41 replies to this topic

[Sushi]

Hey all, i'm just starting my first marine tank, and i thought I would document it. Any advice, comments or helpful hints would be very much appreciated. My setup consists of:
4x2x1.5 tank (320ltrs)
15kg of argonite sphere base
3000lph power head
5000lph power head
550ltr skimmer
heater
T5 lighting unit that hold 4 fluro's

So far I have filled the tank and put the salt in.
The hydrometer reads about 1.019-1.020 (should i add more salt or is that ok).
The tank is about 4/5 full, as i left room for the live rock.
It has been running with the power heads in all last night and today, and I'll put the skimmer in when the water level gets a bit higher.
The water is a bit cloudy from the substrate, i was thinking of putting in a pump with a filter for a day or so to clear this up a bit, is that good/bad?
And tomorrow i was going down to get some live rock, should i get as much as i can as soon as i can? Or gradually add in more and more???
Would just the protien skimmer and the liverock be enough filtration? I was planning on having alot of liverock in the tank.
I'll add in updates on how I go.
Cheers

[Iamsam]

Hey all, i'm just starting my first marine tank, and i thought I would document it. Any advice, comments or helpful hints would be very much appreciated. My setup consists of:
4x2x1.5 tank (320ltrs)
15kg of argonite sphere base
3000lph power head
5000lph power head
550ltr skimmer
heater
T5 lighting unit that hold 4 fluro's

Sounds Fantastic

So far I have filled the tank and put the salt in.
The hydrometer reads about 1.019-1.020 (should i add more salt or is that ok).

I would recommend to bump it at a minimum up to .022, while fish can survive at those levels I myself like to keep things as close to natural for the fish as possible, and see .04 as ideal.

The water is a bit cloudy from the substrate, i was thinking of putting in a pump with a filter for a day or so to clear this up a bit, is that good/bad?

Yep with just fine filter wool etc. it will clear up nicely but even if you don’t it should clear up within 24 hours

And tomorrow i was going down to get some live rock, should i get as much as i can as soon as i can? Or gradually add in more and more???

If you can afford it add it all at once, other wise every time you add new rock you will get a new mini cycle just causing more harm than good.

Would just the protien skimmer and the liverock be enough filtration? I was planning on having alot of liverock in the tank.

Depends on what you were planning on keeping, if you are planning on keeping mainly corals with 1 or 2 fish it will be heaps but it you want a very heavily fish stocked tank you might need to consider a biofilter of some sort















Regards
Sam

[Sushi]

Cheers for the input sam, and yeah i was thinking of having more then 1 or 2 fish. what sort of bio filter would you recommend? Something like a top mount trickle filter???

[Boof86]

sumps work great

[Sushi]

Yeah I thought of doing a sump, but this was planned to be a low cost tank as i dont have thousands to put into it, and they seem a bit tricky for a first time mariner.
I threw in the live rock today, ill hopefully be getting some more on monday. The cloudyness is mostly gone now, which is good, I took the pump out and plugged the protien skimmer in, its a little bit tricky to get it at the right flowing level, how much water should be coming out of the top canister? because at the moment it is only trickleing very slowly. The tank looks great with the rocks in and the protien skimmer going and the lights on. Should i leave the lights on as much as i can for the cureing process to allow more bacteria growth? or does it reall not matter???
Cheers for the comments back, hopefully ill have some pics soon

[Boof86]

dazzabozza im told is the man to ask all them. as for sump was cheaper to buid my sump than buy canister and top mounts

got and old 35$ 3ftr spent 40$ on dividers... 40$ for a power head to return the flow and abt 30$ on pvc jopins etc so 145$ and i have no heaters uv protien etc in tank just a cple powher heads to make a current.. mind you my 3ft top tank came with an overflow wier with out that it would be a bit harder

[Sushi]

Ah ok, sounds orrite hey, so it has the sameish affect as a canister hey? what temperature is your marine tank at? I thought you had to have it around the mid twentys? Or did i hear wrong?

[Boof86]

Ah ok, sounds orrite hey, so it has the sameish affect as a canister hey? what temperature is your marine tank at? I thought you had to have it around the mid twentys? Or did i hear wrong?

i had mine at 24-25 at the start but for some reason my anemone doesnt like it so its at 28 now and all looks well. same effect but due to the larger filtraion more media more water volume most people believe you can have more fish in the tank.. im beggining to believe it too.

[Sushi]

My temp is at 27 so that should be ok. So with a sump you can have more fish in the same size tank? thats pretty cool. I'll be getting some more live rock tomoro and then ill start doing all the tests. The cloudyness is almost gone now, lol with the lights on it looks like my house is glowing like the freakin sun.
Another question, whats a hardy sort of anemone, or soft coral i could put in soonish? Like in a few weeks as a starter?
Just had another look at it and its starting to show some purple patches on some of the rocks, is this the coroline? or something like that? The tank is starting to look real sexy now lol

[Iamsam]

I threw in the live rock today, ill hopefully be getting some more on monday. The cloudyness is mostly gone now, which is good, I took the pump out and plugged the protien skimmer in, its a little bit tricky to get it at the right flowing level, how much water should be coming out of the top canister? because at the moment it is only trickleing very slowly.

It all depends on the brand and type of skimmer; check with the store you bought if from

The tank looks great with the rocks in and the protien skimmer going and the lights on. Should i leave the lights on as much as i can for the cureing process to allow more bacteria growth? or does it reall not matter???

nope; put them on as little as much possible; just becouse you will get huge algea growth and the more lights the more algea.

what temperature is your marine tank at? I thought you had to have it around the mid twentys? Or did i hear wrong?

about 25-26 watch out it doesnt get to hot or else corals will start melting

Another question, whats a hardy sort of anemone, or soft coral i could put in soonish? Like in a few weeks as a starter?
Just had another look at it and its starting to show some purple patches on some of the rocks, is this the coroline? or something like that? The tank is starting to look real sexy now lol

Anemones dont like ammonia to much so i wouldnt suggest them yet, maybe try some soft corals or morphs or the like;
and i highly doubt its corraline algea yet it generallly takes a while(numerous of weeks/months) i would put my money on cynobacteria; a purple algea that must marine tanks get during cycling.

