25 replies to this topic

[Acko]

Hi guys (and girls),

Just started my first ever marine tank after four years of keeping freshwater tropical tanks. Although this is my first post I've been researching marine for months now and finally feel like getting things off the ground (despite being scared to death at the thought of a transition to a salty!). Not only is this site in my local area but it has some great threads and you guys have an amazing amount of knowledge (something I hope to tap into when in times of crisis!). Any thoughts, suggestions or criticisms (and maybe the odd word of encouragement) will be much appreciated as I start my journey into the unknown!

I started the tank last Sunday and here's my details:

Tank: 48x14x20 (approx. 200 litres)
Lights: T5 HO (4 tubes: currently 1 actinic, 2 white and 1 blue)
Skimmer: Aqua Remora Pro HOB powered by an Auqaclear 70(802) estimated at 1500L/H
Heater: 2 x 300w (one set at slightly lower temp)
Flow: 2 x SunSun JVP 101b (3000L/H each), 2 x SunSun JVP 201b (6000L/H each)
Filter: HY304D Top Filter powered by a 1000L/H powerhead (contains no media yet), 1 x Eheim Classic 2213 rated at 440L/H (currently not installed)
Rock: Live 20kg, Base 10kg
Substrate: 20kg Lime Sand
Water: NSW
Sump: none

QT: 60 litre currently housing 2 x Ocellaris Clownfish, 1 HOB filter, 1 x Eheim internal filter.

Initial Levels:
SG: 1.026 (measured with a refractometer)
Temp: 25
PH: 8.3

It's currently day 6 since the water, sand and rock was added.

I haven't received my API Reef Master test kit or Ammo test kit yet so can't give you the readings for ammonia or nitrate (though doubt they'd be showing much yet anyway).

I'm running my lights for 12 hours a day. And my skimmer is on 24/7.

I set the QT up at the same time thinking that by the time the DT has cycled I'll be able to transfer the Clowns straight over to it.

One thing that has disappointed me so far is that I was led to believe that I was going to be amazed with all the critters and life on the liverock ... unfortunately I'm not seeing anything other than a few stray bits of algae. I was even thinking of going rock shopping this weekend to try and find a few more kilos of more interesting rock from other sources. Any thoughts anyone?

I was considering running my Eheim cannister with live rock and/or Eheim ceramic media and a couple of Puigen bags. Or should I just add this to my top filter and do without the cannister? Or maybe the other way around and ditch my top filter?

I'll add photos as soon as I find the correct USB cable for my camera!

As for my Clownfish ... one is larger than the other (the female maybe?) and seems to be putting the smaller (male maybe?) in its place. Although the smaller fish was initially eating since day 2 I've not see 'him' eat anything. The larger fish usually snaps up everything and occasionally pushes him out of the way with her nose. I have another tank I could setup as a 2nd QT and move the smaller fish to it if anyone thinks that would be a good idea - otherwise I'll leave them together for now and see if they settle down. Hopefully the smaller will start to eat (I've tried frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp, algae pellets, tetra Colourbits that I use for my Discus and tropical flake).

Anyway, that's where I'm up to at the moment. I hope to keep keep recording my progress and look forward to chatting with you all (my wife doesn't get the whole fish thing unfortunately). And as I said at the start I'm totally new to the world of marine aquariums and any advice will be much appreciated. I'll go now and worry about something I've probably forgotten to do !!

Cheers

Mark

[tranced]

i would personally not run the cannister , you can use the top mount filter for rowaphos or carbon if/when needed. let the liverock filter the tank for u sounds like a nice setup are you planning to grow some corals too??

what brand of globes are u running in your light fitting? there is a big difference between brands ...

as for live rock... i have seen soem pretty dismal excuses for liverock around the place lately. if you want maximum random stuff you could order a box straight from a supplier, it will literally be crawling with life but this will cause some ammonia issues! be prepared for heaps of water changes if you do. the other way would be to shop around and find some nice uncured rock from your lfs, and add a few bits at a time.

good luck its not that hard imo if you choose to keep it simple

[Acko]

Thanks, Tranced, took your advice and ditched the cannister idea. Added Purigen to my top filter instead and will leave it at that for now.

Yes ... hoping for corals and have read a lot about them though they seem trickier than fish. Would you recommend any from your experience, for someone starting out? I've a list that includes mushrooms, polps and bubble tip so far ...

