Setting up a new marine aquarium ...help!

Zulu

Hello folks,
I'm starting to set-up a marine aquarium (240liters) and I'm a noob, so I'm hoping someone can help me out.
I've bought the salt and sand, so this weekend I'll rinse the sand and fill the tank. What I really want to work out is where I can cut costs.

I'm going to set up a reef tank, so I'll be buying live rock. Thing is, do I really need "ocean rock"? or an Eheim Canister? or for that matter a protein skimmer?
And any pointers on how much these would cost would be great, or if they can be sourced on-line cheaper.

Other than that, any general advice would be greatly appreciated - experience is invaluable.

Thanks!

ekaterinaotoole

I won't pretend to be an expert but I'll try to help.
First thing, you ideally need to filter any water before it goes into the tank. Either using reverse osmosis or nitragon or API Tap water filter. This will make it easier to keep any algae in check.
Then run the tank with just plain water and the filter and heaters to and then once it is up to temperature you can start adding salt. Don't rush it as you want to make sure you get it right. You want to leave it for a few days, topping up with fresh water to make sure the salinity is right. After about a week then you can ad the live rock and that should start the bacteria culture that will support the fish. If you use live rock and enough of it then any filter just has to be either mechanical or chemical filtration as the biological filtration is sorted out by the live rock. You can also feed the tank to help build the bacteria.
The sand if it is coral sand would have to be rinsed, if it is live sand then you don't wash it.
Most important, buy a test kit and test the water for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite and PH, expecially important before and after you introduce your first fish.
If you want a reef aquarium then you will need a lot of light! Probably at least 300-400watts.
Buying things on EBAY is cheaper but make sure any electrical equipment is not American, their equipment will blow as it 110volt, anything from Europe or the far east should be fine.
One suggestion would be to look into oraganic aqua, I swear by it and it helps keep the fish and water in good condition. It is made and sold in South Africa and is sold through fish shops in Dun Laoghaire and Brittas.
Good luck with the new tank and hope it works out, if in doubt wait and test the water before introducing any fish. With live rock it could be 1-2 weeks before you can introduce fish, without live rock it could be 3-6 weeks.Make sure you have loads of water movement, 10-20 times the tank volume. So you would need 2400-4800 litres per hour at least to give good circulation and stop dead spots developing where food will collect.
My current tank is 180 litres at the minute and just waiting on my new twin sump 6ftx2ftx2ft tank to arrive.
Check out the practical fish keeping website for good articles and a good forum.
Hope the above helped.

ekaterinaotoole

Sorry I meant to say, yes a protein skimmer is very useful and size one much bigger than your tank volume. Say buy one for maybe 300-400 litres, the manufacturers always over estimated their ability.
I bought a REMORA skimmer from America and bought the pump to run it from the UK, saved me a few hundred Euros. www.marinedepot.com, but shipping is expensive.
The other way without a skimmer is using miracle mud and growing macro-algae instead but you need a sump or hang on refugium and 24/7 light over it. That is what I am doing with my new tank.
Any questions then don't hesitate to ask.

Nala

Zulu wrote:

Hello folks,
I'm starting to set-up a marine aquarium (240liters) and I'm a noob, so I'm hoping someone can help me out.
I've bought the salt and sand, so this weekend I'll rinse the sand and fill the tank. What I really want to work out is where I can cut costs.

I'm going to set up a reef tank, so I'll be buying live rock. Thing is, do I really need "ocean rock"? or an Eheim Canister? or for that matter a protein skimmer?
And any pointers on how much these would cost would be great, or if they can be sourced on-line cheaper.

Other than that, any general advice would be greatly appreciated - experience is invaluable.
Thanks!

Have you kept fish before? Marines are the hardest to keep.

Zulu

Nala wrote:

Have you kept fish before? Marines are the hardest to keep.

I have indeed Nala. I kept a freshwater tank for a few years. Actually, from the research I've done and talking to various people, marines aren't hard to keep at all, they are just complex and expensive at the start. If it's done correctly, there isn't much more maintenance than a fresh water tank.

ekaterinaotoole wrote:

Sorry I meant to say, yes a protein skimmer is very useful and size one much bigger than your tank volume. Say buy one for maybe 300-400 litres, the manufacturers always over estimated their ability.
I bought a REMORA skimmer from America...