Regards Sam

[Sushi]

Oh ok, cheers for the info sam, so is the cynobacteria good, bad or insignificant?

[dazzabozza]

Gday Sushi

The LR u bought may have already had coralline algae growing on it. If it is Cyno the best way of describing it is like the black stuff that sticks to Spiderman in number 3 (texture and the way it spreads, but a deep moroon/purple colour). It can be easily removed via siphoning.


Dazza

[Sushi]

Hey Dazza, yeah its growing in a few spots on different rocks, only in little patches like the size of a fingernail, but on one particular rock its spread to about the size of your palm, but its a very bright purple. Also what physical things should i start to look for in the tank throughout the coming weeks that will indicate that the cycling process is nearly finished? (aside from low nitrate and ammonia and all that)
cheers

[dazzabozza]

Gday Sushi

Not much more I can think of besides checking the ammonia and nitrites every couple of days. After the tank has cycled and u start increasing the bioload then u'll need to keep a closer eye on nitrates as this will help determine how often water changes should be. Every month or two u should do an occasional check on ammonia and nitrite to see how well your filtration is coping.

It's common to get an algae bloom in new tanks so keep a watchful on that. Perhaps get a cleanup crew (snails, hermits etc) so u can watch the progress in the tank before dishing out for pricey coral and fish.


Dazza

[Sushi]

Hey Dazza, so an algae bloom is just a fast spreading out break of green algae??? One other thing was, what are some sorts of bio filters would you reccomend? Within this week i plan to have about 60kg of live rock in there, is there anything else i should get for it? thanks for the info

[dazzabozza]

Yep it can be the green fine dots or hair algae, macro, or cyno bacteria, pretty much anything that gets introduced to the tank will take off. A lot of these will thrive off excess light, phosphates from tap water, low carbonate hardness and the nitrogen cycle.

60KG of LR is a good percentage of your tank volume. Heaps of water movement and eliminating "dead spot/zones" is the key. If you do end up getting a sump or trickle you can increase your bio filtration via anything with a high surface area and preferably porous. Crushed coral is good, bio balls were all the craze a few years back, or a commercial branded product like Seachem Matrix. Which ever u do choose to go with put a mechanical filter such as filter wool. This will help prevent clogging up your bio media with detritus and will polish the water also. Just make sure it's easily accessible and removable to prevent excess build/nitrate levels etc.

I look forward to seeing your tank's progress.

Dazza

[Sushi]

I should have pics up soon, i just wanted to wait untill the water is clear, which it pretty much is. I'm gonna be in perth on thursday, is there any fish shops that you would recommend for marine? Otherwise ill just head to AAA. I'm just getting some hermit crabs, and maybe a bit more rock, is there any other cleaners aside from hermits and snails? I read in someone else's post how they had a sea urchin and you advised on not keeping them because of their "nuke factor" lol so i might steer clear of them. What are your thoughts on anenome crabs? I was thinking about getting some if they werent too much trouble, are they a danger to fish or soft corals?
Cheers
Ric

[Sushi]

Ok, I've got around 60kg of live rock in there now, if not more, and i've taken heaps of pics, before and after, i just gotta work out how to put them on. and i have 2 hermit crabs in there. however, i have just had a massive algae bloom... I got my new live rock on friday from totally tanked (awesome shop) and after i set it all up i noticed a few slightly darker spots in the agronite, and since then they've been getting darker and darker and now i came home tonight (northbridge last night woot woot) and alot if the tank is green. Any suggestions??? my plan is to not have the lights on at all untill i get corals and what not in there just use old fashion sunlight. but i wanna clear up this green crap aswel, its on the glass and the protien skimmer, and has made my sexy tank, not so sexy, which is a VERY bad thing.

Any advice would be greatly appriceiated.
cheers

[Sushi]

I took some of my water into the fish shop today to get tested, i got the all clear so now i have a BTA with a pair of clowns. They look great and ill get some pictures up as soon as i figure out how to shrink the photos. (anyone know how to do that?) the clowns seem to be having a hard time swimming, like their not stressed or anything and they look just like they do in all the disply tanks in the shop. however they just seem to be hanging around in the corner of the tank, which is furtherest from my powerhead, as in its keeping them in there. Its a 3000lph one and i also have a 5000lph at the back. I dont know if this is the case, i just thought they would be more keen to suss out their new home, while there are no other fish in there with them??? Is this behaviour normal?

[Boof86]

I took some of my water into the fish shop today to get tested, i got the all clear so now i have a BTA with a pair of clowns. They look great and ill get some pictures up as soon as i figure out how to shrink the photos. (anyone know how to do that?) the clowns seem to be having a hard time swimming, like their not stressed or anything and they look just like they do in all the disply tanks in the shop. however they just seem to be hanging around in the corner of the tank, which is furtherest from my powerhead, as in its keeping them in there. Its a 3000lph one and i also have a 5000lph at the back. I dont know if this is the case, i just thought they would be more keen to suss out their new home, while there are no other fish in there with them??? Is this behaviour normal?

sushi if you email your pics to me ill be glad to shrink them for you
i use photoshop.. is easiest for me as just save as "jpeg" and wheny ou choose the quality it says the file size also shrinking the dimensions helps/
PM me if you want to take up the offer