some fish from EA before with no probs but obviously that's just been freshwater stuff

Thanks again
BiB

 

[BigC]

I wont criticise anyones preference of shops, whatever works for you then so be it.
FOWLR will be fine but you can easily keep a few softies under those lights in that aquarium.
ATB
C

 

[Blueirishbloke]

I wont criticise anyones preference of shops, whatever works for you then so be it.
FOWLR will be fine but you can easily keep a few softies under those lights in that aquarium.
ATB
C

I do prefer GT and I bought my tank and most of my fish from there too.
I really like the shop in Lisburn as well, and as you say most of the staff are very good!

If I keep a few soft corals, do I need to be so particular about the water requirements?

 

[BigC]

If I keep a few soft corals, do I need to be so particular about the water requirements?

In general not as much as you would for LPS or SPS, but start as you mean to go on. Be particular there's nothing wrong with being particular.
You will learn very quickly if you adopt sloppy or haphazard attitudes on this side of the fence, If you let things go for a while and say I'll do it later then thats a recipe for disaster with marines.
Practice good husbandry from the outset and get into a habit of checking and adjusting water params early on, your gonna need to rely on this knowledge further down the line.
Regards
C

 

[Trod]

Blimey I go out for the day and you all steam ahead with info, well except seffie of cause but then I think the ole bottle could have been out again

Any way, yes agree with all of the above with one slight exception, I would personally go for a Koralia 2 and not the 1, bit more flow, but thats just me

As for electricity, I have noticed a slight rise but not much, nothing huge may be £6 - £8 a quarter

 

[seffieuk]

I'll have you know it's a new bottle

Seffie x

 

[BigC]

I'll have you know it's a new bottle

Ah! but how many new bottles have you had Seff.

 

[Blueirishbloke]

If I keep a few soft corals, do I need to be so particular about the water requirements?

In general not as much as you would for LPS or SPS, but start as you mean to go on. Be particular there's nothing wrong with being particular.
You will learn very quickly if you adopt sloppy or haphazard attitudes on this side of the fence, If you let things go for a while and say I'll do it later then thats a recipe for disaster with marines.
Practice good husbandry from the outset and get into a habit of checking and adjusting water params early on, your gonna need to rely on this knowledge further down the line.
Regards
C

Cheers C

I totally agree with you there and I guess I am wondering do I have the time at the moment to devote to keeping a marine tank.
I want to do it well and after reading some of the threads on here, I do wonder would I have the time at the mo to devote to it...

Also a wee question about RO:
so I get an RO unit, what does that connect to? Do I need a big storage container for the water? How often would I need to run the RO unit?

Thanks
BiB

 

[Trod]

People put them in all differant places, but personally I put mine under the sink and it just connects to the cold water pipe, its really easy, I would suggest a 25l water container something like this http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/25L-water-container_...A1%7C240%3A1318
Just fill and use as required, as long as you don't allow membrane to dry out, running twice a week would be fine.

BigC has good idea of connecting it to the washing machine but I'll let him explain that one

 

[Truck]

People put them in all differant places, but personally I put mine under the sink and it just connects to the cold water pipe, its really easy, I would suggest a 25l water container something like this [URL="http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Marine-ro-water-mix-...A1%7C240%3A1318"]http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Marine-ro-water-mix-...A1%7C240%3A1318[/URL]
Just fill and use as required, as long as you don't allow membrane to dry out, running twice a week would be fine.

BigC has good idea of connecting it to the washing machine but I'll let him explain that one

trod you legend! i was just about to spend £20 on 2 of these!!!

 

[Trod]

Deleted

 

[Truck]

trod you legend! i was just about to spend £20 on 2 of these!!!

What can I say, yes they are a really good price, think you'd better get in quick before they all go

upon further reading i have discovered its actually RO water not the can lol

 

[Trod]

oops well spotted truck I'll edit as appropriate

 

[Trod]

Right to save confusion here this is the right link to 25L water container, Item number: 150321239889.
http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/25L-water-container_...A1%7C240%3A1318


(still cheap Truck )