Watts Per Gallon

[daneeboy]

i would personally rather buy the LR from a LFS type place. That way you can get it and take it home and stick it back in water as quick as possible.

i got my (fully cured) for £8 a kilo, but it may be a bit far for you to travel (just off J20 M6, Warrington) it is good stuff and crawling with life.

I like the acradia pendants, altho they are expensive i picked up a second hand one recently for £100 its the mini 150w one.

 

[BigIan]

dear it said in the pinned topic that it was 300 watts for a 30 gallon tank.

and dunb question i know but what exactly does "cured" meani`m asuming that just means that it has all the tiny "critters" that eat all the crud ect....

how do you cycle a marine tank???

and do you need a filter like on a tropical tank or does the LR do the same job?

if so so i just fill my sump with live rock and a protien skimmer



(i do have morequestions but i`ll ask them later)

 

[SkiFletch]

Cured means that most dieoff has occurred and the rock is biologically stable. When rock arrives at a location it is uncured by virtue of the fact that it has been sitting out of saltwater and organisms on it are dying. Those dead organisms actually fuel a mini cycle since bacteria are allready present on the LR. When the LR is put back into holding tanks for a sufficient time that decomposition of the dead slows to nearly nothing, the rock is said to be "cured". No additional filtration other than a protein skimmer and perhaps carbon or phosphate binder as need arises are required with sufficient LR. It houses bacteria to process ammonia, nitrite, and given enough time and large enough rocks, even nitrate.

To cycle a marine tank, have a lot of proper temp and sg salwater mixed up. Prepare your tank with foam backing underneath the bottom if you have un-tempered glass (I hear many UK ones do). Go to the store or your front doorstep and get your LR and aragonite substrate. Place the rocks on the glass in a stable formation that you like the look of and dry setup your powerheads and sump. Then pour sand on the remaining bottom glass about 1" deep or just a little more (dont go deeper than 2"). Then, pour mixed and heated saltwater water in over the rocks to keep the sand from flying everywhere and fill the tank. Finally, apply light (10 hours per day), heat (26-27C), and time. The dieoff from when you bought them to when you filled the tank with water will fuel the cycle. Bacteria will grow and biology will do its thing . In MOST situations when LR is at least partially cured at the LFS and then spends less than an hour out of the water before your tank is filled the mini cycle takes a week. Ammonia and nitrite levels are typically under 2ppm each and nitrate should rise to around 30ppm by the end.

 

[andywg]

I would say to be careful going over 1" on the sand bed. The general rule is less than an Inch (for asthetics) or more than 6 (to create a Deep Sand Bed to help with nitrate removal).

Anything in between can become a problem.

 

[BigIan]

so as the alge and other little living shiznet die off on the LR it releases ammonia, so shortly after i set the tank up i should see an amonia spike similar to i would in a tropical tank

and whats the diffrence between a deep sand bed and a shallow sand bed???



And would these be sutable for tanks?

i know i`ll have to get new lamps for them,
but not sure if i would be able to get ones that fit these

 

[SkiFletch]

so as the alge and other little living shiznet die off on the LR it releases ammonia, so shortly after i set the tank up i should see an amonia spike similar to i would in a tropical tank

Yes, but it MOST LIKELY will not be as severe a spike in duration or magnitude as you'd see in a FW setup. Remember there are allready significant amounts of bacteria on the LR putting you more into the characteristics of a mini cycle instead of a full startup cycle. Nitrate may or may not present itself nearly simultaneously with the ammonia, and even sometimes ammonia is never seen if the colonies on the rock are big enough.

and whats the diffrence between a deep sand bed and a shallow sand bed???

Andy mentioned the depths. The difference is that with a deep sand bed of 6" or greater, anoxic or anaerobic regions exhist at the bottom of the sand with no O2. A different type of nitrate eating bacteria lives in the absence of O2. This of course is good cause it helps with nutrient export. Its difficult though because it cant be part of your display tank since stirring of the shallow layers 2-4" may result in the release of cyanide or other toxins. They're primarily used as a sump feature with no animals in them. IMO not worth the hassle of design, setup and maintenance. A good refugium with chaeto does the same thing.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

mmmmmmmm interesting stuff this isn't it!

well we priced it all up for about £800, just trying to work out if we can afford it or want to spend that much.

Probably moving house next summer so it might have to wait until then when we can start saving up

 

[aberdeen aquarist]

I'm hoping to do it for under £400, but I have already got the tank so thats a big chunk paid for straight off!!
Ebay is the place to look out for bargains, you can even find complete set ups there. Local free ads are another good source of cheap fishy stuff.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah we probably could do it cheaper but it would mean some quite big compromises on what we want. Just don't think it'd be worth it to do it that way round. I'd rather pay the extra and get what we want than do it cheap and not be pleased with the end result. All depends what your after from it though doesn't it.

 

[Great Lakes]

Need to find a local group around you.

We usually bond with others in our geographical areas and have meets and swaps.
Many of us in the hobby end up with such an overflow of equipment that we can help out for a pittance and a favor.

GL.

 

[daneeboy]

buy it slowly so you dont notice it going.. thats what i did.. well started out to do and bought pretty much all the equipment in 1 month

ive not added it up tho and i dont want to!!

 

[Lynden]

But if you dont want to buy things over the internet, then you are looking at $500-700 per 150 watt ballast. The bulbs can be as high as $100.

CM is way overdoing the price of Metal Halides in the above post. I picked up two 150W MH for £70 off ebay. They are shop units rather than special aquarium ones. At most it would be another £40 from Pet Pirates for more appropriate bulbs and away you go. Far from the hundreds CM is trying to imply.

I remember when I was preparing to get my salwater tank, I bought all the equipment I needed before doing very much research! It all worked out though. But holy s*** did it cost alot! I paid at least $500 for all of my stuff - not including the tank, lighting, live rock or fish!

-Lynden

 

[andywg]

Nice selective emphasis on the quotes CM, but you still don't have to pay that much without using the hyperweb.

Second hand, freecycle and shop deals will all give a much lower price.