As far as my globes go I now have two Sylvania Coralstar actinics and running the two whites that came with the Heto T5 (can't seem to see any brand name so I guess they are lower quality generics). Would you suggest I change these for something else to go with the actinics?

I ended up dropping in at Vebas after work at the End of August and picked up an additional 7kg of live rock as they just had a shipment arrive. This stuff was exactly what I was after and had crabs, worms and lots of critters running around on it. I think it was this that finally kicked my cycle in and by day 21 was showing nitrates of 10-20. I did a 50% water change and moved my one remaining Ocellaris (the other didn't make it) from quarantine.

Parameters all seem good now:
SG: 1.026
PH: 7.8 (a little low but it is the same as the NSW I get delivered so I haven't done anything about it yet ...?)
Alkalinity: 8dkh
Calcium: 400
Temp: 25.5
Phosphate: 0.5

Currently have 3 Ocellaris in quarantine plus a Royal Dottyback. I love the colourful Dotty but since realised that he will make a meal of any shrimp I intend to keep. So might swap him instead as was going to get a few Peppys to root out any Aptasia I may have left after treating it with Aptasia-X (came in on the new rock). I haven't seen any more since but thought the Peppermints might be a nice addition anyway.

Can anyone sugest any other clean up crew? I have lots of small snails pop up in the 27 days the tank has been running and one tiny crab is still alive and hiding in a small hole in the rock (he may come out at night but I haven't seen him out and about yet). I've not heard great things about keeping hermits (or turbo snails due to their size) but had originally planned to have a few ...? What about star fish?

Not too sure about other fish either. Was thinking of one Bangaii Cardinal ... maybe a Yellow Tang (if he gets too big after a few years I'll pass him on) ... Bi-Colour/Lawnmower Blenny ... a Gobie or two maybe ... any suggestions for other peaceful reef-safe fish would be much appreciated.

The clowns in the QT are eating like pigs and the one in the main tank seems very happy and like to spend his days surfing around in the current.

I have noticed that the evaporation rate without a lid (and with strong flow) is high and was thinking of setting up an automatic top-up. Anyone any thoughts on this?

Oh yes, and I started to dose with Red Sea Coral Trace and Calcium+3 as I was told it would be a good idea if I planned to get any corals ... which I might do this weekend ...

Thanks for reading

Mark

[stokesy]

hey,,

seeview aquariums have a heap, also aquarium artist also have a good range, im not sure what vebas have at the moment.....

it sounds like it will be a good tank! i agree with what tranced said tho in regards to the cannister.

all the best buddy

matt

[tranced]

most soft coral will be pretty hardy, mushrooms star polyps, zoanthids... all pretty hard to kill i think! bubble tips need alot of light apparently so i dunno how one will do in your tank? place him up high if you do end up getting one, he will get more light up the top. try some LPS corals if your keen for a challenge and avoid the SPS stuff until your sure u know what to do...

if you stick to soft corals you shouldnt *need* to dose anything, just do regular water changes, and your water will keep swinging back towards what sea water is... not that you wont get benefits from dosing of course... a good rule of thumb is, if you cant measure it, dont dose it!

turbo snails are good imo, also cerinth snails and strombus snails.

good brands for T5 tubes are geissmann, ATI, korallen-zucht(sp?) ... if you want the max output from your fixture the ATI blue plus globes are the best, but they are very blue so to make it more 'normal' looking you can get the ATI aquablue special which is sort of a white light. no reason to not use your current globes until they are 9 months old, then replace them with some better ones. thats what i did, good T5 globes are expensive!!

well thats my opinions anyway, i dont really keep fish so i cant help u there, i dont use an ATO either, just manual! apparently thew tune osmolators are good but expensive cos u gotta keep replacing the pumps, they burn out fast. have fun with it all

[will]

from what i know, with clown fish, im pretty sure i read that they will become a pair, the bigger 1 will be automatically a male then, lets say if you move him out and get another clown thats smaller then the female u have, she will become a male n the smaller becomes the male, as weird as that sounds i think its tru from what i read, any 1 care to double check incase im incorrect

[dazzabozza]

Close Will but the other way round. The larger clown becomes the girl

[will]

thnx dazza

[Acko]

Thanks for the replies guys

My son woke me up this morning and says "Dad, dad, Nemo is missing!!" I kind of grunted and turned over but suggested he tried looking behind the rocks. Anyway five minutes later he was back again so I got up and took a look for myself. And he was right. No clown anywhere to be seen.

