Events of WEDNESDAY 13th AUGUST
I have a 90L tank (dimensions: 30"L*15"H*12"D) and it has been laying dormant for quite sometime now. I, quite a while back, considered setting it up as a tropical reef system, but never had the funds to do this, now im into some moolar and think its about time i made my dream come true!
My idea is to set up a reef system (corals, fish, inverts etc.) in the tank but have next to no idea what i need or dont need and simply must have or what i should avoid like the plague. I've kept tropical freshwater tanks (and still do) for a few years now, all of them in reaitively the same sized tanks, and as a result of this have some pretty sturdy knowledge of water chemistry and so on (e.g cycle the tank for minimum 6 weeks before adding live stock, keep an eye on pH, Nitrates and Nitrites etc.). Also i've been left with a couple accessories from these tanks that havent been used in some time, an Ehiem 'Ecco 2233' cannister filter for one, and a single light ballast with 24" NO flouro light. now i know i'll need some serious lighting for the Corals, something like a total Wattage of 117Watts (5.1W/Gal) for my sized tank i read somewhere, and to achieve this i plan to get a 2nd dual bulb ballast for an actinic blue and a 10,000K strip light, and have the NO flouro workong on one of my other tanks, where i currently have 2x20W compact flouros that arent working so great. Is there anything else i missed on the lighting side??
As for filtration, i've heard that the way to go with a reef is a UGF powerd with a powerhead, or more, and have a 2"-3" layer of aragonite on top with a layer of live sand 1-1/2" thick on tope of that.....would this render my Ehiem 'Ecco 2233' useless, or could i still use it? I know i need live rock, but how much and what type is best? I read in a few places that Fijian 'cured' live rock is best, but most expensive....opinions please?
Corals, inverts and marine life, what types?? I have already researched this a tiny bit and have a basic idea of what i want, and this consists of Polyps, Mushrooms and 'feather duster worms' for coral life, Clowns firefish gobie(s) and mandarinfish as the fish life, and shimps, a hermit crab or two and turbo snails for inverts. What numbers/types of the above would you suggest bearing in mind that my tank is about 90L.
well i should think that will do for now, if i have missed anything or you can add anything please contact me here, or by email, all information is welcomed and much appreciated.
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Events of THURSDAY 14TH AUGUST
Went into a marine specialist today called Fantasea and had a lenghty 2hr chat with them regarding all my options. They (and most books im reading) seemed to think that 30Gal+ would be better and the 20Gal could be used as a sump with a dsb for bio-filtration, with the Eheim as a mechanical pre-filter feeding the sump. With this in mind im looking at making a 33gal tank with dimensions of 40"long*12"wide*20"deep (size restriction was slightly more than thought!!), i've scratch built before with my two existing tanks and have a local glass stockist (Pilkington Glass of all people!!) and plenty of silicone acetate for it, only thought is would the 33Gal sit comfortably in an upstairs room as it will be in my bedroom, or would it simply be too heavy??
As for the protein skimmer I have seen one of these at £65 and an RO unit at £80, powerheads i know arent expensive (what lph would i need and how many...2, 3 or more??) Im then looking at 10Kg L/R and 10Kg base rock to cut down on expenses, as unfortunately i needed to cut costs somewhere and thought that the live rock would be the place to do it since i wish to keep polyps, feather dusters and mushrooms also. I know that with a 33Gal i could just get 3 or 4 fish, and at a squeeze 5...or would you say more? Im also looking at shrimps, turbo smails and maybe a small hermit crab too, these i know have little effect on bio-load from what i understand.
what are peoples opinions to this approach? any precautions you can throw at me....any critisims, constructive or not.....?
I have a 90L tank (dimensions: 30"L*15"H*12"D) and it has been laying dormant for quite sometime now. I, quite a while back, considered setting it up as a tropical reef system, but never had the funds to do this, now im into some moolar and think its about time i made my dream come true!
My idea is to set up a reef system (corals, fish, inverts etc.) in the tank but have next to no idea what i need or dont need and simply must have or what i should avoid like the plague. I've kept tropical freshwater tanks (and still do) for a few years now, all of them in reaitively the same sized tanks, and as a result of this have some pretty sturdy knowledge of water chemistry and so on (e.g cycle the tank for minimum 6 weeks before adding live stock, keep an eye on pH, Nitrates and Nitrites etc.). Also i've been left with a couple accessories from these tanks that havent been used in some time, an Ehiem 'Ecco 2233' cannister filter for one, and a single light ballast with 24" NO flouro light. now i know i'll need some serious lighting for the Corals, something like a total Wattage of 117Watts (5.1W/Gal) for my sized tank i read somewhere, and to achieve this i plan to get a 2nd dual bulb ballast for an actinic blue and a 10,000K strip light, and have the NO flouro workong on one of my other tanks, where i currently have 2x20W compact flouros that arent working so great. Is there anything else i missed on the lighting side??
As for filtration, i've heard that the way to go with a reef is a UGF powerd with a powerhead, or more, and have a 2"-3" layer of aragonite on top with a layer of live sand 1-1/2" thick on tope of that.....would this render my Ehiem 'Ecco 2233' useless, or could i still use it? I know i need live rock, but how much and what type is best? I read in a few places that Fijian 'cured' live rock is best, but most expensive....opinions please?
Corals, inverts and marine life, what types?? I have already researched this a tiny bit and have a basic idea of what i want, and this consists of Polyps, Mushrooms and 'feather duster worms' for coral life, Clowns firefish gobie(s) and mandarinfish as the fish life, and shimps, a hermit crab or two and turbo snails for inverts. What numbers/types of the above would you suggest bearing in mind that my tank is about 90L.
well i should think that will do for now, if i have missed anything or you can add anything please contact me here, or by email, all information is welcomed and much appreciated.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Events of THURSDAY 14TH AUGUST
Went into a marine specialist today called Fantasea and had a lenghty 2hr chat with them regarding all my options. They (and most books im reading) seemed to think that 30Gal+ would be better and the 20Gal could be used as a sump with a dsb for bio-filtration, with the Eheim as a mechanical pre-filter feeding the sump. With this in mind im looking at making a 33gal tank with dimensions of 40"long*12"wide*20"deep (size restriction was slightly more than thought!!), i've scratch built before with my two existing tanks and have a local glass stockist (Pilkington Glass of all people!!) and plenty of silicone acetate for it, only thought is would the 33Gal sit comfortably in an upstairs room as it will be in my bedroom, or would it simply be too heavy??
As for the protein skimmer I have seen one of these at £65 and an RO unit at £80, powerheads i know arent expensive (what lph would i need and how many...2, 3 or more??) Im then looking at 10Kg L/R and 10Kg base rock to cut down on expenses, as unfortunately i needed to cut costs somewhere and thought that the live rock would be the place to do it since i wish to keep polyps, feather dusters and mushrooms also. I know that with a 33Gal i could just get 3 or 4 fish, and at a squeeze 5...or would you say more? Im also looking at shrimps, turbo smails and maybe a small hermit crab too, these i know have little effect on bio-load from what i understand.
what are peoples opinions to this approach? any precautions you can throw at me....any critisims, constructive or not.....?