Thanks for this, I'm looking at a REMORA now myself. There's one advertised as a 20-75 Gallon (my tank is 60 Gallon) would this do, or do I need to go up a size?

Nala

Don't forget to post a pic when its all finished!!!

ekaterinaotoole

I would go for a skimmer rated for 1.5 to 2 times your tank volume.
The hardest thing to begin with is trusting that the live rock is responsible for the biological filtration. Just make sure you have water mix with the salt at the right slainity and temperature before you ad the live rock. Then once the water tests fine then after about a week after the live rock you can ad fish (1 or 2 only). You don't have to wait as long as a freshwater set up as the live rock should already have the bacteria and other little critters you need. The skimmer then takes out the excess that the rock can't handle.
The skimmer collection cup can be full of horrible smelling stuff but it does work.
I'm ditching the skimmer in my new tank and going to use the Eco System method.

reptileguy16

here is a few pointers..... in the past i have set up 13 reef tanks for people and myself. first of all u will need to mix the sea mix into the water and add it to the tank and leave to sit for 48 hours. make sure the salinity is at 1.022 - 1.024. then you will need a power pump that will have a water turnover of 4x times te capacity of your tank leav the tank to run for another 24 hours and then add ur live sand and leave to sit for another 5 hours and add a full medium bottle of nutrafin cycle. leave to sit for a week and add your heater and fully cured top quality live rock add 1 kilo per 3 liters of water turn heater to 28 degrees and leave to cycle for about a month monitoring water parameters at every day. then you would have a proper marine system thats low cut and ready for starter fish and inverts after your tank is cycle perform a 15 percent water change every week and monitor water parameters every week .feed fish exact amount your species requires and same with inverts. good luck!!!

Tropheus

Hi,

Check out http://www.irishfishkeepers.com There are plenty of people there who can help.

Ken.

irishmarine

hey, please see my post on marine aquariums.

YOU HAVE TO DECIDE....fish only marine tank or reef tank!!!
Reef tanks can get pricey but they are lovely once set up! fish only tanks, r less fussy on nitrate and u can add nice predator fish! no need really for live rock in here...but it looks good!

You really need a skimmer, you need at least 4+ inches of sand, the live rock in ireland that is sold (for ridiculous high costs) is not "live". Think about it, you go to their tanks and have a sniff of the water, thats cos the ammonia is sky high in those (curing) tanks. do you honestly think that marine organisms can withstand that high ammonia? some will but most of it dies off, so in effect you can only buy curing live rock in ireland.... either way u need it, and its mad expensive over here, see if you can buy it from someone closing down a system, it will be cured and ready to go and not as expensive as here, i bought some last week, 24 euro a kilo, when i was in the states it was $2-6 dollars a pound! either way you will need rock. you dont need a canister filter, in fact they harbour nitrate, which is not want u want if u wana set up a reef. u want 0 nitrate and thats what the rock does. the things u need are

1.RO water (essential-otherwise all crap from the tap will go in ur tank causin algae)

2. 4"+ of sand (not all live sand but get coral sand and one bag of live & it will become live, once its placed never vacuum it or sift it, just leave it alone)

3. powerheads. you need 10-20x tank volume turnover per hour. tunze are the most pricey but the best, no noise and low watts

4. skimmer, get one for a 400 litre....the v2 400 is a good skimmer

5. light, a mix of metal halides and actinics if u wana grow coral

6. if u do get a canister filter fill it with live rock rubble, carbon and phosban and that will act like a sump and improve ur water quality!!

7. water test kit!!!

8. salimeter (15 euro to test salt content)

9. salt

any more questions let me know. buy online. actually post me if u want and i can give more advice. dont go into a marine store or pet store in ireland unless u want alot of bullshi t and no money left. the cost of marine stuff here is ridiculous!

andrawolf

My dad always say fresh salt water is the best. but we live an hour away from the beach.:D