So I did an immediate scan of the surrounding floor and came up blank. Usually by the time the sun comes up he's already riding the waves.

Anyway, long story short ... turned off the skimmer and out shot the clown from the intake of my Aquaclear 70 !!

No idea how long he'd been in there but remarkably he looked pretty much untouched - thought he'd of been minced. He was hiding down the back of the rock when I left for work but was out and about by the time I got back.

Considering the poor little guy has had a near death experience he's still looking pretty good - maybe not as eager for his dinner this evening but he still ate a reasonable amount of brine shrimp. He's perhaps slightly duller (if there is such a word) than he was and has a small mark on one part of his body.

This evening I drilled some holes into the intake tube and that seemed to significantly reduce the flow through the main hole so I'll see how that goes. Hope the little fella gets over his trauma pretty quickly and if he's anything like his 'owner' then his sub par memory will soon help him to forget!

A trip to Vebas on Sunday and I picked up a few corals:

a torch
a long tentacle plate
a rose
a few red and a few blue morphs

oh yes, and 4 trocheus snails in an attempt to keep the front glass free of algae !!

I put the plate and the rose (open brain?) on the sand ... hope someone can tell me if that's right.

I'll try and upload a few photos tomorrow if I can remember to take the camera to work !!

Thanks for reading

Mark

(I think my wife was kind of happy to have me back after the soccer world cup finished ... now she says all I do is sit in front of my tank and stare at rock !!)

[Neakit]

This thread needs pics!!!!!!!

[Acko]

As requested ... finally some pics ...

The tank, the torch ... and the plate (after I'd moved it from the rock to the sand) ...

... followed by the rose and the morphs ...

Nemo and the plate before his incident with the powerhead !

And finally what I think is a coral that hitched a ride on the live rock !?

Attached Files

•  tank02.jpg   887.34KB   79 downloads
•  torch_coral.jpg   1.01MB   37 downloads
•  plate_coral.jpg   787.14KB   29 downloads
•  rose_coral.jpg   693.83KB   32 downloads
•  Red_Morph.jpg   923.75KB   27 downloads
•  Blue_Morph.jpg   810.64KB   27 downloads
•  clown_and_plate_coral.jpg   990.36KB   40 downloads
•  hitchhiking_coral.jpg   950.74KB   30 downloads

[Acko]

It's now day 45 since I started the tank and things seem to be going well (touches wood).

Parameters:
SG: 1.026
NO3: < 5mg/l
Alk: 6dkh
Calcium: 420ppm
PH 7.8

Current inhabitants:
4 x Ocellaris Clowns
1 x Royal Dottyback
4 x hermits
3 or 4 Trochus snails
1 x long tentacle plate coral
1 x rose/open brain coral
1 x torch coral
Several different coloured morphs

QT (one week)
1 x Yellow Tang (expensive but couldn't say no!)
1 x Bi-Colour Blenny

Got to say I'm loving the tank as there's always something going on. Hermits and snails are doing a good job at keeping most of the algae at bay. Found another hitchiking crab dead a week ago that I'd never even seen before - it was the largest hitchiker I've found so far, probably 20 cent coin sized. The hermits, snails and bristleworms all got stuck in and the next morning nothing was left!

Loads of feather dusters and other filter feeders like peanut worms ... I love watching them shoot in and out as a crab or snail wanders by.

The nemos seem like a friendly bunch and all hang out together ... and I think his time in quarantine chilled the Dottyback out and he's always out and about looking for a snack. I love my Tang - he is only very small but eating really well (brine shrimp) and his new love is seaweed that I picked up from Coles. The Blenny is a charcter too and spends most of his time hanging on the fake tree stump in the QT until a shrimp floats by and then he pounces on it like a rocket - only to return to his tree stump a second later ... not sure how much I'll see of him when he's in the big tank in a couple of weeks.

Since both my alkalinity and PH are low I've started dosing with Kalk over the last two nights. Still need to tweak the syphon setup a little more as it keeps stopping at some point during the night - but I suppose that's better than it dumping the entire 2 litres in 30 seconds !!

Not seen any Aptasia now for over 20 days so that's good ... Aptasia X seems to have done the trick for now.

Been target feeding my corals with a pit of prawn and they seem happy with all tentacles extended. I ended up gluing my plate on a rock shelf as I'd read somewehre that they can often get baterial infections from the sandbed - and besides it always seemed to wander (or blown by the flow) where I didn't want it to go.

Anyone any ideas for other fish? I've been thinking of a Banggai cardinal, a goby of some sort and a wrasse. Can't find anything else compatible with what I already have. Don't want too much than that anyway I think. I'll hopefully be concentrating on corals over the next few months. I'd like an anemone too at some point but have only reseached so far - they seem to find their way into most peoples filter and powerhead intakes!

Anyway, thats about it for now, other than to say that starting a marine tank is the best thing I've done for a while despite how long my wife says I spend messing with it.

Stay well

Mark

[tranced]

sixline wrasse will be awesome. get that dottback out now while u still can mate, it will go mental one day and kill everything lol

[siawkia]

Just a quick advise:

put the heliofungia (long tentacle plate) on the sand, they don't like it on rocks. They are hardy but their skeleton can get damaged easily by the rocks.

Btw, nice tank and it's about time to join MASWA (MASA)

[dazzabozza]

Anyone any ideas for other fish? I've been thinking of a Banggai cardinal

Get a pair, is awesome seeing the male mouthbrood.

[Acko]

Righto ... a pair of cardinals it is then, thanks dazza

Get a pair, is awesome seeing the male mouthbrood.

Really !! But I like little Dotty ... so he's a wolf in sheeps clothes then?

sixline wrasse will be awesome. get that dottback out now while u still can mate, it will go mental one day and kill everything lol

But I do like little 'Dotty' ... or should I be thinking of renaming him 'Killer' ... and I should really take him out?

Sorry ... all my replies seem to be appearing in random places

[tranced]

well as we know each fish is unique and some act in ways you would never expect... perhaps yours is a rare peaceful one probably best to do some research and see what u think

[Neakit]

Ok im going to sound like a bit of a downer here but, SLOW DOWN!!!! You are doing very well but your ph is low, check your magnesium levels. I am only saying this cause if you continue you will have a crash. Im not saying stop im saying wait for a while. you have a large bio load for that tank just give it time for it to stabilize.

[scarab]

another advice for you. Since you mentioned that the original batch of live rocks were quite barren and without much life, i would assume that most of them died within the rocks while in the lfs. as such, i would suggest adding additional phosphate remover as the rocks will leach large amounts of phosphate and before you know it your rocks will be covered in a algae lawn as i can see beginning to happen from the pics.

you dont need to feed your lps. feeding your lps only makes up for the lack of nutrients and light. symbiotic algae within the coral utilises nitrates and lights to photosynthesis, which then the lps / sps / softies and clams will feed off. Feeding your lps would only add aditional bioload to your tank.

get rid of hitch hicker crabs, most of the time what you see and think is a dead crab is actually just the crab shedding and getting bigger. After some time, you will notice that crabs start hunting your fish and eating the flesh of your sps (if you do go into them)

Beware of getting certain gobies which filter sand. Back in singapore, they are known as bombers because they would grab a mouthful of sand and swim high up into the water column before filtering it out, resulting in your corals being buried, and therefore become starved of oxygen and die.

and lastly to stress on neakits point, your pH had dropped significantly since you started. do check your magnesium levels. magnesium works by inhibiting the formation of calcium carbonate while at the same time, it helps strength the coral skeletal structure. much as how other ions strength metals forming alloy. without magnesium, as you keep adding kalk, it will work but with very limited effect as calcium would still bind with carbonate. Not to mention with the currently low pH, the carbonate added would be used buffer the pH up, causing your calcium to raise faster then your dkH, and you start to experience instability in water parameters, and further dosing will cause calcium to precipitate out. so do check your magnesium levels.

Im not sure if it is, but looking from your pics, the powerhead seem to be facing the mushroom. Im not entirely sure if it is, but if it is, you should avoid that as the mushroom would eventually dislodge itself and end up floating around the tank
and to ans your last qs, the hitch hiker coral is known as a moon coral (Flavites)

[Acko]

Tranced ... you're dead right ... Dotty seems happy enough with the clowns as he was quarantined with them ... however, he's no friend of the yellow tang ... will have to keep my eye on things for now as it seems he was built for speed (and stealth) and disappears even if I show him the net from across the room. The tang doesn't seem overly bothered but that could change I suppose.